"I can't believe we don't have to take the smelly bus," Angie declared the moment she got into Michael's Honda. She had been in a surprisingly good mood since she woke up this morning and realized that Michael was driving them to school today. Well, good was an understatement. She was glowing.
"You've said that a hundred times," Michael commented as he got behind the wheel. Angie was the first one in the car, as she decided to take the front passenger seat the moment, he unlocked the car. No one knew why she was in such a hurry when it was obvious that Ryan and Evan were going to want to sit together. Neither of her friends reminded her of that, though, not spoiling her joy.
"And I'll say it again because it's awesome," she replied without hesitation. "I could get used to it."
"Don't even think about it," Michael answered promptly, starting the car.
"I don't know what's bothering you about the bus," Evan joined the conversation. "You've never complained before."
"I've never had the chance to be driven to school by car before," was her instant reply.
"And you never will again," the driver declared.
"Rude." Though she frowned, the grimace on her face didn't last long, and she was immediately back to looking out the window enthusiastically as if she hadn't been down this road a million times.
"Can we put on some music?" Evan asked, noticing that Michael had the aux cord plugged in. Instead of answering, he handed him the cord. However, Evan quickly realized that playing music wouldn't be the best idea, since his phone was almost dead, and he had to save his remaining battery if he planned to use it at school.
"You can use mine," Ryan suggested immediately, plugging in his phone without waiting for a response. When he unlocked the screen, Evan was about to blush as he saw a picture of them together with the white ball of fur. Luckily, he controlled his expression, but a small smile appeared on his face anyway.
"Thanks." He took his phone from Ryan and opened the music app. He and his mate didn't have the same taste in music, but it wasn't that different. While Ryan mainly listened to older rock bands like the Foo Fighters or Oasis, Evan preferred more pop-punk bands. One thing they did agree on, however, was Paramore.
"Oh, I love this song," Angie declared as the first notes of the guitar rang out.
"Me too," Ryan admitted, and Evan smiled delightedly to himself.
"It's alright," Michael said, concentrating on driving.
"What music are you listening to?" Angie picked up the conversation right away.
"He likes Radiohead," Ryan answered for him when he didn't respond for a long time.
"Really?" Angie looked genuinely surprised. "What's your favourite song by them?"
"Fake Plastic Trees," he mumbled, not elaborating on his answer.
"What about your favourite singer?" Angie seemed intrigued by Michael's taste in music and decided to find out more.
"Gary Jules," Michael again answered curtly.
"I don't know who that is." She frowned. Michael didn't explain any further, though, just shrugged.
"If you've ever heard the song Mad World, you know who he is," Ryan informed her, and Angie's expression immediately changed.
"Oh, I know that. Wow, you have a really interesting taste," she declared, and when she saw Michael frown and give her a brief look with a raised eyebrow, she added, "I mean that in a good way." He just shook his head at her words and went back to driving.
"We should play the Song Association Words Game sometime." Angie decided that there must not be a second of silence in the car and immediately found a way to continue the conversation.
"I don't know what that is," Michael muttered, but this time he didn't look at her.
"Oh, it's a game that celebrities play, but you can find it on the Internet too. Basically, you get a word, and you have to sing the song it's in within a few seconds," she explained. "We used to play it with Evan all the time."
Evan turned to the window for a moment, embarrassed by her statement, but then told himself that he had nothing to hide from the two of them anyway as they'd seen him in worse situations.
"Sounds fun," Ryan told her with a smile. "We can play it at the next sleepover."
Angie immediately turned to him with a huge grin, clearly thrilled with his idea. "Okay." Then her expression quickly turned determined, and she pointed a finger at Michael. "I'm gonna win this game."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Michael replied, not hiding his amusement. He still remembered her disastrous loss at UNO.
Angie snorted as if offended by his words, but again her change of mood didn't last long. "Your mom can play too, of course," she declared enthusiastically.
Michael shook his head but said nothing in response.
The next few minutes were in a similar vein. Angie was enthusiastic about every topic, and Ryan matched her vibe. Evan was amused watching the two of them, but at the same time, the sight made him a little emotional. He'd never doubted that the two of them would get along, but watching the ease with which they made friends, he couldn't help but be pleased.
