Back in the Saddle

Carpooling

Nick's POV:

"Hurry up, Q!" Clay calls to Alex, who's lingering in the house.

"I can't find my beanie!" he yells back in a sort of frantic voice. I snort and Clay smiles at me, knowing exactly why I'm laughing. Upon hearing this, Alex sticks his head out the door, eyes narrowed at me. "You have it, don't you." I don't say anything. "You do! Give it back, cabrón! Or we aren't leaving."

"Fine, but only because Clay will kill me if we're late and I want to see Karl."

I toss him the beanie and we all get in the car, Clay driving and Alex riding shotgun with me in the back. I was more than happy to take that spot, knowing that I would get to sit by Karl this way. Last night, after he'd stopped texting Alex and I, Karl and Clay discussed us all riding together seeing as Karl doesn't have a car of his own and we're all going to the same place, anyway. Besides, George's house isn't that far away from mine.

The only downside is that Alex gets control of the aux, so we have to listen to his stupid music the whole way there. Now, I've never been one to make fun of people for their respective tastes in things such as music and clothing, but Alex purposefully picks the things he knows will tick me off the most. Right now, he has on this really dumb song that is comparing love life to sweets? I'm not really sure but it says 'muffin' a lot.

"I'm thinking! Thinking about you muffin! When I wake up I'm thinking, thinking about you," Alex shouts at the top of his lungs.

"Ugh, just put me out of my misery, already," I complain, beating my head against the seat. I hear Clay laugh and annoyance bubbles inside me. "What are you laughing at? Alex, play the song."

He doesn't take more than a second to realize which song I'm talking about, and he eagerly searches it up on his phone, an evil grin plastered on his face. Clay seems confused, that is until he hears the beginning, and then he frowns, flipping both of us off. But, it doesn't stop there, because Alex had to pick the best version of the song.

"I SUCK HIS DI-"

"Enough," the blond grumbles, turning down the music to avoid the embarrassment, but Alex and I keep on singing without any hesitation, singing like our lives depend on it.

It's called 'Mask', and it's a song Clay wrote. Well, this version isn't: this is a remix, I suppose. He wrote the song and uploaded it to Youtube despite me and Alex telling him it was a bad idea, and then it blew up, just for all the wrong reasons. It isn't a bad song per se, but the lyrics combined with the music video... let's just say people found it quite hilarious.

We haven't stopped teasing him since.

He pulls up in front of George's house and turns to me, saying "Out. Go get him before I knock your skull in."

"I'd like to see you try," I taunt before hopping out of the car and jogging up to the door.

I knock on it, only having to wait a moment or two before the door opens to reveal Kristen. She smiles at me politely and steps aside, allowing me to go through the door. Once I'm through, she's quick to shut it so that the warm, humid air of the morning doesn't get in and mess up the cool air flow of the house.

"Good morning, Mrs. Mincraff, you're looking lovely as ever," I greet her.

"Aren't you the sweetest! Karl should be down any minute now. Hey, Toby?" she calls down the hall. Instantly, a brunet and a blond head stick out. "Can you two run upstairs and check on Karl for me? Grab George while you're at it: he needs to leave within the hour."

"Aye aye, mumza," Tommy says, giving her a salute before running after Toby.

They come back down after two or three minutes, Karl behind them. As soon as he sees me, a big and adorable smile spreads across his face, one that I don't hesitate to return.

My eyes then eyes drift down to what he's wearing. I am, once again, surprised by his style. He has on a dark purple t-shirt, light gray shorts that make his legs look very tan, and white shoes with tall socks. To finish it off, he has a silver necklace that looks like a padlock, his usual silver rings, and a silver wrist-watch. His hair looks the way it normally does: fluffy and wavy and down to his eyes.

"Hey, you ready?" I ask him.

"Yep! I'll see you later, Kris. You too, you two."

I open the door for him and we walk out to the car together. Though it's a short walk from the porch to the curb, we stare at each other the whole time, and when we reach the car, I hold his door for him before walking back to my side.

"Took you guys long enough!" Clay teases once we're both in the car.

"I'm sorry, am I gonna make us late?" Karl says instantly, looking apologetic which makes my heart warm.

"I'm just messing with you, Karl," Clay says with a sweet grin. "Besides, if anyone is gonna make us late, it would be one of these two idiots. They've been arguing all morning and it's starting to really get on my nerves."

"We love you too, Clay," I say, making the others laugh.

"I still can't believe you let Clay win, Karl!" Alex says in a joking tone. "Honestly I'm offended: I thought our friendship meant more to you than this, but apparently it doesn't." Karl makes an awe sound as he wraps his arms around him over the seat, mumbling joking apologies like a mother talking to her child. "Okay okay, you're forgiven," Alex laughs, patting Karl's arm.

He let's go and sits back down in his seat, buckling up just in time for Clay to pull away from the house. Since Karl is here now, Clay allows him to have the aux cord, telling him that Alex and I have lost our privileges. When Karl asks why, he's quick to make an excuse and change the subject, which makes Alex and I die of laughter.

"So Karl, are you excited?" Clay questions to pick the conversation back up.

"I mean yeah, as excited as I can be for a new job. I'm sort of nervous, though Hannah seemed nice when I met her the other day, so I know it can't be that bad. I suppose we'll find out."

"Oh yeah, I was meaning to tell you guys," Alex interrupts. "Hannah is sick, so Felix is filling in for her."

"Oh come on, are you serious?" I say with a groan. "That's a horrible way for Karl to start his first day on the job: Felix hates his job and has absolutely zero patience for new people."

"Should I be worried?"

"No, don't worry," I mutter to him. Clay and Alex have moved onto their own conversation, I think something about George, so it's just us. "Listen, if he gets cross with you or anything like that, let me know. I'm gonna talk to him when we get there if he seems to be in a bad mood, so he shouldn't be too bad, but still."

"Thanks, Nick. I appreciate that."

"Of course, sunshine," I reply. Both of our smiles are still stupidly huge.

Word Count- 1248

a/n- this chapter is very boring because i wrote it when i was in a sort of writer's block and i just tried to get something out, but the next chapter is better lol.