On Thin Ice

23.

Autumn Kingsley

I'm not quite sure how I ended up in the back of Atlas' car next to a Bernese Mountain dog and Mr Rat Lover boy next to him.

It was 3:58am and we were currently headed to McDonald's.

We somehow, and by 'we' I meant Kaden, managed to convince our parents to let us go out at midnight to buy chicken nuggets.

No I'm kidding. That's complete bullshit. We snuck out.

Sometimes I wonder if adults still have their hearing. I have no idea how they didn't hear the start of the car engine nor our footsteps and collar of Axel, or us driving off.

"Don't you guys have CCTV's outside your house?" I ask leaning forward saving myself from having to repeat my words.

"Yeah." Atlas replies blandly.

I nod and lean back in my seat. Kaden clears his throat before giving me the answer I pretty much wanted.

"They don't store clips, if you get what I mean. It's more of in the moment thing." My eyebrows furrow at his words as I try to piece them together. Kaden stares at me silently for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Ok for example, if there was a person taking a massive dump in the middle of our drive way and I-"

Me and Atlas let out and exasperated groan.

"I'm purposely going to drive straight into the lake if you don't shut up." Atlas uses his index finger to flick the blinkers on before making another turn.

"Shut up, listen, okay so the person's taking a big dumb in the middle of our drive way and-"

Atlas cuts him off. "You've said that."

Kaden inhaled sharply through his nostrils whilst pinching the bridge of his nose. I chuckle under my breath and ruffle the top of Axel's head.

"Yeah I know I've said that, but I'm repeating myself because someone won't stop cutting me off!" He throws his hands in the air in frustration.

Atlas shrugs unbothered before taking one last final turn and driving towards the drive thru.

"What do you guys want?"

"Just the usual."
"Banana milkshake."

The brunette at the front gives us a small nod and takes what seems to be his wallet from the storage compartment before taking some cash out. "That it?"

Me and Kaden both nod in sync.

Atlas whispers an "okay" under his breath before driving forward once more and beginning to order our stuff.

I turn to Kaden. He waves at me before opening his mouth to speak again.

"As i was saying, if I were to take a big dump in our drive way and Atlas, or anyone for the matter, takes a little peak at the CCTV outside our front door, then you'd see me and my beautiful beigey poo."

He takes a deep breathe before resuming. I furrow my eyebrows at his choice of words.

"But it wouldn't store a clip of me doing that because our cameras don't have a big enough of a brain and instead, has a memory of a goldfish."

I stare at him dumbfounded.

Atlas presses his foot against the gas pedal and we start to move forwards once again. He pulls the car over outside the closed window whilst tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.