What I Don't Know Can't Hurt You

Chapter Seven

Note: this chapter is a bit longer than the other ones, to make up for not having updated in a while. I hope you enjoy it!

I woke up on Saturday morning at about 10:40. I glanced at the clock and was about to go back to sleep when I realized I was supposed to be at Taryn's house in 20 minutes. I jumped up out of bed and put on the first clothes I found. I'm pretty sure I had been wearing the same jeans all week, but they had no visible stains, so they were fine. I ran downstairs.

"Hey mom!" I said, grabbing my phone, earbuds, and wallet off the kitchen island.

"Good morning!" she replied. "What are you doing?

"I have to be at Taryn's house by 11, remember?"

"Oh, right! Aren't you going to have breakfast?"

"No, I'll just get something at the mall."

"Alright, have fun!"

"Bye!" I said. I grabbed my hoodie, closed the door behind me, and put Taryn's address into Google Maps, just to be sure.

It took me 5 songs to get to her house. I rang the doorbell. Taryn answered the door, and Avery was right behind her.

"Hi!!" Taryn greeted me.

"Hey guys!" I responded. "Oh, Avery, pronouns?"

"He/him," he replied.

"Alright! Is Leo here yet?"

"No, not yet," Taryn answered. Just as she said that, the doorbell rang. "Oh, I guess he is!"

"Helloooooo," he said when we opened the door.

We all greeted him.

"Oh, I just remembered, Avery, what's your gender today?"

"Pretty masculine, so he/him pronouns," he replied.

"Kay."

"Mom, everyone's here!" Taryn called. Her mom came out of the kitchen. She was short, like her daughter. I was about 7 inches taller than her.

"Hi, I'm Taryn's mom," she said.

"I'm Quinn," I said.

"And I'm Leo," Leo added.

"Nice to meet you! Let's go!"

"I call shotgun," exclaimed Taryn.

It was about a 20 minute drive to the mall.

"Well, have a good day!" Taryn's mom told us when we got there. "I'll pick you up at this entrance at 3:30!"

"Okay, bye, mom!" Taryn replied.

We entered the mall and immediately found ourselves in the food court. It smelled like every kind of food imaginable, and it seemed pretty busy. There weren't very many empty tables left.

"How about we find a table first, then we take turns getting food so we don't lose our spot?" I suggested.

Everyone agreed. We made our way through the the maze of tables to one that was empty and sat down.

I got some sushi, Avery and Leo got burgers, and Taryn got a salad.

"So where should we go first?" Leo asked through a mouthful of burger.

"I think there's a Hot Topic not too far from here, we could go there," Taryn suggested. She took a big bite of her salad.

"Well, I could use some more band merch," I joked, looking down at my Twenty One Pilots shirt.