Somewhere Only We Know

XII - Farms & Yeehaw Shit

10:02 a.m., Charlotte, North Carolina

"So, where are you guys gonna stay in North Carolina?" I ask as I look away from the cars passing by us.

Jesse looks up from his phone, then looks back. "Cyplex. You know it? It's in Columbus."

"What? Bro, I live there. What the hell." I say. I groan in annoyance.

"So? Wouldn't that be better rather than staying somewhere else?" Jesse asks, not pulling his eyes away from his phone.

"Oh, God. Please don't tell me you guys are gonna stay in my unit."

"Of course, not. Don't be silly. I have a unit there. Second floor, Unit 2847. And it just so happens that it has 3 extra bedrooms for the boys. So no one will be bothering you." Jesse states.

"Where are we? This place is all farms and yeehaw shit." Edward asks. He almost looks like a lost child in a large mall in the middle of nowhere.

"Well, Squidward. We are currently in Shelby. So we have about 1 hour and 21 minutes until I can have peace and alone time in my unit." I respond.

"Hey, Max. There's a café somewhere near your place. You wanna go? Later, of course. I need to make some calls. Literally no one knows I'm not in New York." Kai states.

"Yeah, sure," I respond. Not to be presumptuous, but I fear this dude has a thing for me, which is extremely worrying considering we met only a few hours ago. He's a chill guy, just personally not super open to the idea of dudes, or relationships in any form.

"Before you two go on your little date. I want you to talk to Diane. I know you guys are on bad terms right now. But, you're graduating. Who knows where you're gonna go? She deserves to at least know something. Anything." Jesse says while drinking a bottle of water.

"No can do, man. Apparently, Diane left North Carolina. She moved to Brighton, apparently," Chase says, showing his phone to me, then Jesse.

Jesse choked on his water when he saw what Chase was showing.

"What? What happened? Did I miss something in the photo?" I ask, looking at Jesse. I would be laughing right now from how red Jesse's face was.

"Diane is with Ron, Max," Jesse says, still coughing because of the water.

"Whoa. Who's Ron? Is that her boyfriend or something? He looks awfully old for Diane." Chase states, giggling like a child.

"How the fuck do you not know who Ron is? You've been with Micaela for like 9 years. Has she not mentioned this fucker?" I say, annoyed.

"Wait, why would Mics know Diane's boyfriend? They don't even talk." Chase asks.

"You're so fucking dense, Chase," I say, sighing.

"Wait, is that your Dad?" Kai asks, pointing the phone screen at himself to get a better view.

"Yeah. That's, um, our Dad." Jesse responds, continuing to drink more water.

"Wait, let me see that." Edward grabs Chase's phone and zooms in on the man behind Diane. "Mate, you look just like him." He shows it to Jesse.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, you twat." Jesse responds, pushing the phone away from his face.

I grab the phone from Edward and give it back to Chase. Jesse was looking out the window with a clearly annoyed expression painted on his face.

"Alright, that's enough. No phones. If I see another phone, I'm gonna throw it out the window. Do you three understand?" I say, looking at Kai, Edward, and Chase as they nod, continuing whatever they were doing before.