The War Among Us

Chapter 22-Aggressive much?

Okay, so I have some news guys. I'm revamping a book that I took of my profile and I'm suuuper excited! I was reading it and I realized that I was a better writer back then than I am now. I'm really pumped about it and it's called, 'Cinematic' so keep an eye out for the first couple chapters either tomorrow or the day after!

As for this shorter chapter in the book, I was trying to show how Oliver's relationship with these characters has really changed in the 10-year gap and I thought I did okay, but there's ALWAYS room for improvement so don't forget to comment and vote! Keep writing! :D

Along the way, we listened to trashy pop and sang along awfully. I had no shame in screaming out-of-tune notes with my little family that I made for myself. We were only driving for an hour when Bell stopped singing, "Hey, uh, Oliver? I need to pee. Can we stop?"

I pulled over with a smirk on my face, "There are lots of trees around." We were in the middle of the country where there were absolutely no trees. She rolled her eyes at my sarcasm and then got out. My eyes widened in surprise as she flipped me off, pulled down her pants and went in the open. Xander and I turned away with a chorus of ews and yells while Ally was laughing uncontrollably. I kept my eyes covered as Bell got back in the passenger seat.

"All better!" She said cheerfully.

I scoffed, "Yeah, I bet."

I thought it was funny. I stiffened at Taurus' words and his sudden presence. He didn't say a single word for ten years and there he was saying something so casual. I was so surprised yet weary. Either something good happened or something bad happened. I called to him, T-Taurus? I thought y-you were gone.

I waited for a response but I gave up after a few seconds. I felt Ally's warm hand on my shoulder, "Oli, what's wrong?"

They didn't know about Taurus so I nervously laughed and started driving, "Oh, nothing. I thought I saw something up ahead."

She looked, "Okay. Well, if you want to turn back, it's not too late."

I shook my head, "I'm fine." I thought about Duncan and poor Taurus for the 50 millionth time that day as I drove. The next 10 minutes consisted of Bell and Xander making stupid fart jokes as Ally and I laughed along.

Xander tried his best to stop laughing at Bell's joke to make his own, "No, no, this is better. If you ad the word 'juice' to the end of any body part, it's 10x more disgusting!"

Bell cracked up, "Foot juice!"

Ally even had a hard time containing herself, "Elbow Juice?" I looked at her and realized just how grown-up she seemed. Her round face was replaced b a more angular face with sharp features and she had laugh lines forming by her cheeks from her light-heartedness. She could be so serious, but when she was around us, her family she dropped the seriousness and cut straight to being the funny, kind, caring person she is. Her humor hasn't changed, but it definitely isn't as easy to make her laugh.

It was Xander's turn to make one up, but he couldn't stop laughing so I cut in with a devilish smirk, "Butt juice." I knew what the outcome would be. Xander and Bell died as Ally laughed and slapped my head with an, "Ew, you dork!"

I laughed with them and we kept on. About an hour later, the girls fell asleep in the back and Xander was awake with me in the front. We had stopped shortly after our "juice' jokes and Xander moved up next to me. He was a great gamma. As gamma, his responsibilities were mostly fighting alongside the beta and helping with training the soldiers. He also helped run errands and I had to say, he was great at that too. Not only was he a good comrade, he was never afraid to challenge me and I liked that. He and Bell were the only two that challenged me in meeting with other packs. It kept me level-headed sometimes. I knew I could count on them if I went off the deep end. Xander was a sarcastic douchebag sometimes, but he came through when you needed him and that was why he was my best friend.