He Knew It All

Ellery wiped the perspiration off her forehead and sighed to herself as she propped her legs up on the table where the lemonade and snacks were sitting. The girls had been sitting outside for almost an hour, and half of their goods were already gone (which was good for them, considering they were in the middle of nowhere), and they planned to sell the rest of their things in another hour. As a man slowed his car down and pulled up to the curb, he rolled his window down and smiled at the girls.

"How much are you guys selling the brownies for?" he asked curiously as Lila stood up from her chair so she could serve him.

"Fifty cents," Lila replied, looking over at him with a small smile on her face.

"Give me four," he said cheerfully. "And any kind of Kool-Aid you have."

"That'll be $2.50," she said as she walked over to his car, four brownies and a cup of strawberry Kool-Aid in hand. She gave the man his food and drink, before taking a five from him.

"Keep the change, ladies," the man said politely, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm sure you are doing this for a good cause."

"Welcome home party for our boyfriends," Kylin chuckled as she looked over at him.

"And brother," Ellery added as she pulled her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. She smiled at the man as Lila put the money in the box. "Thank you!"

"Thank you, ladies," he said, before waving to the three girls, rolling up his window and driving off down the street.

Lila smiled to herself as she wiped the table off, causing all of the crumbs to fall to the ground. She plopped back down in the chair she had been planted in for most of the hour, and let out a tired sigh. Ellery let out a yawn as she leaned back in her chair, before looking over at Kylin, who was texting on her phone.

"What's Jonathan gotta say?" Ellery asked as she pushed her sunglasses higher on her nose.

"They're just sitting in a hotel room, watching a movie," Kylin muttered as she stuffed her phone into her pocket. "I don't think they're going to be doing much more the rest of the night; he said there's nothing to do. And they're going to be back on the road tomorrow morning."

"Mm, sounds like the most boring roadtrip," Lila commented, her voice low as if no one was supposed to hear her. Ellery smiled to herself and shook her head as another customer pulled up to the curb.

+++

"So, what's going on here?" Kyle asked Cory once he hung up his cell phone. All of the guys had been sitting in silence for the past twenty minutes as they listened to Cory yell back to whoever was on the other line. And with each word, Kyle got more and more nervous and nauseous, and he didn't know why. He knew the drug deal had nothing to do with him, but just the thought of him getting in trouble with something made him uneasy, no matter what it was.

"It's nothing," Cory muttered as he ran his hands over his face. He let out a loud sigh and looked over at Jonathan. "Don't mention any of this to Ellery."

"She isn't supposed to know you're here in the first place," Jonathan said, shrugging one of his shoulders, before he looked down at his hands. "But I would also like to know what's going on."

"Yeah," Caleb said, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Who was on the phone?"

"And what did he want?" Austin inquired, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's just something that I didn't pay him for," Cory said, flinging his hand in the air. "He's threatening to come after me. But it's no big deal. His name is Alex."

"Uhm, it's a big deal if he, like, comes here and demands you pay him!" Kyle said, his voice raising an octave (not that he meant for it to).

"Kyle," Cory said, a smile forming on his face. "Calm down. I'm not even scared of him; he's, like, a toothpick. He thinks he's tough, but he's all talk. Just trust me. I buy shit from him all the time."

"Does he know where we are?" Jonathan asked, his tone firm, but it was obvious that he was a little frightened at what Cory's answer might be. "So, in case he does want to come for you, he won't know where to find you?"

"They won't come find me," Cory said casually as if he wasn't afraid at all (but something in his voice told Kyle that he was frightened). "Don't worry about it, guys."

"Whatever," Kyle said quietly as he ran his hands through his hair, hoping that his hands weren't shaking from the nerve-wracking thoughts that were flooding his mind, because he always had to assume the worst out of bad situations. He stood up from the bed and wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts. "I'm going back into my room. I need to get ready for bed."

"Kyle, it's, like, five," Jonathan commented as he looked over at his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Kyle nodded, before walking out of the hotel room. He went next door and stuck his keycard in, and he went into his room. He walked over to his bed and sat down, and he looked over to see Austin coming into the room with Caleb behind him, and it was obvious that they were concerned. Kyle didn't want anyone to think that they had to talk to him because he felt that there was something wrong. Kyle was worried about the situation with the drugs, yes, but he didn't want everyone to know that he was crapping his pants over it (if it wasn't obvious already).

"Bro, what's wrong?" Austin asked as the room door shut loudly behind him. Caleb walked over and plopped down on his bed, before laying on his pillow. Austin came over soon after and sat in the chair that was in the corner of the room. He looked over at Kyle and waited quietly for an answer.

