dedicated to: mo [if dreams could come alive]
prompts: one direction fangirling; road trip; old beach houses; stranded together during a storm.
purpose: the summer '12 fic exchange
word count: 1,986 words
so um. let's pretend i didn't start this at 10:30 AM on august 2 china time, thanking my lucky stars that being in china means i have 1.5 hours left before august 1 ends on the east coast of the USA! mo, you really deserve better than this, i'm so so sorry! but i hope you enjoy it to some degree nevertheless (:
Roll The Windows Down
I can feel it in the air that it's on tonight,
I don't really care if it's wrong or right.
Massie Block had no idea how she had gotten herself into such a situation.
If she had to pick a reason though, she'd blame Katie Hotz. Josh's admittedly adorable eight year old little sister.
If Katie hadn't been going to her stupid summer music festival in Oneonta, New York (talented kid, that one), then Josh wouldn't have to drive her there, and Massie would've probably just called a taxi to take her to the State University of New York campus in Oneonta where she would be interning.
So really, it was Katie's fault that Massie was now sitting in the passenger seat of Josh Hotz's ostentatious Lexus SUV, listening to the way overrated British boy band One Direction, and barely holding on to her last bits of sanity in the awkward silence that seemed to always be there between Massie and Josh.
No one could really explain why things were so awkward between the admired Queen of Westchester and the quiet baseball-loving soccer player.
They had never really directly interacted, though they had always hung out in the same group, and the fact that Josh had [cruelly, in her mind] broken her best friend's heart didn't really help Massie's perception of him.
To be fair though, Massie's complete inability to choose between Cam Fisher and Derrick Harrington, both his best friends, caused a strange annoyance in him, though he had no idea why – the issue was completely irrelevant to him.
They were both completely helpless though, when Mrs. Hotz insisted that Josh give Massie a ride despite both of their protests. Katie was beyond ecstatic to be spending time with Massie, who she had always looked up to as the big sister she never had.
Having no other choice, Massie had accepted the offer to take a mini road trip with the Hotz siblings, but she was beginning to regret her decision.
"Ohmygosh, Massie, don't you just luuuuuuuurve One Direction?" Katie hyperactively exclaimed as one of their biggest hits, What Makes You Beautiful, started on the radio.
Massie internally groaned as she observed the late afternoon sun displaying its last rays of glory behind disappearing behind some distant mountains – the Appalachians, perhaps. Yes, the awkward silence had finally been broken, but because of fangirl!ing about One Direction? She would have preferred the silence.
"Um. Yeah, Katie, their music is alright." She lied through her teeth, trying to please the little girl.
"Not just their music, everything about them! Ohmygosh, Harry Styles' hair, Niall's love for carrots, Zayn's bad boy image…" Katie sighed in admiration. "If only I could meet them someday…"
This time Josh replied to his little sister. "Maybe I'll take you to see them in concert some day, Katie." He turned back to smile at his little sister before returning his focus to the road. He had always been great with younger siblings.
"That would be so so so cool! Massie, would you go with us? I know you would. They're just too amazing for you to say no, right? Right? I know I'm right! How could anyone not love One Direction!" As Katie paused to take a breath, Massie hurriedly interrupted her before she could rant on any longer. "We'll see, Katie! It was just a maybe, don't get too excited yet, you know how hard it is to get tickets to see them."
"Well, yeah, but Josh is just the most amazing brother in the whole wide world and he can do anything! He's like superman, don't you think so, Massie?" Katie practically squealed.
Josh chuckled at the deer-caught-in-headlights expression now on Massie's face and decided to save her. "Katie, let Massie keep what she thinks of me to herself. It's probably too horrible for you to comprehend."
Massie playfully hit him on the shoulder. "Shut it, Hotz. I don't think that badly of you."
"Oh really now?"
"Mhm." She said sheepishly.
"Prove it." He smirked challengingly.
"What in the world? How?" Massie had a feeling this was not going to end in her favor.
"Tell Katie just how amazing you think I am." Josh winked.
"Oh, jeez. Are you kidding me?" Massie rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Katie excitedly bounced in her seat. "Go, Massie, go! I wanna hear!"
"Well if you guys insist…" Massie began, keeping just enough of a sarcastic tone in her voice to let Josh know she was kidding, but believable enough for Katie. "Josh is one of the nicest people I've ever met, he's always so caring and sensitive that I almost think he's a girl sometimes," She received a glare for that. "Anyway, he's so passionate about the things and people he loves, like baseball and his friends. He's super motivational and not only does he never give up but he doesn't let anyone he cares about do that either." It was about here that Massie realized how true everything she was saying was. "He always has his reasons behind his actions and he would never hurt anyone he cared about on purpose. He would be an amazing friend to anyone who let him, and that, my friends, is Josh Hotz."
Katie applauded from the backseat. "Sounds 'bout right to me! Good job, Massie!"
Josh smiled sincerely at Massie too, hearing the truth that had come into her words near the end. Massie rolled her eyes and gave him a look that said to not get used to it, and tried her best to ignore how cute his dimples were.
