{56}✔️

Dahlia's POV

************

Thanksgiving break was over way faster than I would've liked it to be, but then again it kinda sucked so I was glad to be back in school. At least Christmas break is coming up in a few weeks.

I huffed as I slammed my bag down on the floor beside my desk and then took a seat, pulling out my phone so I could scroll through Twitter and try to ignore my loud class. I heard Mrs. Bledgin quietly ask me to get off my phone and contemplated flipping her off, but I decided that being disrespectful to her wouldn't solve any of my problems, so I kept my hand on my desk. I didn't put my phone down, though, and she didn't have time to ask me to again because she had to go over to another table and beg them to stop tearing pages out of one of the science books.

"Rough morning, baby?" Billie whispered in my ear before kissing my neck. A small smile came to my lips, but it turned into a frown soon after. "Denver's stupid ass was being a dick—what the fuck is new—and he's the reason I'm twenty minutes fucking late." I rolled my eyes.

"You two still aren't talking?"

"Not unless we're yelling at each other. He's such a fucking asshole. I feel bad that Fin heard about his crush, but he's being such a fucking douche. He won't have a civil conversation with me to save his soul and he keeps fucking Julia all throughout the nights and he's still fucking talking to mom—" I bit the inside of my cheek and cut myself off. I can't even think about that stupid bitch right now.

"I'm scared if I tell you how sexy you look when you're mad, you'll slap me. But I don't know, D. I might just like getting slapped."

"You two are disgusting." Cadence chimed in. I looked at her and noticed her twirling her hair around her finger as she popped her gum and winked at her foreign boo thang who was sat across the room.

"You're one to talk," I smirked. "How's it going with him?"

"We're taking things slow. I really wanna fuck the guy, if we're being honest, but every damn time we get close I just think about the party..." She sighed. I rubbed her shoulder and she reached up to grab my hand, squeezing it. "He's a good guy, though, and I'm not gonna let that stupid whore, Julian, ruin my chances of being with him. I'm gonna fuck Ranaldo if it's the last thing I do."

I mentally applauded her determination as I snickered out loud. "Ranaldo? Are you serious?"

"It's a cute name, bitch." She glared.

"Where's Waldo? Nah, it's where's Ranaldo now." Billie and I snickered, stomping our feet dramatically as we hit each other's shoulders. Mrs. Bledgin cleared her throat and sent us a look and we tried to calm down, but I couldn't as Cadence began listing all the names that were worse than his that he could've ended up with.

"Look, his middle name is Gigi so that's what I call him, okay?" She grumbled before turning to face the front. I patted her head as she pouted.

***

"I'm telling you my dad likes Josephine. When she came over for my interview he could not stop gawking at her for even a second. I would've been embarrassed if she wasn't looking at him the whole time too. She was at my house for like three hours and two and a half of those were spent with the two of them flirting with one another." I told Cadence before dipping my grape in my Nutella. She cringed and shook her head at me before she responded.

"Aunt Josie's been single a while now. I could totally see those two getting together. Joseph and Josephine...I'll be damned."

"I don't know how to get them together, though. My dad won't ever act on his feelings and I don't think Josie will either." I rolled my eyes. "I want my dad to get a girlfriend so bad I don't know what to do. I'm sick of him dwelling on the past. He should know we don't mind him moving on from mom. Plus, all he does is work and sleep and do shit for us. That shouldn't be his whole life. He should be enjoying himself. He doesn't even have friends for Christ sake! At the very least, she could be that for him."

"Why don't you guys set up a date for them?" Hudson piped up. I had invited him to sit with us so he wouldn't have to go up to the library during lunch anymore. The twins really seemed to like him. Cadence really appreciated his knack for gossiping and Caden appreciated his love for sports.

"That could be fun, but I don't know..." I mumbled. Cadence gasped after thinking for a moment, and I sent her a questioning look.

"The Christmas parade!" She grinned. "Aunt Josie has always wanted to be part of one and your dad always rides whatever float he helps build!"

"That's true, and it'd be pretty cool, but that's not all that romantic." I sighed. She nodded. "You're right. We'll put that idea on the back burner."

"Why don't we just make a reservation for them at some fancy restaurant or something and tell them both to show up?" Caden suggested. I shook my head.

"That'd make for a pretty boring plot."

"My dad owns a two-story cabin that's a little over two hours away from here...It's pretty big and  could probably hold like thirty people." Hudson said. "The first week or two of winter break, they could go spend some time up there."

"Joseph and my aunt aren't gonna go vacation in a cabin two hours away together. They won't even go on a normal date." Cadence laughed.

"They wouldn't go up there just to spend time together, but they would go up there to supervise you guys if you wanted to go." He smirked. I thought about it for a moment before gasping.

"Oh my god, he's right!" I yelled. "My dad refuses to let me go anywhere far away by myself for long periods of time since I'm not an 'adult' yet, but I'm sure he'd come along with me if I asked. He loves snow too, so I'm sure he'd be happy."

"And my aunt is always down for a nice vacation and spending time with me and Cade, so she'll definitely be in." Cadence grinned. "That sounds like a really good idea, Huddy."

"Thanks!" He smiled. "There's a small problem, though...My dad isn't gonna let people stay in there for free."

"How much would it be to stay there?"  Caden asked, finally looking up from his stack of chicken nuggets. Hudson gave us a nervous laugh before scratching the back of his head.

"For two weeks? Ugh...Two thousand dollars." He mumbled.

"Well, that's canceled." Cadence sighed, slumping in her seat. I shook my head, still grinning as I did some calculations in my head.

"Not necessarily. We've kinda got a pretty big group of friends and family. My dad isn't gonna just let Denver and Cora stay home alone while we're up in a cabin. Denny would probably throw another party." I cringed as I thought of the last one he'd thrown while dad was away. "Plus, they'd probably want to come even if he was willing to let them stay home. And of course, Denver's dumb fucking ass will wanna bring his bastard bitch ass girlfriend—"

"Easy tiger." Caden patted my shoulder.

"—Cora will want to bring a friend so she won't be lonely. You guys are all coming and I am too, obviously, and I can ask Billie if she wants to go. If she does, Finneas might come with her and he might bring Claudia, and Billie might ask Bea if she wants to join. All of us can pitch in to pay for it, and I think between all, like, five hundred of us we should be able to pay for it." I clapped my hands and bounced around in my seat after I finished talking. If this works out it's gonna be fucking dope.

"Talk to Billie about it and let me know what she says. I'll make a group chat between all of us if she says she's interested." Cadence and I squealed as we brought our fingers together and started wiggling them.

I heard Billie's loud laugh and I looked toward her table, seeing her looking right back at me as she laughed at us. I laughed too before blowing a kiss.

Fuck, I hope this works out.

************

A/N: no tea no shade to any Ranaldos out there. I fuck with y'all. ✊🏽🤜🏽✌🏽