Microwaved Love

17|

"Hey Seth."

Sage calls out to me. Wisps of her golden hair have tumbled out of her loose ponytail and are dancing around in the breeze. I am tempted to wind an arm around her as a worthless attempt to protect her from the dangers of the real world, but such an action would only confuse her. I sigh and settle with sitting down between her and Brian.

"Sup." I answer, smirking as I normally would. She doesn't notice anything amiss, too gullible for her own good as always.

"Becca's bullying me. Make her stop." she complains.

"It's just a sleepover, quit whining about it. You need a girls night." Becca tells her.

"But I have stuff to do!" Sage huffs as she crosses her arms.

"Yeah? Like what?"

Sage takes a bite of her apple before answering uncertainly.

"Uh, well school work." she mumbles.

"Sure." Becca says sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. "Come over at five."

"Five?" Sage cries out. She grumbles in annoyance and slumps back against the trunk of the large oak tree, frowning as she noticeably racks her brains for an excuse. She takes another bite out of her apple.

"Relax, I'll be there too so it's all good." Jodie tells her, smiling.

"Can I come?" Brian asks.

"No." Becca replies bluntly. "It's called a girls night for a reason."

Brian sighs and nudges me subtly, raising an eyebrow. Oh I see, he wants us to gate crash. I shrug, pretending to think about it for a while before nodding casually. He smirks in response. We are devious people.

Nobody notices our wordless conversation. Sage is childishly giving Becca the silent treatment while Jodie and Becca are trying to get her to talk.

At some point somebody begins to tickle her in an attempt to make her laugh. Sage manages to remain silent so whoever tried it must not have a lot of tickling experience. She buries her face into my shirt in the process, and in that moment I am tempted to pull my arms around her and keep her there.

I sigh, beginning to see where all of this is heading.

"Stop it!" Sage snaps, but her face soon breaks into a grin as she playfully shoves Becca away.

Becca jabs a finger into Sage's direction.

"You are coming over tonight and nothing is going to stop you. I don't care if you have a term paper due tomorrow, or if you're sick with the bubonic plague, or even if Seth turns up to your house shirtless and begs you to spend the night with him. You're coming over, you got that?"

Sage gapes at her for a moment before her eyes dart over to me and her cheeks begin to flood with colour.

What I would give to be able to read her mind right now.

"Like I would need to beg." I say as I laugh at the idea, and quite liking the stubborn purse of her lips and the flush of her face at my words.

"Like I would even let you get close enough to try." she shoots back.

"Don't interrupt." Becca tells me. "Well? It'll be fun. We'll bake cookies and do each other's hair and talk and watch movies with microwaved popcorn."

She looks pleadingly at Sage who still looks reluctant.

"Talk about what?" she asks.

"Boys." Becca replies bluntly.