F***in' Arizona

Straight from the Horse's Mouth Pt. 5 (Chapter 22.2)

*Author's Note: Small possible triggering material warning.

Ari's P.O.V

The night went on better than it started and before long everyone was starting to clear out. My new friend and I exchanged numbers and promised to set up a hangout date soon to continue to get to know each other since we hit it off so well after our initial hiccup.

My siblings and I were outside finishing up the cleaning and our parents were putting things back together inside.

After we did all we could outside since it was now too dark to see if there was any hidden trash that the outdoor lamps did not catch, we gathered our belongings and went inside to bask in the satisfyingly cool air of the living room.

I was a bit worn out from gathering and cleaning outside that all I could do was flop down onto the comfy inviting couch. We weren't allowed to even dare put our feet up on the couch, even if they had just been washed, but I couldn't help kicking my shoes off and bringing my tired and heavy legs up onto the soft and comforting cushions, and lying down.

It was close to midnight, so I was understandably sleepy. I couldn't stop my eyelids from acting like weights and fluttering closed like I had been heavily drugged.
My mind began to replay the events from earlier on in the day and night as my brain was mentally storing away things into my memory like a librarian in the Library of Arizona.

However, I wasn't even napping for more than five minutes before I heard,

"Arizona Audrey!"

My eyes dart open, body shoots up, and legs fly off the couch as my subconscious recognizes the voice of my mother.

"Mom I swear I was just gonna lie there for a second. My feet aren't dirty or anything like that."

"Ari don't swear anything to me. I'm not the American flag asking for your allegiance. I saw those feet on my couch and I've told ya'll about that! Next time I catch your dirty feet on my couch, I'm taking my dirtiest shoes and walking all over your bed with them!"

My mom is so dramatic, but she is not one to take lightly. No southern woman is. If they tell you they're gonna do something as a consequence to you doing something wrong, best believe they will live up to it and you won't be living the next day at all.

I profusely apologize and glare at my siblings as they laugh at the verbal spanking I just received. I'm about to head up to my room when this time I'm stopped by my annoyingly nosy father.

"So, son, how did you and Emmie hit it off?"

*Sigh* Great.
I really thought I was going to get by without having to discuss my dad's lackluster attempt to guerilla attack me with a blind date.

"Uh, we hit it off, I guess? You know, after I finished embarrassing myself in front of her. She seems pretty cool," I responded so nonchalantly that I am hoping he gets the hint.

"Seemed like it was more than that. I saw you guys over with Blaire laughing like you two were having a good time," Montana pipes up, adding fuel to the fire.

Where is her husband when I need him? Come get your nosy ass wife, dude.

"She's right, I was talking to Harper, Ty, and Joanna and we noticed that even after Blaire left, it looked like you guys were having even more fun and laughing," Georgia says now putting in her two damn cents like someone just really fuckin' asked her Eliza Thornberry lookin' ass.

"She looks like she'll make great girlfriend material bro," Dakota says joining in on the "fun" as well.

Well, stick a black screen around us, add in some dramatically spoken Spanish, and call us a tv show because you dumb bitches act like my business is a fucking telenovela.