This is probably my favourite chapter ever!!!! We get to know the group a lot better ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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To say that Sebastian brought us a feast would be an understatement.
He got us seven x-large pizzas with all kinds of toppings, lots and lots of fries (I mean, who doesn't love fries), loads of drinks and milkshakes, about 500 pieces of chicken nuggets, and even fried chicken.
"Ok everyone." He started as soon as he came through the door, "I would first like to say that if you ever want to go buy food, never take these two famine-stricken jerk faces. They will literally make you spend two hundred and twenty nine dollars and fifty five cents on food that is bound to finish in half an hour." He finished, glaring at Jace and Ashton who had their faces stuffed with nuggets.
"You spent how much on food?!" Said Jaycee.
"We're a lot of people Jay-kay! And besides, half of this is going to be eaten by these two knuckleheads. I'm sorry to ask but do your parents feed you food?" Said Sebastian as he put the food on the floor.
"We're growing kidsh man! Cut ush shome shlack!" Answered Jace, his mouth half filled with too many things to name. I don't think half of that was food.
"Kids? No, you passed kids at 12 when your growth sprout took steroids and skyrocketed. Whatever, anyways. Let's sit down and eat." Said Sebastian, amusement in his eyes.
"Why'd you let them make you buy all that anyways?" Asked Aaron, taking some of the bags from him. "They didn't even help you with the bags."
"Do you know what the cashier lady said to me? She said, I'm sorry to intervene sir, but I know a place where you can take your children to get treated. They won't charge for money if their case is too serious; so I'm sure you won't be paying anything. I'm very happy to see young fathers taking pride in their sons even if they're mentally incapable. I could even give you the number if you like.
If I said no to anything they said they wanted, I would've been glared at for denying cheap food to a couple of mentally disabled children. I was literally about to tell her 'if you know people in such high places why are you working as a cashier lady at McDonalds?' Damn people can never mind their business."
Jace and Ashton laughed so hard the food that used to be in their mouths is now all across the floor.
"Hey! Gross! We were supposed to eat on there!!" Said Brenda, scrunching her face in disgust.
Meanwhile, Jaycee and Aaron took the bags and went to the proper dining room; chuckling to themselves.
"Ok children. Get up, we need to go fill your tummies so I can put you two to sleep; preferably til graduation." Said Sebastian, dragging Jace and Ashton by the collar of their shirts like little puppies.
That sight got me laughing so much. I love how they always make me forget whatever issues I'm going through.
A side hug took me out of my thoughts.
"I'm really sorry for anything you had to go through Lexi. But I promise that we'll always stay by you. I know you know that." Said Brenda.
I didn't know what to say. Actually I didn't need to say anything.
Brenda was actually the first one to welcome me to our little group. She introduced me to everything related to that school, she introduced me to Sabrina and even invited me countless times for a girls only type of nights. We bonded over our love for Twilight and Harry Potter and over our unhealthy obsession with crime and medical drama. We even volunteered at the same hospital all through summer before senior year. Our bond isn't as solid as Sabrina and I, but it is very strong and will always have a special place in my heart.
She always has my back; going as far as standing up to Brad. Ya that's a whole story on it's own, but all I could say is that with a few karate moves, he was done for. She never left my side when I got sick during spring break, and when her parents weren't home from ages on end, she'll stay at mine. She was always by me until I memorized the school and stopped accidentally ending up in the boys locker room.
By the way, they need to burn that place down to the ground because the smell is just like a dead and decomposed body was stuck there. Ugh.
Actually no, dead and decomposed sounds like an upgrade.
There are white, brown and black stains from Lord knows what, it ALWAYS smells like a sardine gave birth to twenty sets of triplets and they all died in a hidden hole somewhere. Add that to the stink of their sweat ( I mean what the hell did they even eat to perspire that nastiness?) and above all, their lame excuse of a spray deodorant.
My stomach just flipped thinking about it.
I snapped back to reality.
I hugged her back, and when I looked at her, the look of pain and sorrow returned.
"Is everything alright Brenda? I know that there's something you want to tell me. Please, what is it?" I say, feeling her almost torn between wanting to say and not wanting to.
"Can I tell you later? This isn't really going to work with us on an empty stomach." She said, smiling; not quite reaching her eyes
"Yeah. Sure, ok. Let's go before we're left with nothing but burned crusts and half eaten chicken bones. We both laughed as we headed towards the dining room.
