Just Another Car Ride With the Coles

BEEP-BEEP

Brandon Cole drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. His sister, Madison, opened the passenger door, fully expecting her brother to demand it, and walked around the rear end of the car to the back door on the driver's side. Brandon next began to flip through the radio stations.

BEEEPPPP-BEEEPPPP

The impatient teen lowered his window, sticking his head out, and yelled. "Come on, Ash! We need to get going!"

"Isn't your brother going to get out of the car?" Delilah O'Dell whispered to Madison, who now sat in the backseat with her, rolling her eyes at her brother's antics.

"Hey, doofus, you're supposed to go meet your date at the door!" the female half of the twins pointed out to the male half.

"Why? It's not like this is prom or anything," Brandon said, turning around to look at his sister over what he thought was an odd request. "I just did that last week for her."

Madison lowered her face into the palm of her hand. Gritting her teeth, she hissed, "Just do it."

Flinching at the tone of her voice, the ex-quarterback knew when to follow an order. Shaking his head at the pointless gesture, Brandon opened the door and stepped out. Right at that moment, the front door opened with Ashley Woodsen stepping out. The petite blonde wore a light pink dress, more summer dress than formal attire. She looked downright adorable in the outfit, but the angry look on her face didn't match the rest of the laidback style.

"See, she was coming out anyway," Brandon remarked with an I-told-you-so-look back at Madison through her window.

"Brandon! Could you not be rude to my neighbors for once?" Ashley snapped out, her heels click-clacking on the pavement as she walked over to the driveway.

Brandon turned and scanned the rows of houses in both directions. Not seeing anyone outside, he moved back to match his girlfriend's gaze. "What?" he asked in confusion. "Nobody is outside."

Shaking her head in frustration at the dumb, rude behavior that her boyfriend always unknowingly did, Ashley walked around the front of the car. Opening the passenger door, she looked over the top of the vehicle at her clueless boyfriend.

"You know, Zack came to the door to pick up Hannah."

Brandon had to wait to answer his annoyed girlfriend for she already dipped and sat in the car, slamming the door behind her. Getting in behind the steering wheel, Brandon gave his opinion on the matter.

"Well, Zack's still playing all romantic in hopes of getting inside of Hannah. I don't have to worry about that with my girl."

While Ashley went "eww!" at the thought of her sister and Zack, Delilah sighed in the backseat in disbelief at the stupidity of the jock.

WHACK

"Ow! What the hell Mads?" Brandon groaned, holding the back of his head where she slapped him hard.

"That's for being crass and an ass!" the feisty brunette snapped. "Mom's going to be pissed when I tell her what a gentleman she raised."

"Well, Mom's going to be pissed when I tell her you hit me while I was driving!"

"You're not driving! We're still in the fucking driveway."

"I was just about to put it in reverse. I had my hand there."

"You know what, Brandon. You don't have to worry about wining and dining me to get into my panties tonight," Ashley declared to her boyfriend.

"See, I was right. Listen to that everybody," Brandon triumphantly announced.

"No, I mean no matter what, that dick of yours isn't coming anywhere near my private parts tonight," Ashley informed the car. "So I guess you'll have to wait to jack off a load into Madison's panties. Again."

"Ew! Ashley that--again?!" Madison shrieked, slapping her brother in the head again and again.

"Why did you tell her that? I swear it was just one time, Mads!" Brandon swore frantically, ducking his head forward to avoid more blows. "I had to use something, and they were just there."

"Just there! Where the fuck were you whacking off at? My bedroom? You fucking pervert!"

"Damn, and I thought having a thirteen-year-old brother at home could be rough," Delilah said, placing her hand on her friend's arm. "You have my sympathies."

"No, shit."

"No, it wasn't like that I was downstairs and Mom left out the basket--"

"Ugh! Just stop! Fucking drive, will ya," Madison ordered. "I want to get out of this car and away from you as fast as I can."

Putting the car in reverse, Brandon backed out of the driveway and started the drive to Silver Lake. Glancing over at his girlfriend, he remarked, "Thanks, Ash. I told you that in confidence."

"Well, next time show me some respect by treating me like a lady, not like a sure thing."

Nodding his head in acceptance, Brandon offered his kind of an apology. "Alright...sorry."

For ten minutes, they drove in silence. Finally, after calming down, Ashley remembered her manners. Turning around, she looked into the backseat.

"Hi, Delilah. Ooh, wow! That's quite a look," Ashley complimented. "Not many girls can pull off orange, but damn, you sure can."

"Thanks! I love your dress too. You look like a princess," Delilah gushed. "And a practical dress too. I should have thought of wearing a light sundress."

"Tell me about it. I'm hoping it's cooler over by Silver Lake, but I didn't want to chance it. It's so hot and humid today."

"The news said it just missed a record high for the month of May by one degree," the dark-skinned girl informed her. "Too bad school doesn't end for a few more weeks. Today would have been an ideal day to cool off in Silver Lake."

"Definitely! Heather's talking about throwing a big party the weekend after graduation," Ashley revealed. "It's to make up for her father having to cancel our planned stay there during spring back. You should totally come."

"That sounds fun. At least with school out by then I don't have to listen to Bianca complain about my acting like a traitor to the Honeybears for hanging out with the cheer squad," Delilah complained. "I'll probably hear about it tonight for driving up with you two."

"She better stay away from Brandon tonight. That's all I care about in this feud of hers," Ashley commented. "Yeah, I am surprised to see you with us. I thought you would be with a date or going up with your parents."

