1 Prologue

Late into the evening, as the sun had just set, sitting in the car driving was Omar at the wheel with Cheri in the passenger seat. In the back row there's Jill, Carter, and Jaxon; and shoehorned into the trunk is Mason. This is their normal way of getting around together, all packed into Omar's mini SUV.

Still, in their uniforms from just leaving their shift at the toy store at their local outlet mall, they're all glad to be done after a tiring afternoon. They all normally work closing shifts together and after work, head to their favorite restaurant Tamales to eat tacos to whine down for the night.

Cheri has her phone Bluetooth connected to the car, playing music. Omar turns down the music to ask everyone a question.

"We're stopping by Tamales before I drop everyone off right?"

Everyone perked up from their relaxed daze to the question. Jaxon, sitting behind the driver's seat, leaned up closer, and placed his arm on the shoulders of the back of the driver's seat to be comfortable as he answered. "You already know we stop at Tamales after work."

"Just wanna make sure no one's trying to go out partying or has a date tonight." Omar laughed.

Jill, after brushing back her curly dark hair behind her ear, puts her phone down, and looked towards Omar. "The guy I was talking to online won't respond back, so my fat ass is ready to eat!"

A raised hand from the trunk appears to gather attention. "I'm all for Tamales, but aye New Year's resolution I'm getting a car! No more putting the tiny one in the trunk." He slumps back in his spot trying to get comfortable.

"My New Year's resolution, I'm getting up to 20k followers." Carter proclaims without looking up from his phone.

Cheri opens up the Instagram app and taps through to Carter's profile. She giggles in a mocking tone. "You have 10k now and only 500 likes at the most on a picture." She looks back at Carter waggling her phone for all to see, wearing a smug look.

Everyone laughs at Cheri's comment as Carter's ears and neck become red from embarrassment and irritation. His face is such a bright color it almost matches his nicely groomed red hair atop his head. Seeing this Cheri had to hold back from laughing out loud.

Carter leans up, grabbing the side shoulder of the passenger's seat and looks at Cheri with a cocky yet annoyed look. "Sounds like you're jealous! How many followers do you have, huh?" As he waits for an answer Cheri gives him an uninterested look and turns away to look at her phone again.

"Don't worry about it," she mutters.

"I'll look it up right now." Carter settles back into his seat and hastily taps open Instagram to get to Cheri's account. Just as he was about to tap on her icon Jaxon grabs him by the shoulder and excitedly shakes him as he shouts.

"Tamales!!!"

Omar, who had been silently driving, finally pulls up to the fast-food restaurant. With not many cars here Omar was able to park the car right out front of the restaurant door. Everyone unbuckles their seatbelts and gets out of the car. Cheri puts her phone in her pocket and then goes to the back of the car to let Mason out of the trunk.

Mason groans as he climbs out of the trunk, hearing a few of his bones pops as he moves from the awkward position he was in. "I swear I'm getting a car," he mumbles.

Cheri laughs a little, making an affirmative noise towards him.

After Jill gets out, she leaves the door open for Carter to get out of the middle seat. He scoots himself to the edge until his feet are on the ground, but with him still sitting on the edge of the car seat. He's going back to looking up Cheri's account after being interrupted by Jaxon's excitement. He gets to her account, looks at her follower count, then taps on a photo to look at likes.

Satisfied, he gets up from the car seat and closes the door. Striding towards Cheri, who's closing the trunk door, he hangs over her and holds his phone screen in her face.

"600 followers with only 50 likes at the most on a picture."

"Shut up Carter." rolling her eyes, Cheri brushes him off of her. Carter laughs in triumph from her answer.

Jill finishing a text, puts her phone away, and stretches her arms and legs. She pats her stomach in anticipation.

"Come on! Let's just go get food, I'm hungry." She grabs Cheri and Carter by the wrists, dragging them towards the door.

Everyone laughs a bit and Omar holds open the door for everyone to pass through. As they go through they all give Omar a friendly pat or slap to the back as thanks for driving them here like always.

Omar, feeling accomplished as everyone went inside, lets out a small chuckle and walks in himself after hitting the locks on his SUV.