"i think you should take me back," harlow said to her brother while staring out at the road in front of them.

elton and harlow had spent the last two hours driving around buying random shit for his friends, who were completely unprepared although they apparently threw parties all the time. now, they were parked on the road in front of his friends' house, where elton was trying to convince his sister to come inside.

"nice try, part of this deal was you actually have to attend the party before you leave." elton laughed, turning the key and pulling it out of the ignition. "we're just gonna drop off their shit for tonight, and then go get some food."

"but like, just us two for supper right?" harlow asked, even though she already knew she was going to be wrong.

"if they want to come they can come," elton shrugged, turning around in his seat and grabbing the bags from the back. "they're not murderer's or anything,"

"fine," harlow whined like a child, crossing her arms. "you suck," she added, opening her door and stepping out onto the street.

elton laughed, "on the contrary, i'm kind of a kick-ass brother. i'm basically giving you my friends," harlow rolled her eyes, grabbing the remaining shopping bags from the back of the vehicle. "just follow me," elton yelled over his shoulder as he walked towards the huge home.

harlow trudged along behind him, waiting as he unlocked the gate. i guess if you post your life online you need the barriers, she thought. she internally sighed, already nervous to meet his friends. it's obviously different around elton because he's harlow's brother and he kind of has to tolerate harlow, but these other influencers don't have to.

here goes nothing, she thought as elton opened up the gate and walked through. she really should be thankful that elton wants her to meet his friends. she just needs to be her normal self, no nerves or awkwardness. yikes.

harlow couldn't help but stare in awe at the house she was about to enter. she has only been to elton's new house, which is significantly smaller than what stood before her. how the hell can they afford a place this size?

elton didn't even knock on the door, he just barged in as if he still lived there. as soon as harlow stepped inside the house a thought struck her, was i even invited here? she became extremely uncomfortable, not wanting to be an unwelcome visitor.

elton set the bags down in the long hallway, peeking his head into the large, open room to harlow's right. "hellooo?" elton shouted, walking down the hallway.

"it's uncle elton!" a voice shouted, followed by different voices celebrating. elton started off to the direction of the voices, gesturing for his sister to follow him. during the short walk from the front door to the kitchen, harlow noticed how bare the house was. there was a small table in the kitchen with a few chairs placed around it, and across the hall from the kitchen, there was a room with a couch and some random objects.

elton stopped at the doorway of the room where three boys sat. there was a boy wearing a black shirt and black jeans with faded colored hair sitting on one of the two couches. on the other couch, there was a boy who was wearing a hoodie and a gucci headband and another boy who was wearing a floral shirt and had dirty blonde hair. the boy in the floral shirt was playing fortnite, and the other two were scrolling on their phones.

harlow stood silently, hoping elton would introduce her to the boys. just as the boy with the faded colored hair looked up at the two siblings, elton decided to introduce his younger sister.

"this is my sister, harlow," elton said as he made his way over to the couch that was occupied by the one boy. "h, this is jake," he gestured to the boy he was sitting beside with the colored hair. "and this is aaron and corey," aaron was the one playing the video game, and corey was the one sitting beside him.

"uh, hi," she said, giving them a little wave and a small smile. she leaned against the doorway, trying to decide where to sit or if she should just stay where she was.

"she's real!" corey exclaimed, throwing his phone on the couch, "all this time we thought you were making her up and she's real!"

elton laughed, "yeah i have no idea why you guys thought i'd ever make up having a sibling. that's just sad,"

harlow smiled at her brother, "i'm definitely elton's real sister. i even have all the embarrassing stories to prove it,"

"they don't need to hear those," elton replied, sending daggers harlow's way. he was obviously thinking of the same moments she had in mind. middle years are a bitch.

"yeah we don't need to hear those," jake agreed sarcastically, "fill me in later," he whispered loudly, holding up his hand as a barrier between him and elton.

elton rolled his eyes, "i may be uncle, but i'm not fucking deaf,"

jake held his hand up as a barrier again, "later," he whispered loudly.

harlow laughed as elton huffed in annoyance. "h, sit down, you're stressing me out,"

she had already mentally decided that she was just going to stand in the entrance of the room to avoid picking a place to sit. elton was sat in the corner of the sectional and jake was sat in the other corner. so she could either squish beside them or sit on the edge of the couch. she opted for the latter.

"so where's sam and colby?" her brother asked.

"sam is going to pick up kat, and i think colby had to stop by their office to drop off some stuff," aaron responded, not breaking eye contact with the screen. he obviously takes this seriously, she thought.

"devyn?" elton asked, looking at corey.

"i think she's still getting ready upstairs, i'll go check." he replied, picking his phone up from the couch and walking out of the room.

"do all of those other people live here too?" harlow asked all the boys in general.

"kat doesn't, but she may as well. she's here all the time," jake replied, rolling the penny board at his feet on the floor.

