***
we all piled into my car and i turned it on.
"where do you guys wanna go?" i asked.
"i wanna go to Steak n' shake." Chris said. looking down at his phone.
"that sounds good."
"kk." i said as i pulled out of the driveway.
"i'm gonna pretend you didn't say that." Nick said as he went onto his phone and started texting someone.
"don't be rude Nicholas." Chris said smacking Nick.
Nick had a shocked but offended look on his face. "you did not just do that to me."
"ah! no hitting in my car or i will buy food and it won't be for either of you." i said looking in my mirror of the backseat.
"sorry." Nick said as he put his hands in his lap. i looked at Chris.
"yes ma'am." Chris said quickly as Matt laughed.
"goes for you too Matthew."
Matt stopped laughing and looked away. Madi just stared at them all with her mouth wide open. she snorted and i glanced at her and then we began to laugh.
"oh my god! y'all got so fucking scared." she said, laughing.
"she sounds like mom!" Nick said.
"she's scary!" Chris said.
"i'm gonna cry because you yelled at me." Matt said.
i rolled my eyes and continued to drive.
"who is driving you to get food? yeah, me. don't try me."
"you terrify me." Chris said leaning towards us his head in between Madi and my seats.
"you'll survive." i said patting his head. he furrowed his eyebrows and looked up at me.
"did you just pat my head?"
"no, Chris it was the fucking unicorn standing next to you." Nick said sarcastically.
"oh my god Nick! shut up!" Chris shouts as he leans back.
"if you both don't stop talking i'm letting y'all starve!"
Chris huffed and folded his arms like a kid and Nick sighed and looked away from Chris.
"god, you do sound like a mom." Madi said.
"goes for you too Madison."
~~~
i was in the line waiting for to pay for our food. i sighed as we had been in line for 20 minutes.
"oh my goooooddddd." Chris whined.
i leaned and put my head on the steering wheel. there were two cars in front of me and after 10 minutes the first car hadn't gotten their food yet.
Madi sighed, clearly annoyed. "are they making the food out of gold?" Madi said.
"Apparent-fuckingly." i said as we waited, now it was 15 minutes.
suddenly i felt someone rub against my arm. i looked up to see Nick putting a small tripod on my dashboard.
"what the hell are you doing?" i asked.
"we need documentation. this is the first car ride with Caroline, and she is very annoyed." Nick said in a documentary type of way.
i furrowed my eyebrows.
"Caroline is currently staring at me like she's gonna smack me. please don't. she's very annoyed as we have been sitting in the car for about 37 minutes waiting to pay for our food."
"Nick why the fuck are you talking like that." chris said.
"yeah, stop." Madi said.
Nick scoffed. "y'all are no fun." he said as he reached forward and grabbed the camera and stopped recording.
"you need to be in our car videos." Matt said.
"oooo, yes. then we can like introduce her because in that video we filmed you can't see her." Chris said, almost excited.
"oh, yeah, it's official our next car video we're picking you up at 12 am and you are filming with us." Nick said.
"oh god, now you're stuck, they won't let you leave even if you try." Madi said with a chuckle.
i widened my eyes while furrowing my eyebrows. "the fuck?" i whispered as i looked away from them all and back in front of me to finally see the car in the very front moving, now finally getting their food.
"jesus fuck! finally!" Nick shouted.
~~~
"please Caroline, please, please, pleaseeee." Nick whined. he was trying to convince me to take him to the mall.
i groaned and put my forehead on the steering wheel.
"do you have your own money?"
"yeah."
"fine." i said as i sat back up and waited for the red light to turn green.
once it did i merged lanes and headed towards the mall, Matt telling me where to go.
once we got there we all got out and walked up to the mall entrance. Nick ran off dragging Madi and Matt with him. i laughed and waved them off while Madi looked at me with a face that said "please help me." it made me chuckle.
"i know we just ate but you need to try this bakery's cookies, they are so good." Chris said as he grabbed my wrist and took me over to a small corner shop bakery.
there were two other people in front of us in line and it didn't take long before it was our turn.
"two christmas tree sugar cookies please." he said as he pulled out a 10 dollar bill. the woman running the shop grabbed two cookies and wrapped them in napkins and handed one to me and one to Chris.
"that'll be $10." she said with a sweet smile. it kind of reminded me of my grandma. Chris handed her the money and we left to go sit down.
we sat across from each other and Chris waited for me to take a bite of my cookie.
"i have to get your reaction." he said as he patiently waited. i scoffed and smiled as i took a bite of it.
my eyes widened. holy shit. this thing was amazing.
chris smiled and shook his head. "i told ya so."
"oh my god." i said as i took another bite making Chris smile.
"So Caroline, where are you from? and why the hell would you move to Boston."
i scoffed. "well, i moved here to...uhm..." i said, unsurely. i mean the real reason i moved here was to get away from my mom. to start a new life where she wasn't in it. leave all my past behind me, but every god damn call she makes to me it reminds me even more and more of what life was like back home.
chris gave me a confused look. "is everything alright?" he asked.
"yeah!" i said. "i moved here, well, because, i wanted to start over. i like the school and i love the city. it was a dream of mine for a long time." i explained.
Chris smiled a little. "well where are you from?"
"Kentucky." i said.
his eyes widened. "holy, shit. why did you move all the way over there to all the way over here?" he asked.
well it's because my mother is a manipulative emotionally and verbally abusive asshole who traumatized me, and my dad left because he didn't want to be father.
that's what i wish i could say, but i couldn't. i just met him. and i can't dump on someone like that. it's wrong.
"new start, i guess." i said as i took another bite of my cookie.
"well how do you like it so far?" he asked.
"i love it. i mean i've only been here for like 2 or 3 days and i already have, what? 4 friends? i count that as a win." i said.
Chris seemed happy, i mean a sweet happy. like a "awe, really?" kind of happy.
"you consider us friends?" he asked.
okay now i was nervous. were we not? did i overstep? am i too early? did i say something wrong?
i guess Chris could see my nervousness as he said, "it's nice. i mean i should probably start hanging out with other people other than my brothers." he said with a chuckle and i relaxed. Chris looked down at his cookie and then up at me.
i froze under his eyes. now i was nervous for a different reason. butterflies.
i broke away from his eyes and looked somewhere else. "uh, how about we go shopping. i am in desperate need of new clothes." i said, quickly.
"sure, that'll be fun. i can show you around, since i'm guessing Kentucky is a lot different than here." he said. "but before we do that i will finish this cookie." he said excitedly as he took a huge bite making me snort.
Madi was right, i do like these boys.
***