03

Farren looked up at the sound of the front door closing, and watched as Kaden made his way over to the car.

He opened his own door slightly. "You can leave your luggage in the back seat."

Kaden nodded as he did so, before making his way around the other side of the car and slipping in.

"What's with the booster seat in the back?" Kaden asked, sitting into the passenger seat of the car.

Farren looked up at him, slightly surprised that Kaden had been the one to initiate the conversation. "Little sister." He replied, "I sometimes take her to her dance lessons."

Kaden just nodded in reply, indicating he was actually listening to what he said. Then the boys fell into an awkward silence as Farren pulled the car out of the drive way and towards the nearest McDonalds.

He could practically hear the French fries calling his name, as he licked his lips hungrily. It's not like he hadn't eaten already today, it's just the nature of being a growing teenage boy, he supposed.

Deciding that now would be a good time to break the ice, he pondered for a moment of something to say to Kaden.

"So.." he eventually began. "Your an only child right?"

What sort of lame ass question was that? He really wished he had more conversational skills, he thought to himself as he pulled the car into McDonalds.

"Yup." Kaden replied, popping his 'P'. And just when Farren thought he was just going to leave it at that and bring them back to yet another uncomfortable silence, Kaden surprised him by speaking up again. "What about you? Anyone else apart from the little sister?" He asked, as the boys made their way out of the car and into McDonalds, the smell of salty food filling the air.

This was heaven.

"Nope, just me and Rowan. That's her name by the way." He replied as they queued up to order their food. Thankfully it wasn't very busy, it being a Monday afternoon and all, and they got served quickly.

"What age is she?" Kaden asked, as the two slid into a booth, facing each other. Wow, this boy was just full of surprises. Either Kaden was actually interested in his life, or he was a particularly good actor. He hoped it was the former.

"Seven. I think." He replied honestly. It was seven, surely. Or was it eight? He racked his brain to Rowan's birthday party last month. The cards all had a big seven on the front didn't they?

Oh God he was a shit brother.

"You think?" Kaden asked, and when Farren looked up he could see a mocking smirk gracing Kaden's features.

"No I know she's seven. At least I'm pretty sure she is." He replied, trying and failing to hold in a guilty smile. "I'm tired okay, I can't think properly like this."

Kaden's eyes scanned his face, most likely taking in the ever present bags under his eyes. "You do look tired." He agreed, "up late worrying about the meeting?"

Farren just shrugged his shoulders in response. "Something like that."

"Well, you look like shit anyway."

"Thanks Rivers, that's exactly what I needed to hear." He responded with dry sarcasm, flashing Kaden an unamused glare.

"Hey, I'm just being honest with you."

"Thank you for being so considerate." He rolled his eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Are you always this sarcastic?"

"Are you always this blunt?"

"You didn't answer my question." Kaden shot back.

"You didn't answer mine," he challenged in return.

"I asked first "

"Who'd have thought."

"Just answer the damn question."

"Fine," huffed Farren. "To answer your question, yes I am always this sarcastic. But on some rare occasions I do use plain English, if your worried you won't be able to keep up."

"Oh don't you worry your little self about me Milton, I've always been able to keep up," Kaden smirked, winking for extra effect.

Farren just gave him a deadpan look before digging back into his twenty chicken McNuggets. God, was Kaden always this.. forward? Well, he had the next six weeks to see for himself, he supposed.

"What are your folks like?" Kaden asked him bluntly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He shrugged in response. "I live with my aunt and her partner." He replied truthfully, hoping that Kaden wouldn't pry.

"Is she hot?" Kaden asked, and Farren could hear the smirk in his voice.

He looked up, staring Kaden straight in the eye before gracing his face with a smirk of his own. He leaned in slightly closer.

"Which one?"

He sat back in his seat, smirk only growing wider at Kaden's shocked expression. But before he could really bask in the knowledge that he had made Kaden Rivers speechless, the other boy regained his composure.

"Why do you mean by which one?" Kaden asked. God, this boy must have been dropped on his head as a child.

"Ever heard of this thing called being a lesbian Rivers?" He laughed.

"No Farren, I haven't. Whatever could that mean?" Kaden shot back sarcastically, a hint of a smile playing around the corners of his lips.

"Oh, so I see someone is a little sarcastic himself" Farren said with a laugh.

Kaden just shot him his milion dollar grin, which was somewhere between a smirk and a smile. "I'm all about the element of surprise Milton, you should know that."

"Well it wouldn't be a surprise if I knew, now would it Rivers?" He smirked in reply.

"Touché." Kaden responded, before leaning across and grabbing  few of Farren's chicken nuggets.

Before Farren even fully realised what had happened, Kaden had gobbled down a couple his precious chicken nuggets.

Not the chicken nuggets.

"Hey," he protested. He leaned across to grab a handful of Kaden's food when he realised that the other boy had completely finished his food.

What the hell! How? They'd only been eating for ten minutes and Kaden had ordered a lot of food.