Michael on the other hand was a man of few words. However, he didn't seem to mind their constant talking or the fact that he had to drive. Quite the opposite. He seemed to more than enjoy driving the car. Evan had no idea if he'd ever seen him this relaxed.
"Lola texted me," Angie declared after a few more minutes. "I texted her that we were driving to school, and she texted back that if we had a way around her house, we could pick her up." Evan did not doubt that their blue-haired friend had asked if they could pick her up, but Angie immediately took it as a matter of course.
Angie immediately put on the puppy dog eyes, and from the way Michael sighed at the sight of her, it looked like her tactic had worked.
"Fine, but you're going to navigate me."
Angie squealed happily and immediately agreed. She then turned back to the phone and began tapping away at it eagerly.
"Do you mind?" Ryan leaned over to Evan and whispered in his ear so the other two couldn't hear. Evan didn't understand his question at first, but then it dawned on him. Ryan was making sure he didn't mind if his friend knew about the two of them. It was nice of him to reassure ahead of time, but Evan had long ago decided that he wasn't going to pretend in front of anyone. He planned to spend his whole life with his mate, and he didn't care who knew about it.
"No, I don't mind. I'm glad you're getting to know another friend of mine," he replied sincerely, taking advantage of Ryan leaning in to kiss him. It was a short kiss, but when they pulled away, both their eyes were shining, and smiles played on their faces.
"Awww," came from the front and Evan rolled his eyes, not taking his eyes off his mate. Ryan, on the other hand, laughed and leaned back in his seat. However, he didn't break their gaze either and gave Evan an adorable look that, combined with the fact that he looked like a puppy with his head tilted, made Evan's heart skip a beat.
"Turn right at the next crossroads," Angie announced, and Michael nodded, letting her know he heard her.
"You'll love Lola, by the way," Angie said, directing her words at Michael. He looked at her with a look that said he doubted her statement.
"She's actually right," Evan supported her argument. "Lola gets along with everyone. She looks crazy at first, but you'd be surprised how smart and empathetic she is".
"She'd do anything for her friends," Angie added. "Kinda like you."
Even though Evan was sitting right behind him, he saw Michael's face blush at the compliment. However, he decided not to comment and pretended not to have seen it.
"At the next crossroads, turn right again and when you reach the supermarket, turn left and go straight on."
While Wonderwall was playing, they reached Lola's Street.
At first, she was nowhere to be seen, but then a girl with blue hair ran out of one of the houses and stood on the edge of the pavement.
"It's her," Angie declared, and although Michael gave her a quick look that said he'd figured it out long ago, he didn't say anything out loud.
Michael parked right next to her easily and Ryan automatically moved over to the middle seat to make room for her to sit. As soon as Lola saw her best friend through the window, she opened the back door of the car without hesitation and got in.
"Hey guys," she greeted cheerfully, closing the door carefully behind her.
Angie and Evan greeted her first, and then Angie started to introduce the others, "This is Michael." She pointed at the driver. "And this is Ryan. We have told you about them."
"Nice to meet you guys. Angie and Evan have talked about you, but we all thought you were just a myth," Lola chuckled.
"As if we can't have friends in North Hallson," Angie chimed in instantly.
"We don't have any other friends in North Hallson," Evan pointed out right away.
"Nice to meet you too," Ryan interjected, turning to the girl next to him, not hiding his amusement. Michael nodded his head in agreement with his cousin's statement.
Lola chuckled, used to the chaos of her friends, and automatically joined in the next conversation.
"I heard you moved to North Hallson." Her words were addressed to the boy next to her.
"Yes, I did," he confirmed. "I'm originally from Manvale."
"That's cool. I've never been there," she continued.
"You're not missing out on anything," he laughed briefly. "It is pretty much the same as North Hallson. Not a lot of people, more community oriented."
She nodded, acknowledging what he'd said, but before she could say more, another song began to play, and she paused.
"Oh, I know this one," she declared but then frowned and knitted her brows. "I can't remember what it's called."
"I can check," Ryan suggested when nobody offered any assistance. Everyone seemed to know the song, but no one knew the name.
