25| The Truth Will Be Revealed

    "MOM, for the thousandth time— I have everything that I need!" I exclaimed.

    For the past hour, my mom had been going through my suitcase making sure that everything on her list was there. Yes, she had her own list for what I needed to pack. And now, right as Jeremy, Cayden and I were about to leave to go pick everyone else up, my mom was checking once again. She was seriously paranoid.

    "Like everything everting?" She asked, ruffling through her messy, black hair. "Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, underwear—"

    "Mom!" I yelled, and I heard Jeremy and Cayden laughing behind me. I turned around to shoot them a death glare before facing my mom and taking a deep breath. "We have checked about 6 times now. I promise you that I have everything I need. Okay? I have to get going, Gracie and Bianca are expecting me in 5 minutes."

    She sighed. "Fine, fine. Get going then," she said, pulling me in for one last hug. I quickly escaped and headed to my car, getting in. Jeremy and Cayden sat in the back together.

    I pulled out of the driveway and into the street. As I was driving away I could hear my mom yell, "Have fun! Don't forget your studying!"

    I groaned.

    "Your mom is hilarious," Cayden said.

    "Don't start, Cayden. Don't even think about it," I warned, making him laugh.

    "We can't help it, Log," Jeremy said, placing his hands on my shoulders. "It's so fun to press your buttons sometimes."

    "Speaking of buttons," Cayden drawled. "Are you excited to see a certain someone this week, Miss Pierce?"

    "I swear to God if you start with this right now, I'm going to turn this car around," I snapped.

    "You sound like my mom," Cayden laughed. "Okay, I won't start quite yet on that whole topic. I'll wait until we're a good 3 hours in."

    I groaned. It was going to be a long 6 hours to Orlando.

✯ ✯ ✯

    I would say that the teasing started approximately 2 hours and 24 minutes into the road trip. But who's counting?

    For the past 30 minutes, I had been trying to focus on the music, even going so far as to sing at the top of my lungs to drown out the teasing. They really wouldn't let up about Noah and the trip. It was honestly a bit too much at this point. Thankfully, we were finally pulling up to a small gas station 3 hours from home to grab some snacks before taking on the remaining 6 hours of the drive.

    I parked and immediately shut off the car and got out. "Looks like Logan's sick of us already!" Gracie called.

    "I was sick of all of you 3 hours ago!" I replied, then opening the door to the convenience store and walking in.

    My stomach was growling for the past hour, and all I had was water. It was a shame that I had skipped breakfast, but I had woken up too late and still needed to pack. There hadn't even been enough time for a mere piece of bacon.

    I walked around the store, desperately searching the aisles for any food that caught my eye. At this point, I didn't really care what it was. I was just hungry as hell.

    Looking through the drink options, I decided to grab one of those pre-made Starbucks drinks. I needed a bit of caffeine, anyway. I turned and started, once again, down the snack aisles.

    "Hey," Cayden said, holding up a bad of Cheetos. "Might pick up some of these for Porkchop. You know how he is with his Cheetos."

    "Oh, I know," I said, remembering his story of how he drowned in them at Noah's party months ago. "Got anything for yourself yet?"

    He held up a stick of jerky. "Beef stick," he said, and I laughed.

    "You have a thing for sticks of beef, don't you?" I teased, and his face turned red. He hit me with the stick of jerky.

    "Quite a dirty mind you have there," Cayden said. "Is it dirty when you think of Noah?" He smirked.

    "You really don't rest, do you?"

    He shrugged. "I can't help it."

    I turned down the aisle with candy, picking up a package of peanut M&M's, the best kind.

    "But really, can I talk to you about Noah for a minute? Seriously, this time. I'm not just going to joke around and tease you to death," Cayden said.

    "What is there to talk about?" I asked. "We're friends now, Cayden. There's nothing more to it."

    "But there is," he argued. "I know you have to feel something deeper with him. And I know that he feels it, too. You 2 just have trouble admitting it, I think."

    "Cayden..."

    "I'm still going," he interrupted. "I'm just saying, Logan. You 2 have something, I can see it. The way you've been acting around each other, all of the— the deep conversations and talking and connecting. Hell! He picked you up that night your parents blew up on you! On Monday."

    I furrowed my eyebrows. "How did you know about that?" I hadn't told anyone about that, obviously wanting to avoid the increased taunting that would have occurred.

    "You don't think Noah told me?" Cayden asked. "I know you didn't tell anyone, clearly. But I know what happened, he told me everything."

    I groaned. Great. The last thing people needed to know was what happened that night. Yes, the thought of it still made me smile, but no one else needed to know. It was personal, and it would also be extremely weird to admit how much I opened up to Noah that night. And I hadn't regretted it in the slightest bit.

    "I'll get to the point," Cayden said. "We are going to be staying at Noah's family's place for 5 days. 17 people are going to be there. We're not all going to hangout in a big group everyday. Noah will be there. And if it's true that you 2 have some sort of... connection, then I promise you, Logan Pierce— the truth will be revealed." He winked before walking away.

I huffed before reaching out to grab a few more packs of peanut M&M's. You know what? I deserved them. I deserved a good dose of sugar if I was going to make it through the remaining 3 hours of the trip.

