"There's not enough seats," I told Cain, who was already blasting music from the stereo of my dad's car. "You know that right?"

"How many are we short?" Cain looked towards the back, his eyes floating over the already occupied seats. "Two?"

"At least," I muttered, putting the car into drive. I took one last look at Olivia's house, where I had picked the group up from. Her house looked like every other house on this block, gigantic and new.

"Well I can sit on Noah's lap," Olivia chimed out from the back, and I wanted to roll my eyes at how obvious her statement was. She'd probably sit on his lap anyway, because they didn't seem to be able to function without being all over each other.

"That still leaves us short one seat," I mumbled out,  quickly making sure the road was clear before I pulled onto it.

I had a feeling what the next words out of her mouth would be.

"Why can't Seren just sit this one out?" She asked the car, in her bubbly voice that didn't quite cover her jealousy.

"Olivia," Noah muttered, I could barely hear the words from where they were in the back of my car. "That's not nice."

"What?" She huffed out, "I'm just saying. She couldn't even be bothered to meet us at my house to be picked up."

"Wasn't Seren the one who came up with the idea of spending the weekend at the lake house?" Carter's voice was slightly panicked, and everyone knew why.

"Carter," Trinity spoke, the pity evident in her tone, "when are you going to realize that you and Seren are never going to happen?"

I shook my head at her words, though I agreed with her, I still felt the jolt of embarrassment on on Carter's behalf. Though, it seemed I was the only one. Cain chuckled instantly, covering his mouth like the laughter had slipped out accidentally. Jax, Tyler and Benji, however, their laughs of amusement flew freely from their chests.

"Shut the hell up," Carter barked out, and I flicked my eyes towards him through the review mirror. He was trying to hide it, but he was turning bright red.

"If there's no chance of me and Seren, why did she ask me if we could all hang out at my lake house?" He asked the question like that singular piece of information was proof that he and Seren would get married.

"You really are an idiot," Olivia laughed out, "I sent that text from her phone. She didn't even seem excited to come, so if we're out of seats, she can stay here."

"Shut up, Olivia," Jax's voice rang out, though it was tenser than it usually is. "We're not leaving her behind. Zane, let's go get her."

I rolled my eyes, a surge of annoyance ringing through me. Did he really think I'd leave her?

"Fine," Trinity muttered, "but she's not sitting on me, and I'm not sitting with any of you perverts."

"Sweet," Benji let out, and even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was smiling.

"Dibs!" Tyler yelled quickly, and my fingers gripped themselves over the steering wheel as that annoyance turned to anger.

"Tyler!" Trinity whined, and I heard the sound of her batting his arm.

"See, you don't want to get your girl upset," Jax spoke like he couldn't be happier at the situation. "She can sit with me."

"Why don't you let her decide where she wants to sit?" I asked, though I knew my question would fall on deaf ears.

"Alright, alright," Carter said, "let's be gentlemen about this."

I raised my eyebrows, bewildered at the idea they would accept my words.

"Flip a coin?" Benji asked, causing me to silently sigh in disgust.

It took seven coin flips before they came to an agreement. Seven coin flips, two arguments, and three separate strings of curse words coming from the losers.

Yet, I had the feeling the only loser in this scenario would be Seren.

"What can I say boys?" Jax's smug voice rang out once he had been declared the winner. "What's meant to be will be, and it looks like Seren and I are meant to be."

"Oh shut up," Carter said sharply. "You got lucky. You and Seren are meant to be? Yeah, right. I hate to break it to you, but you're friendzoned as fuck."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jax barked back at him. "I'm not friendzoned."

"Dude, let me put it this way. You might say I don't have a chance with her, but I promise you this. The odds of me and Seren happening, they're way higher than the odds of you and Seren ever happening. Trust me, when she sees you, she's looking at a friend. You know what they say, you can never escape the friend zone."

I looked quickly to Cain as Carter said his words to Jax, my eyebrows raising in surprise. Cain was looking right back at me, his face said the same thing I was thinking. Damn, Carter.

The car was silent as we all waited for Jax's words, but surprisingly they didn't come. I wished I could look back at them, I wanted to see the awkward looks on all their faces, and I wanted to see how pissed off Jax was. I knew whatever Jax was going to say next, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Just... you'll see. You'll all see, and then you can shut up," Jax surprised me by saying. His voice was low, and for a second I felt bad that he had been embarrassed like that.

Until I remembered he was an asshole, so I didn't really care what he felt.

Uneasy tension filled the car as I continued driving, I could feel it dripping off of everyone. Except for the girls, they loved every second of what just occurred. I let out a final sigh as I pulled into Seren's driveway, not surprised for a second that she wasn't waiting for us. I pressed against the horn, wondering if she was even planning on coming.