"My little brother, Samson, has that nasty flu that's been going around town." Ashley nodded in understanding. "My mom's staying home with him. She's been fussing over him for days. I thought I would go with my dad, but he's got some late meeting downtown with the mayor and some other big shots. He's going to head up with them," Delilah explained about her father, who was chief executive of Bluestone National Bank. "As for a date? I decided it would be more fun to go solo. Fletcher said that there's going to be a ton of people coming into town for this event. I shouldn't have an issue finding a guy...or girl to have a good time with."

Brandon started coughing in the front seat.

"Are you okay, Bran? Here, have a drink," Ashley held out a bottle of water that had been sitting on the center console.

"Oh, Mister Pervert is just fine, Ashley," Madison remarked, finally speaking again, but keeping her arms folded in anger. "He's just imagining Delilah going down on another girl. That's probably what he'll use to soil more of my panties tonight."

"Mads, I swear it was just one time!"

"And I don't believe you!"

"That's a lovely dress, Maddie," Ashley complimented, hoping to end the sibling bickering. "It's totally you, too."

Uncrossing her arms, Madison looked down at the bluish-gray peasant dress she wore. An off-the-shoulder style it had a very minimal flower pattern that blended together.

"Thank you. Too bad I don't have a date to appreciate it, but, well, you know..." she trailed off. The other two girls knew precisely why Madison never dated: Brandon played the protective brother role way too strongly, thus scaring off any potential boyfriends.

"If Fletcher's boasts are correct, then there'll be plenty of guys for you to maybe connect with at the party," Ashley pointed out, hoping to cheer up her fellow cheerleader.

"Wait, what?!" Brandon spat out. "I better not have to play chaperone for you all night, Mads. You will not be sneaking off with a guy, you hear me! I'll turn this car around right now and drop you off at home."

"What's the matter, Bran; hoping to save me for yourself?"

Brandon turned his head, shooting his twin a horrified look, causing the car to swerve on the mostly empty park road. Focusing his attention back on the road, he flicked his eyes up to the rearview mirror, meeting his sisters. "Th-that's sick...disgusting, Madison. I never want to hear to talk like that again. You're better than that."

"You know girls, maybe I'll go full-on slut in college," Madison announced to her friends. "That's what girls do when they finally break out of their chastity chains, don't they?"

"Madison," growled her brother.

"Now, that's enough kids. Let's all settle down." Delilah tried to play peacemaker. "I don't want to die on this tree-lined road because the Cole twins were fighting."

Grumbles of agreement filled the car.

"Say, I just realized this; where's Lisa at?" Ashley inquired of Madison and Delilah's close friend.

"She's going with her parents. They drove up to their cabin right after school let out," Madison explained. "We're going to meet them at their place. Sounds like Fletcher is worried about not having enough parking spaces for all the cars. So he hired some people to run a shuttle service for all those that have cabins on the lake."

"Yeah, my mom mentioned that to me. They're parking at Heather's cabin. Mr. Ravers is going to have his driver ferry some of his friends from their place to the lodge," Ashley recounted what her mother told her.

"Wow, Fletch must be expecting a lot of people. Do you guys have any idea about who's all going?" Delilah asked.

"Nobody I like," Brandon softly griped.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you back here, Brandon," Delilah said.

"Oh, don't mind him. Brandon's still salty that he didn't get an invite to the party," Madison relayed loudly, causing her backseat companion to raise her eyebrows in surprise. "He's pissed that I received one, while he has to go as Ashley's plus one."

"Bunch of bullshit. What makes you more important than me? I'm the star quarterback!" Brandon hotly pointed out.

"Brandon!" chided Ashley.

"More important? Ha! I got an invitation because people actually like me," Madison told him. "Hmm, I wonder why Fletcher didn't invite you? Oh, that's right; you're an arrogant ass."

"Um, Brandon, you know football season has been over for like six months," Delilah said confused about why he still considered himself the school quarterback.

"I know that! Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you," Brandon apologized after catching the furious glare from his girlfriend. "You girls don't get it. I'll always be school quarterback. It's my legacy."

"Great to peak early, Bran," Madison laughed.

"Enough you two! You've already been warned," Ashley reminded them. "Now, who's been invited and not invited."

"Well, Trent and Max definitely weren't invited," Brandon relayed. "I don't think too many guys on the team were."

"Shocking," Madison remarked before sending an apologetic look at Ashley.

"Well, I know Sharon wasn't either," Ashley announced.

"No surprise there. Everyone knows that Sharon and Fletcher don't get along," Delilah remarked.

"Amber and Tanya turned down date offers to show support for Sharon. That seemed kind of too much for me," Ashley revealed. "They don't need always to back her on everything. Oh, I do think a few of the juniors on the squad might be going, but I'm not sure."

"As for the Honeybears, I know myself and Bianca are going. Maybe one or two others, but I'm not positive," Delilah reported about the school dance squad.

"Hey, what about Kevin?" Brandon asked. Although they weren't friends, he figured they could at least talk about sports to pass the time.

"Ooh, you girls will love this one," she cooed about her cousin, perking up the interest of Ashley and Madison. "Kevin got an invitation but is skipping. He's been acting all mysterious and going out of town on weekends the last few months. Aunt Shayla finally had enough and demanded to know where he was going. Turns out that Kev has a secret girlfriend." Seeing the interest level rise among the two other girls, she added the final detail. "She's a cheerleader he met during basketball season. Now, don't bother asking me from where, as I don't know. But next weekend, at our Memorial Day cookout, I plan on squeezing that detail out of him."

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this one," Ashley gushed. The petite blonde, always a romantic, loved to hear about who fell in love with whom. She never considered the option that others might be just hooking up for fun.

"I wonder if it's one of the girls we met at cheer camp?" Madison pondered.

"Now, what's this about Zack Bishop taking your sister as his date?" Delilah asked Ashley.