"I'm just a little worked up about this," Kyle said, trying to sound casual (which, of course, he didn't). "I never knew Ellery would date someone like him."

"You can't be jealous of him, Kyle," Caleb said, letting out a quiet sigh. "There's no possible way you can be jealous of him."

"I'm not jealous of him," Kyle said, shaking his head. "I'm just a little annoyed. And a little scared. What if something happens to Ellery?"

"What do you mean?" Austin asked, smiling softly. "Nothing will happen to Ellery, because everything is revolving around Cory. If she knows nothing about him doing drugs, she isn't involved in this at all."

"I know," he mumbled, trying to avoid to sound like he was whining. "What if something bad happens?"

"Nothing bad is going to happen," Caleb shrugged. "It's just a little misunderstanding between him and his dealer. Cory said everything is fine, Kyle, so don't worry about it. If he's sure nothing will happen, then I'm not going to worry."

"I mean, I guess you're right," Kyle said, sighing. He knew the sick feeling he had in the pit of his stomach wasn't going to go away, no matter what anyone said. But he was just going to try to play it off, so he wasn't a downer when he was supposed to be living the life with his friends. He looked at Caleb and Austin, before attempting to plaster a fake smile on his face. "I'm fine. Everything's gonna be fine."

"Good," Austin said with a small smile on his face. "Now, go get ready for bed and get ready for your webchat date with Ellery in a few hours."

Kyle laughed to himself and stood up from the bed, before nodding and walking towards the bathroom. He walked inside and turned on the shower, before stripping and getting inside. He was hoping that a simple shower would help his nerves and calm him down. He didn't want to worry about the drug deal that had nothing to do with him (or Ellery), and he didn't want to be whiny while he was supposed to be having a great time with his friends on a roadtrip. He was going to try his best to keep everything negative off of his mind until there was a reason to actually focus on the bad (which hopefully there was never a reason).

+++

When 10:30 rolled around that night, Kyle pulled his laptop over to where he was on the bed, before he put his headphones in his ears. He turned on his computer and looked over at Austin and Caleb, who were both lying down in the bed they were sharing, talking to each other as if they were girls at a sleepover. Kyle smiled to himself before turning to his computer screen and pulling up his Skype account. He logged in and his smile widened once he saw that Ellery was already online as if she had been waiting for him. He jumped slightly when he saw that she was video calling him.

"Hey, bro," Ellery greeted, a wide smile on her face.

"Hey," Kyle chuckled as he looked back at her, while trying to ignore the butterflies that started to fill his gut. He never got nervous when he was talking to Ellery face-to-face. But, when they were video chatting, it was totally different, and he wasn't sure why.

"What's up?" Kyle asked her, a smile still on his face, that he was sure wouldn't leave until after he ended their video chat.

"The girls and I just finished watching a few movies," Ellery responded as she looked into the camera. "But they left, so now I'm just here with my parents."

"Did you do anything with your parents today?" Kyle wondered. He looked over at Caleb and Austin again to see them both looking at him with smiles on their faces. Austin put his arms up and 'humped the air', causing Caleb to laugh loudly and cover his face. Kyle felt his cheeks get warm and he looked back at the screen, thankful that the room was dark so Ellery couldn't see his rosy cheeks

"Well, after the girls and I were hanging outside, we went out to dinner together with my parents," Ellery explained. "Then we watched a few movies and had some girl time. Then they left."

Kyle nodded and smiled softly. "What were you guys doing outside?"

"Is this twenty questions with Ellery, Kyle?" Austin joked as he sat up. "Let her talk for a few minutes!"

Kyle rolled his eyes as he looked back at Ellery, who was laughing to herself. Kyle raised an eyebrow. "What?!"

"You're looking over there like you want to kill someone," Ellery said as she crossed her arms, before answering his question. "And we had a lemonade stand slash bake sale."

"Wanna send me something to eat?" Kyle said with a joking smile, before he rolled his eyes. "It's just Austin being--"

"Austin?" Ellery said, finishing Kyle's sentence with a smirk on her face. "I understand."

"I knew you would," he chuckled.

"So, how is your trip so far? What's Jonathan been up to?"

"He's just been hanging around with us. Yelling at everyone as if he was their mother," Kyle answered, causing Ellery to laugh loudly.

"That sounds like him," she said, giggling quietly, which caused Kyle's smile to grow a little wider and the butterflies in his stomach to multiply.

"Yeah," Kyle nodded, smiling. "It's kind of ridiculous."

"Jonathan in general is just ridiculous," Ellery commented, her tone casual as she looked into the camera and smiled at Kyle.

And he would never admit to any of the guys that her smile made him want to tell her everything.