echelon92

As a teenager it was more than normal to love driving, the freedom of being able to go where ever I wanted, to not have to rely on my parents and brother to chauffer me around town, but I wasn't a normal teenager, and I didn't love driving, at all. I especially disliked it when I was in the drivers seat at six forty-five in the morning, and even more when my older brother was snoring noisily in the backseat.

Somehow I'd been conned into driving into New York City at the early hour, it was probably the idea of skipping school that had lured me in. I was wishing I hadn't been so naive. We'd tricked my mother into thinking Gabe was giving me a ride to school and that the next day, Friday, was a teacher inservice day, meaning I was skipping two days.

I drove slowly in the already conjested New Jersey turnpike trying my best to drown out the obnoxious snores eminating from the backseat of the large SUV with the sounds of morning radio, which wasn't all that entertaining.

The traffic lightened up over the bridge, but then again picked up once I was actually in the city. "I hate mornings." I glared in the rearview mirror as Gabe began to wake up.

"Are we there yet?" he asked, a wicked grin plastered to his sleepy features as he rose from the bench seat and yawned loudly, "Seriously, are we?"

The look on my face gave him his answer and he settled for leaning his head back on the headrest.

"When we get home I'm making coffee, lots and lots of coffee." he began mumbling a list of things to do once we reached his loft, I only tuned it out while I drove, "Hey, turdhole!"

I jumped slightly at his outburst but gave him my full attention, I was at a red light anyway, "What do you want, Mister Saporta?" I asked in the worst English accent ever.

"First, don't ever do that again." he rolled his deep brown eyes before moving on to his second request, "And second, find a Dunkin' Donuts and buy me an iced coffee...make that an iced coffee and a sprinkley doughnut."

"Jesus, you're so fucking demanding." I accused while I thought of where I could actually find a Dunkin' Donuts, "I'm not buying this for you, I hope you know that."

"Oh god, Dan, would it kill you to do one nice thing for me today?"

"It just might." I replied while digging quarters and other spare change out of the cupholder.

Apparently Hey, wanna skip school? means something more like, Hey, wanna skip school and be my personal servant for the day? I thought over actually driving back home and taking myself to school, but really, hanging out with my older brother for the day, especially when I never got to see him, was much better than struggling through a monotonous school day.

I drove around for at least ten minutes in search of a Dunkin' Donuts, and when I finally found one, Gabe actually got out of the car with me. "I thought I was getting it?" I raised an eyebrow as he pulled the door open for me, "Or did we have a change of heart?"

"Hey, Little Miss Sass, I can take you home right now." he glared for a moment before shrugging, "I was never going to make you pay."

"Little Miss Sass?" I laughed while he got in the relatively short line, "Where did that come from?"

My older brother shot me a quick glare before stepping up to the counter and ordering his breakfast, "Your turn, Sasshole."

The cashier looked at us confusedly before taking my order of a vanilla iced coffee and blueberry muffin. We only waited a few minutes longer before we were back in the car again, this time Gabe in the drivers seat while I lounged in the back, slowly eating my muffin.

"So, what are we going to be doing today?" I asked after a moment. I realized I hadn't asked the question before agreeing to join him, "Nothing illegal, right?

"Yeah, we're gonna rob a bank." he snorted before I punched his shoulder, "Fuck, you've been going to the gym, haven't you?"

"No, I joined the wrestling team." I replied sarcastically, "Seriously, what are we doing?"

 After a long moment of silence he caved and told me a few of his friends were going to be in town and he wanted me to meet them. "You know, I was like, hmm I'm a good big brother, and I love Little Sister so much that I thought she'd like to spend the day with me. And meet some of my awesomely cool friends, then go to a show, then skip school again. But, whatever, I can still take you home." he kept mumbling to himself as he drove.

"Sometimes I worry about you." I laughed while he went over a few more details.

"Yeah, well I worry about myself sometimes." he added. The serious tone of his voice made me look at him a little closer. As young as my brother seemed he was nearing thirty, and his partying ways were beginning to show. I knew he'd never actually grow up in the sense that he'd become another boring adult, he'd still be Gabe, but he was beginning to slow down, even if it were a miniscule change.

But our thoughtful moment instantly escaped us, "The guys are going to meet us at the house. I want you out of that uniform." he said quickly.

I'd almost forgotten I was still wearing my ugly plaid skirt. "Oh, because I look so fucking sexy in it." I laughed while looking down at the knee length skirt and my matching blazer, the uniform was the farthest thing from sexy.

"Did I say that? Definitely not." he said quickly, "But the guys act like their twelve."

"When are you going to tell me who your mystery friends are?" he only shrugged at my reflection, "Gabe!"

