Page 113 of The Forever Crew (Adamson All-Boys Academy 3)
“For my future bride,” Church says, appearing on my left and handing over an iced coffee while Ranger shoves a freshly baked and carefully wrapped muffin into the front pocket of my bag.
“Why, thank you, sirs,” I say as I hook my arm with Spencer’s.
“And because I knew they’d be trying to butter you up this morning …” he says, reaching into his own bag and grabbing a book. He slips it into mine as I cock a brow at him. Pulling the book out and opening it, I see that it’s a manga—a Japanese anime comic—and that it has … it has … My eye twitches. “There’s so much sex in this book,” I choke out as I try to hand it back to him and he dances out of my way, laughing and folding his arms together behind his head.
“God, Chuck, stop it, I don’t want your dirty gay porn mag!”
“Spencer Hargrove!” I chastise as the twins appear, one hand tucked into each of their pockets.
“We warned him not to embarrass you on your first day back,” Micah says, and then he glances over at Tobias, and they both smirk.
“We thought you might miss this,” they say together, and I realize their other hands were hidden behind them, holding something suspicious behind their book bags. Together, they present the infamous packer penis, right there in the middle of the hallway. And then they toss it to me. It hits me right in the boobs, bounces off, and flies through the air to smack my dad in the face.
“Charlotte Carson,” he says as the flaccid penis falls to the floor with a slap. “That’s a write-up.”
“Wait, no!” I yell, but he’s already walking away while Spencer howls with laughter. Ranger and Church are both chuckling as the twins grin and lean in to press matching kisses on either of my cheeks.
“I love you, Charlotte,” they both say at the same time, but in their own ways. I don’t think either of them even knew it was meant to be a twin thing.
“I love you guys, too,” I say, exhaling and lifting my chin. “All of you. Now, if I may, I’d love to have the illustrious Student Council escort me to class.”
And, much to my pleasure, they do.The last few months of school are almost too easy. Without the Fellowship to worry about, life is calm. No, no, not just calm, but good.
I’m going to Bornstead University next year, and this summer, the boys and I have a trip planned that’ll take us around the world and back. It’s hard to find anything to complain about. Hell, even Archie and I are getting along alright.
“Do you need anything from me?” he asks, appearing in his 1940s suit, hair slicked back from his face. I shake my head, but he steps into the room anyway, looking me over in my cap and gown with a far-away sort of smile on his face.
“What?” I ask, setting the cap just so over my blond curls. I’ve been letting them grow for a while, but I might cut them short before we leave for Paris next week. And yeah, I totally said Paris. Paris, Paris, Paris. Micropenis Chuck is going to see the world! “You’re staring at me, and it’s weird as hell.”
“Oh Charlotte, stop that,” he says, coming over and fiddling with my cap so that the tassel falls right into my face. I blow it away with a huff, studying myself in the navy-blue robe, the pink diamond winking back from my finger.
It’s nice knowing that I don’t have to pick between the boys, that there’s no ultimatum, no expiration date for our relationship. We’re just going to take things slow, and see what happens. If it works forever, then we’ll date forever. If it doesn’t, then that doesn’t matter either because we’re a forever crew. I feel confident that we’ll be in each other’s lives, no matter what, even if it’s just as friends.
But, you know, I don’t want to be just friends and luckily, it doesn’t seem like any of the guys do either.
“You know I’m only looking at you like this because I’m proud of you,” Archie says, and I feel my little icy Grinch heart get all warm-y and shit. Yes, I said warm-y. I’m a shitty poet, so sue me. “You’ll always be my everything, Charlotte Farren, whether you like it or not.”
I wrinkle my face up, but when Dad turns toward the door, I stop him by throwing my arms around his neck and hugging him tight from behind. He hasn’t always listened to me, and I haven’t always tried to make things easy between us, but that’s okay. Love isn’t easy. It isn’t perfect. It’s not a quiet pond without ripples, but a raging river that cuts through the earth. It might have rapids, but it can carve stone and create the Grand Canyon. That’s how powerful it is.
