"Not to freak you out or anything, but I have absolutely no idea where we are," Sofia said, looking over at her best friend from the passenger seat. They had been driving in circles for almost an hour with no sign of the center they were looking for, even though it was supposed to take them fifteen minutes.
"What do you mean you have no idea?" he asked, glaring over at her before looking back at the road with a shocked expression still resting on his face.
"I mean that I do not know; I thought that was obvious." she shot back, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.
"Well yeah, I got that much," he muttered, "but you're supposed to be the smart one here!"
"You can't blame me for not knowing a place I've never been to before, can you?" she asked, a small frown coming to her face. They had spent the night with Stephanie, one of Sofia's fellow band geeks who had recently gone to the university here in North Carolina, and they were supposed to meet up with her downtown. According to Steph, there was a cute little diner that was next to an indoor roller skating rink. She apparently had a few people that Sofia and Calum would love, but it didn't seem like they would be introduced any time soon.
"Fia, you know that's not what I meant," Calum sighed, glancing over at the redhead. She was slouched in her seat, staring dejectedly out the window and not saying a word. He pulled over to the shoulder of the unknown backroad and turned his hazard lights on, turning to face his friend. "Hey, look at me."
She turned her head to face him, but her body remained still, her lips glued shut. They locked eyes for a terse moment before her gaze averted downward.
"I'm not like him, I love you so much and I would never say something like that for real." He spoke softly, and she know full well that he meant it. Never once in the six years they had known each other had he seriously told her that she wasn't smart or pretty or nice enough, and never once had he told her to change anything about herself. As usual, Sofia had gotten upset over something small and relatively insignificant - that was obvious to her.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," she sighed, meeting the chocolate eyes of her friend once again. Calum gave her a small smile, and she weakly returned it and nodded her head. He took her cue, grabbing his phone out of the cupholder and turning his body forward. He found directions to The Palace and handed his phone to Sofia. After looking over his shoulder to make sure no cars were coming, he turned the hazard lights off and pulled back onto the road.
"Alright, take the next left, and watch out for a pothole," she read from the phone, looking out the windshield for the dip. In the darkness neither of them saw it, but it evidently had yet to be filled; just ask the flat tire the rental car now sported.
"Well..." Sofia interrupted the moment of silence, "now what?"
"Now we call Steph and a tow truck," Calum chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. Sofia dialed their friend while Calum googled the nearest auto-body shop, calling the number listed.
"Fia? Where are you guys?" Steph answered. After thinking about it, Sofia realized she must have been waiting for a good twenty minutes by now.
"We got lost, and then we hit this massive pothole," she explained, laughing nervously. She looked over at Calum and saw him leaning his arm against the window, head in hand. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he reiterated the situation and their current location. "Cal doesn't seem to be having much luck with the tow truck, though."
"Yeah, don't even bother with Larry's. They have awful service and drive no better than I do," Steph scoffed. Fia pulled the phone away from her ear and asked who he had dialed.
"Some place called Larry's, it was the first one that came up," he answered. "Why?"
"Hang up."
She didn't have to tell him twice. Leaning her elbow on the console, she put the phone on speaker and held it between the two of them. "Any suggestions?"
"Call Moe, tell him Steph sent you."
"Ooh, Steph, what's going on here?" Calum smirked and giggled, picking up his arm to block Fia's playful slap.
"Get out, Hood." Sofia could just see the brunette rolling her electric blue eyes and bowing her hair out of her face. "Since when am I on the phone with you?"
"Well you're on the phone with my girl who's in my car with the phone on speaker," he shot back. Steph hummed suspiciously while Sofia blushed furiously, leaving Calum to wonder what he had said that was so bad. "What?"
"Excuse me, but Fia's my girl. Back off!" Steph laughed from the other end of the line while Calum shook his head.
"No she's not, she loves me more," he retorted, and Steph scoffed.
"Alright, alright, enough. I love you both equally, okay?" Sofia asserted. If the three were together, she'd be pushing them in opposite directions with either arm. She fought to refrain from giggling at the thought.
"No, not at all!" Steph and Calum exclaimed simultaneously. Sofia laughed at the two.
"Steph, you're my favorite girl; Cal, you're my favorite dude. How's that?" she offered. Calum frowned at her, and she could imagine Steph doing the exact same.
"Do I need to come pick you guys up?" Steph asked, remembering the main reason that Fia had called. Sofia looked at Calum, questioning him silently.
"Yeah, if you could that would be great," Calum breathed out, glancing at the redhead just long enough to see her nod her head. They had no idea where they were; even if they did, they had no way of getting anywhere.
"Alright, where are you guys?" Steph asked. The two heard some shuffling sounds, so Sofia inferred that Steph was headed out to her car.
"Don't you think that if we knew, none of this would be an issue?" Calum scoffed, first raising his hand for emphasis but then to block a nudge from his smaller friend.
"Fia, where are you guys?" Steph reiterated, completely ignoring Calum's comment. He just chuckled.
"Give me a second," she replied, clicking on the messages app and finding Steph's name to share their location, causing Calum let out a small giggle. Ever since the feature was added, she had been taking every opportunity to use it. Sure, it could potentially be unsafe, but it was still pretty cool.
"How did you even get there? None of those buildings have been used for years, it's practically a ghost town," Steph said. Fia turned her head, looking out her window and the back windshield.
"Are you sure? It looks pretty busy to me," she said, her eyes tracking a small group of people walking from a Chinese restaurant to a movie theater. It almost looked like they were on a double date, though one of the girls certainly did not look happy to be there.
"Yeah, I'm sure. My siblings and I used to go there all the time, but it's been abandoned for about eleven years," a new voice said.
"Did you have a sudden spike of testosterone or is there a boy in your car?" Calum asked, only half joking.
"Calm down, father," Steph scoffed. "I literally just told you about Ashton earlier today."
"Oh, right. I'm Calum, by the way," he responded.
"Hey Calum," Ashton chuckled from the other end of the line. Calum looked up to Sofia, nodding for her to introduce herself. She met his gaze but looked away as soon as she realized what he was trying to say. "Now, where did this Fia go? I'd like to meet her. Unless, of course, she's just an imaginary friend of yours."
***
i have such an idea for this i really hope it turns out well and you guys like it ?¿