"Dani!" he mocked, "Just get your crap together, we're almost there." And apparently almost there meant another twenty minutes, but it gave me time to take a quick nap, even though the sun had risen and was trying it's hardest to keep me awake.

Gabe and I walked up the stairs to his loft in record time, mainly because I'd challenged him to a race, and I had to pee, really badly. And though I had two things pushing me ahead, he won, only because of his insane height. "You owe me...uh, gas money!" he cheered while unlocking the door.

"I never said I was going to give you anything." I stated while rushing past him. I only spent a few minutes in the bathroom before emerging, a lopsided grin on my face, "When did you get a gumball machine?"

He glanced up from the flatscreen TV and shrugged, "Two years ago? It's been in my closet forever though."

I nodded before taking a quarter from his wallet and heading back into the bathroom. I watched as the red candy-coated gumball came twirling down the spiraled shoot and stopped with a clunk against the small metal door, "Can I have it? Please?" I asked when I reaturned to the living room.

"What is it with you and stealing all my shit?" he asked quietly, shaking his head no before a saddistic smile parted his lips, "Is that good?"

Suspicion instantly crept into my head, but I nodded slowly.

"Last time I was home there were cockroaches in that, all over the gumballs. I didn't change them."

It only took a second for me to fly into the kitchen and spit the gob of red gum into the small garbage can, I couldn't help but gag thinking of the tiny cockroach feet crawling all over the delicious candy. "Oh my god, I can't believe you let me eat that!" I shouted, but from behind the counter I couldn't do much more, "You can be such a dick!"

My brother only giggled from his place on the couch before answering his phone and mumbling quietly, I wasn't even going to try and guess at what he was saying. After grabbing a cup I ventured from the living room to his bedroom, then into his small bathroom. The cabinets only had a few things in them, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and mouth wash.

"Ew." I instantly shot down the idea of brushing my teeth, I had no idea where that toothbrush had been, instead I filled the small cup with a little bit of mouth wash before taking it all in my mouth and swirling it about. And even though it said there was supposed to be no burn at all, I still felt it.

"Why are you in my bathroom?"

"Because you fed me roach-gum." I stated, spitting out the last few drops of turquoise liquid, "Who called?"

"Al, they're gonna be here in a few minutes. Only he and Jack are coming, Rian and Zack are off galavanting around the city. Or so he says." was Gabe's reply.

I nodded before putting the Listerine back in the cabinet and joining him in the livingroom to wait on his two friends, "Why are they even up this early?"

He was beginning to think of an answer before he got up, "That's a good question." he nodded, "Well, they're here, so you can ask them." I was about to ask how he knew they were here when there was a knock at the door, followed by two swift bangs. "I'm psychic, don't worry about it."

And only a minute later two young men came waltzing into the room, Gabe not far behind. "Nice crib, G." the one I knew to be Jack commented before his eyes settled on me, "Holy shit, dude, you kidnapped Rory!" he exclaimed before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Who the fuck is Rory?" Alex turned to Jack and looked at him questioningly, "Seriously?"

"Rory Gilmore was one of the main characters on Gilmore Girls, she went to a private school. Therefore wore a uniform." I explained while standing up and extending my hand, "Daniella."

"Alex." he nodded in a serious tone, "It's nice to meet you."

"And I am Jack." the lanky boy standing beside me nodded, "You're Little Sister, aren't you?"

I flashed Gabe a quick look before nodded, "Yeah, I'm little sister." I smiled lightly before turning away and heading towards the guestroom, "Little Sister is going to change into her clothes. She'll be right back."

I noticed Gabe rolling his eyes before I entered the room and locked the door, I didn't need anyone 'accidentally' walking in on me. Instead of immediately slipping into a pair of jeans I grabbed my phone and hurriedly sent Allison an SOS text.

Why are you texting me at school? was the only reply I got. And even though she tried to hide it, Allison was a complete geek. She loved everything about school, and never liked it when I interrupted her learning.

Alex and Jack, Son. I repeat, ALEX AND JACK! I couldn't wait to read her reply, but there was barely a second between the sending and her capslocked message.

ALEX AND JACK AS IN ATL!?!?! SOSSOSSOS!

I giggled to myself. All Time Low was one of Allison's favorite bands, she had dozens of posters, articles, and photos plastered to her walls of the four young musicians, Yep.

Between messages I let my skirt fall to the floor before digging my jeans out of my backpack, then slid them on while reading her question, why the hell are you so goddamn fucking lucky?

Don't worry, I'll get you to meet them tonight at the show. And before Allison could protest the offer I put my Sidekick on silent and finished changing. When I reentered the living room the guys were all sitting on the couch all looking extremely bored.

