hell of a summer

Chapter six

Jonah Davids

I've been staying at Tessa's house for a week and a half now, and sharing a room with Travis hart absolutely fuckin' sucks. All he does is complain about my sleeping habits, then gets so insanely offended if I mention his. Like, who the hell sleeps with blazing red lights on their mirror? Why does he need three blankets to sleep?

Our agreement was that I get to sleep on the bed Monday through Wednesday, then he gets the bed Thursday through Saturday. Then, on Sunday, we 'share' it. Thankfully when Sunday rolled around, he went to spend the night at a friend's (which I'm surprised he even has) house.

And ever since the first night we shared a room and he discovered I love country songs, he keeps calling me cowboy. Which makes me cringe and is honestly just annoying, but that was his goal all along. So, I'm attempting to not make my annoyance too obvious because that would only add fuel to the fire.

And anyways, enough thoughts about satan.

This is the first time since I got here that Tessa and I are actually going out of our way to leave the house other than to get taco bell. Me, Payton, and Julie are all squished in the back of Gabriel's car with Tessa sitting up front and we're on our way to our 'first' high school party. And, it only took us til junior year was over to finally get invited!

Tessa is playing some Olivia Rodrigo song while she finishes doing her lipliner in the car's mirror. Gabriel attempts to talk over her loud music, and when no one hears him, he turns the volume down.

"Daddd!" She semi yells, a huge pout on her face over the fact that he dared to silence her Olivia Rodrigo obsession, but he just ignores her. "So, first high school party you guys been invited to?" He teases, keeping his eyes on the road while Payton just giggles at the faces Tessa is making.

When the car goes awkwardly quiet, Julie tries to speak up. "No! We've been invited to um, see, there was that one thing... actually never mind, that was a school fundraiser." Julie says, trying to think of parties we've actually been to. "Um, speak for yourself." I butt in, because I have actually been to multiple.

Did I invite myself to those past parties? Yeah. Was it just to ruin Travis' time with Lola so he went home miserable? Absolutely. But did anyone notice I invited myself? Nope! So, I think i'm in the clear.

Tessa shifts in her seat, giggling as she turns around and makes eye contact with Payton. "I love your shirt," she says, and Payton's eyes widen, instantly getting flustered. "Me?" He stammers, looking around the car as if any other guy would be wearing a Lana del Rey shirt right now. I nudge him, giving him the hint that it's clearly towards him and to shoot his shot while it's open. Instead, he just stutters out a quick "thank you." and leans back, hiding his face in his hands.

Tessa just smiles bigger, turning back around to look out the window as her next song plays. Me and Julie both look at him, making angry faces and hand gestures to show him that he totally ruined, but he just ignores us.

Her dad parks in front of a big house, and GPS says we've arrived at our destination. Gabriel gives his 'no drinking or doing anything stupid' speech that none of us will actually listen to, and then finally, we step out the car. We look up at the big house and hear music blasting out of it, a couple of people scattered on the wrap around porch, talking and laughing with red cups or phones in their hands. And all of a sudden, I feel a little nervous.

So technically, we weren't all invited to this party. Julie was invited because her boyfriend was also invited, and they told her she could bring a plus one. So, naturally, she brought three. Mj was already inside and talking to God knows who, as we all nervously look at each other.