Brothers best friend

Hot Chocolate

"So when are you leaving?" Sebastion asks me over the phone. 

I was still packing up my room as I put my brother on speakerphone. All I had left was to pack a few shirts, tape up all my boxes, then bring everything downstairs and out to the U-haul. 

"I leave in about an hour or two, but I probably won't make it there until around 6:00ish" 

Sebastion is almost 2 years older than me, meaning he's already been through his first year of college, and I'll be joining him at the same college this year. Or I guess in about 10 hours. 

I hear the doorbell ring, as I start taping up the boxes and talking to my brother. 

"oh that's Alex, I gotta go, she's going to help me take my stuff into the U-haul and then we're heading to her place to get her stuff. Then we'll start driving." I say as I start walking down the stairs

"Oh please! Take your time, I'm not looking forward to having two girls move in." Sebastion says sarcastically. 

I pause at the bottom of the stairs and roll my eyes. "I promise Alex and I won't mess with your hookups once we're moved in" 

"Good cause I don't want you guys scaring off any of my potential future girlfriends"

"Sebastion everyone knows you don't stay committed to any girl long enough to be in a relationship with one," I say finally opening the door for Alex. "hey sorry, Sebastion thinks I'm threatening his chances for a wife" 

"Sebastion no girl would stay with you long enough for marriage" Alex says as she closes the door behind her. 

"Okay we gotta go, we'll be there soon," I say, as I walk up the stairs to my room. 

"'kay, bye loser" Sebastion says before hanging up. 

I turn to Alex as we enter my room "Okay sorry! So all we need to do is take my matress, bed fram, dresser, desk, and boxes down to the truck." 

"Is that all?" Alex says sarcastically. 

I make a look at her as if im saying 'sorry'. She then smiles and looks back at all the stuff piled up in my room. She sighs and puts her hands on her hips which causes me to do the same. 

"alright let's get started," I say as I walk over to my mattress and attempt to lift it against the wall, and drag it out of my room. "okay yeah this is going to suck," I say as I start walking the mattress towards the stairs. 

I let the mattress go once I'm at the top of the staircase and watch as it slides down and hits the body-length mirror at the end of the steps and hear a crack. I make a face as I cringe at the thought of breaking my mom's mirror.

"okay its fine, im just going to ignore that" I wisper to myself as I walk down the steps. I know my mom won't be very mad at me, she probably won't even notice. 

We continue taking everything into the van, and hop in. 

"oh I'll be right back," I tell Alex "I forgot something inside" 

"Charlotte..." Alex whines to me "hurry up I wanna get there as early as possible and start decorating!!" 

"Okay okay, it'll be really quick I promise" I tell her, as I shut the car door before she can respond. 

I walk inside and sigh before I head to my moms room. I open the door and find her asleep in her bed. She's hungover. Or still drunk, who knows. I never do. But I still want to tell her goodbye. Even if she doesn't remeber. 

"Hey Mom," I whisper as I walk to the foot of her bed. "I'm leaving now, I just wanted to say bye before I go" 

She doesn't move, so I shake her le until I hear her groan. "Mom, I'm not going to see you until Thanksgiving, are you even going to say goodbye?" I say as my throat starts tightening from me trying not to cry. 

She doesn't say anything, she doesn't even move. 

"Alright," I say as I walk out and close the door. I take deep breaths as I start to walk back to the front door. 

Once I get to the van, I smile so Alex doesn't know I almost started crying. I don't want her to know i was talking to my mom, because then she'd want to talk to me about it, and I don't think I could do that right now. 

"Okayyyy you ready??" I say in an excited voice as I close the door and buckle up. 

"Yes!! And don't worry I have way less stuff than you so my house won't take nearly as long." 

I laugh as we pull out of my driveway. I'm glad I have Alex here, mostly because I don't have my license, but also because I've always wanted to move in with her. And now I'm moving in with her and my brother. 

                                                    ⇿ ⇼ ⇿ ⇼ ⇿ ⇿ ⇼ ⇿ ⇼ ⇿ ⇿ ⇼ ⇿ ⇼ ⇿ ⇿ ⇼

About 3 hours into our trip there, we stopped at a gas station so we could get gas and some snacks for the rest of the drive. 

"Okay, you head in and start grabbing food while I fill the gas tank." Alex hands me $40 before getting out. 

"you know I have my own card right?" I ask her smiling and holding up the cash. 

"Yeah, but I have extra cash, so technically it's free if you pay with cash," Alex says as I walk around the car until I can see her. 

"smart" Is all I say before turning and walking into the gas station. I grab a basket by the front door and start stalking up on snacks. I grab two cokes from the freezer and do a double-take as I walk past the hot chocolate machine. 

Me and my mom use to make hot chocolate homemade all the time when I was younger. We haven't made hot chocolate since I was around 6 or 7. Nothing beats homemade hot chocolate, but I guess one cup of gas station hot chocolate won't hurt. 

I grab a paper cup from the dispenser next to the machine and press the button. I watch as the hot chocolate pours into the cup and leaves a trail of steam as it fills up. I grab a lid for the cup when I feel a hand touch my shoulder. 

"Hey, I saw you standing over here alone, and I was wondering what you're doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere."

 It's an older guy, with a beard, beer belly, and he's wearing a hat that tells me he's a hunter. 

"Uhm buying hot chocolate?" I ask, trying to give him as little context as possible. 

"Well, what are you doing here alone sweetie? You know I could show you my cabin up the road. It's real relaxing up there what do you say?" 

I stare him in the eyes as I take a long sip of my hot chocolate. I swallow harshly and let out an 'ahhh' as I move the cup away from my face. 

"uh yeah I'm good," I say as I walk past him. 

"You know, it's dangerous out here sweetie, you really should find a place to stay. My cabin really is cozy, I have a feeling you'll enjoy it." He says as a rebuttal. I ignore him as I walk over to the register and the cashier starts scanning my items. 

"You know honey, no man is ever going to want a girl with attitude problems, I would suggest working on that," He says in a harsh voice 

"Yeah and I'd suggest not inviting young girls at the gas station to your cabin in the middle of nowhere," I hand the money to the cashier then turn to the man and stare him in his eyes "You know, no woman wants a man who's into girls half his age" I make it obvious that I'm looking at his ring on his finger. "especially when you're married"

I grab my stuff and walk through the door and basically run to the van. I see Alex leaning against the van waiting for me. "get in now." I yell to Alex. She jumps into the van and locks the doors. 

"what? What's wrong??" She asks as she starts the van

"There's a creepy man and I was kinda mean to him so if we don't leave now he's definitely going to follow us," I say as I start to buckle up 

"Ew ew ew why would you say that? Stop" She says in a winey voice as we pull out of the gas station and back onto the road.