“I’m sorry, but she’s not really budging,” Adam apologized to my dad through the phone, eyeing me carefully as I sat on the couch with my arms crossed, keeping my attention on the television screen.
“Yeah, we’ll join you two for a meal some other time,” he said to him, “Goodbye.”
Finally putting down the phone, he grabbed the food and marched up to me, “Alright, here’s our emergency cheering up kit,” he chuckled, dropping everything on the coffee table in front of me.
Ice cream, chips, sodas, and almost every single candy he found in the convenient store nearby was scattered on the table along with several DVDs waiting to be played.
“What did he say?” I asked, grabbing a tub of ice cream and a large spoon from the pile of goodies.
“He was disappointed but he didn’t tried to question,” he answered before raising up a couple of DVDs, “Which one.”
I smiled before plucking out Titanic from his hand and I saw him groan, “Seriously?!” he complained, “How many times have you see this movie?”
“Best friend duties,” I reminded him, pouting for some dramatic effects, “Please.”
He rolled his eyes but he stood up to prep up for our movie time.
Honestly, after I poured out my heart in front of the whole cast and crew of the movie, I felt extremely better. They fixed up my looks and prepared me for another shot which I did with less drama than the first take.
Adam was making sure I don’t have any more break downs and took the liberty to drive me home for what he calls “best friend cheering up time”. He ran to the nearest convenient store and brought every single edible thing he saw and he came back then called my father to cancel our dinner with him and Kate.
So far, he’s doing a swell job.
Adam fell on the spot next to me and started the movie. The usual first scene of Titanic came to view and he grabbed a bag of potato chips from the table, “I swear, this movie is so cheesy.”
“I live in Hollywood,” I shrugged, “Everything is cheesy.”
“Yet you’re still the same old crybaby Sophia,” he chuckled, popping a chip into his mouth.
I grabbed the throw pillow next to me and I flung it to his direction, effectively hitting the right side of his body.
“Hey!” he complained, “What was that for?”
“You promised to never talk about it again!”
He rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to the screen. I smirked, no matter how much he complained, I knew that he found Titanic interesting to some degree.
Jack saw Rose, which was what’s best about this movie. He saw her, in many more ways than one.
Halfway through the movie, the doorbell rung and I signaled to Adam that I will be the one to get it. I saw his hesitance but he grabbed the remote and paused the movie.
“Calm down, Jack, I’ll be back real quick,” I teased, standing up and walking to the front door.
The minute I opened it, Taylor came barging in with a gaze that could absolutely kill a person, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“Well, good evening to you too,” I greeted sarcastically, shutting the door behind me, “Please elaborate.”
“First the interview slip-up then I hear some news that you’re having a panic attack at the middle of a billion dollar movie set,” she droned on, pacing back and forth in my foyer, “What do you need to get you back into your zone?”
My zone?
“I mean, ever since that Brit came into the picture you’re not acting like yourself anymore.”
Oh how wrong is she. Ever since Adam, I became myself again. All Taylor was seeing is nothing more than a mask, a porcelain doll that needed the guy she liked to break her and finally see that everybody’s treating her with so much care, never allowing it to get out of the stinking dusty display case. Sometimes, the cheapest gifts will be the ones you will enjoy more.
I’m guessing Taylor doesn’t understand this. She’s the one who dusted off and wiped Heart to her perfect shine.
“He’s right in the other room,” I warned, peeking through the doorway to see that Adam decided to continue the movie without me.
It used to be like this too, when we were kids, he’ll continue a movie without me because he’s too impatient but he will rewind it again so we can watch the scenes I missed together. Of course, he will spoil the whole thing for me.
He reminds me of everything I was.
“Heart, what do you want? A new car? A beach house?” she inquired, “I’ll get it for you if you promise to get back to your game.”
“A vacation,” I blurted out all of a sudden, making her pause in her movements.
“A vacation?” she repeated, “Oh Heart, we can’t just drop everything so you can fly to the Caribbean or something.”
Whenever I’m with Taylor, all I ever do is roll my eyes at her.
“Just one weekend,” I explained further, “Just allow me to go camping or something, a little break from everything.”
She hurriedly took out her phone and scrolled through it. After a while, she sighed and looked at me in the eye, “One weekend, you know our schedule is jammed pack.”
How could I forget if you keep reminding me every second of my life?
“I’ll take it!” I grinned, “Thank you so much!”
“But there’s a catch,” she halted, “I’m coming with you.”
What the hell did she say?
“Excuse me?”
“Come on!” she groaned, dropping her professional tone, “Marcus has been practically too busy for the two of us to do anything together.”
I had hunch that this was about Brooks’ little manager.
“Go do cutesy-coupley things elsewhere,” I scoffed, “A Marcus equals an Axel, I’m not abandoning my one and only peace time for you to flirt with your little love interest.”
“Please,” she pleaded.
Honestly, I don’t see why she’s even trying this hard, we all know that Marcus is too serious to drop everything to go on a flimsy camping trip with his girlfriend and their top clients.