"So, what's been happening with you guys? Anyone heard from any university yet?" Asked Sebastian, munching on about twenty pieces of fries at once.
"Why don't we all say in turn, we start with Brenda and go clockwise." I said, because I know how competitive they could get when it came to who could talk louder.
"Well, I applied to Yale, Stanford, UCLA and Harvard for Biomedical Sciences, Biology, and even Immunology. I hope I get into at least one of them." She said, poking her chicken with a fork.
"Why don't you sound so thrilled? You've been doing nothing but screaming about it like a fan girl on crack ever since we started planning for college in grade ten." Said Jaycee, half his face covered with barbecue sauce and ketchup.
"For the love of dear God! I'm not taking you anywhere in public with me if you keep eating like a starved animal!" I screamed at him as I threw about twenty tissues his way.
Jaycee just stuck out his tongue and cleaned his face, probably eating the tissues as well.
Now we know who's sitting at the kid's table at any wedding we go to; even his own.
"Well, my parents have gone AWOL again, and it just kills me that they're not even there for the whole process. It has been nothing but them leaving voicemails and me answering them. I miss having someone to tell me that they're proud of me or proud of what I've achieved. Sharing it by myself isn't as exhilarating as it seems."
"But we're here with you. Always have been since we were in day care. And yes Alexis you count as being here for that long. Anyways. You can share it all with us and you could always count on us being so proud of the person you've become. We're with you now and forever." Said Aaron, giving her a megawatt smile.
We all agreed in unison. Some just nodding because the food stuffed so deep down their pie hole would've choked them if they spoke.
She just chuckled, a single tear falling. Jace erased it for her and gave her a big, wide ketchup/barbecue sauce smothered grin. She smiled at him and patted his hand, sharing a pure moment.
I noticed that, and for the first time, a sparkle in Jace's eyes that I've never seen before. Of course no one else could notice it because for some deranged reason there was food up to his eyeballs.
Of course Sebastian noticed that. The pizza slice he was holding was half way to his mouth when it stopped mid air. He eyed the two of them, raised his eyebrows, then continued eating like nothing was going on.
No one else seemed to notice that but Jaycee and I. We shared a look, and he just shrugged his shoulders and continued butchering that poor piece of chicken.
"I love you guys so much. Thank you." She said, finally taking a bite of her food.
Everyone looked at Jace, waiting for him to continue.
He looked so lost as he stared at all of us.
"What?!"
Everyone continued to just stare.
"Oh! Shorry!"
He held a finger for about twenty second so he could get the food down his eating pipe without suffocating.
"I don't know if you guys know much about me..."
"We've known you for twelve years! And you've been a nut job for eleven point five of those." Said Ashton.
"I've already apologized for that. Yeesh. Give a guy a break! Anyways, you all know that my parents are architects and that their other descendants are also architects..."
"You mean your brothers and sister?" Asked Sabrina, chuckling.
"Ya them whatever. To-may-to, to-mah-to Reena.
Anyways, I'm also expected to go on their path, and my artistic skills are as good as Ashton's table manners; nada, non-existant. So I told them that I want to go into chemical engineering instead. Of course, it didn't sit well with them because who the hell am I to break their family's treasured legacy and be the ugly duckling.
So now, instead of having to deal with the disappointment that is their son, they chose to travel the world. To forget I exist. You know what I think? I think that as soon as I move in to the dorms of whichever university that will take me, they'll come back home. But whatever, I have everyone I need in this room anyways." He said, looking at all of us.
He looked at a particular someone longer than everyone else.
"So yeah. That's me." He said, looking a little down. That lasted for about a quarter of a second before he attacked another nugget.
"Well I guess that leaves me next." Said Ashton.
"As you know my dad is one of the biggest defence attorneys in the country apparently and my mom is a plastic surgeon. Of course, since I'm an only child..."
"...each wants you to go down their own path of misery." Finished Jace for him.
I am loving the bond that they're sharing.
"Yeah. So now I'm left with either upsetting one of the dynamic duo, or just going with what I want, which isn't much. In their eyes anyways." He said, sort of depressed, sort of not caring.
"Well what do you want? Because that's what matters the most." Asked Sebastian.
"I want to be an elementary school teacher." He said with a huge smile.
"You still can't get over that crush you had on Miss Jenna can you?!" Said Jaycee, laughing. Everyone else joined.
