Our little brother

Chapter 61-Nicholas

Nicholas POV:

We haven't done a family outing in a while, and I forgot how much we need to organize for it. Thankfully Hunter had everything under control, otherwise we probably would still be at home. When you go to the zoo, you expect animals, what I did not expect was Liam holding a bunch of flowers. Whipping my head to look at Hunter, I see him turning red when he locks eyes with Liam, and have to hold back from teasing them since everyone is around us. Liam hands out flowers and I get an orange one. What the fuck am I suppose to do with this all day? I sigh carefully putting in my backpack, sticking out of the zipper so it doesn't get crushed. Sebastian is getting antsy and this prompts Atlas and Sarah to go into teacher mode, gathering everyone's attention. I hold my breath as I watch Noah skip towards Sebastian, grabbing hold of his hand, but he doesn't let go of Noah. "See? Looks like this trip is already working out well, he didn't freak out from someone touching him." I say to Hunter before looking towards Spencer and Alex. I really need to fix things with those two first, they hold the most sway with everyone else. Reid's warming up a bit, but if he sees Alex and Spence still angry, he'll distance himself again too, and Noah will pick up on the tension, making him think he needs to be upset too. Sebastian is the only one who doesn't care to hold grudges, but I'm still gonna make it up to all of them.

The penguins are waddling around, eating and swimming. I shoot Hunter a look, when he and Reid go to sit on a bench, the penguins are his favorite, so what's wrong? When Hunter shakes his head, I let it go for now, because he's got it, but I'll keep an eye on him anyways. I forgot how chaotic things are when we do family outings, everyone is together but doing their own thing at the same time. I'm not even sure where to put my attention, but decide to keep it on Noah. He's having the best time right now, I heard him asking about all the animals from Madagascar and I saw him sneaking peaks at the penguins to see if they'll pull out any gadgets like the movie. What a little joker.

When we move onto the polar bears, Alex and Spencer are roughing each other up, but Alex traps him into a headlock. Predictable. I saw that move coming a mile away, it's his go to move to get the upper hand on Spencer, and every single time, Spencer falls right into it. I inch closer to Noah when a bear swims past him, and startles him, and I have to stop myself from laughing because his face is priceless. I bet he wasn't expecting them to be that big or swim so fast. Hunter stays back with Liam and I grin knowing I'll have a ton to tease him about. It's hilarious that we didn't put two and two together when we got the school newsletter about the new principal, Liam Adler isn't even a common name, so I don't get how we missed it. In terms of relationships, Hunters been on a few dates, none that have made it far enough to meet the boys, purposefully meet them. He doesn't mention it to them either because one time he did, they were all weirdly on edge, I think it freaked them out a little. Atlas has had a couple relationships, but none lasting longer than a few months. There's only been me dating Sophie for the longest time. She's been calling and messaging me, ever since I told her I'd be staying at home for a bit to help out after the boys got into the fight, and today was no different. I told her I was busy today, but didn't tell her with what, so I feel like I'm imagining my worst nightmare when I hear Sophie behind me. This isn't real, this isn't happening right now.

I watch everything happen in slow motion, Reid pulls away from her embrace and runs straight to Hunter, Noah being startled from her voice, and making a strangled noise before running towards Hunter as well. Everyone stalking off after them, Sophie included. I barely blink before I rush to follow as well. What the hell is going on right now? I can feel the glares from everyone without even looking at them, but I make eye contact with Hunter who looks like he's about to lose his shit, and this is when Sophie starts talking and making whatever this is even worse than it already was. Liam and Hunter usher everyone away, and he says he'll text me where to meet when I'm done. He says it in this way to be polite, but I know he's really saying that she's not welcome to spend the day with us. I nod to let him I know I understand exactly what he meant. Once everyone's gone and out of earshot, I slowly turn to Sophie who has an unamused frown on her face, and her arms crossed.