She switched the radio station and sat back prepared to sit the rest of the four-hour ride in silence, but Katie just had to throw another curveball at the unsuspecting teenagers.
"Josh, it's your turn! What do you think about Massie?" Katie giggled, having fun with the way she was forcing the two older kids to speak their feelings.
"Katie, come on, take a nap. I think we gave you too much sugar for breakfast." Josh pleaded.
"No." Katie replied stubbornly. "Not until you tell Massie what you think of her! Because I think she's one of the most amaaaaaazing people ever, and you should too!"
Massie raised her eyebrows in amusement and couldn't help but laugh at Josh.
"Okay, okay, fine!" Josh gave up the fight against his relentless little sister. "Massie knows exactly what she wants and does everything she can to get there. Even though she can be cold at times, she only acts like it in defense of her friends, and even with her extreme popularity, she can be very down-to-earth. She is much prettier without make up on because honestly who likes cake-faces, ow!" Massie punched him in the arm, not pleased with this part. "Anyway, she has all the confidence in the world, not in a bad way!" He hurriedly added, not wanting to be further injured. "She is super loyal to everyone she cares about and sometimes I wish I was one of those people."
Massie pretended to wipe tears from her eyes as she smirked at Josh, knowing that his sensitive side had truly come out during his little spiel. "Oh, stop it you. You are one of those people." She leaned over the armrest and hugged him.
"Massie, I'm driving!" Josh shouted in surprise as he struggled to see the road above her glossy auburn curls.
"Oh. Oops. My bad." Massie giggled innocently. "So what were you saying about me being pretty?"
Two hours into the drive, it began pouring. Massie didn't like to use idioms much, but it was seriously like it was raining cats and dogs. After about ten minutes of driving through the horrible downpour, the thunder and lightning began, and Josh proclaimed it impossible to keep on going if they wanted to stay safe.
They pulled out of the highway at the next exit and found themselves driving along a row of old beach houses, hearing the waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash against the shore on the other side.
"Wow, I didn't realize we'd gone that far East." Josh said in surprise, having been following his GPS the entire drive.
"Well I guess we better take shelter in one of these until it's safe enough to keep on driving? They all look pretty abandoned so…" Massie trailed off, quite a bit scared of old abandoned houses, though she would never admit it to anyone.
"What about that purple one over there?" Katie piped up helpfully, pointing at a house in relatively well condition, though it was painted a hideous prune purple.
"The purple one it is!" Josh exclaimed, trying to be optimistic about their whole situation, though there was really nothing cheerful about it.
He pulled into the driveway and chivalrously let Massie and Katie use the old umbrella they'd found in the trunk of his car, sprinting to the porch of the house himself. They tried the doorbell a couple times, just in case the house wasn't as abandoned as it seemed, then pushed the door open, walking in to evaluate the shelter for the night.
The interior of the house wasn't in much better condition than the outside, but they did find some canned beans and some bread that both seemed to be still edible. There were three bedrooms, a linen closet, and some sort of game room upstairs, and a living room, kitchen, dining room, and a gorgeous covered patio downstairs. After fixing 3 canned bean sandwiches for them, Massie brought the plate out to the patio where Josh and Katie were observing the continuous downpour of rain.
"Your dinner, my lords," Massie curtsied mockingly as she set the plate down on the small table.
Katie giggled at her antics, "You're the best, Massie!"
Josh rolled his eyes at that, "What about me, Katie? Have you changed loyalties so fast?" He frowned playfully, holding a hand to his chest as if he was heartbroken.
"And what if she has? Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?" Massie teased.
"Hm… I don't know…" Josh pretended to consider. "Maybe this!" He suddenly leaped up and tackled Massie down to a lawn chair and began mercilessly tickling her.
"Stop it! Josh! Seriously! You know how ticklish I am!" Massie gasped as she helplessly struggled in his strong grasp.
Katie giggled from the sidelines, joyously cheering on her brother and happy that she had finally gotten Massie and Josh to talk to each other. "Keep her there, Joshie! I'm going to get the camera!"
"Don't call me that! But hurry Katie, Massie may be stronger than we thought!" Josh shouted at his sister's retreating form.
"What is this ganging up on me? This is so unfair!" Massie protested in vain, still attempting to escape from Josh's hold.
Josh glanced back down at Massie and realized just how close together they were. Massie suddenly stopped struggling, caught in the deep chocolate brown eyes of the extremely hot boy currently on top of her (like seriously, she could feel those abs through his shirt), unable to move now even if he stopped holding her. Josh relaxed his hold on her and almost instantly Massie felt the loss of heat where they had been touching.
Deciding to take a risk, Massie leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips. Feeling the spark of electricity that flowed through them, she returned to her normal self and playfully teased, "So does that prove to you that I don't think badly of you?"
a/n: so um it's 11:59 and it's almost august 2 even in eastern USA so i literally finished this barely on deadline and i sort of skimmed it through for mistakes, but if you guys see any let me know, alright? this was written in an hour and a half, so yeah… mo, i hope you enjoyed this despite the horrible quality of it, and i tried my best to incorporate all four of your prompts into it! thanks for reading, everyone :)
