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[color=silver][indent][indent][indent][i][color=AD5050]“Hey Valeria! You ready?”[/color][/i] Although the boy looked tired and confused, he’d plastered on a smile when looking up at her.

From her position in the front steps of her California home, Valeria Drake had watched her friend Nathan Matthews pull up into the driveway and step out of what would be their home for the next few weeks. As soon as AJ had proposed they all take a cross country road trip to enjoy, Val had been one of the first ones to jump in. It had been an amazing idea in her eyes: just her and the rest of the boys having a grand old time before life inevitably got in the way. J had been vague in saying which boys specifically would be joining them on their trip- which was understandable of course, since it wasn’t exactly a weekend thing. But as long as she had their company, she was certain it would be a time to remember. 

[color=D52759]"As ready as I'll ever be,"[/color] she answered with a shrug and a smile, giving Nathan a tight hug before skipping to the van, her skateboard safely tucked under her arm. As soon as she settled comfortably in the passenger seat, she placed both her backpack and the skateboard on the vehicle floor in front of her.

Nathan opened the door and placed Val’s bags in the back beside the breathing pile of duffle bags with an eye-roll. Letting out a big sigh as he made his way back into the driver’s seat.

[color=D52759]"Thank you so much for doing this, by the way,"[/color] the short girl said to Nate once he was back in his own seat. [color=D52759]"I don't know why J couldn't fucking do it all of a sudden."[/color]

[color=AD5050]“No worries…”[/color] he hummed as he put on his seat belt, started the engine and got on the road again.[color=AD5050] “Uh yeah… I don’t know the text he sent me wasn’t very explanatory, as usual, you know?”[/color] he commented with a smile. Looking down at his wrist he saw that they actually had more time than he thought they had.

[color=AD5050]“So do you guys… ehr,”[/color] Nate shot the pile of bags a quick side-eye stare. [color=AD5050]“I mean do [i]you[/i] want to stop for coffee or something? We’re ahead of schedule actually… AJ said that they have it covered but… I doubt it.”[/color]  

[color=D52759]"Nah, it's cool,"[/color] Val said with a dismissive hand gesture. [color=D52759]"Clara and I had a lovely breakfast together consisting of eggs and Mickey-shaped chocolate chip pancakes,"[/color] she laughed, feeling a momentary pang in her chest at how much she would miss her baby sister during this trip. [color=D52759]"Can we stop at a gas station to get some snacks, though?"[/color]

Without thinking he jabbed his thumb to the back of the van [color=AD5050]“Oh we’re fully stocked back there so if you want to have a look and see-”[/color] Just as the sentence had left him he scrunched up his face. Sorry, Leon, it’s too late now [color=AD5050]“Uhm… Or I mean yeah...”[/color] he tried to backpedal.

[color=D52759]“Why the fuck are you acting so weird?”[/color] Valeria asked him, the annoyance obvious in her voice. The brunette suspiciously narrowed her eyes at Nathan.  She hadn’t missed the way he’d addressed her earlier by ‘you guys’ instead of just ‘you’, as if there was somebody else in the van with them. She had played it off, of course, because maybe it was a mistake. But now? With how squirrelly he was acting and the way he nervously scrunched up his face when he mentioned checking the back, it was obvious that something was going on.

[color=AD5050]“No! Don’t… fuck... whatever”[/color] Nathan tried to help his friend before giving up and deciding to concentrate on the road instead. 

Frowning, the young woman got up from her seat and easily made her way to the back of the van (one of the few times where her short stature came in handy). Upon first glance, nothing suspicious came up. But when she picked up one of the duffle bags to make a more thorough examination, she let out a loud, high-pitched shriek.

[color=D52759]“[i]What the fuck, Leon[/i]?!”[/color] Val yelled, resisting the urge to drop the duffle bag on his dumb face or grab him by the hair and pull him out of his hiding spot.

Leon eagerly listened to the conversation as he tried to steady his breathing, but...things were clearly going south. Before he could even think ‘Nate you idiot’ (as though he himself weren’t half the idiot to this sandwich), he tried to casually play off the whole thing as though he lived there his whole life. [color=1E90FF]“Oh...hey Val, uhhh… Sour Patch Kid?”[/color] His hand awkwardly fumbled around through the snack bag grabbing a package of m&m’s instead.

