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↳ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 'those days are gone forever, I should just let them go, but–'
━━ 𓄼 𓄹 ━━
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THEY PULLED OFF THE DUSTY HIGHWAY and rolled to a stop in front of the gas station. It looked like a scene from the past, a lonely station on the way out to the middle of nowhere. Nothing but the stragglers of suburbia rose beyond it.
She had assumed he would wait in the truck, desperate for a momentary reprieve from their suffocating silence. Just as she was pulling the handle on the nozzle, she heard the passenger door slam and Bradley walked around the front. Basil yet out a displeased yap at being left alone.
Bradely crossed his arms and leaned against the truck in his easy way. "I'm hungry."
She rolled her eyes. The scent of gasoline stung her lungs. "It's an hour away. You'll survive."
He sighed pleasantly. "You used to be fun."
"I used to be a lot of things," she muttered.
"C'mon, let's just stop for food."
The gas pump clicked, done. As she screwed the gas cap back on, she watched him from the corner of her eye. "We'll get home faster if we don't."
"Sue me for wanting to spend more time with just you."
She looked up now. He looked like a puppy, face lit up in anticipation. "What did you have in mind?"
He lolled his head to the side, pushing his aviators down to the end of his nose. The way he was looking at her sent a shiver up her skin. "There's that diner not very far from here. That place we would go sometimes–"
"After we drove out to the beach," she finished for him, still not giving an answer.
"That diner has really good pancakes, if you'll recall," he mused, grazing a hand along her arm and leaning in. "Chocolate chip pancakes."
"Do you really think I'm that easy to win over?"
"Chocolate chip pancakes, Berlin," he reminded her pointedly.
