Just as they said, we decided to order pizza as soon as we arrived at the house. After saying 'hello' to the rest of the guys, I went outside to call my parents and tell them that I'd arrived safely.
"Yes, mom," I said for the fifth time. "No, mom, I'll be fine. I'm okay."
My mom rambled on about being safe in the streets, eating the right foods, meeting the right people...
"California's far away, Aubri," she said. "Remember that I can't always be there for you anymore."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, mom I know-"
I was interrupted by the sound of the back door opening behind me. From inside the house, Nick walked out with a smile.
"Um," he said quietly. "We're ordering right now. What do you want?"
I was just about to answer when my mom's voice echoed from my phone. "Is that Nick?"
He laughed before answering, "Hey, Mrs. Davis. How've you been?"
I clicked speaker mode before handing the phone to him. He smiled as he talked; laughing at her not-funny jokes, agreeing with whatever she said, promising to take care of me for her, promising to call her later to update her about my life in case I didn't tell her everything.
I watched him as he did what he did. For a moment, it was like we were dating all over again. My mom loved Nick more than she loved me. She'd be the happiest when he'd come over, she'd cook her best meals, she wanted him around more than anyone else. And she was really disappointed when we broke up.
"Well, Mrs. Davis," Nick smiled. "I'll take care of Aubri as best as I can."
"Okay, Nick," she said. I could hear her happiness through the phone. "Thank you."
With that, she hung up.
"Once again, I'm pretty sure you're her favorite child." I sighed. "Even though you're not her child, you're still her favorite."
He laughed and sat on the step beside me. I looked at the ground, but I could feel his eyes on me. I pretended not to notice.
"We're okay, right?" He said after a while.
I smiled. "Of course."
"Well, in that case...."
Before I could object, Nick swung me around his shoulders and ran inside the house. I screamed in laughter, asking him over and over again to let me down. I hoped that the rest of the guys would convince him to let me go, but they went along with it.
Zion pulled out his phone and recorded the whole thing while blasting music through speakers, laughing and encouraging Nick. Brandon ran around us in circles, smacking me lightly with pillows from the sofa. Edwin picked up a pan and a spoon from the kitchen and started hitting them against each other, and Austin stood in the corner, laughing while eating yogurt.
But as soon as the doorbell rang, Nick set me down onto the floor, Zion put his phone in his pocket, Brandon stopped running, Edwin threw the pan and spoon to the side, Austin set down his yogurt, and we all ran to the door.
We were just about the reach the door handle when Zion tripped. He flew face first towards the floor, knocking down Brandon and Edwin at the same time. The rest of us stood with our hands covering our mouths in shock, laughing. Nick opened the door to see the delivery guy looking at us in concern. We thanked him for the pizzas, paid him, then closed the door.