“Fuck this shit we’re out!” We all watched and laughed as Justin threw his notebook in the air and the wind caught some of the loose papers that were once inside. We had just walked out of our history final and we were happy. Finally being done with that class was better than the holiday that was coming up.

“You gonna pick that up though?” Vic asked.

“Fuck nah! Fuck everything that is history.” Nick shook his head and walked ahead of us to his car, probably going to go see his girlfriend.

“Yo Justin, we still celebrating tonight?”

“Fuck yeah!” I looked at Vic with a knowing glance. He just shrugged, knowing that Mike and Justin were gonna get fucked up tonight since they had just finished their last final of the semester. Vic and I along with some of the rest of the gang had finals going on until Thursday.

“You guys are really gonna get high on a Monday night?” Vic asked. His brother looked at him like he was stupid.

“We’ll get high every night.” Mike turned back to Justin and talked about the details of their night. Vic and I walked behind them, listening to them fight over who was bringing what and who to invite.

“Well, at least they’re keeping themselves entertained,” Vic said with a chuckle. I gave him a small smile and shrugged. I wasn’t really concerned with what Justin and Mike were gonna get into; I was more focused on the person next to me.

I took my hand out of my pocket and slowly brought it closer to Vic’s. My pinky caught his and soon our fingers were intertwined. I shot him a shy smile and looked down at my shoes. Damn me getting embarrassed that my boyfriend was holding my hand. Man up, Quinn.

“It’d be really cute if your palms were sweating,” Vic teased.

“First off it's too cold for that and second, that would actually be really gross and you know that,” I replied. He laughed a little and squeezed my hand.

“So how about it you two?” Vic and I released hands when we noticed that Mike and Justin’s attention was on us.

“Sorry bro, we were talking. What’s up?”

“You two wanna hang out with us?” Vic simply made a face which caused Mike to put his hands up. “Alright, I get it.” Vic didn’t condone getting high so he would get really defensive whenever Mike asked. Sometimes I think Mike invited him just to get under his skin as siblings do.

“How about you, Kell?” I shook my head. I wasn’t really into all of that. “Hey, more for us,” Mike said to Justin. Justin simply smiled and went back to talking about something. Mike pulled his phone out of his pocket, focusing his attention on that.

“So, if you’re not gonna hang with them what are you gonna do?” I looked at Vic with a seductive smile.

“You of course.” I swear I saw his cheeks redden before he looked away.

“Shut up,” he murmured. I was about to tease him some more when he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He looked at it with a surprised expression then looked ahead at Mike. I looked at him worriedly. He showed me the text he had gotten:

I knew you guys were back together! And don’t deny it because I saw you holding hands :P don’t worry I won’t tell

I looked at Mike too. He was staring back at us with a smirk; Justin didn’t seem to notice. Vic mouthed something to him that I wasn’t paying attention to which made Mike nod with that smirk on his face. He turned back around and continued his conversation with Justin who appeared to be none the wiser.

“Well shit,” Vic mumbled, “looks like we need to explain things to him.” I looked forward at Mike then back at his brother.

“No we don’t. He said he wouldn’t tell so I guess on some level he knows we’re trying to keep this a secret.” Vic nodded and sent a text back to Mike. I looked over his shoulder to read it:

Thanks bro. We’ll tell everyone soon

Vic smiled at me and took my hand in his again. I squeezed his as we followed behind Justin and Mike in silence.

I got to thinking that keeping Vic and I a secret was starting to get ridiculous. Kay, Gabi, and now Mike knew that we were back together and no doubt Gabi told Tony. The only people who didn’t know were Jaime and the guys in my band, although Nick had been giving us weird looks. I guess that’s what happens when you date your friend’s family member.

Vic glanced at me as we approached the student center. He knew what I was thinking; I’m transparent like that. All my thoughts and emotions were always on display on my face.

“I know,” was all he said.

“So when?” I asked as we walked into the building.

He shrugged. “You think we’re ready?”

