"Mhmm, that was so delicious," Charlie groaned. He felt so fool, he almost did not want to stand up.
"Food is always delicious when you don't prepare it yourself," Michael commented. He too felt full, which was rare.
"I agree one hundred percent," Lulu agreed with a smile.
"Well, that settles it. We are all well fed, which means we are ready to leave now," Charlie stood up and packed the empty dishes on the table and walked into the kitchen.
Michael heard a knock on the door and he went to go and check who it was. A few moments later he returned.
"Well, the maid is here, we can leave now," Michael said. He yawned and stretched. It seemed that it was a bad idea for him to have ate as much as he did. He felt like sleeping right now, and that was not going to be a good thing seeing as he had to make sure to be awake to watch Charlie drive.
Charlie walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. "What's the point of having a maid come over when that idiot, Nine is staying back?" he scoffed.
"You are really still very angry with Nine aren't you?" Lulu chuckled.
"Of course I am, he betrayed us and I am not going to forgive him so easily. If something else is more important than his family, then so be it," Charlie scoffed.
"Let's move on, Lulu give the keys to the maid, we'll go wait in the car," Michael said, he turned to Lulu and she nodded. "And you, you better not have eaten too much to the extent that you can't drive," he turned to Charlie.
"I take an offence to that, do you think that I am a glutton?" Charlie frowned.
"Every other day," Michael shrugged and Lulu chuckled. Although it did not seem like it, they were arguing right now, and it was funny. Unlike when Charlie and Nine argued.
"And why do I have to be the one to drive first? Why not you?" Charlie frowned.
"It's late and there's going to be a lot of traffic for the first half of the trip, when the traffic clears up, we can switch and I'll drive so you don't kill us all by speeding because of your impatience," Michael explained.
"You know what, I agree with that explanation," Lulu nodded before she walked away.
"Well, I don't agree," Charlie frowned.
"You don't have a choice, come on," Michael said. He grabbed his black leather jacket from the chair and walked out of the living room.
Charlie scowled and followed behind him. It was annoying, how come he got to have the boring part of the trip. Considering the time and the fact that it was the weekend, he could estimate about three hour of traffic, it was going to be so boring and he was certainly not looking forward to it.
That was why he had wanted them to leave tomorrow morning initially, but out of spite for what Nine said and did, he wanted to leave that idiot all alone.
Charlie made himself comfortable in the driver's side. If he was going to be the one to drive them for the first half, he would do it on his own terms.
Charlie brought out a peppermint and threw it in his mouth. Michael frowned and shook his head, they had only just eaten and yet, there he was eating again. Charlie ignored him and continued to enjoy his peppermint.
Lulu came out of the house a few minutes later, she got into the car and made herself comfortable.
"Alright, the house has been left in the care of the maid, I have my pillow and my sleeping mask and I am ready to fall asleep and by the time I wake up, we better be there," Lulu said.
"Take that up with the traffic then, because it's going to be quite a lot," Charlie scoffed starting the car.
"I don't care, as long as you guys don't argue and wake me up, I will be out cold," Lulu shrugged. She put on her sleeping mask and went to sleep.
Charlie reversed while Michael put on his seatbelt. He was seated in the passenger seat so he could make sure to watch Charlie very carefully.
"And we're off," Michael smiled.
"Yeah, yeah, don't be too excited now," Charlie muttered. He seemed annoyed, but he was actually very happy. He was excited that this time tomorrow they would be having dinner with the entire family, at least almost the entire family.
...
Dom sighed in relief when the traffic finally cleared up and he was back to driving like driving was supposed to be.
He smiled and was overjoyed, he felt like he was about to lose his mind. He turned to Natasha, she seemed to be actually asleep.
He sighed, he was bored, it felt so sad being the only one awake, at least if Joy was awake, he was sure they would tell jokes and she would keep him company and he would laugh, and well, after what he had told Natasha they needed to discuss, there was a certain tension between them.
The same tension that used to be around in the past whenever they were together. Dom frowned, he did not want their relationship to return to a state of continuous anger and hate. When things were like that, it was torture for the both of them.
That was why he was prepared to make sure that this pending discussion would not cause them any hatred or anger, that was the last thing he needed. They did not need more hate, or more reasons to dislike each other, all he wanted was peace, and he had a feeling that Natasha felt the same.
Or at least he hoped she did. There was nothing better than when they were getting back to how things used to be between them, and he did not want that process to go in the opposite direction.
Dom almost shouted out loud when he was forced to slow down because what looked like yet another traffic jam. He groaned as softly as he could. Next time he would make sure to leave in the afternoon.
It truly did seem like everyone had the same idea to leave the city this evening. It was so annoying, the same thing he wanted to avoid, he ended up entering into it.
...
Nine closed his laptop, he stood up from his desk and sighed. He walked out of his bedroom into the empty apartment. The doors to Michael and Charlie's rooms were closed and he knew that they were gone. He had heard the car running and pulling out of the driveway.
He made his bed, folded the sheets and hung his suit in the closet. He swept his room, closed the window and put everything in order the way he liked it.
The atmosphere felt so quiet—in a bad way— There was absolutely no noise, the entire apartment felt empty. It was as if no one lived here, which was the complete opposite of how it usually was.
After all with Charlie's giant voice and antics, their apartment was always shaking. There was always something being done, argued about, fought with. It was actually a relief to have some silence for once, but how come Nine felt so sombre?
Nine poured himself a glass of juice from the fridge and sat in the living room. He switched on the tv and tried to watch it, but there was nothing good on and he was not in the mood to find something, so he switched it off.
It was back to utter silence again. Nine looked around the room. He could not remember the last time he was ever alone. He could not remember the last time it was ever just him in a room without any noise in the background.
There was an empty feeling he felt. He frowned, this was odd... he could not help but feel guilty.
"Why would I feel guilty?" he asked himself. He did not understand. "It is not like we were all asked to come over because it's something important.".
"Charlie is just so annoying, he does not have to always get everything he wants," Nine said to himself. He would not allow Charlie's words to make him feel guilty in any way.
He was his own person, they all had their own lives and things to do. He would not allow anyone make him feel guilty for his decision.
Nine stood up, washed the glass he had used, locked the door and switched off the lights and went to bed.
Nine brushed his teeth, changed his clothes and got into bed. For some odd reason, he found himself unable to sleep.
It was eerie and quiet, he was sad and it made him even more sad that he was.