And by a lot we're talking a double portion of everything.

Farren looked up at Kaden frustratedly, who smirked down at him.

"What's the matter Milton? Lose some of your food?" He asked with a laugh, annoying Farren further.

"Prick," he muttered just loud enough for Kaden to hear. And the other boy just shot him a wink in reply.

Jeez, what was with this guy and his winking.

He decided not to reply, just to roll his eyes in silent response.

"You roll your eyes a lot." Kaden stated.

Farren simply rolled his eyes again in reply before he even realised he was doing so. "Great observation." He said sarcastically.

"Keep rolling, maybe one day you'll find a brain back there," Kaden shot back.

Farren resisted the urge to yet again roll his eyes, instead opting for giving Kaden the middle finger. "Very funny Rivers." He said, his voice laced yet again with none other than heavy sarcasm.

"I try, Milton."

"We'll try harder. Maybe one day something funny will actually come our of your mouth."

"I can only hope." Kaden replied, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Farren to finish his food. "Would you ever hurry on Milton, I'm getting hungry again watching you eat.

Farren gave him a deadpan look. "Seriously Kaden? You just ate more food than I though humanly possible and your still talking about being hungry?"

He finished up the last bite of his burger, as Kaden looked at the food with want. He didn't understand how one boy could eat so much. Especially considering Kaden had an athletic body.. how does one eat so much yet stay so fit?

Not that he noticed or anything.

Finally ready to leave, the two boys headed back outside and in to Farren's car. On the drive home, Farren couldn't prevent his thoughts from drifting to the boy next to him.

So far things had been surprisingly good. They got along, or seemed to anyway. If only they got along like this for the next six weeks, surely no other issues would arise?

Or so he thought.

XXXXX

Kaden stared out the window as they drove down through the streets, wondering which house would be his for the next few weeks.

As if Farren had heard his thoughts, almost immediately they pulled into a medium sized cream coloured two storey house, with a large garden in the back that Kaden could see from where he was sitting.

"We're here." Farren said, pointing out the obvious as he killed the engine.

"I guessed as much." He replied tartly, stepping out of the car to grab his suitcase before following Farren up to the red front door.

Here goes nothing.

"We're home." Farren called as he pushed in the front door, Kaden trailing behind him.

Before Kaden had time to mentally prepare himself, two women came from the doorway on his left, which he could see was a sitting room, and into the foyer where he was waiting with Farren.

"Hello dear, you must be Kaden? I'm Grace, Farren's aunt." She beamed at him, as he smiled back politely.

The resemblance between Farren and Grace was pretty obvious. She had the same sharp features and intense green eyes. However she was blonde, which was a stark contrast to Farren's dark hair.

Wait, how did he know Farren's eye colour?

Before he had time to introduce himself back to Grace the other woman, who he presumed was her wife, piped up.

"Hello Kaden," she smiled, "I'm Jenny. It's nice to meet you." She said sincerely.

He cleared his throat. "Hello Grace, hello Jenny. It's nice to meet you too. Thank you for welcoming me into your home for the next few weeks." He smiled sweetly. Turning on the charm was a handy trick to keep up your sleeve.

He could see Farren giving him a look, which he just responded to with a smirk. Farren rolled his eyes, yet again.

He turned away from Farren, who had now pulled out his phone and was tapping away at the screen, looking back to face Grace and Jenny again.

He chatted to them for a few more minutes, before Farren insisted they go upstairs to get him settled into their room.

He followed Farren in to the second door on the left. He walked into Farren's room, taking in his surroundings.

The room was a navy blue colour, with white curtains and white carpeted floor. There was a large double bed pushed against one wall, a desk with some scattered school books and a half closed laptop pushed against the other.

There was a television mounted on the wall across from the bed, and a shelf next to its stacked from top to bottom with movies, as well as a few books and PlayStation games on the bottom shelf.

"Nice room." He commented, turning to face Farren who was spread across the bed on his phone.

Farren looked up when he spoke. "Thanks, I suppose." He shrugged. "Grace is all into her interior design, I don't plan any of this."

Kaden nodded like her understood. Not that his mother would ever go to the effort of doing such a thing, he admitted bitterly to himself.

He looked around at Farren's walls, which were plastered with movie posters and the occasional photograph.

One picture in particularly caught his attention. It was a picture of a young Farren, smiling into the camera with a man and a woman on either side of him. Kaden presumed they were his parents, they looked too like him not to be. He could see that Farren got the dark hair and tan skin from his mother, and his facial features and build from his father.

"Are these your parents?" He asked, causing Farren to look up at him.

"Yeah." He shrugged, saying no more.

Kaden wanted to ask about them, but decided against it. It was none of his business anyway.

He made his way over to the bed where Farren was sat, flopping down on his own side with his head at the other end of the bed to Farren's.

He stared up at the ceiling, his arms resting across his stomach.

This was going to be a long six weeks.

XXXXX

Another chapter, hope you enjoyed!! Vote comment etc !!

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