[color=D52759]“Sure! Give me a handful of ‘em, so I can shove them up your ass!”[/color] she retorted, dropping the duffle bag away from Leon’s face and storming back to the passenger seat. [color=D52759]“You guys know I fucking hate surprises, and it’s way too fucking early for pranks like these.”[/color]

Nathan let out a huge scoff [color=AD5050]“Hey, leave me out of it… this was all big boy’s plan. For some good god damned reason. What’s going on with you guys anyway?!”[/color]  he asked for the second time this morning. Maybe he would get a more sufficient answer out of Valeria. 

[color=D52759]“I have no idea what you’re talking about,”[/color] she snapped, her narrowed eyes fixated on the road speeding past them and her arms crossed in front of her chest. Well [i]that[/i] was a fucking lie. There was definitely [i]something[/i] going on with her since that fateful prom night, but it wasn’t something she would ever tell Leon about- let alone Nate.

[color=AD5050]“I guess not”[/color] the driver whispered mostly to himself. He glanced quickly at Leon in the rearview mirror asking him to solve this with an intense stare. 

Leon sighed and lifted himself up from the duffles, plopping himself down on the couch in the back. [color=1E90FF]“Look...V...I know I’m...well [b]I am[/b] kind of an idiot but...it’s hard not to notice you’ve been even more socially distant than normal. I don’t know what the hell I did, but I’m sorry, okay?”[/color] He said his piece and decided to just look out the back window at the road heading away from them.

[color=D52759]“It's whatever,"[/color] she interjected dismissively, shrugging her shoulders. [color=D52759]"I'm over it. Let's move on."[/color] It was not whatever, and she was far from over it. But what was the point of bringing her feelings up other than causing unnecessary drama? They would be stuck in close quarters for weeks on end- drama was the last thing they needed.

Val’s tone implied otherwise, but Leon was the kind of guy who didn’t exactly like leaving overturned stones...unturned? Was that the saying? He wasn’t sure, but he felt pent up and needed to relieve it somehow. [color=1E90FF]“You’re right, let’s move on. Nate, stop the van.”[/color] He started grabbing both his [b]AND[/b] Nate’s luggage.

[color=AD5050]“What?!”[/color] He yelled out [color=AD5050]“We’re on the fucking highway!”[/color] he grumbled. Luckily their exit was coming up and he could pull the van over into a parking lot that far away from their meeting spot. [color=AD5050]“The fuck are you doing Leon?”[/color] he asked turning around in his seat to look at his best bro frantically grabbing their bags.

[color=1E90FF]“Getting an extra mile into my morning run, what do you think? Might as well double up on weight training too, so I’m taking your crap with me, can’t exactly have you leaving without me.”[/color] Strapping the gear over his shoulders and back like some overpacked marine/hiker he slid the door open and hopped out.

[color=D52759]“Leon, wa- !"[/color]

Slamming it shut, Leon smacked the van a couple of times before he started hustling his way down the road, [color=1E90FF]“I’ll see you both there in a few!”[/color] He needed to get away, even if it was just for a little while and running..well running was both a literal and figurative way of escaping. Nothing to focus on except the burning in your legs, the wind in your face and that little annoying drip of sweat as it makes its way down your spine and in between your butt cheeks.

Nathan just stared at the door that just slammed shut. [color=AD5050]“What. The. Fuck?”[/color] was the only thing that he could say as he turned slowly to Valeria. [color=AD5050]“Do I even [i]want[/i] to know what this is about?”[/color] Nate asked as he turned the key to start the van up again pulling out of the parking lot, continuing on down the road passing Leon and their bags jogging alongside them.

[color=D52759]"I told you: it's none of your fucking business-"[/color] Val repeated. But when she saw the death glare Nate was giving her, she groaned in resignation. [color=D52759]“Ugh, FINE! But you're gonna think it's stupid…"[/color] she croaked, looking down at her lap now. She just knew that if she didn't come right out and say it, Nate would never let it go.

[color=AD5050]“I probably will.”[/color] He tried to make light of the situation with a small laugh.

Val raised her eyes long enough to glare at him. [color=D52759]“That's not really helping."[/color]

[color=AD5050]“It can’t be that bad, can it?”[/color] he continued. That was probably not true seeing as it was something Leon had done. 

The short girl took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. [color=D52759]“He fucking friendzoned me, okay?”[/color] she admitted in defeat, the words now coming out like an overflowing river. [color=D52759]“We were sitting in his car in my driveway after prom just talking and whatever, and all of a sudden he started giving me this [i]look[/i], alright? Like he was going to kiss me or some shit. But instead of doing that, he just goes on and tells me that he loves me like a fucking sister. [i]A [b]sister[/b], okay[/i]?! Like the fucking little sister he never had...”[/color] she angrily trailed off, wishing she was somewhere where she could start kicking rocks. 

