Brush Strokes and Backroads (Ranboo x OC)

Prologue

Ellie let out a dramatic groan, throwing a glare over his shoulder to the back of his seat, to the twins packed shoulder-to-shoulder behind him. "I still can't believe you assholes."

"And I can't believe your still pissed about this! Your actually so dramatic, fucking theatre kid." River turned her head away, grumbling more unintelligible insults.

"Can you two please just get over it? We discussed this earlier and it's the best route to go for all parties." Frankie flicked a stern glance towards Ellie before returning her focus to driving.

"Yeah, Ellie. We discussed this, River and I both get seasick so this is the best road to take, with the smallest ferry ride, it'll also be cheaper."

"But it'll take longer..." Ellie groaned, opting to stare out the window instead.

The topic in question that the group was bickering about was the road trip they where currently in the early stages of. They had set off exactly — Ellie checked his phone and sighed — 34 minutes ago. 

Google maps had already shown them the trip would take precisely 12 hours and 54 minutes; the numbers were burned into his brain from the endless hours spent planning. However Ellie wasn't really that upset about the slight change in plans, it's was only like an extra 30 minutes to their trip, but they would rather fill the hours with meaningless banter than silence.

"Hey I mean, it's still pretty cool we are doing this though. Our first trip with the whole gang! Right Frankie?"

The girl in question, driving and seated directly in front of the one who spoke, smiled softly, humming her response.

Frankie —however much she tried to deny it — cared so deeply for her friends. After recent events Hattie had needed an escape, even if she would never ask for one. It was Frankie's idea to begin with, and with the upcoming twitchcon it had been the perfect excuse to leave behind all the drama.

Speak of the devil and he shall come.

Ellie whipped around at the sound of Hattie's ringtone.

"Is it..."

"Yes."

"Don't answer it Hattie, you don't owe the asshole shit." Ellie turned to scowl at the phone, held tightly in Hattie's pale hands.

"But what if-"

"No," This time it was Frankie who spoke, "Hattie, we all promised once we got on the road all talk about everything that went down would be banned, we need to relax and get away. You broke up with him for a reason, don't forget that."

"I guess your right Frankie."

"Excuse me, she is always right, now just sit back and enjoy the trip, okay Mom." The nickname had been derived from the role Hattie played in the group, always motherly and caring, and due to how she was raised in America and her accent was still fading, the group had opted for the American pronunciation.

Hattie sighed and the car full of friends fell silent. Though Ellie knew exactly how to fix the settling sombreness. He had gotten the AUX privileges by sitting in shotgun but had kept the car silent waiting for a good moment.

Then he pressed play and a random song from his 'Junk Drawer' playlist started blasting through the speaker.

As it happened, Spotify decided that Let It Go was the appropriate song for the occasion and as soon as it got to the lyrics every person let go of their dignity and allowed themselves to belt out the words.