On the other hand, it was so rare to see Taylor like this. She loves Marcus, to the extent that she’s a whole different person with him. I know that the real Taylor is no slave driver who only thinks about business. Like Adam is to me, Marcus brings out the real Taylor.
Taylor Burns, you owe me big time.
“Fine,” I sighed.
*
*
*
The day Adam Nicholas wakes up on time is the day pigs start to fly.
Picture this, I’m all dressed up with my duffel bag slung on my shoulder and he’s still here snoring while I stare at him with nothing but disbelief.
I already knocked on his door multiple times as I was trying to get ready but nope, something like that is not going to wake him up.
“Adam!” I yelled, dropping my duffel bag before I started to shake him.
The van is about to get here and my best friend still loves the idea of sleep and making out with his bed.
“Hurry up and get up!” I groaned, pulling the blanket from his body. He curled up into a ball, but no sign of getting his lazy ass out of bed.
An idea popped into my head and I retreated to my bedroom to grab a megaphone. Fans send you the strangest of things.
Poising it near him, I turned the thing on and I yelled, “Wake up!”
He shot right up from bed, looking around the room for any sign of emergency, “What happened?”
God, that husky voice.
“They’re about to get here, forget about breakfast and get ready,” I commanded, picking up my duffel bag from the floor before I marched right out from his room.
If I stayed there for another minute, I would have lost control because damn, that bed hair was extremely attractive.
The van came beeping in after five minutes and fortunately, it was enough for Adam to wake himself up and put something decent on.
Even if I mentally prepared myself all night, I still blanked out when I saw Axel texting on his phone when I slid the door open. Marcus was driving and Taylor claimed the passenger seat, both are texting away on their phones.
How can these two expect to make any progress if they keep tapping on their phones? Scratch that, every single person was holding their own device.
“Alright, hand me all phones!” I demanded, holding out my palm.
All eyes shot to me and each held their own glare. I merely shot daggers of my own as I wriggled my finger on their faces, waiting for them to hand me their devices, “We can’t possible have a relaxing weekend if all eyes are glued to our phones.”
“What are you, our mom?” Axel snorted, and honestly, I shut my mouth.
The scene kept replaying in mind, the fact he apologized to me. He said he was sorry, and all the more made me strong enough to endure his teases. My temper grew and I no longer snap at the sight of him. I blank out a lot more, though.
“Come on,” I urged. Adam handed me his and I smiled at him, he’s making up for his little waking up episode.
I stared at Marcus and Taylor, they looked at each other before sighing in defeat and handing me their phones.
Great, now all we have is Axel.
“Do it, Axel,” Marcus said from the front. After a hard look at me, he finally placed his phone on top of the ones already resting on my hands.
“Oh look, I never thought you were actually mature enough to do it,” I couldn’t help myself but shoot him a little banter.
“Whatever mom,” he rolled his eyes.
“Are you really going to stick to the mom joke?”
Adam hopped inside the van and I followed the suit, we sat right behind Axel who laid down on his spot.
“I’m hungry!” Adam complained, looking around if we were ever going to pass a drive-thru.
“It’s your fault for waking up late,” I laughed at his face, he looked like a lost puppy.
“You’re really like the mom,” Axel shot at me and I glared at the back of his head.
“Stop it, Brooks!”
He turned his head and smirked at me, “Make me, mom.”
God, he’s annoying.
“I’m about to slap you with my shoe,” I gritted out.
“You wouldn’t do that to me, right mommy?”
A light bulb lit up and I smirked, “If I’m your mom, then you have to do anything that I say.”
“Who says that I listen to my mom?” he countered, his smirk growing bigger.
“Please, I’m pretty sure that you’re a complete mama’s boy.”
Taylor turned her head to look at us, “Are you two really going to argue the whole way?”
Before Axel or I can say a smart remark, Adam suddenly blurted out, “Mcdonald!”
Marcus took a quick left to the Macdonald’s drive-thru, that’s when Adam pushed himself forward to order himself some breakfast.
“Gonna get some food, piglet?” Axel teased when I tried to see the menu.
“No!” I protested, “I’m perfectly good.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, “It seems like you’re starting to get soft around the belly.”
Oh no he didn’t just say that!
“I’m about to rip that hair out of your head, pretty boy!”
“Big Mac please,” Adam cut off our argument.
Marcus let out a small chuckle, “This might actually be an entertaining trip.”
“With Heart and Axel, this is already a crowd,” Taylor said, “Adding little Adam boy, this is just a recipe for disaster.”
Looking at the four people stuck in the vehicle with me, I might conclude that this will not be as peaceful as I thought, but I agree with Marcus, this will be surely an entertaining trip.
-------------------
*Waves awkwardly* So guys, hey. Please put down your pitch forks and torches, I'm a horrible person, I know. I was extremely busy guys, I literally struggled to find time to actually sit down and relax. I just came back from the airport today and I'm already typing a chapter. This is how special you guys are to me.
So how are you, I missed you all so much! A month? Really, that's the longest I haven't updated, not counting the time I placed this story on-hold.
Question: Expectations for the camping trip?
I'm so sorry, I'm a horrible author!