"What's the deal?" I asked while plopping myself between Alex and Gabe, resting my head on my older brothers shoulder before closing my eyes, it was still really early.

"I think we're going out to breakfast in, like, ten minutes." Jack offered from the opposite end of the couch, "At least that's what I want to do. I'm starving."

It did look like he should have been starving, he was terribly thin. "I already had a doughnut."

Gabe laughed, "We all know you can eat like a pig, Dan, you were the one who ate seven ice cream sundaes, not me."

"Hey, you said you wouldn't say anything about that!" I shouted, punching his leg before standing up, "At least I got a hundred bucks out of it."

Alex and Jack laughed to themselves while Gabe rolled his eyes, "And what did you blow that on? More clothes?"

I shook my head while trying to think up a response, one that would make him blush at least, "Well, technically I did. I bought a shitload of lace thongs at Victorias Secret, a couple of matching bras too. I'm wearing the red ones right now."

And it worked, his face turned a deep shade of red that matched the color of the imaginary underwear before he glared, "You're such a liar, mom told me you bought new sheets."

"Well, I would have to. They've been getting a lot of use lately." I replied with a sigh.

And with that the room went awkwardly silent, save for Jack's loud yawning and his asking for coffee. It was then decided that we'd go to a small cafe a few blocks from Gabes loft, and instead of all of us climbing into the SUV we settled on walking. While the three friends caught up with each other I walked behind them and tried to enjoy the fact that I wasn't at school.

"I'll have the scrambled eggs with wheat toast." I nodded towards the waitress while she scrawled it quickly on her small notepad before she turned to the rest of the table.

"So, Daniella..." Jack began, though he hadn't completely thought out his question, "Uh, what are your hobbies?"

"Don't mind him," Alex laughed, "He gets nervous around pretty girls."

"Yeah, well, I don't see any." I noted, "And my hobbies? Well, none? I don't really do much."

"Come on, you have to do something!" Gabe's friend told me, "Do you like to draw? Read? Play music? Dance? What?"

"All of the above?" I laughed, I was never nervous, ever. But right then I felt my cheeks begin to redden and as I looked up from the small pile of jelly packages that were now a short wall, "I guess I like to do a little of everything. I used to have this obsession with dancing, like, ballet and tap. I stopped that about a year ago, the fuckin' teacher told me I was too fat."

"Seriously?"

I glanced over at Alex as he surveyed the parts of my body he could see, "Uh, yeah." I put a few more packages of jelly on top of the wall, "Have you ever seen professional ballerinas? They don't eat. They do all they can to stay as fucking small as they can!"

"It's true, I dated this ballerina one time..." Jack chimed in with a little nod before yawning, "Okay, so I just knew the ballerina..."

The rest of the table laughed at Jack's clarification before we were interrupted by the ringing of my phone. I glanced down at the caller ID before grinning, Allison couldn't turn down meeting Alex and Jack.

"Que pasa, Son?" she only laughed quietly on the other end of the line. For as long as we'd been friends she had never managed to pick up on any Spanish, she even chose to take French rather than Spanish in school, "What's up, wiener face?"

"When are you picking me up?" was her only question.

I pressed the reciever into my collarbone to silence my end before turning to my older brother, "When does she want us to pick her up?" he asked, my best friend was sometimes too predictable, "I'm still on her sign-out sheet, right?"

I shrugged before putting my phone on speaker, "Hey, is Gabe still on your sign out sheet? You're on speaker, by the way." I added so she wouldn't completely make a fool out of herself, "'Cause you know he doesn't mind picking you up."

"I know," she replied before a toilet flushed, "Sorry, er, sorry. Uh, yeah he still is."

"Are you on the toilet?" Jack suddenly asked my best friend.

"Um...No?" she stuttered on the other end, she most definitely knew who'd asked the question, "I had to come to the bathroom to use the phone, I swear I wasn't taking a crap while I was talking to you. Don't listen to Ella!"

"Of course you weren't." I laughed into the phone before telling her we'd call her when we were on our way, she only sighed fine before hanging up.

"Food!" Alex exclaime only moments later when our waitress came walking across the small restaurant with a tray full of delicious looking breakfast foods. She passed them out around the table before flashing a warm smile and leaving, "Oh my god, I'm going to die."

"That good?" I laughed as Alex dove through the French toast that was nearly drowning in maple syrup. He could only nod, his mouth was completely stuffed.

Yea! A new chapter :D

Hopefully you enjoyed this, and if you also read NSN Chapter 53 is up http://echelon92.buzznet.com/user/journal/4666681/never-say-never-53/

Anyway, this gives a little insight as to what's going to be happening in the rest of the story :]