Mutiny Below

Natalia

The flight to Arizona was a long and tiresome one. I spent the time sleeping, listening to my ipod, and ignoring my brother. I didn't speak a word to Nick the entire time.

Once we got off the plane and got to baggage claim, I decided to be even more difficult by making him carry my bag as well. I think he was really starting to understand how badly I didn't want to be here. I walked two or three steps behind him, not really knowing or caring where he was going. My ipod was turned up loud which I had been using as means of ignoring him if he tried to talk to me.

He stopped abruptly which made me run into his back. I huffed and yanked the earphones out of my ears, sticking my ipod into my backpack. Nick looked around for a minute or so before someone called out his name. We both looked in the direction the voice had come from and Nick waved at someone before beginning to walk that way. I begrudgingly followed him until he came to a stop in front of a tall, lanky brunette boy and a tall ginger boy. Not fake ginger, like Nick's though.

They gave 'man hugs' before the brunette guy turned to me.

"Woah, dude. You didn't tell me she looked like that!"

I quickly looked away from him but I could feel the blush rising onto my cheeks, and I knew they could all see it.

"Dude, shut it. Nat, this is Eric, our bassist. We'll be staying with him."

I just nodded blankly and looked at my surroundings- anything aside from Eric's face.

"And this is Jared. He's the guitarist in The Maine."

"Nice to meet you, Natalia. We've all heard alot about you."

I simply nodded again and his face contorted into a confused look.

"Don't worry about it, man. She's just pissed about me dragging her here. And when I saw drag, I mean I quite literally dragged her out of our house."

"Sounds like she's going to be a fun one."

"She usually keeps to herself. Reading books and whatnot. Not too much trouble"

He threw his arm around my shoulders and I glared at him until he removed it.

Eric nodded. "Alright, well, the car's this way. We're not going to my house though. We're going over to Kenny's."

I groaned quietly. That just meant I'd have to meet more people I really don't care to know. Eric began to walk in the direction he had indicated while Nick picked up our bags. I elbowed him.

"Um OWW. Your elbows are pointy and they hurt like hell!"

"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not standing there, you know."

"Well, it's not like you were going to say anything."

"It's not my fault you dragged me here."

He sighed. "Nat, please. There are my friends. Just give them a chance."

He didn't wait for me to respond; instead he took off after Eric, carrying both our bags. I followed behind thinking about Nick's words. They're my friends. Just give them a chance. I'd never had friends apart from Nick. He was my only friend. I didn't know how to be a friend, especially to these people I'd never met in my life. Now he expected me to go in and be Miss Sociable? I had trouble with that concept. On top of that issue, I now felt like an evil witch for being so mean to him.

Stepping outside almost took my breath away. It was so incredibly hot there. I was not at all used to this kind of weather and I had a dificult time believing that I would ever grow acccustomed to it, no matter how long I stayed. Once I got past the inital shock of the heat, my mind drifted back to my earlier topic of friends.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't realize we had gotten to Eric's car until he pulled my arm to stop me from walking. Nick put our bags into the trunk then pulled the seat forward, so graciously letting me squeeze into the tiny back seat with Jared.

The ride to wherever we were going was cramped. There was a soft beat of some country song on the radio as Nick and Eric chatted casually about things that had happened while Nick was gone. The two of them gossiped like old ladies. Jared sat silently beside me, just listening to Nick and Eric's conversation and occasionally adding in a comment of his own.

"Dude, that's what John Oh told me. I swear!"

"I can't believe he'd even do that. Who told John?"

"I think Kennedy did. He heard it from Gemma"

"That's ridiculous. I hope they get caught."

"They won't get caught, bro! She's been sneaking around with him for months."

"I hope they're not here tonight. I really don't want to see her."

"Jared, she's your ex. What do you think?"

"I think she deserves whatever STDs she gets from that douchebag"

They all laughed.

"So who all is invited to this thing, Halvo?"

"Just a few of our close friends. You know."

"I hope she's there," Nick muttered under his breath.

Halvo grinned. "Who?"

"Oh, just this girl I met last time I was here."

"Tell me about her. I might know her. Or Jared might."

"Well she's kind of crazy. She's loud and funny. Reddish brown hair."

"Are you sure you're not talking about John's girlfriend? She''s pretty much like that."

Nick shrugged and looked down at his phone. They went off on a different subject and I stopped listening completely. My mind began to drift to other things as I stared out the window and watched the world pass by.

"Alright now hurry up. They're waiting for us at Kenny's." Eric handed Nick a key and he got out then pulled the seat up for me to get out. He got our bags out of the trunk and I followed him up to the door. We went inside and Nick flicked on the light.

"Okay. The spare room is down that hallway on the right. So go put your bag in there."

"Where are you gonna sleep?"

He tossed his bag onto the couch. "Nick, you can't sleep on the couch. You take the room."

"Nat, it's the least I could do after dragging you out here."

I wanted to apologize but he interrupted before I even got a word out. "Come on. They're all waiting for us."

I followed him back out to the car, once again squeezing into the back, and we began to drive again. We finally slowed down and pulled into a driveway which was already lined with cars. Lots of cars meant lots of people. On top of that, they were all people I didn't know. Not that I would've felt any more comfortable in a house full of people I did know, but meeting new people was especially horrid for me.

I took a deep breath as I stood on the sidewalk, preparing myself to go into the house. Jared had already gone inside and Nick had almost reached the door when Halvo came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Come on. You'll be fine."

I gave him a look. "Yeah right."