"What?! Our grade four Humanities teacher?!" Said Sabrina.
"Hey! She thought I was special! She even gave me her favourite strawberry scented erasers!" Defended Ashton.
"And that was supposed to be a secret!" He hissed back at Jaycee.
"Sorry to burst your bubble buddy, but she gave those to everyone. And we were kids, she thought we were all special." Said Brenda, wiping her imaginary tears.
"No matter. That's what I want to be. Let's just hope my parents accept that." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
"They really love you Ash. Just talk to them, I'm sure they'll understand." Said Jaycee, throwing him an air high five.
"Wow!" Started Aaron, wiping his hands and mouth with a tissue; always the human from the male species of our group.
"Just when I come to the conclusion that I'm the weird one in the group, y'all open your mouth. Then I realize that I'm actually doing great!"
"Yeah yeah. Just spill to us your misery you freak of nature!" Said Ashton, taking a sip from his vanilla milkshake. He even managed to spill that on his shirt. He's using a straw!
"Well, I want to study business administration. I applied to a few Ivy League universities - which I won't get into by the way - and I also applied to UCLA as my fall back plan. I'm okay with it, my parents are fine with it. So life is perfectly fine." Said Aaron, the only one with a normal domestic home and a great school life.
"Spotlight shine on me please. Hi everyone my name is Jayc.."
"Can you get on with it? No intros needed! We grew up with your ugly face!" Said Ashton, throwing a french fry at him; he caught it and ate it.
"Well you all know my dad's a police guy high up in the hierarchy and mommy dearest is a famous novelist..."
"Making her pen name Rose Royce is probably the smartest thing ever!" Said Brenda.
"Well it is her middle name. Anyway, Sebastian is a police officer.."
"If you use the term officer very loosely." Said Jace, avoiding a nugget thrown his way by Sebastian.
"So as I was saying, my brother is a cop, my dad is a cop, my other married brother is a university professor. That being said, little Jaycee can not deviate from the family path of success..."
"Wait. So Sebastian is considered successful?!" Mused Ashton, ducking just in time before a pizza crust made contact with his precious hair.
"Hahahah yes. For some reason. Anyway, that being said, I decided to go into Civil Engineering with a minor in Urban and Regional Planning." He finally finished, happy at his decision.
"I might even get married before that." He said, winking at me.
I smiled, blushed, melted, died. That is how this duphos makes me feel.
"Wow, that's an amazing major and a great choice!" Said Sabrina.
"Yeah, thanks for making me look bad. Nerd!" Said Sebastian, crossing his arms and pouting.
"You did that all on your own buddy." Said Jace, enjoying taunting the poor guy.
"Ok!" Interjected Sabrina before they start a world war three food fight.
"Well you know my mommy died fifteen years ago due to cancer. Ever since, my dad - who is an accountant- has been to himself, until he met Georgette. My amazing step mom is a dentist and because of her that's what I want to get into." She said, her smile reflecting her passion.
"So you're gonna get paid to make holes in people's teeth?" Asked Jace.
"Pretty much. Yeah!" She replied, eating her burger.
I was too busy being a proud mother that I didn't notice that it was my turn.
"What about you princess?" Said Jace.
"Hey! No one calls my girl princess except for me!" Said Jaycee, glaring at Jace. Poor kid.
"Well having the ultimate crappy life, I am deciding that I will take a year off, to just travel the world and be with my parents and twin brother.."
I was interrupted when a loud knock shook the fragile walls of the house.
"Who the hell is that?!" Said Jaycee.
"I thought that no one was supposed to know that we're here!" Said Jace.
Everyone was panicking and shuffling and distressed. All but one person.
Officer Royce.
"You kids stay here. It's Officer McDaniels, he's here to help us with the tracking.
He got up, opened the door and let in a freezing Officer McDaniels.
We let him in, gave him some food and after he ate, he took out his laptop to triangulate my brother's location.
We all huddled around him to get a good look at what he was doing.
"Ok I can't work with all you people breathing chicken breaths into my ear. And you," he said, pointing at Jace and Ashton, "stop burping because it is nauseating. Damn."
Jace was about to say something when the computer beeped.
Officer McDaniels spun around and was analyzing the screen.
"This can't be accurate."
"What's that?" Said Sebastian.
"The signal of that cell phone. It's here."
"What do you mean here?!"
"I mean here. In this house!"
Soooo whataya Guys think of this chapter???