☻ smile | arreaga

four

After the news about the party, the boys get up from their seats and begin dispersing around the connected kitchen and living room area. Most are on their phones, sending out invites to people I'm assuming. I imagine they all have a lot of friends, maybe even some famous ones now that I think of it. Either way, tonight will be interesting.

"You guys just wanna head out and get everything now?", Austin asks.

"I'm down", Brandon hops up from the couch.

"Sounds good", Nick slips his phone in his pocket.

Austin nods before turning my direction, "Rav, Ry, you guys can come too if you want."

I glance at Ryan who's just gotten a text notification, which he looks down to his phone to for a moment.

"Z just asked to play fortnite so ima have to pass", he gets off the wall he was leaning on and proceeds out of the room.

"Damn, he's becoming better friends with Zion than me", Austin chuckles.

"I think that goes for all of us to be honest", Edwin says causing everyone to break into a buzz of agreement and laughter.

"Anyway, leggo", my brother turns around and heads toward the front door.

The other two start trailing behind him, but Brandon stops in his tracks and spins around.

"You coming, Ra?", he speaks the first words to me he has all morning.

I mean, I could stay and help Ed clean up. That would be the right thing to do since he's not in the best mood and could use some company. But, I guess I choose the selfish root because the next thing I know I'm out the door and in the backseat of the car.

Beside Brandon.

Not that I care though. He's made it clear that he literally sees me as just Austin's little sister, a "kiddo", remember? So why would I care that one of our knees and shoulders are practically pressed against eachother? Or that I can smell the cologne he's wearing from here?

You care.

You love pointing out the obvious, don't you?

Whatever. We drive and drive, listening to Austin talk about some skateboard he wants, Nick talk about his girlfriend Halie, (which Brandon shuts down because that's his sister and "ew"), and finally, B talk about the tracks he's working on.

The fact that he writes and produces his own music is kind of assuring, meaning I know he's more than just a pretty boy who can sing. Not that I've heard any of his work, he's just been in that little garage studio whenever he can the past few days, which is apparently not un-normal.

"You know, Raven writes songs too", Austin says matter-of-factly. "And sings them."

And you know, I really don't tell people I've met four days ago that. Thanks Austin!

I feel Brandon's gaze shift to me, but I only manage to glance at him for a moment.

"I didn't know you were into music", he tilts his head.

"I mean, I'm related to Austin aren't I?" I joke. "But chill bro, I've written a few songs that aren't even good."

"That one you showed me last time I was home was pretty sick", Austin justifies.

"I could improve", I shrug.

And I'm not wrong. Sure I write songs for fun, but I could never imagine actually putting them somewhere online, for example. Singing and songwriting is a hobby, a private one.

Austin finally drives into the parking lot of a grocery store, yet instead of parking, he pulls up and stops near the entrance.

"So, you two grab what we need from here and we'll run to the liquor store down the block and pick you back up", Austin looks at Brandon and I through the rear view mirror.

"Aight", Brandon nods, opening his door and slipping out of the car.

I do the same, saying bye to my brother and Nick, and follow him until we're walking through the entrance doors.

And here I am, alone with Brandon Arreaga once again -that being besides the other customers who are mostly middle aged women, but you get the point.

I throw my hands in my hoodie pockets while we head toward what I'm assuming is the snack section. Brandon has already got a shopping cart that he's lazily pushing across the store.

"What do you write your songs about?", he breaks the silence between us.

I had a feeling he wasn't gonna let the songwriting topic drop so easily.

"A few different things", I shrug as we turn down an isle filled with junk. "A lot about relationships, I guess."

"Like breakup songs?" he grabs a few bags of chips and throws them in the cart, glancing to his side where I am.

"Do I look like Taylor Swift?", I bend down to grab some salsa dip for the nachos.

We exchange a chuckle for moment before he shrugs, "Fair enough."

"I'm playing. Yes, some are breakup songs. As cliche as that sounds", I pause as we head back down the aisle. "But, what's bad for the heart is good for art - in all forms of course."

"Yo, exactly", he beams, most likely because he found someone who gets it.

All good artists, or songwriters in this case, know their best work stems from real emotion, from impulsive feelings. It's difficult to just sit down and writing about something without inspiration. Or produce something meaningful like that anyway.

"Did you write anything about your ex girlfriend?", he glances to me as we approach the drink section.

The question catches me off guard for a moment until I remember my earlier exchanges with Edwin.

"Listening in on my conversations huh?", I tease him, scanning the shelved beverages in front of me.

"I mean, y'all were the only ones talking in the room, but whatever makes you feel nice", he teases back and I turn away so he won't see the blush on my cheeks.

"I wrote a few things about her", I shrug as I haul down a few bottles of Coke and ginger-ale into the cart. "Never really finished them though."

What was there to write about, honestly? She left me because she was scared of being found out by her parents. Heart breaking, but not to the extent that some of my other exes have put me through.

"I know those ones", Brandon chuckles as we head down the isle with the sodas in cart. "I'd love to hear some of your work sometime though", he adds.

Something about that statement gives me butterflies - yuck.

"Only if I can hear some of yours first", I smirk. "I hear you're always in that garage studio.."

"Deal", he smirks back.

A/N: *updates 3 months later* SORRY