My Lovely Life - The Story of Ethan Bennett

Chapter twenty - And the Story Continues...

"YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!" Matthew screams at the top of his lungs with the worst voice I've ever heard. I should've brought earplugs. Or maybe some duct tape. Perhaps both.

"Okay, it's official. Diana had poisoned Matt." Josh laughs and turns down the volume on the speakers, only to be swatted away from the controls by Matthew who turns them up again.

"I have not!" Diana says defensively, but I give her a look and she starts laughing along with the rest of us. "Okay, maybe I helped him a little bit!" She admits. Before they went out, you'd never find Matt actively listening to One Direction, let alone singing along to it. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it's been playing more and more lately.

"Dude, please. My ears are bleeding!" Josh complains, which only makes Matthew sing even louder.

"I don't know how she can sleep through this!" May laughs from behind me, looking over at Sophie who's out like a light. She's always been able to sleep through anything. I remember when we were kids, she'd always be able to fall asleep anywhere as well. On the swings, or up in a tree... Practically anywhere.

"I swear she has superpowers!" Josh screams as he covers his ears. He and Sophie haven't talked much lately. I think something's wrong. I promised mom to try and get closer with him again. We have kind of drifted apart during these last few months, but he's still my brother.

"I'm hungry!" Matt suddenly says as the rest of us happily release our breaths from the lack of his so-called singing. He smiles evilly at us for that. Then he swerves the car off-road for a short second. Okay, so we borrowed a minivan from one of Diana's neighbors. You know, one of those with seven seats. Unfortunately for us, Matthew is driving, which also means he controls the music. Then Josh is in the passenger seat beside him. Diana and I sit in the middle, while May and a sleeping Sophie are in the back. On top of this, Matt is either driving like a maniac or singing like a donkey. At times, both.

"No, Matt! We stopped like two hours ago! And there's only one more left!" Diana whines to the best of her abilities. If she were to be completely truthful she'd probably want us to stop about a million times more, because she loves road trips. And Matthew's crazy driving. She usually laughs like a maniac while the rest of us hold on for dear life.

We're on a road trip if that was unclear.

"But there's a fast food joint over there!" He says and points in front of us to the saddest shack I've ever seen in my life. We stopped driving on the highway a while ago because Matt said it would go faster if we took the smaller roads, and at the time I was too tired to argue. Turns out he was heavily mistaken.

"You want us to die for real? That looks like it should have been shut down years ago." Josh says skeptically.

"You can starve if you want! I'm getting a milkshake!" Matthew says happily and drives a little more off-road. We've taken turns driving, but May traded hers with Matthew who happily offered to drive instead of her. And I'm not allowed to drive yet so I couldn't offer.

"A milkshake?! We're stopping for a milkshake? Why? You can MAKE a milkshake when we get home!" Diana complains and I give her a look. She knows that I know that she secretly loves this. Both the playful arguing, as well as all of us being crammed together in a small space. But in my opinion, the small space has been lasting for a little too long now. I am counting down the minutes until I'm alone with May.

We're on a road trip back, if that was unclear. From a camping ground. We now know that we're not made for camping.

"If Brandon was here he'd go with me!" Matthew argues with a smile. Good one. Use the one person who almost ended your relationship to argue for a milkshake. Dumbass. Diana glares at him.