*can be read as a stand-alone; you won't have to read the rest of the series in order to understand most of this book*
*cover by justtoofabulous*
Rhys Prince has always felt stuck in both his dad's and his twin brother's shadow. Most people...
"Is everyone ready to go?" Dad asked the dance team after we loaded out luggage into the trunk. The state competition was a four hour drive, so Dad decided to just rent a van instead of wasting a lot more money for a very short flight.
Unfortunately, we were all going to be in the van, which meant a four hour car ride with Kingsley. I loved him, but too much of him for too long was pure torture.
Then again, it was early in the morning so I was hoping I could get some sleep and he wouldn't wake me up. If only he would go to sleep too, but he was already buzzed with coffee, so that wasn't happening.
Zayden called shotgun, then Kingsley said he wanted it, so they got into a huge argument about who actually got to sit in the front. While they argued, everyone else got into the van. I sat on one seat beside the window, and Echo sat down beside me.
"You look a lot tired than I am," I said, and it was true. She had huge bags under her eyes, and it didn't help that she was yawning almost every minute.
Echo nodded. "Yeah, I am. I was up late last night and I probably didn't get to sleep until two in the morning. My parents were grilling me yesterday to, once again, make sure my turns were perfect."
"I'm sorry," I said, and for some reason, that made Echo smile.
"You don't have to say sorry every time I talk about it," Echo said. "I mean, it's sweet and all, but you don't have to feel obligated to apologize."
"I don't really know what else to say, to be honest...." I said.
"You don't have to say anything," Echo said. "But you know what will work? Hugs?"
That made me smile as I pulled her into a hug. "That I can do," I said. "I love hugs. Kind of. Not really. It depends on the person, actually. You, I like hugging. Everyone else, not so much."
"Aww, that makes me feel special," Echo said. "I hope you don't mind me falling asleep in your shoulder during the car ride."
"I don't mind, because I'm going to end up falling asleep too," I said.
Zayden and Kingsley were finally able to figure out who was going to sit in the passenger seat. And by figure it out, I mean Zayden distracting Kingsley before going into the passenger seat.
Kingsley huffed, then went to the back door. "Hey, Cantaloupe, I'm coming to sit beside you," he said as he got into the van.
"That's great, but do I need to remind you that my name is Calliope?" Calliope asked.
"You can, but that's not going to stop me from calling you Cantaloupe," Kingsley said as he closed the door to the van, that sat down in the spot beside Calliope.
Once everyone was all ready to go, Dad started up the van to begin the long drive to the state competition. It didn't take long for Echo to fall asleep with her head resting on my shoulder and with her arms around me. And it didn't take long for me to fall asleep shortly after.
We were, somehow, able to make it through the whole trip without Kingsley waking us up. Well, that was until we got there. Kingsley screamed loudly to wake up everyone who was asleep, and most of us got mad at him but he just started laughing.
He was such an annoying person.
We first stopped off at the hotel beside the venue to drop off our luggage, and because we had some time to kill before registration actually started. When we got into the hotel, Dad said that the boys had to be in one room and the girls in another.
"What about me?" Kingsley asked.
"What about you?" Dad asked. "You're a guy, right?"
"Yes, but I'm gay," Kingsley said.
"What? No, you're not," Dad said.
"You don't know what I am," Kingsley said.
"Uh, I'm your uncle, Kingsley," Dad said. "I know that you're not gay because you keep saying you're the only person in your family attracted to girls, so you'll be sharing a room with all the other guys."
"But what if I'm one percent gay?"
"If you're one percent gay, then you're ninety-nine percent straight, and ninety nine beats one."
"Well, I tried my best," Kingsley said before heading into the room for the guys.
"Kingsley is the weirdest person ever," Echo said to me.
"Oh, I know," I said before we headed into separate rooms. I was the last one in there, so I had the default bed. I didn't really care though since it was the one furthest away from the door so I'd be the last to die if a serial killer came, and I might even have the chance to escape.
The other two guys on the dance team decided to go look for a vending machine, so Zayden thought it was the perfect time to bring up a very special someone for Kingsley. "So," Zayden said. "What exactly is going on with you and Everett?"
"Nothing," Kingsley said. "Hook ups, that's it."
"Really?" Zayden asked. "Because I saw how jealous you were getting when he was talking to Uncle William."
"I wasn't jealous. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Rhys, was he jealous?"
"No, don't ask me," I said. "You know I suck at lying."
"And I'll take that as a confirmation that Kingsley was indeed jealous."
Kingsley sighed. "I don't know what's going on, to be honest. I have no feelings for him at all. Echo said I was probably jealous because Everett wasn't giving me attention, and she's probably right because I love attention."
"Yeah, I can see that," Zayden said.
"Look, it's just something that's in the moment," Kingsley said. "It's going to end soon. You know, when I find someone else so that I'm not the one getting jealous."
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I got locked outside today rip. My dad decided to lock both the front door and screen door when my brother and I went out, even thought none of us have a key for the screen door. :/
I was going to make another gif of Rhys, but I wasn't allowed to because the link wasn't working. :/
Hold on, imma make it a different way. (i say hold on as if me taking time to make a gif will affect you reading this. cx)
GIF TIME:
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