bucket list//dnf

chapter 6 - strawberries

"nick. stop moving. just let me- oh my god, stop dodging my hands." george stood behind his best friend, who was sitting on a wooden kitchen chair. he was trying to french braid his hair, and nick wasn't having it. nicks fists were clenched and george was certain his teeth were too as he hissed at george a few words of protest. george's fingers kept entwining and tangling in nick's thick locks of brown hair.

a tap on george's shoulder. he turned for half a second. lena stood behind him. "you fucked up part of the top. you should've put that section with the side on the right, not on the left." she scanned the half-finished braid, a thoughtful look on her face. "honestly, you just suck at this."

"shut up. i'm trying my hardest, okay? i've never braided hair before." george subtly flipped her off and went back to awkwardly crossing nick's hair and trying to keep his head still.

"why are you even doing this to me?" nick reached one of his hands up to gingerly touch the braid, but george let go of one of the chunks of hair and swatted the boys hand away. nick's hand immediately flew back down to where it had been resting before. he clenched it again before he spoke. "this is pure torture."

"oh, shut up." george was nearly done now. he should've been done earlier, as nick's hair was quite short, but lena was right: george sucked at this. he crossed the last bit of hair and pinched the end of the braid in between two fingers as he pulled a rubber band off his other wrist with his teeth. once he had it, he looped the hairband around nick's braid until it was tight enough to hold it in place.

"you look gorgeous, nick," lena said. "george did an absolutely terrible job, but it matches everything about you." she flicked the end of the braid and hurried off before george could flick her.

"that didn't even make sense!" george called after his younger sister. "she's so stupid."

"agreed."

george opened his eyes. the sound of a speeding car met his ears. his eyelids kept fluttering and he licked his dry lips. george looked out the window to find the fast car, but when he couldn't find it, he realized it was the car he was in. a wild look came over his face and he turned to look at the driver.

"jesus, are you trying to kill me?"

lena's grip on the beat-up black steering wheel tightened as she slowed down slightly and looked over to her brother. "yes. now shut up and be grateful that at least someone is bringing you to the goddamn farmers market."

george chuckled and turned his attention back to the road. a rockwood camper hooked up to a muddy white truck was driving steadily next to lena and george as the pair rattled along in their father's old red truck. the camper was interesting to look at, with its weird shape and protected windows and little door on the side, but lena sped up again and the camper and truck fell behind them. george turned his gaze forward again.

"almost there," lena said. "i'll be glad to get rid of you." she added under her breath. george smacked her arm and she shot him a dirty look before turning back to the road ahead. "don't hit me, i'm the driver."

"i would be the driver if-"

"if you would stop being such a pussy and take the goddamn test," she finished for him. george closed his mouth and furrowed his eyebrows. he crossed his arms and positioned his body so he wasn't facing lena anymore while lena stifled a quiet giggle.

"you're a bitch, lena." george said calmly. this time, lena let out her laughter.

"you think you have room to talk? you're even worse, my dearest gogy." lena slowly came to a stop at a red light and flicked on the right blinker. a rhythmic clicking filled the car as george fumed and lena hummed the tune of the pop song playing faintly on the stereo.