ELLY
"He has a girlfriend?" I hear Chase whisper. I look over at him and he frowns, showing me his phone. "Joe already has a girlfriend and apparently didn't tell us. Noen, we're down one option."
"Who?" he asks quickly, turning around.
"Joe. He has a girlfriend already!" Chase whispers to him.
Noen sighs. "Chase, we were already down an option. No butterflies, remember?"
"Yeah, I guess." Chase shrugs and keeps scrolling on his phone. Noen turns around, so I get back on my phone, too.
   "Wait." Noen turns back around, and we both look up at him. "Who's left?"
   "Chaser, Sam, and Cash, but she hasn't met him yet." Chase points to me as he says this.
   "That's still a lot of people," I say quietly, leaning forward. "I mean, I can't try to date three people all at once, anyways."
   "Okay. Well, we can narrow it down more," Noen says. "Probably not Sam."
   "Why not Sam?" Chase asks.
   "He's more interested in his surfboard than he would be a girlfriend," Noen says with a sigh. Chase shrugs in agreement.
   "So now it's just the other Chase and Cash?" I ask. Chase nods gloomily, sighing again.
   "Now you just have two guys to decide between," Noen adds quietly. "And maybe they aren't ready to date or don't want to date you, like they might have their sights set on someone else."
   "Yeah, and I still haven't met Cash yet." Noen nods in agreement.
   "Make a good first impression," Chase whispers to me.
   "Sure thing," I reply. "So when do we stop next?"
"I think in like an hour," Noen says. "But that's to pick up Madison."
"Hey, is Charli going to come at all? I want to meet her." I turn towards Chase.
"She's going to come for the last few stops if she can." He smiles and blushes, causing Noen and I to laugh at him. He frowns and gets back on his phone.
   "Hey, we're missing someone from the list," Noen says suddenly. We both look back up at him and see him thinking. Then, his face lights up. "Josh! We left him off the list."
   "Oh, yeah!" Chase says excitedly. "He'd be good. We pick him up last, but you'll really like him."
   "And I'm back to three options," I sigh, falling back against the seat. Noen reaches over and pats my shoulder.
   "You'll figure it out. I believe in you," he tells me quietly. I smile at him and put my AirPods in, closing my eyes and waiting for sleep to come.
   I eventually fall asleep with my head against the window and light music playing in my ears. The bus doesn't shake much, so it's okay.
   I feel Chase waking me up later, so I open my eyes at him. Noen is still asleep in front of us, but a few people have gotten off the bus.
   "Hey, we just stopped to pick up Madison," he tells me.
   "Do we have to get off to greet her?" I mumble.
   "No. Anthony and Jaden got off, but I think most of us fell asleep." He peeks over the seat and looks down at Noen. "He's out cold. I swear, that giraffe will make him sleep anywhere."
   "What time is it?" I ask him.
   "About three. We'll drive for about another two hours before we get the Bakers, then about another hour after that until we get Josh. We'll meet him for dinner, then it's about another hour until Houston." He smiles and ruffles my hair, causing me to shrink away. "You can sleep on me if you want."
   "Alright," I mumble, leaning away from the window and resting my head on his shoulder. "Night night, Chase."
   "Night night, Elly."