The black-haired boy reached for his phone. Lola automatically leaned in to look at it and the first thing she saw when he unlocked the screen was his wallpaper.
"Is that your cat? It's so adorable," she gushed immediately. "Although I never thought I'd see Evan next to a cat."
"Her name's Marshmallow," he began to explain. "I found her on the street and kept her. Evan adores her."
"Adores is a strong word," Evan countered immediately.
Ryan turned to him with a look of disbelief, and Evan rolled his eyes but didn't correct his statement. "Whatever."
"She's really the cutest." Lola got his attention back and he turned to her with a smile. Then, remembering what he wanted to show her on the phone, he opened the music app and read out the title of the song.
"That's why it sounded familiar," she chuckled.
"It's horrible," Michael said for the first time since Lola got into the car.
Angie immediately gave him a horrified look, clearly disagreeing with his statement, and Lola also looked more than surprised.
"What? How?" Angie looked distraught with his statement and needed answers.
"It sounds exactly like People Are Strange," Michael explained briefly.
"I don't know that one," Lola responded, and Angie agreed, "I've never heard of that."
Michael sighed and gave his cousin an indication of what he wanted with one look. Of course, Ryan understood right away and started tapping on the phone. A few seconds later, the first song was replaced by a second that indeed sounded very similar.
"Holy shit," Lola declared. "You really know your way around."
Michael seemed speechless again, not knowing how to respond to the compliments, so he just nodded silently, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Michael's dad is a big music fan. If I'm not wrong, he still has a record player somewhere," Ryan revealed.
"Really? That's so cool." Lola looked very delighted with this discovery.
"Olivia has good taste," Angie said and Michael turned to her with a look of annoyance. This was clearly not a conversation for him.
"Olivia is his mom," Evan explained to Lola before turning back to the front. "And I agree."
"You two need to stop crushing on my mum," Michael said in a tone that didn't allow for any objections.
"But she's awesome," Angie whined.
"You have a crush on his mum?" Lola looked amused.
"You would too if you knew her." Angie leaned over to her, her face serious.
Michael sighed but didn't argue further, as he sensed that it would be pointless anyway. Fortunately, Angie also understood that she had reached Michael's limit and changed the subject to small talk.
Talking about practically nothing, they reached the street where their school was located.
"You don't have to drive to the gate," Angie said, and Michael automatically obeyed, turning to the kerb where a few cars were already parked.
Angie opened the door first and was surprised when Michael did the same. He immediately noticed her confused look and simply explained, "I don't need to see the lovebirds say goodbye."
Angie gave Evan a quick look as if she didn't know how to react with Lola there, but Evan handled the situation in his own way. He also reached for the door handle and got out of the car first. The others immediately followed and walked around the car to be on the pavement.
"We can make out wherever we want," Evan said with a smirk before turning to Ryan. He decided to prove his words and, ignoring the others, kissed his boyfriend. Ryan didn't resist at all and automatically wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him closer.
"Cute, but I don't need to see it firsthand. We'll wait nearby," Angie said, but neither of them responded to reassure her that they had heard.
Evan assumed she did what she said, so he just continued to devote himself to his mate. They shared a few more kisses before deciding that was enough for now and pulled away from each other with a smile.
"I'm going to miss you, Lightwood," Ryan said, cupping his face with his hand.
"I'll miss you too, Bane," Evan replied immediately. He got used to them being cheesy a long time ago and surprisingly didn't mind. Furthermore, he saw their expression of missing the other as an intermediate step before moving on to another way of expressing their feelings. However, they still had plenty of time for that. At least according to Evan.
Michael cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. They both turned their heads to look at him and Ryan removed his hand from Evan's cheek.
"If you want to make it to school, we have to go." His words were addressed to his cousin, and he immediately nodded.
"See you after school?" He turned to Evan.
"Of course," he agreed immediately with a smile, receiving another quick kiss as a reward.
Fortunately, there were no further delays after that and while the Saunders made their way back to the car, the three friends headed off to school.
"You look cute together," Lola commented after a few steps, and Evan was relieved. However, he had no doubt that there were questions to be answered later.