Our Story So Far

Chapter 23

"I take back every bad thing I've ever said about you, dude. Because this is seriously incredible." Christian shoveled another fork full of food into his mouth as Les glanced over at him, eyebrow raised. "That is if I ever said anything bad about you." He stuttered nervously. "Which I obviously haven't." I laughed as yet another heap of pasta was shoved into his mouth to prevent him from talking.

"Well okay then... I think that was a compliment?" Les chuckled.

"This is actually really good." I said to the boys that actually spent the day in the kitchen.

"Hey, try not to sound so surprised." My brother cocked his head in my direction, wearing a smug smile. "Just because you're incompetent in the kitchen doesn't mean the rest of us are." I rolled my eyes at Luke, not bothering to respond. "The cooking gene must have skipped over you." He teased again.

"And the attractive gene must have skipped over you." I shot back, hearing the various "ooohs" that came from the other guys at the table as I met Drake in the middle for a fist bump.

"Mac: one, Luke: zero." Alex held up a finger in a tally while the rest of us laughed.

"Haters gonna hate." My brother pushed his hair back and jutted his chin out, speaking purposely in a overly-girly falsetto. The table let out another laugh before Jason spoke up.

"So what's on the agenda for you guys tomorrow?" He asked, stabbing another forkful of pasta with one of Smith's expensive pieces of silver. Hesitantly, I exchanged a look with Will and Drake.

"Studio time." Drake dragged out.

"Well you guys don't seem too thrilled." Christian attempted to choke back a laugh. From the amused look on his face, I could tell he was putting the pieces together that it had something to do with Luke. After all, the brother in question was staring at the rest of us with a scowl on his face.

"What's up with you four? Trouble in the family band?" Roman smirked, but I could tell he was just playing with us.

"They think I'm 'bossy'." Luke sarcastically air-quoted the last word with his fingers.

"He's not bossy..." I started to explain to the group, "He's a perfectionist. He's just really picky about recording, and all of the components, and timing-"

"No, he's just bossy." Drake interrupted, grinning. "But in the end we love him for it. He's an evil musical genius. Emphasis on genius." He could be a total prick in the studio, but he knew his shit. As much as I hated admitting that, it was true.

"That's right- you're producing the album, right?" Alex said, probably thinking back to that day he popped in on us at the studio. "Where'd you learn how to produce, anyway?"

"Uh, college actually." Luke's expression was rather serious now. Talking about college wasn't exactly his favorite pass time. I remembered how torn I was when I found out I had to defer school for a year, but Luke actually got to go to college for two full years before having to leave. It just wasn't the same thing.