Chapter Eighteen
"We're here," Austin says while yawning. The group cheers and gets out of the car. Leland grabs the wheelchair and looks at Taylor. She shakes her head and he nods just pushing it forward. Austin gets out of the car and blinks several times to try and stay awake. Jack comes up behind him and puts his hand on his shoulder.
"I think I'ma pass out walking." He says and Austin nods. The two walk behind the group tiredly.
"Hi, welcome to the Desert Botanical Garden." A lady says handing them a brochure. Everyone except Leland ignores the woman and stares at plants they've never seen. Leland hands the woman everyone's ticket and then they begin to walk in. "Remember, don't touch anything." The woman says and Carson pouts.
"But they look so cool." He says reaching for one.
"I'm not going to the hospital for a third time." Leland says grabbing his hand. Carson pouts, but has a smile back on his face within a few minutes.
"Look at that thing." He says pointing to one of the plants. It's got vines everywhere and the ones in the middle are pink.
The group ends up separating because some wanted to go one direction while the other in another direction. Jack and Austin just try to keep walking. Layla's pushing Taylor in the wheelchair because Leland wanted to go another direction. Leland, Carson, Julia, Chloe, and Analyze go left while, Layla, Taylor, Jack, and Austin go right.
Layla glances back at the two boys and tries to hold back her laugh. They look like death and keep running into each other. "I think they need some sleep." She whispers to Taylor. Taylor looks back and nods her head. "Austin," Layla yells. His head pops up towards her with wide eyes. "You alright?" She asks. He nods his head, but she doesn't believe him. "Drink this, you too Jack." She says and tosses them a water bottle. Austin tries to catch it, but it just hits him in the chest and then falls to the floor.
Jack bends down to grab it and has to use Austin's legs to keep him stable. The two girls laugh while shaking their heads. "They're gonna sleep good tonight." Taylor nods her head before looking back to the plants.
***
"Yumm, honey barbecue wings," Carson says and puts one into his mouth. Julia laughs and then bites one of hers.
Everyone eats talking about the plants they liked the most, well almost everyone. Jack and Austin are staring at nothing and just put food into their mouths. Leland notices the two are practically dead and looks at his glass of water. There's not much so he grabs it and splashes it at the two.
"What? What are we talking about?" Jack asks sitting straight up. Austin forces his eyes open and looks around confused. Everyone laughs and the two look at Leland with a glare.
"Just trying to wake you guys up." He says. The two stand up and go to change their clothes. Jack mumbling about how he's such a jerk.
Once they've changed everyone's done and is getting ready for bed. Austin goes to a couch not caring where he sleeps. He lays on his side leaving room for Taylor and then closes his eyes. Instantly he's asleep. Jack takes a pillow lays on the floor not even caring. Taylor smiles at the two and then has Layla help her change.
She walks over to where Austin is and carefully gets in between him and the couch. She rests her head on her arm and then feels an arm low on her hip. She opens her eyes but sees Austin's still asleep just moving around. She doesn't care to move his arm, just closes her eyes and goes to sleep.
***
Taylor wakes up to shuffling around her. She opens her eyes and sees her brother looking through his bag. "What are you doing?" She asks noticing that the sun is barely up.
"We have to go through that class to go skydiving, but I can't find the packet that has everything for us." He asks and she points to the table. He turns his head and sees everything. "Thanks, sis." He smiles. Taylor watches as he, Carson, Jack, Chloe, and Analyze walk out of the hotel room. Austin, Layla, Julia didn't want to do it, and Taylor can't with her side.
She lays her head back down on the couch and closes her eyes. She sleeps for another 12 minutes before getting up. She carefully gets off the couch not waking Austin up. She grabs her clothes and hops into the shower. She takes her time and is careful to keep all the soap away from her side. Once she's out she gets her undergarments on and then her shorts. She then grabs the normal T-shirt. "I'm going to do this today." She says and begins to try and get it on.
She doesn't get very far before there's a knock on the door. "I gotta pee whosoever in there." She hears Julia's voice.
"You're fine, come in." She says and Julia barges in going straight to the toilet. "Better?" She asks with a smile.
"I've had to pee for like 20 minutes, so yes." She says and Taylor smiles before going back to getting her shirt on. Julia looks at her ready to ask.
"Nope, I'll get it." She says and does a little hop to try and push her arm through. She eventually gets it on and then high fives Julia. "Finally." She says with a smile.
