RECAP:

what a sight, jack thought to himself. two weird, lame boys, in their pjs, giving piggyback rides in toronto.

"bubba!" jack pinched finn's cheeks, feeling a rush of heat going to his own chubby cheeks as those words left his mouth.

jack hadn't called finn bubba in so long.

he didn't want to overthink it; it was just a stupid nickname.

but it had felt so right.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

"okay. first things first. we have to get food we'll actually be able to use in a meal. alright?"

"you're such a buzzkill, sophia." jack groaned, looking at the girl. she was paused outside the store, the letters on the front of the building flashing W A L A T , due to the missing M and R. they had decided to split up and gather all the items on the list, to make it go quicker. jack, sophia and jeremy were a team, finn and jaeden were a team, and chosen and wyatt were a team.

"okay. stick to the items on your list. meet in the movies aisle when you're done."

with that, the kids went flocking into the store, jack nearly tripping on his untied shoelaces. they all wanted to hurry in walmart so they could get to the new apartment, and figure out the sleeping arrangements. it would be a tight squeeze, and they didn't know who the adults might think of putting together. they wanted to be sure to get there and fix any problems that could possibly occur.

sophia and jeremy were boring when shopping. yeah, sure, jeremy would occasionally pretend to salsa down the aisles with jack in a playful way, and yeah, sophia would laugh at jack's stupid puns, but it wasn't the same. he found himself wishing he had been paired with someone else, who was more hyper than the two.

jack complained for the next twenty minutes. his comments always managed to be stupid, silly things, such as "if i was with finn, he wouldn't get mad at me for singing," or "finn and jaeden are more fun than you uptight old people."

"i should be playing with lego figures with finn in the toy aisle right now," jack whined, for seemingly the seventy sixth time as sophia picked out a box of frosted flakes.

"man, jack, for someone who apparently doesn't like finn, you sure do talk about him a lot." sophia remarked.

sophia always knew how to shut jack up.

she knew what was going on between the two; ever since they had kissed that fateful day, nothing was ever the same. in a good way, at first, then slowly, things went downhill. especially now. sophia knew the boys were somewhat awkward around each other; they didn't want to be, but they couldn't help it, and they certainly didn't trust each other completely yet. the redhead didn't blame them, but she quite often heard their complaints about each other, or, maybe the better word would be, rants about each other. they hadn't even been together for a couple days, and both the boys were already venting to sophia about the boy problems they were running into; with each other. it almost made her laugh, listening to both boys blabbing in about the same small issues. but she wanted to see them happy, so, she would listen to their stories and provide the appropriate advice afterwards.

while jeremy went off to get milk, since they had forgotten it, sophia turned to jack and gave him a look.

"how are things with finn? they don't- they don't seem as awkward as you make them out to be." she almost stuttered, not being able to form a proper sentence.

"oh, they're, they're fine, actually." jack confessed. "i think," he paused, "i think i'm reading into it too much. into us too much. we're just best friends. we are best friends. and we always will be, no matter what. and that's that."

as those words left jack's mouth, he almost felt his heart sinking. he felt a guilty feeling in his stomach, and he couldn't help but think over, and over, that he was lying. that they weren't just best friends. that it was so much more than that to him.

but sophia didn't know that. and jack definitely didn't want finn to. or anyone for that matter.

finn, on the other hand, who was in the next aisle over, hanging onto every word jack said, felt his heart racing so hard, he was almost afraid jack would be able to hear it.

just take my heart, finn thought. i didn't need it anyways.

jack was right. they were just best friends.

sometimes that's all you can be.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

"successful trip?" jaeden questioned, starting to load the back seat of their uber with groceries. the others nodded in return, running to help the boy. they ordered two uber's, and would split up four and three.

once the groceries were loaded up, jack, wyatt, sophia and finn piled into an uber. jaeden, chosen, and jeremy hopped into the one with the grocery bags, and, off they went.

jack looked out the window mainly the whole uber ride, and checked finn's phone for the time. they were pretty early, and would reach the apartment way before their parents had expected them to. jack was somewhat proud they had managed their time right.

wyatt and sophia were discussing rooming. apparently the boys would be split off in groups of two, and sophia got her own room. not that any of the boys minded sharing a room with her, andy just wanted to give her more privacy, especially since she was the only girl in the group.

finn didn't really say anything at all on the ride there, and neither did jack. they were still getting comfortable with each other, and at times, things still were a bit tense. jack was okay, though. he hadn't expected anything less. and, they would warm up to each other. as long as they didn't get roomed together, (that's when it would get extremely awkward,) jack was sure they would be fine.

when they got to the hotel, the teens parents brought up their groceries and the teens followed shortly behind to see the apartment, except for finn and jack. andy had called them over, to talk to him privately.

the two boys stood in the lobby, side by side, andy in front of them. they were nervous. not around each other, for once, but instead nervous about what andy would say.

"have you read the rough draft of the script yet?" andy questioned them, and jack shrugged, while finn stayed quiet.

"some of it." jack admitted sheepishly. finn nodded along with jack's statement.

"alright, well. in the netflix series, richie and eddie, get, well, really close."

jack nodded.

"they end up kissing."

jack's mouth fell open.

"o-oh," he stuttered, quickly trying to save himself. "that's- cool. that's cool. i didn't know stephen king would ever agree to that romance."

jack always liked the idea of reddie. it was cute, and he thought finn and himself had portrayed the little gays almost perfectly. he had enjoyed acting out their quarrels for the first two movies.

andy nodded, giving them a big smile. "it's truly a little side romance, since a lot of our viewers in the first and second movies live for reddie, as a romantic item. you two are such passionate actors and i know you can pull this off. however, as i mentioned, chemistry is always important."

finn and jack nodded.

"which is why i'm going to have you two share a room together."

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

bro i already know that was a huge ass mess, i didn't read it over and i'm so overtired but, enjoy