I. LIFE IS A HIGHWAY

tw! swearing, implied homophobia

"I LIKE SHINY THINGS BUT I'D
MARRY YOU WITH PAPER RINGS!"

i screamed at the top of my lungs, as colton drove down 495, with me in the passenger seat, and clementine and her girlfriend, nic in the car behind us.

"thats right, darling, you're the one i want!"i danced in my seat, with colton giving me a weird look, before paying attention to traffic.

"in paper rings, in picture frames, in all our dreams,"my blonde baby hairs flew around in my face as colton sped up, and we had finally reached new hampshire, and colton looked back over at me.

"can we at least play i did something bad if you're gonna continue playing taylor for the entirety of the ride?"colton begged, making a wide smile spread across my face.

"my dearest big brother, i did something bad, and all of your favorites are on this playlist. just wait for it."i reminded him, knowing that the entire playlist was on shuffle from the start of this three hour drive, "and plus, did you really think i'd not put reputation on here?"

"no but i haven't heard any of it."he chuckled, and right as he said that, king of my heart started to play.

i burst out laughing, making colton slam his head against the steering wheel at the irony, "i fucking told you!"

hearing his phone go off, colton quickly glanced down, and i snatched it from him, yelling at him to pay attention. looking down at the phone, i saw it was more text messages from our parents.

"who is it?"colton had glanced over at me, and it took him a few second until he realized exactly who it was.

"ignore it."he mumbled, and took his phone back, putting it in the consol.

a frown replaced my wide smile, making colton frown.

"gracie im telling you, don't let this hang over your head while we're in maine. i'm not letting that happen."colton promised, and i avoided his gase.

"they kicked me out col, i dont know i'm not supposed to 'let this hang over my head'"i questioned, pressing my lips into a fine line, knowing that he didn't know why, and i wasn't ready to explain it.

"well you were going to live with me anyway so now im your legal gardian."colton shrugged, not pressing the matter anymore which i was thankful for.

the next hour was spent singing along to taylor swift, jokingly arguing with clem and nic over text, before we finally had stopped at nubble light house to get some ice cream which i had objected to.

"can't we just get fielders choice?"i whined as clementine had dragged me out of coltons jeep, and towards the water.

"because we're gonna get it like twenty times this summer."clemetine informed me, "we're getting dunne's."

and she was right, we did get dunne's like we did every year since the three of us started coming up alone in 2015.

i was 11, clem was 16, and colton was 18 and we all wanted to get away from our parents relentless bickering, so they had basically paid colton to take the three of us away and to go wherever we wanted.

so we went to old orchard beach maine.

it is well known for the tourists coming from canadia, new england, and even around the us. i had even met someone from wyoming who had come to old orchard just to check it out.

so, the tradition went on, even after clementine had gotten kicked out after coming out, and having a relationship with her ex partner.

i hated my parents with a burning passion, and it felt like the feeling was mutual. i wasn't the golden child that they wanted, neither was clementine and colton had quit basketball after passing out on the court.

so in the eyes of our parents, we were failures, sinners and unsuccessful.

i was broken out of my thoughts as nic nudged me, nodding for me to follow her towards the rocks where the water crashed against.

"do you want instagram photos?"nic asked, and i pondered for a few moments, before shaking my head no.

"did you and clem seriously hear me screaming paper rings on the way here?"i asked, making nic chuckle, with the wind blowing her brown hair behind her.

there were natural blonde highlights in her hair, and curtain bangs framing her face, complementing her face shape.

"yes, and we heard you screaming the other side of the door too when you and colton pulled in."she informed me, and i turned to look at her, "colton was yelling the lyrics too!"

"damn! i wish i had gotten it on video then!"she joked, making me laugh.

"blackmail!"i shouted, and i saw both cole and clem look at me with a curios look.

i quickly waved them off, implying for them to go back to whatever conversation they were having, before turning back to nic who had sat down on a rock.

"this is your third year coming with us, and yet you and clem dont have your own cabin yet."i rose an eyebrow, making nic roll her eyes, playfully shoving me.

"yes because we wanted to stick with you and your older brother who cares about the two of you, oh so much."she explained, and i held back my smile as a thought came into my mind.

"so what the hell are you two gonna do when you want to-"i was quickly cut off by nic shaking her head, giving me a glare.

"callie grace james dont you dare finish that sentence."nic warned me, and i bit my lip, hiding my smile.

"have sex."

i quickly scrambled up, letting out a scream as nic chased me around the parkinglot, and i ran towards colton and clementine who had stopped their conversation, watching the two of us run.

"gracie im not that fast!"nic called out as i had reached clem and cole, with a wide grin on my face.

"then get better!"i shouted, making her glare at me, "fuck off."

the three of us burst out laughing as nic finally joined us, and immediately hugged clem.

"is she being mean to you?"clem joked, and nic grumbled something that i couldn't exactly understand and i don't think clementine could either.

"we ready to go to the cabin?"cole questioned, and we all grinned before nodding.

"lets go to tourist land!"