The One

Chapter Four

"RAVEN! KASEY!" I heard Sam's voice as Kasey and I walked out of the plane, Shadow's carrier in one hand and our essentials in my other hand. Kasey was still trying to wake up from her 4 hour long nap.

"SAM!" I shouted back, not knowing where it came from until I saw a giant handmade poster saying 'WELCOME TO LOS ANGELES, RAVEN AND KASEY!' being held by Sam and Corey while Jake and Aaron were yelling our names with accents and flailing their arms around, catching everyones' attention as they walked by.

"You're here!" Sam exlaimed, putting the poster down with Corey to welcome Kasey and I with a hug.

"We are! Two years later after you sending a message to me for the first time on Instagram and we finally get to meet in person after all this time!" I smiled, hugging him tightly, his cheek resting on the top of my head.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Kasey," She jokingly said, holding her hand out infront of Sam before he pulled her into a hug and laughed. "Nice try, I know you already," he said, stepping back after letting go.

"Wait, if you're here with Corey, Jake and Aaron, how the hell is Kasey and I supposed to fit with our stuff? and them all in one car?" I asked, confused. Corey smiled.

"Oh don't worry about that. We haven't told anyone yet but we have a clown car where we have so much space inside that it makes you think you're in a limo despite the fact that it's so small! We managed to fit 10 people in it and still have space!" he joked, looking at the guys.

"Totally! We even have our private group times in in if you know what I mean," Jake joked with him, putting his arm over his shoulder.

"Nah, in all seriousness though, we came down in two cars. Aaron and Jake wanted to tag along in the little welcome thing we did so Corey took his car and I took your car since I thought you'd appreciate riding it back to my place in LA for the first time," Sam explained, smiling as he held my keys out, letting them dangle off of his finger infront of me on it's XPLR lanyard. I smiled like a dork and grabbed them before he could even think of pulling them away from me.

"It'll feel so good driving her and seeing her again. I haven't seen or heard about her since the day I shipped her off on Tuesday after doing some editing, until you sent me a photo a few hours ago and gave me the news that she arrived safely," I admitted, putting the keys in my back pocket, letting the lanyard hang out.

"Well, she's waiting for her owner to drive her again in the parking lot. We just have to go get your bags and start leaving," Corey said, pointing behind him, towards the luggage retrieval corner.

"Let's get our stuff and start heading to the cars then because I'm tired as shit and want to eat because I'm freaking hungry!" Kasey shouted, walking passed between me and Sam, raising her hand in the air as she dramatically swung her hips with every step as a joke.

"You heard the lady. She's in such a rush for her food and slumber even though she took a 4 hour nap on the way here!" I followed her, lifting Shadow's carrier to see how he was and gently rubbed his nose through the door.

"Who's this little fella?" Sam jogged up to me with the boys, trying to catch up.

"This is Shadow, my kitty son and the mascot of our channel!" I turned the carrier so it was facing Sam as he lowered his head to see Shadow better.

"Hey buddy! Nice to meet you!" He softly booped his nose, smiling as the cat chirped at him, sniffed his finger and licked it.

"I guess he likes you," I smiled, lowering the carrier as we approached the conveyor belts that moved luggages around in a circle.

"And he's a black cat too. That's amazing considering you and Kasey do ghost hunting and exploring in abandoned places like I do," he laughed, shaking his hair a bit to get it out of his eyes.

"Our bags are here," Kasey took her bags off of the conveyor. I walked over to her side and grabbed my bags as well.

"We'll help you with your bags," Corey grabbed my sports bag and tossed it over his shoulder. Aaron grabbed Kasey's backpack and put it on his back.

"Thank you. I appreciate that," Kasey and I smiled kindly. When our bags were grabbed and our stuff were put back together, we headed off to the cars.

Once we stepped out of the airport, I lifted my arms, feeling LA's hot summer sun beaming on our skins and I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Ugh, this feels like heaven," I sighed.

"Jesus, I knew you were pale but I didn't know you were practically a goddamn vampire!" Sam exclaimed, laughing, "If I was just passing you by in the streets and didn't know you, I'd be turning my head back and think you weren't human!"

"Oh shut up! It's just a phase, mom!" I looked over at him, a giant smile on my face.

"Don't talk. She has a thing for vampires and werewolves, dude! Like if they were actually a thing, I bet she'd be all over that shit like a drug. Especially if it was a badass vampire," Kasey rolled her eyes as she shook her head, chuckling.

"I do not! You'd be like that but for anime boys!" I teased her. She chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Yeah... I guess you do have a point," she admitted. The guys laughed.

"So like.... you'd suck a guy's toes if he was an anime character?" Jake asked, looking at her as if he was serious while leaning on her shoulder, in her ear.

"N-no. What the hell?" Kasey looked at him confused and a bit weirded out.

"It was just a little question of curiosity," he moved away a little bit, chuckling.

"Don't mind him. He's just a bit weird. I believe his mom dropped him on his head," Aaron laughed. Jake did a weird face and did a little hop, tapping his feet together.

"Alright so who's going with who ?" I asked, heading for the trunk of my car as I took my keys out to unlock it.

"Well we'll keep you girls together but I guess I can tag along in the backseat and let Corey, Jake and Aaron drive in Corey's car," Sam shrugged a bit, looking over at the guys for their approval. They nodded.

"Sounds good!" Corey agreed, putting some of the bags he was carrying for us in his trunk.

