Somewhere Only We Know

XII - United Kingdom Jitters

10:02 AM, Charlotte, North Carolina

"So, where are you guys gonna stay in North Carolina?" I ask.

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 we stay some place 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 no where.

"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.

"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 on 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.

"Woah. 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 to 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 into 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 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.

"Jesse, come on, man. I didn't mean to offend you, mate. If it helps, I hate my old man too. Mans took my little sister away and left to buttfuck no where. Also beat me and my Mom a lot, but whatever. Haven't seen him in 15 years. I'm sorry, mate." Edward says.

"It's fine, Ed. Stop talking about it now." Jesse responds. He kept his eyes locked to the window.

"So, Chase. Where is Micaela now? Where do you guys live?" I ask.

"We used to live with my Mom in Stearns. But she texted me earlier saying that we're gonna move somewhere closer to you. So, I don't really know." He responds.

"Great. That's wonderful, really. I attempt to run away and now everyone is after me. Where were you guys when I was 15? When we still lived in the old house at Willow Bend and mom was always in Washington with her pissy boyfriend? I was all alone. Mica was with you, Diane was in College, Jesse was modeling in fucking New York City." I say.

Everyone was silent. Jesse was still staring out the window. Edward and Kai were whispering to each other like two little girls in the back of a classroom, and Chase was just staring at his shoes.

11:01 PM, White Oak Mountain

"Holy shit, look at that fucking house. Looks like a mansion. I thought Columbus was a redneck land. Also, I'm allowed to say redneck since I grew up with people who actually are; my parents."

"A mansion? Really, mate? That's more like a quarter of a mansion compared to where I lived." Edward brags confidently.

"Oh, don't start, Edward." Kai says, groaning in annoyance.

"Well, now I'm gonna start. I lived in Roedean Crescent. Shits like the definition of richest of the rich in the UK. It wasn't the biggest house where I lived, but I was the only one who had a pool amongst all of my mates. It was absolutely amazing living there. I went to this really cool school. Ibstock. Unfortunately, I wasn't the heart throb of that school. It was that stupid twat, Andres. He was an exchange student. Just because mans played guitar under a tree. That's overnight fame for you."

"Congrats, Edward. Guess where we lived." I say.

"Beaconsfield?" He asks.

"Nice place. But, no."

"Aw, mate. You live in Marine Parade, did you?"

"Nope. We lived in Queens Park. Kilburn Lane. We didn't have a pool and all. But, we had a great garden my mom maintained. And a large porch. We had this neighbor, Mrs. Montreid. She used to chase Jesse around with this stick with pointy nails stuck to it."

"I don't think that's something to brag about, Max." Kai interrupts.

"Oh, you wanna talk, Kai? You have the mic. Where did you grow up?" Edward asks.

"Fine. It's not like your houses so you're not allowed to judge. I grew up in Akasaka. It's in Tokyo. Then when I was around 7, we moved to Berwyn, Philadelphia cause my grandma is the biggest racist on the planet and hated that her only daughter and only grandchild were exposed to Asian culture. The house was a few blocks from this big ass library. The East town Library."

"Alright, rich boy Kairo. We'll continue this later cause we're here."

Everybody walked out of the car, looking around.

"This place smells like shit, Max." Edward states, covering his nose. It doesn't smell like shit, by the way. Edward is just a little bitch.

"Shut up, pool boy." I respond, flipping him off.

We grabbed our bags and walked into the Apartment Building.

"Hi Cindy." I say, walking toward the concierge behind the counter.

"Good afternoon, Maxine. Here is your key," She says, handing me my door keys, "Your sister is in her unit. She instructed me to tell you to go to her once you get back."

I looked at her, confused. Then I look back to Chase.

"I thought Diane moved back to Brighton." I say.

"Oh, no. Not Diane. Your other sister, Micaela. Diane left her unit and furniture to Micaela a day after you left with your brother."

"What? What the fuck? You guys are gonna live here?" I ask, shifting my gaze to Chase.

"I guess so. I don't know. She didn't tell me where we would move to. All she said was she wanted to be closer to you." Chase responds.

"Are you kidding me? Whatever. I'll be upstairs if you need me." I say, walking quickly to the elevator.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

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