Harley grew up surrounded by football and testosterone. It's not easy growing up with seven brothers and being smack dab in the middle.
Follow Harley on her journey of making it through high school, love, and life.
~Mature Language~
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"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature."
― Jane Austen
THE FLAMES spiral up towards the sky in beautiful waves, the color reflecting on our faces and in our eyes.
It's a chilly summer evening, so we all decided to have a family night around the firepit. The night is a tad bit too warm for a fire, but we don't care.
The only one missing from our group is Jasper since he is already asleep in bed. To the left of me is my twin, Tristan, and to my right is Jamie, my oldest brother. I have seven brothers, which is a lot. I'm also the only female, so that sucks.
I have my mom, but she's too busy doting on my brothers to pay much attention to me. She's a good mom and considering she has had eight children pushed out of her coochie, she's doing pretty well. Still lookin' good too, my dad constantly reminds all of us. Gross.
My parents are high school sweethearts, married right out of high school, and had their first kid shortly after. And they never stopped until recently. Pretty sure half of us are mistakes, or 'happy accidents.' That's neither been confirmed nor denied, but we all know it.
We're a big family, with Jamie as the oldest, followed by Tyler, Jarrod, me, Tristan, Stevie, Ashton, and finally, the baby of the family, Jasper. Jasper is eight and still runs around in Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. It used to be Paw Patrol, but he 'outgrew' it.
I used to have Thomas the Tank Engine underwear too, but you'll never hear me admit it out loud. Thomas was cool. So was Percy.
"Oi, Tyler, pass a marshmallow," I yell at Tyler. He looks up startled since it had been dead quiet previously. You can always count on me to break the silence.
"You've already had like ten! Why do you want another?" He yells back, looking genuinely confused.
"Well since someone ate all the pizza I ordered for myself, I am rather hungry right now, and the only god damn food out here is the 'mallows!" I yell back at him.
Ty was the one that ate it. My pizza. It was from the pizza joint on fifth street, Michelle's. It was a Wise Guy pizza with caramelized onion and sausage. Absolutely heavenly.
He looks down with a slightly guilty face before tossing me one, only for it to be intercepted by Jarrod. Jarrod looks at me fuming with humor in his eyes.
"I swear to god if you eat my fucking marshmallow I will fucking kill you," I say in a deadly tone.
"No swearing, sister dearest," Tristan says in a mocking tone. I look at him and give him my glare and see him gulp before looking away.
Focusing back on Jarrod I see his hand go straight to his mouth before my beloved marshmallow gets swallowed up by his asshole face. Damn it, that was the last 'mallow too.
○ ○ ○
My dad owns a mechanic shop, and I often find myself working in the office for some extra bucks. Today I was going through files, and anything dated in the past ten years was going in the storage closet. Very grueling work considering the shop has been running for about fifty years.
It used to be owned by the Forrests, but they sold it to my dad when they moved to a different state. It's family-owned, with the exception of friends. My older brothers work here during the summer when school is out, except for Jarrod who works all year round.
One of the perks of working here is when customers bring in treats for us. For example, today Mrs. Rush came in and asked what my favorite kind of pizza is and came back with a Wise Guy pizza. She's an absolute angel, that old lady.
"Harley, I need you to return this to Dan when he comes around," My dad says from his office, handing me some windshield wipers.
"Aye Aye, Cap'n," I say in my best impersonation of a pirate accent. He just looks at me funny and walks away.
I set the wipers down on the counter that runs through the office separating my desk from the waiting area. A classic rock station is playing over the radio and Hells Bells comes on.
Whoever is working the desk gets to man the radio, so I turn the volume up a bit since there is no one currently waiting in the office. I start walking around the counter to my desk with a little shimmy in my hips, only to hear muffled laughter coming from somewhere behind me.
I turn around only to find Owen and Ricky looking in through the glass window from the side garage bay.
Owen and Rick are my best friend Mikayla's older brothers who also work here. Mikayla's dad and my dad were best friends growing up and are co-owners of the shop.
I walk back around the blue counter and through the door to the side bay before slapping both Owen and Ricky upside the head with the files I had in my hand.
"Oi, what was that for?" Owen yells with Ricky silently agreeing.
"Serves you right for sneaking peeks at me while you were s'posed to be working!" I yell back.
"What is this, the second grade," Ricky sneers at me. I snicker.
"How've you been, Owen and Ricky?" I ask them.
Owen and Ricky are my friends and love to tease me.
"Are they annoying you, Harles?" Mikayla asks me from behind them. She has oil smeared on her cheek and her frizzy hair is everywhere.
"Very much so, Kay," I reply in a humorous tone, knowing that Mikayla will give them another lecture.
Owen and Ricky groan at my answer, knowing what is to come.
"You dickwads, I told you to stay away from her! Go find your own friends!" More obscenities are yelled at, but they fade out when I slip past them through the door to the office.
○ ○ ○
First chapter done!
The next chapters should be longer, but it is currently 1:05 in the morning where I live and I wanted to get the first chapter out soon.
For this chapter, I was just trying to introduce some of the characters before we get to the juicy stuff.
For previous readers, you will notice that the MC's name has changed again. I realize that and I am sorry if this confuses you. It is not Gale or Tanner anymore.
There is also a prologue coming your way soon, so watch out for that!
Q: What is your favorite ice cream flavor? (If you don't like ice cream, then what is your favorite dessert?)
A: Mine is Tin Roof, which where I get it is chocolate, caramel, and peanut butter with pecan
