𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 | 𝐭. 𝐳𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬

chapter 6

"i wasn't kidding when i said i would tell trevor or alex to get you!" jack yelled up the stairs. tori's eyes shot open and immediately jumped out of bed. she didn't have a problem with either one of them, she just didn't know them yet. she also knew it would be an awkward interaction and she did not want to deal with that.

tori walked down the stairs until she reached the bottom one. once she hit the bottom stair, she announced, "i have blessed you with my presence!" she was only expecting the hughes boys to do anything, but to her surprise everyone started clapping. she took a bow and headed towards the guys. tori took a seat next to luke on the end.

"so tori, when did you meet quinn, jack, and luke?" cole asked. the three boys didn't know much about her and decided they might as well ask some questions.

tori replied, "i was their next door neighbor when they lived in toronto and our families got super close. i pretty much spent every second with them outside of far away hockey tournaments. they might as well be my second family considering all the time i spent at their house."

"that explains so much," alex randomly said. everyone gave him a weird look. he continued, "i mean that explains why quinn and tori are so close. did you guys date or something?"

"oh lord no!" tori exclaimed at the same time as when quinn yelled, "she's like my sister!"

"alex, you idiot!" trevor whacked alex upside the head, "why would you ask that?"

alex put his hands up in defense and shouted, "i thought it was a legit question! they're super close! they could have easily dated or something!"

luke interjected, "tori is like the daughter my parents never had and we were the brothers tori never had, so we all just acted like one big happy family." and that was partially the truth. there was something neither tori or the brothers wanted to get brought up at least not now. it wasn't bad, but now wasn't the time to mention it. it would be too awkward.

cole could sense some tension in the air and decided not to push further. instead, he changed the topic. "do you have any siblings?" cole asked tori.

"nope, it's just me," tori smiled. she didn't know where this conversation was going to go, but she was thankful cole asked a new question.

the room fell silent again. it looked like quinn was about to say something when trevor blurted out, "guys, we should totally make a groupchat with tori in it!"

"i agree!" alex nodded.

cole chimed in, "only if tori wants to deal with the two of you."

all eyes were on tori. this couldn't possibly hurt or harm her in any way. she was going to spend the entirety of her summer with them, so she might as put forth the effort to get to know them. she shrugged, "why the hell not!"

the boys cheered as jack stated, "okay guys, i'll make a new groupchat, so she doesn't have to deal with the old one."

tori furrowed her eyebrows. "what old groupchat?" she questioned.

trevor answered, "we've had this one groupchat that's just the guys for awhile now. it's called tori's lovers." the moment he said the name, his eyes went wide. "oh, shit! i probably should not have said that!" he added.

tori looked at quinn, jack, and luke for an explanation. quinn shook his head, not wanting to explain. jack and luke immediately pointed at alex. cole and trevor soon followed suit.

"oh yeah blame me! jack and trevor are the ones who wanted to change it! no one changed it, so i put matters into my own hands! i didn't think she was going to find out," alex narrowed his eyes at trevor. clearly, it was all teasing and no one was actually mad at each other. tori was happy about that because she did not want to deal with drama.

quinn broke the silence, "now do you see why i only wanted you to meet cole?"

tori laughed and said, "i'm slowly starting to see why, but i think that name is funny! alex that was pretty clever, i must give you credit!" she proceeded to give alex a high five. "don't worry cole, you're still my favorite out of you three," tori winked.

"hey! that's not fair!" trevor complained.

tori jokingly shot back, "he's the only one who came back early to meet me!"

"blame jack!" alex yelled.

"me? how is that my fault?" jack questioned. the bickering continued all while cole, luke, quinn, and tori watched in amusement.

the three were interrupted by a woman's voice. "boys and tori, dinner is finally ready!" ellen stated.

"thank goodness! now they won't be able to talk," quinn joked.

tori followed the boys into the dining room, but was pulled aside by ellen. "are the boys causing you any trouble?" ellen sincerely asked.

"nope, i think i'm going to fit right in," she whispered and truly believed it.