"shit, that's a lot of roommates. i couldn't even live with one," she laughed. "mind you, i'm generally not a people-person," shit. she probably shouldn't have mentioned the last part. she didn't want them to think she automatically hates them because she definitely doesn't.

elton must've noticed his sister's internal battle she was having and switched the subject. "what're we doing for supper? i'm fucking hungry,"

"i don't know, i'll call sam and see what he and kat are doing," jake grabbed his phone and walked into the kitchen to facetime his friend.

as jake left the room, corey came back in with a small girl with brown hair pulled into a bun behind him. "hey, i'm devyn. corey's girlfriend." she introduced herself with a small smile and then went and sat with corey.

"harlow, elton's sister," she responded.

after a few minutes of chatting with the group, jake came back in the room. "sam and kat are going to get food, so we can just go now." he said, sliding his phone back into his pocket. "and i'm fucking hungry so squad up," he shouted while jumping up.

"if anyone wants to stay back and wait 'til i finish this game, i'll drive," aaron suggested, again, not breaking contact with the screen.

"we'll wait," corey offered.

"okay well we can take my car if you want," jake offered to elton and harlow.

"sounds good," elton replied. harlow nodded in agreement.

"text when you leave," jake told the other three, then walked out of the room.

harlow followed jake and elton out to jake's car in silence. elton sat in the passenger seat, and harlow slid into the seat behind elton in the back.

although she had only met about half of elton's friends who were having the party, harlow felt pretty good about elton basically forcing her to tag along. if she would have held her ground earlier, she would still be retyping the same paragraph of her paper.

not only was she allowing herself to have a break, but she even thought she was starting to have fun.

- - -

the group ended up eating at taco bell, mainly because jake demanded that they go there. harlow learned that jake and corey are extremely loud people, while aaron was only loud sometimes. jake was like elton, he was an instigator. devyn, on the other hand, was pretty quiet and basically kept to herself while the group ate.

after a long car ride home with jake, elton and jake's interesting music taste, they were back at the house. aaron, corey, and devyn were already back at the house by the time they got there. there was a new vehicle parked in the driveway as well.

"saaaaaamuel," elton called out, over the music playing, once he was inside the house. "it's your uncle!"

almost instantly a blonde boy came running down the stairs while screaming, "uncle elton!" harlow made eye contact with the boy before he reached her brother, stopping the unknown boy in his tracks. "shit," he started to say, laughing. "you must be elton's sister, right?"

harlow laughed a little, nodding. "the one and only," she replied while knocking her shoulder into her older brother.

before sam could say anything else, the back door opened and a crew of people came flooding through the doors. "what the heck? when did you guys get here?" sam asked, looking at the new group of guys in the house.

"we followed colby back after we ate," one of the boys replied. "and we're ready to fucking partyyyyy,"

"good thing elty is here to babysit us," a different guy said.

elton rolled his eyes, "lucky for you we have two babysitters tonight!" he exclaimed. "this is my baby sister, harlow."

harlow gave a small wave to the group of boys before her. "harlow, this is brennen, jake, billy, jay, aryia, mike, and kevin."

as she was mentally repeating their names so she hopefully wouldn't forget and embarrass herself, brennen spoke up, "how have i known you for this long and never knew you had a sister? are you keeping her under the stairs or something?"

elton jokingly shot him back a glare. "i have tried to get her out and into the world more times than you'd think,"

harlow jokingly punched her brother in the shoulder. "i just moved out here like two months ago and i've been busy with school," she defended herself. also, i don't like leaving the comfort of my dorm, she thought.

a few of the boys shuffled into the connecting rooms to the right of the group. harlow went to follow along when she heard the door open behind her.

"now wait a fucking minute!" a familiar voice shouted sassily. "harley, bitch, what are you doing here?"

harlow grinned and spun around to face her brother's friend, heath. "e forced me out of the house," she laughed, giving heath a quick hug. "but i don't know if i'll stay too long, i have a paper i need to write,"

"that's no excuse and you know it," heath laughed, holding up his bottle of vodka towards the younger castee. "we drinkin' tonight baby,"

harlow felt the boys staring at her, waiting for her response to heath. she told herself that she wasn't going to drink tonight so that she could use tomorrow to write her paper. technically, she could still drink and write her paper tomorrow, as long as she didn't get too crazy.

if i don't do it now, i'll probably regret it later, she thought.

"fuck it," harlow responded, grabbing the bottle of vodka from heath's hand. she took a swig, forcing herself to swallow the nail-polish-remover-tasting alcohol. heath hollered and out of the corner of harlow's eye, she saw elton give her a smile. "yeah, i'm gonna need some water to follow that," she managed to choke out.

as harlow began to turn around to face elton and his friends, she saw the most beautiful boy standing at the foot of the staircase. he was wearing all black and had the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

i'm gonna need more vodka, she thought to herself.