“Don’t you?” I gnawed on my bottom lip awaiting his answer. Vic and I agreed that we wouldn’t tell our friends about our relationship unless we both felt that we were back on track. There couldn’t be any doubt that we wanted to be with each other.

“I do,” he said with a smile. I felt my body relax as I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“Then let’s do it.” He squeezed my hand yet again as we followed Mike and Justin into the dining hall. It felt good to know that we were gonna go public soon. Hiding this from my friends was hard since I was an open book. Playing off the feelings I had when Vic was around was a challenge so I tried to make them as miniscule as possible rather than avoid them. I wouldn’t have to do that soon though. Soon we’d be out in the open. The thought made me smile.

If only that feeling stayed.

***



I separated from Kaylee to see the loving look in her eyes. We were saying goodbye to Kay and Brandon since we were going home. It would be five weeks without my baby and I guess you could say I was acting like a little bitch. We were finally back on track and now we had to spend a whole month apart. Damn, was I whipped? Probably.

“You guys gonna be okay?” Kay asked. She was concerned that we were driving back home instead of flying. Texas was on the verge of freezing over and there was already some precipitation in some cities that we had to pass through. She didn’t want us to get caught in any storms that might pop up.

“We’ll be fine, babe.” She made a face, probably not believing me. “We will be. Vic’s gonna be driving out of the state so we’ll be okay.”

“I don’t know….” Vic rolled his eyes. I had told Kaylee the story of how Vic damaged our RV one summer when he drove under an overpass that wasn’t tall enough. Since then she started to hate the idea of Vic driving. Honestly, my brother was a better driver than me.

“Kay we’ll be good, relax.” She huffed but didn’t say anything else. I kissed her forehead and pulled her in. Her concern was cute. She was cute.

“We’ve gotta get going, Mikey.” I nodded at Vic as he made his way to the car. Kay huddled closer to me, partly because it was cold outside.

“Promise you’ll text and call and all that?”

“Of course,” I reassured her. She lifted her head to kiss me then went to pull away. I wasn’t having that though. I pulled her back and kissed her deeply. The thought of being away from those lips for five weeks made me want to savor every moment. Unfortunately the sound of Tony clearing his throat made us pull away.

Kay smiled her sweet smile at me. “Have a good trip.”

“I will. I’ll call you when we get to the next state.” She nodded and kissed me again. It lingered on my lips after we pulled away and she went back inside her apartment.

“Aw Mikey, are you gonna miss your girlfriend?” Vic teased as I approached the car. I shot him a snide look.

“Not as much as you’re gonna miss your boyfriend.” The face he made told me he was less than pleased. Thankfully no one else was around; they were all in their cars or on their way back to their dorms to pack.

“Relax bro, I said I wouldn’t tell and I’m not. Just don’t be a little shit.” He chuckled as he got in the car. We rode silently to my dorm where he dropped me off before heading back to his apartment.

After about an hour we were all packed and ready to go. Vic, Kellin, and I were in Vic’s car; Jaime and Tony were in Tone’s car. Rather than have us all take our own cars we decided that it would be best to carpool all the way to San Diego. Plus, it gave Vic a chance to convince Kellin to spend the night with us at home, not that Kell needed convincing.

“So, exactly how much gay am I gonna be exposed to over the next seventy-two hours?” The two of them shot me a look, Kell’s being more deadly. I put my hands up in defense. “I was just kidding.”

“Just for that we’re gonna fuck so loud you’ll be hearing it in your sleep.”

“Ew, no thanks.” Kell smirked and sat back in his seat once he saw the face I made.

“I promise Kell and I won’t fuck….that loud….maybe.” Kellin erupted into laughter when I smacked Vic on the head.

“I don’t need that image in my head!”

“Sorry bro but you wanted to know.”

“I didn’t wanna know that.”

“I mean, I could give you more details,” Kellin threatened.

“Please no.”

“One time Vic and I-”

“Stop this!” I yelled as I put my hands over my ears. The two of them just laughed hysterically like my discomfort was the funniest thing in the world. Those bitches.

"Relax Miley, we're just messing with you," Vic said, "but if you comment on our gayness again then we can make it a lot worse."

