Knight

04

Mason Maloney

I looked out the window at the driveway with a scowl on my face and my arms crossed. Nathan never came home last night, meaning the car was nowhere to be found and I had to be to work in half an hour. I contemplated what I could do. If I left now, I might be able to get there just a few minutes late by walking. Or, I could wake my parents up and ask one of them for a ride, but then I would be ratting out Nathan. I shouldn't care about him getting in trouble, but since I'm a good brother I did.

My other options were calling my friends to see if they would be awake this early in the morning or calling Sam. I didn't want to bug Sam by making him drive out of his way to come get me, but I was desperate. Before I could stop myself, I pressed the call button on his contact and he picked up within a few seconds.

"Mason?" he answered through the phone.

"Hey, Sam. Sorry for calling, but I was just wondering if you could come pick me up? If not it's fine, I can walk-"

"You're not walking. I'll be there in ten minutes," Sam cut me off before hanging up the phone.

After I was all dressed, I went downstairs and made coffee, pouring it in two travel mugs. I left them both black since there was cream and sugar at the bakery and I didn't know how Sam took his. Since he was picking me up, the least I could do was bring him a coffee. As I was screwing the lid on the second travel mug, my phone dinged with a text from Sam.

Here

I hurriedly finished screwing the lid on and grabbed both mugs before scurrying out of the house. Sam's car was in the driveway with him in it, looking down at his phone. I hopped into the passenger's seat and placed the mugs in his cup holders.

"Sorry for calling, Nath-"

"You don't need to apologize," Sam cut me off smoothly with a grin. "Idiot brother has the car?"

I nodded as Sam pulled out of my driveway and headed toward the bakery. I really didn't want to talk about Nathan with Sam since I knew Nathan wouldn't appreciate it at all.

Sam and I got out of the car after he parked in front of the bakery. I grabbed both the mugs as we walked toward the building. It was evident that Charlene was already there baking up a storm. Her car was parked behind the building and she had all the lights on in the bakery.

"Here, I brought you this," I said to Sam, handing him the mug after I rung the bell for Charlene to unlock the door.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the mug in his hand.

"Coffee," I answered. "It's black. I didn't know how you took it."

Sam nodded and took a small sip of the coffee. I gave him a disgusted look to which he shot me a happy grin.

"I usually put in a little bit of cream, but I like it black too," he told me, chuckling slightly at the look on my face.

Soon enough Charlene came to the door to let us in. She had a wide smile on her face along with some flour smudged on her cheek.

"Boys!" Charlene exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Good morning, Charlene," Sam greeted kindly.

Charlene took Sam's tall frame in her arms for a bone-crushing hug. It was quite comical to see the two of them next to each other. Charlene was a petite old woman while Sam was a tall and muscular football player. He looked to be about twice her size.

"Come here, Mase," Charlene ordered with her arms open wide after she had released Sam.

After my hug with Charlene, she went back to the kitchen to finish baking. She must have been here for hours already since she had about half of the shelves filled with pastries and other bakery items.