CHAPTER FIVE

"Good news, buddy," Greg said as they walked into the living room, Reagan leading the line, but he was most-likely addressing Logan, "We finalized the order for the alternator tube and they told us it was coming in a couple of days."

"Couple of days?" Logan asked while he was taking his shoes off.

"Yeah, four days at most," Greg explained, "But Ronald and I are heading to the city tomorrow to go through some hardware stores and look for it there because the delivery fee, goddamit."

"Thought so," Logan laughed as the rest of the boys piled in the room, seemingly waiting patiently for anyone to instruct them what to do, "You're allowed to cancel?"

"Yeah, their number's right there," He pointed over to a piece of paper pinned to the cork board above the telephone, "If we find it for a better price in the city, we're definitely cancelling. The service fee costs more than the tube itself!"

Reagan laughed as she headed over to the kitchen, some of the boys following behind.

"Hey Dad, we just—" Her greeting was cut short when she saw the dining table. Guiltily, she eyed the mound of food her father has set up, "We already had dinner in the village."

"Did you?" Ronald replied, disheartened, and Reagan felt awful because her dad looked adorable standing there with a tong in his hand and pride for his home cooked meal.

"Yeah, I didn't know you were cooking—"

"It'd be a shame to let all this food go to waste," Greg said suddenly from behind her, "I'm sure the boys could eat again, right Logan?"

"Of course," His son replied instantly, already finding a seat on the table, "The food looks amazing, Mr. Wallace."

"Ronald," He corrected good naturally with a smile on his face, most likely because of the excitement that people who aren't Reagan are going to taste his cooking for once.

"Thank you, Ronald," Jonah said, all polite and all nerdy. Reagan couldn't help but compare his personality to her father's own. He sat down and the four other boys used it as their cue to sit down as well.

"Yeah, thank you," Daniel echoed shyly, "You're very welcoming."

They were all seated, Reagan included, when Ronald shrugged with a bashful smile, "It ain't often we get visitors here. I'm very happy to have you as my guests."

Reagan beamed because she couldn't agree more. She loved her father's company more than anything in the world but the added presence was a bonus. Living in a house that required a half hour walk before she got to see any of her friends got a little lonely. So their visitors and change of atmosphere was nice and very welcomed.

"Logan, if you would please lead," Greg said and gestured everyone to hold hands, "Let's all say grace."

It wasn't her family's routine to pray before meals unless it was thanksgiving but somehow, the sight of these strangers who she had to share her house with for a couple of days, all holding hands and looking somewhat sincere with the prayers they were about to say, moved her. She couldn't help but feel her heart warm.

She hadn't realized that she was meant to be a part of that until Jack, who took his spot on the space beside her, tentatively grabbed her hand from under the table and held it up with his own as Logan started talking.

"Thank you for the delicious-looking food that will definitely ruin my diet but that's not important right now. Thank you for the kind man who prepared it and welcome us into his home, and thank you for his kickass daughter who just fed me the best pizza I've had in my life."

Everyone echoed, "Amen," with a small laugh and for the first time for years, Reagan ate with the dining table full of people.

+++

Reagan had a weekly schedule. There was hardly anything to do around her neighborhood and managing her time was unnecessary because she often had all the 24 hours of her day free to spend however she liked, but nonetheless she had a schedule. She wanted a weekly routine that helped her productivity throughout the summer so every day she would get up from bed, check her task for the day, then have breakfast with her father (if she woke up in time).

She was already half way through her morning ritual when she suddenly remembered that they've got visitors. They have other people in the house. She remembered that they have people who slept over and she remembered Daniel telling her he wanted to see the gravity hill again and she remembered Jack—

Reagan was thankful that she wasn't out of her door yet and headed to her closet to look for her favorite shirt.

She took the time to shower (which is peculiar in her case because she never showered before breakfast) and took extra time to fix her unruly hair. When she deemed herself presentable enough, she went outside of her room and was greeted by the sight of an empty dining room.

That was stranger than the fact that they had visitors in the first place.

