Phoenix

Chapter 20

                             Spring break

Essence's POV
I had already packed the very few items I needed into my backpack, and tossed it by the door. As much as I loved my independence here, I was honestly quite excited to see my parents again.
Ian, Raven, Destiny and I were heading back home for spring break, and Phoenix offered to drive us to the airport.

I finally push myself off the bed and walk out my room, backpack on my shoulder and book in hand. I cross the hall to knock on the door parallel to mine, it immediately swings open and I'm greeted by two casually dressed girls, all packed up and ready.

_ "Ready?" Chirps Destiny, as we nod in reply.

_ "Did you say goodbye to lover boy yet?" I smile coyly at Raven, nudging her with my elbow.

_ "Shut up" she hisses while I laugh. "I could ask you the same question." She fires back shooting me an eccentric grin. I roll my eyes at her.

_ "Phoenix is my male best friend." I point out.

_ "I didn't say anything about Roosevelt." Raven chuckles, and that's when I realize she had tricked me.

_ "Why you bitc-"

_ "Don't you two start with your love lives. I don't want to feel nauseous and gloomy during our flight." Destiny cuts off our playful banter.

_ "Oh come on don't say that. You're not that single. Remember... you and Ia-" Raven begins.

_ "No! Shut up. There's nothing going on, sorry to burst your bubble." Destiny's voice turns hard and defensive. "Unlike you who has a boy waiting for you at the door at the end of every class, and Essence who is treated like a fragile princess by a mystical creature, I only get to watch from afar as the douche messes around with girls and then yells at me for wearing revealing clothes." After her outburst, she just sighs shakily. I could tell that my best friend was frustrated, and I really wanted to tell her that my brother likes her and was just pretending all this time to make her jealous, but alas it wasn't my place to uncover this information. He had to grow a pair and do it himself, otherwise I'd castrate him.

_ "Tiny..." I cautiously place my hand on her shoulder soothingly. "As his sister, all I have to say is don't give up just yet. Trust me." She glances back at me, a small sad smile on her full lips. I look up only to notice we were already outside.

Soon as we made it to the parking lot, I search for Phoenix's Bugatti la voiture noire, but when I spotted it he wasn't anywhere around.

_ "There they are." Raven's pointed behind my shoulder. I did a full 180 and my eyes landed first hand on the red headed boy leaning against a lean black Maserati jeep. Right... we wouldn't all fit in his expensive sports car.
As Phoenix laughed at something my brother said, one of his rose-gold curls fell over his face as his chest vibrated with his husky laughter. The plain black t-shirt he wore clung to his body perfectly, and as creepy as that sounds, it showed the outline of his perfectly defined abdomen. The shirt was tucked under his favorite pair of grey sweatpants matched with clean white high-rise sneakers. What he wore was always so casual, yet he never failed to take every girl's breath away.

My brother appeared from behind the car and waved us over, effectively bringing Phoenix's attention to us.

_ "Hey ladies, you ready to hit the road?" He simply greets as he grabs all of our bags and shoves them into the trunk.

The drive to the airport was quite uneventful, Ian rode shotgun as us girls stuck in the back. The guys indulged in some random conversation while Destiny and I sang along to the songs on the radio while Raven laid her head against the window, probably thinking about how awful it was to be awake this early in the morning.