BLOODY HORIZON

CHAPTER THREE

°°° Welcome to the Whites °°°

        It was a long trip from Philadelphia. a trip that would have been made unbearable by Boris’ presence.

Kate had asked Boris to take Sean to Louisville, a request that grew into a long argument.

      They had deliberated on how to get to Kentucky, and even before any suggestions were made, Kate ruled out the option of flight. She had developed a phobia for air travel over the years. a phobia, which she constantly denied and claimed was caution.

      Sean was too young to rent a car, though he could already drive. Boris refused to drive, giving a ton of excuses as to why he couldn’t. He claimed that he had three job interviews lined up for Monday morning, and he didn’t want to return late and tired.

      His joblessness had been a major problem to Kate, another excuse for Sean to disrespect him, and it had for the longest time been an excuse for him—Boris—to escape responsibilities. Once he said he had an interview, it ended any arguments.

Kate eventually got a colleague of hers to take Sean.

      Sarah was also a nurse at the hospital Kate worked at. She was a young blonde, seemingly fresh out of college, and somewhat connected to the owner of the hospital, Crest Care.

Sarah agreed, as she was also planning on visiting someone there.

"What you going to eat, kid?" Sarah asked as they sat in the restaurant, Hillcrest Tavern, waiting for the Whites to come pick Sean up.

"Uhh..." he stared at the menu, feeling a bit pressured. Sarah was family, but she had done him enough favors already. He didn’t want to add this to it. "I... think the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich?" "Yeah, that one," he answered with a weird, uncomfortable smile.

"Alright," the waitress gave a smile that seemed printed. "Anything else?"

"No, maybe a bottle of Coke," he said, handing the menu card to her.

"Alright," she collected it from him and quickly penned down his request. "And you, ma’am?" She turned to Sarah.

"I’ll have the Tavern Triple," Sarah smiled with much familiarity. "Any drink would do." Sarah nodded to the waitress.

"What?" Sarah raised a brow at Sean, who was staring at her, shocked.

"It’s just…"

"I’m usually quiet, right?" she chuckled. "Well, I grew up here in Kentucky. "I feel really free whenever I’m here," she said, smiling at him.

Sean said nothing but gave a nod.

"People can have layers, you know," she smirked.

A few minutes later, they had been served and were eating.

     Raising his head, Sean caught Sarah taking pictures of him on her phone. He quickly hid his face and stretched out his hands to cover her phone’s camera.

"What?" Sarah laughed, putting the phone down. "Your mom asked me to take pictures of you before we part ways," she explained.

"Oh, but why when I’m eating?"

"Because she said you wouldn’t agree to take a picture, not willing," she shrugged, picking a wing out of the basket of chicken wings on the table.

A smile crept onto his face, showing that his mother was right. He was happy that she was beginning to accept the rules he’d set up for himself.

"Hey smiley face," Sarah tapped the table. "Your friends are close," she informed him and gulped down half a glass of water.

"Alright. I’m done anyways," Sean smiled, taking his phone out of his bag.

Sarah waved at the waitress as soon as she noticed she was free.

"We’ll have fries to go, please." Two places," she placed the final order and asked for the rest of her food to be packaged as she collected the bill.

Sean tried to stop her from buying him anything else, but she simply ignored him.

Almost three minutes after they’d exited the restaurant for Sarah’s car, Sean heard a familiar voice. Turning around, his smile widened.

A grey Toyota Sienna pulled into the parking space, and Jason hopped out of the front passenger seat.

      The chocolate-brown-haired Jason wore an unbuttoned navy blue jean jacket with the arms folded to his elbow over a plain white shirt. The beige chinos matched well with his white sneakers. With a fashion designer mother, anything less than that would be unacceptable.

"That's your friend?" Sarah asked, looking at the waving Jason.

"Yeah," Sean smirked. "Thanks Sarah," he smiled to her and picked up his North Face Base Camp extra-small 31-liter duffle.

"See you later, kid," she waved and entered her red BMW convertible and drove away.

"Hey Sean," Mr. White greeted after waving Sarah goodbye.

"Hello, Mr. White," Sean smiled, handing him his duffle bag to shove into the trunk. "Nice car," he commented.

"Heh… she’s new. "Dad got her last week," Jason’s brother, Andrew, blurted out.

"Andrew... I didn’t see you there," Sean laughed and ruffled the kid’s Havana brown hair.

"He threatened to run all the way here if we didn’t bring him along," Jason laughed and pulled open the door, letting Sean in.

"Thanks, bro," Sean smiled and hopped in.

"So," Mr. White said, starting the car. "How was your trip here?"

"It wasn’t a treat, that’s for sure," Sean joked. "Over twenty hours on the road... it was a rough ride."

"I imagine you’ll be sleeping as soon as we get home," Andrew chipped in.

"Nah… "I slept most of the way here," Sean said and buckled up.

"See Jason," Mr. White said as the car began moving. "Your seatbelts are important." "I didn’t have to ask Sean before he put his on."

"What?" Jason exclaimed confused.

"Yeah... hey Andrew, what do you say we switch your brother for Sean?" Mr. White asked with his eyes on the road.

"Hell yeah!" Andrew shouted, throwing his hands in the air, triggering a round of laughter.

"Quiet down, genius," Jason said unamused. "Your seat belt isn’t well buckled," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Give me a break, bro." "It's not like you could do this at my age," Andrew chuckled, struggling to fix his belt properly.

"Let me," Sean offered and pulled in to aid Andrew. "Are you guys always like this?" he asked, quite amused.

"Hehe... this is just the tip of the iceberg," Mr. White laughed. "Welcome to the Whites."