She walked to the living room and it was empty as well. She caught sight of the small slip of paper for the delivery on top of the telephone and remembered that her father and Greg were meant to go to town today. That crossed off two men on list of people she should've seen in her house this morning then remembered that the inhabitable school bus was just parked in their garage.

She went outside of her house in seconds, excited to be greeted by anyone, and she was surprised by the sight of a bus that was completely still and seemingly empty.

She sighed, confused, until the vehicle made the slightest movement and—

"Wallace!"

Jack waved at her through the windshield, with his hair messy and smile bright. She swore that her heart rate didn't pick up.

They only had one guest room in the house—occupied by Greg and Logan—and even though Ronald offered to set up makeshift beds in the living room, the five boys were insistent on staying in the bus in order to "not overstay their welcome" which was ridiculous since Reagan thought her father made it pretty clear that they were more than welcome.

Nonetheless, they stayed in the adequately sized bus with a few blankets as their only defense against the cold air of Oregon's evenings. Reagan guessed it must've been uncomfortable but she remembered that they've been traveling in that bus for god knows how long, they must've been used to it.

She sent a smile back and met him halfway through the entrance of the bus, "G'Morning."

"Morning, Reagan," He greeted back with a grin while stretching his back and Reagan willed herself not to glance at the line of skin he exposed when his shirt rode up, "How long have you been up?"

"About thirty minutes" She shrugged, "You?"

"Five," Jack laughed.

"Not the a morning person either?"

"Oh, you have no idea," He pulled out a small, pink sticky note from his back pocket and handed it over to her, "Woke up confused about why I was alone on the bus and I found this stuck to my forehead, the fuckin' fools."

My love,

We were all supposed to see the gravity hill this morning but when I tried to wake you up, you almost bit my hand and threatened to mutilate me if I mentioned it one more time. We thought it was best not to wake you :( Anyhoo, we're probably in the gravity hill by the time you wake up. Logan left you pizza in the fridge. We'll be back before lunch. Don't bite anyone until then.

After that is a long, exaggerated line of XO's, signed by 'Daniel, ur love <3' and Reagan snorted.

"So that's where they went!" She chuckled, "Wonderin' why everyone was gone by the time I woke up."

"No one's home?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck and she noticed the faint pillow lines on his cheek.

"Nah. Don't think so. Dad and Greg have been out lookin' for the tube in the city."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that," He squinted, "So that means we're the only ones in your house?"

"Well technically," She forced out a laugh, "We aren't inside the house."

Jack rolled his eyes, the effect ruined by the amused smile on his lips, before he seemed to have noticed that she was dressed up, "And I'm guessing you're leaving as well?"

"Guessed right," She nodded, "Was just about to leave actually."

"Oh," He paused. Then, "Well, I won't keep you then."

"Yeah," She nodded and a few tense seconds passed before she awkwardly turned around, "Well, I guess I'll get going."

"Yeah, you do that," Jack coughed out and Reagan sent him a smile before hurrying to their front door because, shit, that was awkward. She was fighting the urge to cringe when she retrieved her keys.

When she turned around, ready to walk over to Cherry—she still thought the name was amusing—Jack called her, head poking out of the bus.

"So this place you're going to," He grinned sheepishly, "Any chance you could bring a plus one?"

Reagan couldn't help the dopey smile forming on her lips and her excitement making her fist clench when she said, "You sure you wanna spend an entire day with me?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, playful smile on his lips, "Beats being stuck in this bus with no company."

"Such a charmer," She rolled her eyes fondly but motions him to come over anyways, "Hope you're wearing comfy shoes. We're goin' for a hike."

this chapter was a filler can u tell :/// lmao im sorry the next one will be too bUT THE ONES AFTER THOSE WILL BE LONG AND SIGNIFICANT I SWEAR also after the 10th chapter (more or less) it'll take longer for me to update only bc i haven't outlined the whole story yet and i need to work on that :(( i hope you haven't lost interest in this and thank you to all those who are so kind and supportive <3 i always appreciate it when you tell me what you think of the story 💕