Before he could stop himself Nathan stifled a laugh as he turned into the parking lot of their high school, and was immediately smacked on the back of head by Val. He winced. [color=AD5050]"I’m sorry… it’s just. I guess we’re both in the same situation right?”[/color] he said, turning off the engine, putting the van in park and facing his short friend.

[color=D52759]“I guess this is karma’s way of getting back at me for what happened with you and Josie,”[/color] Val said with a bitter laugh, shaking her head.

[color=AD5050]“It sucks, I know… And I guess I’m [i]the[/i] last person that should be saying this… But maybe ignoring it isn’t the best way to go about this?”[/color] he queried, shrugging his shoulders.

[color=D52759]“You got a better suggestion?”[/color] she questioned back with a raised eyebrow.

[color=AD5050]“I’ll tell you what…”[/color] he began, opening the driver's side door. [color=AD5050]“We at least try to be nice to the people who rejected us… me with Josie and you with big boy. Maybe that way we can make this trip go a little smoother… Deal?”[/color] 

[color=D52759]“I mean, avoiding someone isn’t exactly being rude to them-”[/color] Val began to argue back, but groaned in protest and raised her hands in surrender at the look on Nate’s face. [color=D52759]“Okay! Fine! I’ll start being nice to him again! God…”[/color] she trailed off, rolling her eyes as she exited her side of the vehicle and slammed the door behind her.

[color=AD5050]“It’s like someone’s holding a fucking gun to your head…”[/color] he muttered quietly as he followed her out towards the middle of the parkinglot where a beast of a vehicle was blasting music. [i]That’s[/i] what AJ was calling an RV? It was a fucking double decker bus.

[color=AD5050]“Leave it up to you to go over the top, Shortstop!”[/color] He smiled broadly at AJ as he approached, slapping him on the back and leaving his arm around the shorter guy’s shoulder. He nodded hello to the rest of the group, some he moved on quicker from but he ended it with shooting Ava an extra wink. 

Valeria, who had been leading the way with an excited smile, immediately stopped dead in her tracks. She recognized the faces of AJ, Chris, Sami, Ivy and Aleks, of course- though she was still surprised to see the Russian would indeed be joining their trip. But there were also four [i]other[/i] faces in the vicinity, which all happened to belong to people Val had been ecstatic to never see in her life again. 

[color=D52759]“You can’t be fucking serious…”[/color] she muttered in disbelief, her eyes wide as she stared at each one of the females in the group: Ava, Katie, Chloe and Reyna... Suddenly, the reason why AJ had been vague about the names of the people joining them on the trip made a lot of sense. But even then, she refused to believe this was happening. It was surreal, like something straight out of her deepest, darkest nightmares.

Taking a deep breath to fight back the fury bubbling up inside her but that was probably clearly painted all over her face, Val made a beeline for AJ and tugged at his arm rather roughly. [color=D52759]“I need to talk to you alone [i][b]NOW[/b][/i].”[/color]

As AJ was ripped away from under him, Nate took a step back. [color=AD5050]“What now?”[/color] he asked no one in particular.

Just as he was about to explain why Leon was not with them he spotted the bulky young man jogging on to the parking lot. [color=AD5050]“Here he is! Enjoy the jog, knucklehead?”[/color] He asked as Leon drew closer.

Normally a half mile jog wouldn’t even faze Leon, though normally he isn’t carrying four massively packed bags full of crap on him. Regret was written on his face as he came trudging along through the parking lot up towards Nate, [color=1E90FF]“Seriously dude,”[/color] he said in between breaths, [color=1E90FF]“Did you pack your entire camera gear in these or what?”[/color] 

Smirking, Nate crossed his arms over his chest. [color=AD5050]“Yes, actually, which you might have known if you hadn't-”[/color] he began.

With complete disregard for the answer however, he unceremoniously dropped the bags from his slacking shoulders and proceeded to rip the sweat soaked hoodie attached to his flesh. 

[color=AD5050]“And there we go…”[/color] Nathan groaned as Leon exposed his naked upper body for the first (but certainly not the last) time on this trip. That was something Nate was sure of.

Using the cloth material to wipe his face, Leon continued to gulp in air as he looked at the small group of people that were already around the...holy, [color=1E90FF]“That’s a big car… S’up, peeps! You think there’s a shower in that thing?”[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent][/color]   
[hider=Leon Shirt Counter][img]https://i.imgur.com/Wjyf61j.png[/img][/hider]