"Hey, are we stopping anywhere or just going straight there? I'm only asking because Kasey and I only ate mini cinnamon buns and a bit of yogurt on our way here. Preferably something we don't already have where we live," I looked over at Jake, knowing there was a possibility that he was going to say McDonalds. I threw my stuff in the trunk and gently placed Shadow in the backseat afterwards, where he'd be sitting next to Sam.

"I mean, it all depends on what you girls are craving for. It's only like 9am our time," Aaron said, putting his phone away after checking the time.

"Well we could always go to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and maybe some pastries," Jake answered, putting behind him, over his shoulder.

"Dude! Raven just said that they were looking for something they don't already have where they live! They most probably have a Starbucks in Canada!" Corey pointed out, grabbing his shoulder and laughing.

"At worst, do grocery stores take Canadian money?" Kasey asked, holding a 20$ in her hand.

"I think they do but we can always help with that. We don't mind helping you pay," Sam said, smiling. He was such a kind soul. Sucks he lost a good friend of his.

"But we don't want to bother you with that though. If they don't take Canadian cash, just means Kasey or I will have to run to the bank and take out some money after converting a decent amount into US dollars," I shrugged, opening my driver's door and resting my head against the roof, on my arm as my other hand held the door. Kasey put the rest of her bags in the trunk with Sam and closed it.

"But that's complicated and takes forever," Jake groans, crossing his arm like an impatient woman.

"Nothing that I can't handle. You're speaking to a woman who has to wait for this one to get ready right before we have to leave to go somewhere. Especially when she wants to be all dolled up for a ghost hunting video or exploring an abandoned place," I chuckled, looking over at Kasey who was pouting like a child.

"Don't judge me! If I get caught, I might as well get caught looking good instead of looking like a drug dealer!" She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and swinging her head to the side, looking away from me.

"But that just makes it more difficult for you to reach places. Do you think I want to look up your skirt as I try to lift you up onto a ledge? Nah!" I shook my head, remembering the time she wore skinny jeans and wedges then proceeded to have great difficulty trying to climb.

"You're no better! Wearing ripped jeans when you've got some parkour to do or trying to go through the woods and every branch you come across becomes stuck in the hole of your jeans!" She tried to dump it on me until Corey jokingly chimed in but also pointing something out.

"But with ripped jeans, at least if she makes a hole in it, it'll just blend in with the ones already made! In a skirt, god knows what can climb up there or who you're going to flash if you're not careful!" Corey said in a woman's voice, throwing his hand in the air dramatically and then proceeded to snap his fingers in a 'Z' shape.

"Hey, I wear short shorts underneath at least," Kasey shrugged, chuckling. Sam butted in.

"Are we going to the store or not? We've got some stuff to do!" He laughed, rubbing his hands together as the rest of the people got in the car they were riding in. Sam sat in the backseat with Shadow then Kasey sat in the front. Jake and Aaron went into Corey's car.

"To the grocery store!" I said, putting my key in the ignition and listening to it roar to life after checking if it was in neutral and pressing down on the clutch. I sighed in relief, happy to hear her pur. Corey looked over once he started his car and laughed.

"Dude, we look like we just came out of a Fast and the Furious movie! We should totally have a photoshoot day!" Corey suggested, putting his sunglasses on as she smiled.

"Oh we should. Need some good fresh new photos, man! Lead the way, my man!" I smiled. He nodded and began driving. I put the car in first gear and started following him.

"This is going to be an interesting ride as passenger in this car with the actual owner who knows what she's doing," Sam laughed, shaking his head and fixing his hair.

"You had problems?" I looked over at the rear view mirror to look at him, slowing down. "I don't drive manual cars. My car is just purely automatic so trying to drive stick shift in your car that is a beast, it was interesting. Stalled once or twice on the way to the house," he nervously admitted. I giggled and shook my head. Kasey turned her head to look at Sam.

 "She never usually let's people drive her car apart from me so you should feel privileged. I only touch it when I really have to," Kasey told him. It was true. I never really let anyone else drive my car. The last car I had was totaled because a former friend of mine decided to borrow it and take it out to try and do drifts. He lost control and totaled my car. Luckily he survived with just cuts and bruises.

"Yeah, I don't normally do that after what happened to my last car," I admitted, stopping at an intersection and looking both ways before proceeding to follow Corey at normal speed. "What happened?" Sam asked. I explained to him the story and he understood me.

"I would feel the same way. I would have trust issues passing my car to people if my car was totaled. Prices for repairs are not cheap," he nodded his head, leaning forwards with his arms against his thighs.

After a little while of talking, driving around and getting what we wanted at the grocery store, we finally arrived at their mansion.

"Holy.....shit...." I said, watching as Corey stopped infront of a gate to let it open for him before he pulled in. "Pretty awesome, right?" Sam smiled, happy that he owned the mansion with his friends.

"It's amazing!" Kasey said, her eyes practically sparkling as she looked at it while I pulled in after Corey.

"Just park right here," Corey pointed at the space between a car covered over with a sheet and a Tesla. Sam must've seen our faces of confusion as we saw the hidden car. "It's his car. We thought of just keeping it for him for just in case he comes back," Sam said quietly, sadness revealing itself in his voice. Kasey looked down at her feet, probably wishing she knew how to help him.

"Maybe one day he'll come back. Who knows?" I said, putting the car in park.

"Maybe but I'm still hoping that maybe he'll come around and open the front door with open arms," He sighed, rubbing his thumbs together before stepping out of the car with Kasey and I. We grabbed our things and brought them into the house, getting ready to get settled in and sleep.