CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Three hours flew by too quickly of Reagan deperately trying to glue together refrigerator magnets in peace, while her two companions chatted away as if they knew each other all their lives.

Maggie and Jack were arranging the charms on the table and occasionally handed Reagan the tiny magnets distractedly while they talked about Jack's hometown in Pennsylvania and the guitar in a bottle he bought for Daniel days ago.

"If you weren't with Reagan," Maggie said at one point with her ever present smile, "I'd introduce you to my daughter. You're the kind of boy I wouldn't mind her dating."

Jack only laughed good-naturedly and Reagan focused on finding the perfect spots to put glue in.

The majority of their conversation was spent with Maggie gushing about what a good-looking lad Jack apparently was and Maggie complimenting them as a couple.

Jack never corrected her or did anything to imply that they aren't actually together.

After the three long hours, her coffee (which was the only thing keeping her sane throughout the conversation) was long gone, and Reagan was a mess of confusion, frustration and clear annoyance.

They didn't even notice the time until Jack blurted out that he was hungry and when she asked him to check the time on his phone, he sheepishly admitted, "I didn't bring it with me, actually."

Needless to say, Reagan was shocked because he was the same guy that paraded his phone around for a solid hour, looking for signal, on his first day in Redwood.

But before she could dwell on it too long, Maggie looked at her wrist watch and exclaimed, "It's way past lunch time! Oh no, I'm very sorry for keeping you."

Jack wanted to stay longer. And as much as Reagan enjoyed glueing together pretty stones to magnets (she didn't actually enjoy it but it was the best thing she had at that time), and listening to one of her mother figures embarrass her infront of the boy she liked, she knew they needed to leave because Logan and the others were waiting for them.

Begrudgingly, she said goodbye to Maggie, not even surprised when Jack also hugged the woman and assured her that they'd come back once they have the chance.

When they walked out of the store, Jack held the door open for her, and she wanted to laugh at how much of a joke her life was turning into.

Holding doors open for someone wasn't something that should make her heart race but it seemed that nearly everything Jack did tended to get that reaction from her.

They walked back to the diner in silence. It was a short walk but Reagan couldn't help noticing how beautiful the scene in front of her was. The air wasn't too hot, the sun was pleasantly shining, and Jack walked with his hands shoved into his pockets, looking completely at ease.

The moment they stepped into the diner, the first thing that greeted them was a flying straw wrapper supposedly aimed at them (it missed terribly) and Corbyn yelling, "About damn time!"

Jack laughed at the sight of his friends still crowded around the booth and obviously both hungry and impatient.

"You should've started without us," He said with a shake of his head and squeezed himself into the booth. He must've noticed that Reagan was still standing because he pushed them further into the seats and patted the freed up space beside him.

Reagan sat tentatively and completely ignored the smug look on Logan's face.

"I'm not gonna ask where you went to," Logan started and Reagan wanted to blurt out thank god, "But only because I'm hungry and I don't have any energy to tease you right now."

"We wouldn't have minded if you started without us," Reagan shrugged and Zach piped up.

"I said that too!" He defended and jabbed a finger at Jonah, "But father here wouldn't let us because he thought it'd be impolite."

Jonah responded by thwacking him upside the head.

"We should go to the pizza place!" Logan called out, "Jack still hasn't been blessed with the world's best pizza."

Reagan's eyebrows furrowed, "I thought you got him takeout last time?"

Daniel, looking up from his phone, softly mumbled, "He ended up eating it."

"Shut up, Daniel," Logan rolled his eyes and Daniel only smiled amusedly, matching the one on Jack's face.

After paying for their drinks and sandwiches (based on the amount of wrapping left on the table, she was surprised they still had room for more food), they all headed to the car.

And just when they were about to piled into the vehicle in their already designated spots—Reagan on the driver's side, Logan in the passenger's, and the rest on the outdoor seats—Zach called their attention.

"I'm tired of sitting outside," He said with a huff, "Can I stay in at the back? Inside? I feel really cold."

"It's not that cold," Corbyn said, already moving to step inside the tail, and Jack piped in.

"I want stay inside too," He frowned, "We can stay in the back seats? I feel pretty cold as well."

Daniel and Jonah were quick to agree and Cobryn looked at them, feeling betrayed.

"Well the back can only hold up to three people," She said with a shrug of her shoulders and all of them glanced at one another for a few moments.

That's how only a few minutes later, Corbyn and Logan ended up in the back of the truck while Corbyn looked like he was telling the story of the year, and Logan looked right about ready to jump out of the moving car.

Reagan was in the driver's seat, as always, and Daniel sat beside her for the agreement that he was the one who'll get pizza for all of them.

If Reagan didn't know better, Jack (sat between Jonah and Zach behind them) didn't look too thrilled.

She quickly parked in front of the Pizza Parlor and Daniel climbed out and went to Logan to ask for money, still looking unhappy, and it didn't even take ten minutes before Daniel walked back out of the shop, already holding three whole bixes of pizza.

"Whoa," Reagan said as he climbed back into the car, "Don't you think that's a bit of an overkill?"

Daniel laughed.

"You'd be surprised with how quickly we'll finish this," He said, handing a box to the three boys in the backseat, and Reagan noticed how all of them simultaneously pulled out their phones from their pockets.

She laughed when she realized that they all poised their phones up to record Jack who stared back at all of them, bewildered.

"What?" He asked, pausing from opening the pizza box.

"You're about to experience one of the best things you'll ever experience your whole life," Jonah answered and Jack only rolled his eyes, "We're being good friends by documenting it. Thank us later."

Jack pointedly ignored them and pulled out a slice of pizza.

When he sunk his teeth onto a bite, he just stared back at the camera held five inches from his face and sighed in exasperation until he finally chewed and his eyes nearly bulged out of its sockets.

"Holy shit," he blurted out, dumbfounded, and the rest of them spent the ride laughing at Jack and his reactions after each bite he took.

It didn't take too long before they eached Reagan's house. She was excited, to say the least, because she was starving and didn't really have the oportunity to eat while she drived (she politely declined when Daniel offered to basically feed her).

But before she even got the chance to turn off the engine, a loud knock startled her into jumping in her seat and through her window, Corbyn was waving at her with an accomplished grin.

"Jesus, Corbyn," She said, pushing open her door, "I didn't even see you get down."

"I'm sorry," He said quickly, bouncing on his feet, "But I gotta tell you something."

Reagan raised an eyebrow, wordlessly telling him to continue.

"Remember how you said you promised to take us camping today so we could wait for the sunrise tomorrow morning?"

She hesistated for a moment before she shrugged, "Yes?"

The grin on his face grew impossibly wider when he asked, "Well what time does the sunset start?"

"Six thirty," She replied automatically.

"Just asked Logan if we could go now," He continued, looking nothing less than a child on Christmas morning, "He said we could if that was fine with you."

Reagan sat back in her chair and noticed that the four other boys in the car were waiting expectantly for her answer so she shrugged, "What the hell. Why not?"

She didn't expect Jonah to howl or the cheers of excitement but nonetheless, she smiled at the sight of them getting out of the car and excitedly telling Logan to pack clothes for the night.

ONLY A FEW MORE FILLER CHAPTERS I PROMISE and s/n: i've been v unhappy with what i write lately idk. @ other, more experienced authors pls tell me this is common and wont last very long or something bc it's kinda discouraging ngl