Though, even as I wondered that, I knew she was. It was the same riddle that Seren always left me in, wondering why she hung out with people she clearly didn't like. Why she kept the same friends who treated her like garbage.

I watched as her front door opened, and she walked out of her house with her duffle bag strapped to her shoulder. I watched as Cain's mouth opened slightly as he caught sight of her. I couldn't blame him. She looked amazing in her sundress, her hair was curled. Though, she looked like she wanted to be doing anything other than what she was doing.

And again, I wondered why she didn't.

"Seren, babe! You look amazing," Olivia was the first to greet her as she opened the door. How did she manage to grit those words out when she had just suggested we leave her behind?

"Thanks. Short on seats?" Seren mumbled, clearly picking up on the fact there was no where for her to sit.

"Disadvantage of being picked up last," Benji said quickly. "We flipped coins to see who's lap you're sitting on."

"Flipped coins?" She asked him, her voice blank. "Hold that thought."

I watched in the mirror in curiosity as she left from the side of the door. She walked back towards the trunk, opening it and rooting around. I wasn't sure what she was doing until I saw the bottle of vodka. She put it to her lips and plugged her nose as she drank the liquid in a hurry.

And my heart broke, because we did that to her. All of us. We make it so hard for her to be around us that she needed to drink to tolerate it.

"Alright, where am I sitting?" She asked as she reappeared at the open door.

"Jax, the lucky bastard." Benji muttered, shooting a glare in Jax's direction. I watched her face as she heard the words, and it looked like she was relieved. I knew why, and it was because what Carter had said was partially true. She did consider Jax a friend.

Which is more than I could say for the rest of us.

I waited until she had climbed across Benji and Tyler's laps, landing her body on top of Jax's. I didn't let my eyes linger, I breathed through the uneasy feeling I had and started to reverse from her driveway. I did my best to focus on the road, but unwillingly my attention remained on Seren.

"Sorry, Seren. I would have given you my seat but none of the guys would agree to let me sit on them." Jax joked with her, and the fire that had been in his voice from when he had argued with Carter had faded completely.

"Really? I would have thought Benji would be more than willing to accommodate," she joked back, and she had already become the Seren she is with alcohol in her veins.

"My lap is available for you any day of the week, Seren, but I draw the line at Jax." Benji said, reaching over Tyler and punching Jax in the arm.

"That's not what you said last weekend, man." Cain chipped in from beside me, causing Seren to giggle. I let my eyes drift to Cain, just for a second, and you would have thought he had just won a prize by the way he smiled at her laugh.

"I'm glad you're enjoying my misery, Seren," and Jax's voice was so flirtatious that against my better judgement, I looked towards them in the mirror. Seren was smiling, but why did I hate that she was?

"Shit. Sorry guys," I mumbled, my eyes returning to the road almost a second too late. I had to jerk the wheel so that I didn't clip the side of the truck in the next lane.

"Misery?" Seren questioned, knowing as well as everyone did that he was loving every second of this car ride.

"Yeah. It's torture to have a hot girl sitting in your lap for hours at a time." Jax chuckled, that anger I felt from before ticking in my stomach again.

Why did they always reduce her to what she looked like? That's all they thought of her as, and from the way they voiced it so often, she knew it.

She knew it, and I'm pretty sure she fucking hated it.

The rest of the drive passed without incident. I ignored the gossip that flew out of the mouths of Olivia and Trinity so freely, I wondered if any of it was true. I ignored the way the guys joked about spending the weekend surrounded by girls in bikinis. They were all loud for the two hours, except Seren, who seemed to have less to say than I did.

Nobody wasted any time once we arrived at Carter's lake house. We all claimed our rooms, and I placed my things in the same room I stayed in every time we came here. It was the room with two bunk beds, a kids room. Carter's family had serious money, but I had never cared enough to ask questions about where that money came from. The lake house was gigantic, sitting on the edge of the kind of lake that smells of summertime.

"Seren!" I heard Jax's voice call from the kitchen. I walked out of my room, wondering what he was yelling for. I saw Seren exit her room just in front of me, she didn't notice me as she followed Jax's voice. She stayed in the same room every time too, it was the master, which Carter gave to her in hopes she would look at him with anything other than ambivalence in her eyes.

Jax was standing by the counter, two filled shot glasses in his hand. He was smiling at Seren; a twinkle is his eyes that told me he was up to something. His smile increased as she stepped further towards him, he pushed one of the shot glasses into her hands.

"To the best weekend of our teenage lives," he let out, before he tipped the small glass back. He didn't take his eyes off of her for a second.

No emotion passed Seren's face as she took in his words. She blankly stared back at him, before she nodded, tipping the alcohol into her body the same that way he did.