ii. STAR WARS OR SOMETHING

saturday, december 12th

AWSTEN EVENTUALLY DID COME OUT TO THE CAR, and the girls got out of the car to greet him. He pulled them both in for a hug before they helped him put his bags in the trunk.

  The air in the car on the drive back to the apartment was suffocating. Awsten and Rosie didn't speak to each other.

  His hair was different. She knew it was different, she'd watched the music video, she followed him on Instagram. And on Twitter.

  But it was weird to see it in person. It was faded now, not as bright as it had been when his music video was released. But it still looked nice.

  "So how's Herc?" Awsten asked Aurora. "And West? How are they doing?"

  He was sitting in the middle of the backseat, leaning in through the gap. Rosie had wanted to tell him to lean back and put his seatbelt on, but she also didn't want to speak to him yet.

  "They're good," Aurora nodded, a grin on her face. "Yeah, they're great. West's actually gonna be at the apartment. He...recently quit his job. Currently unemployed. So you'll be seeing a lot of him."

  "How about you, Juniper?" Awsten asked, using the nickname he gave her back in 2012 when he first learned her middle name. "How are you doing? How's Luke?"

  Luke was Rosie's younger brother.

  "I'm okay," she answered, her voice shaking as she spoke. "Luke's okay too."

  "What's he been up to?" Awsten continued talking to her and she really just wanted him to shut up.

  "Um..." she trailed off. "I think he and Venus are going to start a podcast or something. I don't know. It might just be a joke."

  "Oh yeah? About what?" God, why wouldn't he just be quiet?

  "I don't know. Star Wars or something."

  Luke Soap liked Star Wars just as much as his sister did, maybe more. The love started from a young age when their father showed him A New Hope and he began to adore and look up to Luke Skywalker.

  He bleached his hair blond in middle school to fully dedicate himself to the Halloween costume he wore every year.

  "I'll give it a listen," Awsten grinned. "Let me know when it goes up."

  "Okay, I will."

  "How's Cass doin'?" Awsten asked Aurora, finally leaving Rosie alone.

  "She's finally moving out of my parent's house," Aurora laughed. "Moving in with Venus, I'm gonna drive over and help them move everything in."

  "They got an apartment together?"

  Aurora nodded.

  "That's pretty cool, Rora. Tell the girls I say 'hey' when you see them."

  "Will do." She paused. "Rose, it's awfully quiet. Where's your cord?"

  Rosie pointed to the glove compartment. Her car was too old for Bluetooth so she had an aux cord (along with an adapter for iPhone's past 7).

  "What are those happy days? They seem so hard to find," Agnetha Fältskog sang over the worn-out speakers.

  "Not more ABBA," Rosie groaned.

  "They're a good band!" Aurora defended. "I don't see this attitude from you when we're watching Mamma Mia!, do I?"

  Awsten laughed nervously in the backseat. "You're not gonna make me watch that movie while I'm here, are you?"

  "I'm gonna tell West that he has to watch it while I'm gone just because you said that," Aurora grinned wickedly. Awsten stuck his tongue out at her.

When they arrived back at the house, West was taking a nap on the couch.

  "Wake up," Rosie said, shaking the sleeping brunette awake.

  "I'm up, I'm up," he said, pushing her away. "Is Awsten here?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

  "He's out in the driveway," Rosie answered. "Rora's helping him get his things out of the trunk. I said I was gonna wake you up...which I did."

  "How awkward was the car ride?" West yawned, sitting up.

  "Very," she answered, sitting down next to him.

  He set his arm on the back of the couch and ruffled his hair with his free hand. "C'mon, it couldn't have been that bad," he assured her.

  "He called me Juniper," she mumbled.

  "Yuh, that's your nickname."

  "He—"

  Rosie looked over at him. Talking to him about Awsten was useless. He didn't know how the nickname made her feel.

  West was there at the graduation party in 2015, he was the one who got her high. He was the one who told her to tell Awsten Knight she thought he was "Pretty hot."

  But he hadn't been there in 2014. He wasn't at the party where Rosie Soap made the mistake that haunted her for years afterward.

  West Howard didn't know why Rosie Soap always winced at the mention of the number 22.

  "Thanks for the help, guys," Aurora called. She and Awsten carried his bags into the living room and set them down on the carpet. "Where's Herc?" she asked.

  "Calling his mom," West answered. "I think he's going with you. That or Cass and Venus' apartment fell through."

  "Fuck," the blonde cursed. "Are you serious?"

  "About which part?" He opened his phone and began to scroll through some app, most likely Twitter.

  Aurora rubbed her forehead. "If their apartment fell through, I'm gonna...Fuck, I really hope it didn't fall through."

  "They can always stay with us," Rosie reminded her. She wanted as many people in the house as possible as long as it meant she wouldn't have to talk to Awsten Knight.

  "I'm gonna go call my parents," Aurora sighed, walking out of the room.

i have the cutest otto gif ever and i really hope wattpad will let me upload it