When I got back into the car, I was the last person. Everyone else was sitting there waiting for me like a bunch of weirdos, staring at me with stupid smiles plastered on their faces. I slammed my head down on the steering wheel and took a moment to compose myself. I lifted my head up and turned so I was facing everyone in the car.

"I would like everyone to know that you are all insane," I said. "There's nothing going on with me and Noah, and there is definitely no sexual tension! You'll see that when we get there, I can guarantee it! And that's all. Which means we are not talking about it anymore!"

I flipped back around and started up the car, pulling away and getting back on the highway. To my surprise, they actually didn't talk about it anymore. The conversation was shifted towards talking about ideas of things to do when we reached our destination. We would get there at around 5 is what the GPS was telling me.

"We could have a bonfire," Cayden suggested. "Noah's house is on a private beach."

"We definitely need to get groceries," Gracie said, being the voice of reason as per usual. "We're going to need food!"

"And snacks," Jeremy pitched in.

"And snacks," Gracie agreed. "Bonfire the first night then? Can you text Noah and ask if that's okay?"

"I've got it," Cayden said. "Noah will do anything for me."

"Almost anything," I muttered, laughing a little. Cayden reached over and punched my arm. "Kidding."

"I know you're kidding. I just wanted to punch you," he said, grinning at me through the rear view mirror.

"Can we change the music?" Bianca asked. "I love rap, but I think I'm ready for something different for the next few hours."

"OMG, Logan give me the aux!" Jeremy exclaimed, and so I pulled my phone out and handed him the aux cord.

"This is gonna be good," Bianca mumbled.

"Trust me!" Jeremy said. "It's a playlist filled with bops. We will all love it."

Finally, a song came on, and it was Hot N Cold by Katy Perry.

"Oh I can get down with this," Bianca said, starting to sing the lyrics.

Before I knew it, we were all singing the lyrics to Katy Perry's classic hit song.

✯ ✯ ✯

The next 3 hours of the road trip passed by pretty rapidly due to Jeremy's playlist and our incessant singing. Even I had to admit, I was having a good time. Singing at the top of your lungs in a car full of people you liked was actually super fun. I had to admit, Jeremy knew just how to make everyone come together. Classic Jeremy.

The GPS said we were 5 minutes away from the beach house, and the road we were driving on was absolutely gorgeous. There were palm trees lining the road, and you could see the beach and the ocean off to the right where houses were decorated all over the beach. There weren't many people on the beach, and the houses were pretty spread out from each other, which was nice. But every house on the beach was, to put it lightly, a fucking mansion.

I took the next turn and pulled down a long driveway. At the end of the driveway, it was a large circle with a fountain in the middle of it. A goddamn fountain. I parked the car behind another one in the driveway, and everyone got out of the car.

"Holy shit," Bianca said.

"This place is insane," Jeremy added.

The house was, in fact, insane. It was modern, with a white exterior, and there were floor-to-ceiling windows decorating all around the house so that you could see inside. There were 2 stories, and I could see a balcony on the other side of the house.

Suddenly, one of the large front doors opened and Noah walked out. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a patterned button-up shirt with a good amount of buttons undone.

Why am I taking in his appearance?

He made his way over to us with a smile on his face. "Hey, welcome to Casa De Locke," He said, motioning towards the huge mansion. "Head on inside. Find a room. It's first come first serve."

Everyone started heading into the mansion, tugging their bags behind them. I followed behind, stopping when I reached Noah, who blocked the doorway. "Pierce," Noah said.

"Locke."

We stood there for a moment just looking at each other before I brushed past him, our arms touching in the process. Jeremy followed behind me, chuckling as we made our way up the stairs.

"What are you laughing about?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just..." he paused and looked at me, wiggling his eyebrows. "The sexual tension is killing me."

I groaned as he pushed past me to get to the rooms. I followed behind, finding Gracie in a room with 2 twin beds. She was unpacking a few clothes.

"I'm not wasting any time," she told me. "I'm heading down to the beach for a swim. You should come with. Clay's here, and he texted me saying he was down there, too."

"What happened to groceries?" I asked.

Gracie shrugged. "Just cause I suggested it doesn't mean I want to do it myself."

I rolled my eyes. "Guess I'll go then." I dropped my bag on the bed and rummaged through to find something else to wear, since I was wearing sweats currently. I changed into a pair of jean shorts and a red, button-up crop top.

I walked downstairs with Gracie, following her outside to the porch. She started to walk down to the beach, and I just watched, taking in the view. It was super hot outside, but there was a very slight breeze that made the weather perfect. I turned and went back inside, heading towards the front door to go to my car.

"Leaving so soon?" Noah asked.

I turned around to face him. "I'm going to get groceries. Gracie apparently had other plans."

"I'll come with," he offered.

"Really, I've got it."

"I'm coming with," Noah said, walking closer towards me. He grabbed my keys out of my hand and set them on the key rack on the wall. "And I'm driving. Come on."

✯ ✯ ✯

YALL. We have touched down at Casa De Locke! It is time for Fall break in Florida, and bitch, it's gonna be a good one for them. Time to have a nice little grocery shopping trip with Noah and Logan themselves. How exciting.

And guess what? It's almost VODKA-O-CLOCK!!! YAYYY.