"Now, we need to fix it so it's not inside out." Taylor looks down at her shirt and her smile drops.
"Oh, come on. I almost had it." She says slightly frustrated.
Once the two girls have managed to get the shirt on right they walk out laughing about it. Austin wakes up and looks over at the two confused. "Sleeping beauty's up," Julia says and he sits up to stretch.
"I'll go and wake up Layla," Taylor says with a smile. She walks into the room and carefully gets on the bed. She then starts to jump up and down. "Layla, Layla, get up, get up." She yells. Layla's up right away and looking around until she spots Taylor.
"You little-"
"Language," Austin says with a smile. She glares over at him, grabs a pillow and throws it at him. He catches it and gives her a look. "So childish." He says and throws it back. It hits her right in the face causing her to fall back onto the bed. She groans tossing the pillow to the side. It hits Taylor in the stomach. Austin looks at her concerned and Layla looks over with wide eyes.
"I'm fine, the wrong side." She says and Layla lets out a breath.
"Could have told me sooner, I was ready to go on a full rant apology." She says as Taylor gets down off the bed. Taylor shrugs and walks passed Austin going to her bag. She grabs a snack and sits down on the couch. "We know who the wimp is?" Layla says kinda loudly.
"There is no point in jumping out of a perfectly good plane," Austin yells back from the bathroom.
"Sure, that's your reason." She yells back. Austin swings open the door and looks at her.
"What else would the reason be?" He asks and Layla raises her brow. He looks at her confused and then looks horrified.
"I'm gonna tell you a story about little Austin. Wh-" Austin puts his hand over her mouth stopping her.
"No, no. We don't need to talk about it." He says still covering her mouth as she tries to pry his hand away. "You promised not to talk about it?" He asks. She nods her head and he slowly releases her.
"Just go clean yourself. You smell horrible." She says shoving him away from her. He smells his shirt.
"I smell fine." He says and Layla shakes her head. "Taylor, do I smell bad?" He asks. She motions him forward. She sniffs, smiles and then nods her head.
"Jeez go, go." She says pushing him. He sniffs his shirt again, but can't understand what they smell. He walks to the bathroom confused, but just shakes his head mumbling, "Women."
"Ok, so the story is. When he was....like 8. We went in a plane and while we were landing there was some turbulence and well...he kinda pooped his pants. Ever since then he's hated planes and the thought of going out of one scares him." She says laughing along with Taylor. "And a promise only counts when someone says 'I promise'." She adds just in case he wants to throw it in her face that she made a promise.
"I can't believe that. And from turbulence?" She asks and Layla nods.
"It wasn't even that bad. We were landing." She says causing Taylor to start laughing again. Julia comes back into the room and the two look at her confused. "Where'd you go?" She asks. Julia smiles and holds up a plate full of food. "It's not for us. We didn't pay for that." She says in a hushed tone.
"I know, but it smells so good. Come on I got enough for us to share." She says setting the plate down on the table. The two girls smile and join her.
"We have to leave in like...20 minutes to go and meet the others," Layla says looking over at the clock. They nod and then Layla jumps up. "Who's sitting in the back?" She asks knowing they took the van.
"I vote Austin," Julia says and he snaps his head at her.
"I vote Julia." He says and she rolls her eyes.
"We'll put our names in a hat and see who gets picked," Layla says walking over to her bag.
"Just us three. Taylor can't sit in the back." Austin reminds Layla. Layla nods her head and finds a pen. After writing the names she puts them into a bennie and hands the bennie to Taylor. She shuffles them and pulls one out.
"Layla...you're safe." She says dramatically. She then looks between Austin and Julia. "Austin...you're....not safe." She says. Julia yells yes and he groans.
"My ass is going to be bruised." He says and Taylor laughs.
Layla is in the driver's seat, while Julia's in the middle, and Taylor in the passenger seat. She looks back and sees Austin getting down on the bed of the truck he brought a sweatshirt to put under his head, but it doesn't look comfortable to her.
"This is hot as hell." He yells up to them trying to keep as much skin off of it as possible.
"You can handle it, you big baby." Layla says starting the truck. She then pulls out of the parking spot, but some person comes zooming by. She brakes and curses. "Austin you ok back there?" She asks looking back towards him.
"That hurt." He yells rubbing his head. Taylor looks back and already sees a red mark. "Watch out for dumb asses please." He says. Layla puts the truck back into drive after putting the emergency brake off and pulls out slowly.
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