Previously Strangers (TFIL/Sam and Colby)

Chapter Three

I ended up in the back of Elton's jeep, squished in between Sam and Corey, who made it their mission to squish me until I popped.

"Where are we going?" Colby asked, looking around.

Sam gasped next to me, "Are we going where I think we're going?"

Elton scrunched his face as he looked at Sam through the rear view mirror. "Where do you think we're going, Sam?" He asked, returning his attention to the road.

"O'Brian's?"

"Yup. I wanna take Kate there for their fried cheese sticks."

"Oh my God, I'm so excited!" Corey shouted.

We pulled into a crowded parking lot, which surrounded a large, multi story building in the heart of downtown L.A.. The worn bricks of the walls matched perfectly with the green awnings and brass doors painted gold.

We all un-piled from the car and Colby led the way into the restaurant. I couldn't help but giggle when a girl dressed like a leprechaun came slumping over to us. "Hi, Welcome to O'Brian's, follow me." Her voice was ragged and unenthusiastic, and she sounded like she probably hauled a pack a day. She turned on her heels and led us to a circular booth in the corner of the bar.

I sat in between Corey and Colby because Elton insisted on sitting across from me so that he could record my face when I tried the cheese sticks for the first time. I wished that we could have a little time without the cameras, but I didn't know how to bring that up in conversation

When the waitress came over, she offered us all water, then Elton ordered 4 orders of the appetizer.

"So, Kate what are you going to about school? Just L.A. Hills?" Colby asked, chewing on his straw.

"Uh, no, I do online school." I said wishing to avoid the subject.

"Oh, why?"

I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks, turning them warm and red. "I- uh." I stuttered, becoming flustered as I tried to come up with an excuse. "Well, my dad made me." I muttered, which was not entirely a lie. My dad was the one who brought up the idea originally.

"Do you know why he made you?" Colby said, taking a gulp of his water.

I sighed quietly, "Uh, no."

Everything was quiet for a moment. Everyone was staring at their phones or sipping their drinks except for Elton who was staring at me, sadness in his eyes. I knew he knew exactly what I was trying to hide and I could tell he felt bad about it. I regretfully looked away as Colby lifted his head up from his phone.

"I. Am. So. Fricken. Hungry." He moaned and let his head fall onto the table.

"You're such a baby." I laughed, nudging him.

"Says the literal baby of the group."

'The group?' I wondered excitedly. 'Am I really already part of the group?' 

I happily clicked my phone on, staring blankly down at its screen. I had no one to text, and I definitely did not want to scroll through the same pictures on Instagram for the hundredth time today. I turned to Sam as he pulled out a camera the was probably worth more than me. There was sleek black casing and a grey fluffy puffball on top of it.

"Katelin, go over by Elton. I need clickbait." he said pointing at the spot next to Elton.

"Aw!! Right, dude!" Corey said, sliding out of the booth so that I could move around to the other side by Elton. I stared at them for a second as I tried to figure out what in the hell they were talking about.

"What the shit is clickbait?" I asked, scrunching my face.

"It's for our YouTube channels." Colby said, clicking through the settings on his camera. " just get over there!"

"Okay," I grumbled, trying to follow the conversation, "and what's YouTube?"

"How in the hell do you not know what YouTube is?"

"Im kidding, sheesh!" I moaned, lazilly sliding out of the booth.