"Yeah," Kellin added, "we can get into positions."

"Please don't," I said as I curled up in the fetal position in the back seat. The two of then continued to laugh but this time I joined in.

I'd never had a problem with Vic being gay, mostly because he never wanted to admit to himself that he was. Now he and Kellin were back together and I knew he seemed happier than I'd ever seen him. I guess love does that to a person.

Vic looked at me through the rearview mirror and smiled. That's another thing, Vic and Kellin getting back together brought us closer. He was less guarded with Kellin so we talked a lot more. I felt like we could communicate about anything like we used to when we were younger.

"Fuck," Vic murmured. I looked at him questioningly to see where he was looking. There were storm clouds in the distance, big dark ones. That could only mean trouble.

"Think we should pull over?" Kellin asked.

"Nah, we'll be fine," Vic answered. "It doesn't look like anything's happening yet but I'll drive slower just in case."

"Vic-"

"Relax Mikey, we'll be okay."

I sighed and sat back. I knew better than to argue with Vic when he had his mind set on something, even if that decision could kill us.

Thankfully Vic was right, there weren’t any storms. We were able to drive around for four hours with just clouds overhead and some strong wind. It was when we got to a gas station that things started getting bad.

It had started to rain and that mixed with the freezing temperature meant that the roads had started to freeze. Vic hurried back in the car after pumping gas with a worried look on his face.

“Don’t say it,” I warned.

“I talked to Jaime and Tony in there,” he started. “Apparently the closest place for us to stay is near the border so-”

“So we’ll have to keep driving.” Vic nodded at Kellin before looking around at both of us.

I put a hand on Vic’s shoulder. “Don’t kill us, bro.” He smiled.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” The car started up again and we were off into the storm. Now, I wouldn’t condone driving on icy roads but when you have no other options…

“This isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” Vic was right. It looked like the salt trucks had already passed through the area because the roads weren’t as slick as we expected. Vic still drove slowly though because once we hit the edge of El Paso they got dangerous.

“How long until we get out of here?” Kell asked.

“About another hour.”

“Hey, have you two seen Jaime and Tony?” They looked back at me in confusion. That’s when it hit that we hadn’t heard from them or seen their car since we left the gas station an hour ago.

“Shit,” Vic sighed. “Should we pull over?”

“I’ll call Tone,” I said. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my recent calls. Once I found his contact I put the phone to my ear and looked out the window, listening to the rings on the other line.

“Wait, I think I see them!” I looked away from the window and focused on Kellin’s side. Sure enough there was a pair of headlights speeding up to us.

“They’re going a little fast, aren’t they?” Vic asked in concern. The lights were getting closer to us a little too quickly.

“Tone,” I spoke when I got his voicemail, “what’s going on? Is everything okay? Why is Jaime-” I was cut off when the car rammed into us, hitting from Kellin’s side.

“Tony what the fuck is hap-” The car hit us again.

“I don’t think that’s them,” Vic said in a panic.

“No shit!”

“Guys can we not fight?” We didn’t get a chance to answer. The car hit us again, causing Vic to swerve to avoid it.

“What the fuck is happening?” Vic asked urgently. Neither Kellin nor I had an answer.

Vic sped up to avoid whatever was coming next. I advised against it considering we were on a road that was newly frozen. We didn’t have much of a choice though. The car was on our tail and seeing as we were the only other car on that road it was easy for them to catch up to us.

“Mikey call the cops!” I did as I was asked and dialed 911. I never knew if anyone picked up.

It all happened so fast. One minute we were going 80 down the road and the next we were hit with so much force that we swerved and flipped off of it. The car turned over and landed in the grass but not before scraping against the asphalt. There was smoke and the smell of gas and fire.

I heard a car door slam shut and the sound of boots making their way to us. The sound of a gun being cocked was the last thing I remember before everything went black.

Notes

THIS IS SHITTY AND I'M SORRY! I'll make it up to you next chapter

On another unrelated note, shoutout to this site (piercetheveilfanfiction-com) for following me back on Tumblr. Lol totally random but I really appreciate it :)