Dazed & Confused

[48]

[Later]
{Griffin's POV}

Aryia's hand squeezes my thigh comfortably, making a smile tug at my lips. After the car show, we decided to drive around. Sam was looking out the front window, and occasionally the side window as he talks to Corey in the front seat while Corey drives. I haven't been listening to their conversation much since me and Aryia were having our own side conversation for the past 30 minutes of the drive.
"Yo, any of you guys hungry?" Corey suddenly asks. Aryia nods quickly,
"Hell yeah man. I'm starving." I smile at Aryia.
"Yeah. Me too honestly." Sam pipes up, then turns to face me.
"You hungry griff??" I nod,
"Yeah, I am." Sam nods and turns back to face the front window. Corey turns and pulls into the parking lot of Arctic Circle. Corey parks and we all get out of the vehicle. We head inside and order before sitting down with our food.
"So Sam, when do you need to go home or are you staying the night again?" Aryia asks, eating his friends while looking up at Sam. Sam pulls out his phone, turning it on for a second, flashing his lockscreen for a minute. Last time I checked, it was him and Colby. But now it was of us. Corey, Me, Aryia, Nate, and Corbin from years back. You can clearly tell its old. Sam turns off his phone and puts it back in his pocket, eating his fries as well.
"By 3ish. I don't think my roommate will mind if I come home 20-30 minutes later then 3:00pm." Sam says nonchalantly.
"Okay, then that means we have about an hour left with you." Corey says, diving into his hamburger.
"Yep." I say, pushing Sam's shoulder with my own since Sam's sitting right next to me, Corey and Aryia in front of us.
"I wanted to discuss something with y'all." Aryia pipes up, putting all of our focuses on him. Aryia sets down his own hamburger and finishes eating the half he has in his mouth.
"Since Brennan has his gang and most of us our leaving it, we should start our own gang. I mean, we all enjoy being in one right?" Aryia spits out, looking at all of us. Everyone goes quiet.
"I do. I mean, I joined because of Sam. I missed hanging with him. Plus I knew he'd do us good." I glance at Sam. Sam was just quietly eating his food, clearly thinking this out.
"Yeah. I'll admit. I did. It gave us freedom. Let us show what we can do. I don't know, I just enjoyed that you know? Even though we weren't in one long. I think we could do good." Corey calmly says. Now everyone was looking at Sam as his finishes his chicken rings. Sam sighs and brushes off the crumbs off his hands.
"Yeah. I did too. But how are we going to start a gang without a leader?" Aryia smirks and stared at Sam with this look. Is he... implying what I think he is? Sam got the hint to and gave Aryia a look that sceamed 'no. Nonono. I can't' as he shakes his head.
"No Aryia. I can't do it. I'm not a leader of any sort." Sam testifies. Aryia scoffs,
"Yes you can do it Samuel! You're one of the smartest, most responsible guys I know. You're a leader. 100%. No one could pull this off better than you. You can get everyone in line and you're good at planning. There's no one better for this job than you." Aryia assures. Sam shakes his head,
"I'm not a leader Aryia. I mean, what if I let everyone down? What if I fuck up?"
"You could never let us down Sammy. And if you fuck up, we'll be right by you. Always. And if anyone can get us to the top, it's you. Plus, there's no rule book or manual for being or started a gang, dawg." Corey assures Sam, stretching his arms back against the seat. Sam huffs and looks down.
"Who would I even pick to be my right hand man? Who would help me?" Sam looks down in defeat.
"I will," Everyone looks at me.
"I can help you Sam. I'm good at tracking and hacking, I can get everything you need. You can always fall back on me man. You're one of my best friends." I put my hand on Sam's shoulder. A small smile tugs on Sam's lips.
"You'll need a captain too. If you're so worried about messing up. We could have two people besides you to help keep everything in line." Aryia explains. Me, Sam, and Corey glance at each other.
"The first person that pops in my head is Nate. But I haven't seen him in months." Sam admits. Corey and Aryia look at each other then back at us.
"That can be arranged." Aryia says, clasping his hands together.
"You can see Nate, Sammy. We'll make sure of it." Corey adds, assuring Sam. Sam nods,
"Okay. We'll do it. We'll make a gang. I already know where we can set up. We just need to get in there and turn it into our place and get some connections. I'll plan the rest later, I'll tell you guys the plan once I figure it all out. Right now, I'm all over the place." Sam takes a sip of his soda.
"Yeah, you could say that again." Aryia takes a sip of his own drink, before we all get up and throw away our trash, heading back to the vehicle.