Running From Them, Running To You

IX-Running From Them, Running To You

This was a fun hapter to write :D  Hope you guys enjoy!

This is ridiculous, I thought, as I walked into the grand foyer.  What the hell was I doing here?  Somehow, after talking at the bakery for thirty minutes, I’d ended up getting pulled into coming back to Wade’s house.  I don’t know what I was thinking, as more connections with people was definitely not what I needed.  I was supposed to be hanging low, not hanging with the star football player and his best friend.  Now that I was here though, it was too late to turn back.

            Passing beneath a giant chandelier, I stared in wonder at the expensive house.  It was almost like a castle.  In front of me, two giant sets of stairs began on opposite sides of the entry way, the converged at the top to lead into the upper floor.  To my left, a large grand piano sat alone in a sunroom, the windows casting patterns of lights onto its shiny black surface.  Through a pair of open double doors, an office fit for the president was to the right, degrees covering every inch of wall space that wasn’t covered by full bookshelves.  In silent awe, I followed the two boys down a set of carpeted stairs, which opened up to reveal a large, finished basement. 

            One sweep around, and already it looked to be the size of the main floor of Stephanie’s house, and that wasn’t even counting the many doors leading off into other rooms.  On one side of the room, an arrangement of sofas and chairs huddled around a giant flat screen TV, with multiple game consoles set up beneath it.  A pool table and a bar took up another section, while the rest of it was filled with air hockey, foosball, and ping pong tables.  Huge movie posters hung on every wall.  My jaw would have dropped straight through the floor if I hadn’t been struggling to conceal at least some of my amazement.  But seriously, five of my old houses could have fit in the house, and that was at a minimum.

            “Wade,” I finally managed to croak out.  “You are loaded.”

            “Oh sure, just feed his ego even more.  You can nearly see it expanding already,” Will commented drily.  He seemed completely at ease among such riches, but if I had a guess, I’d say he was here often. 

            “It can get bigger?”  I joked.

            “Oh stop it you guys,” Wade squealed in a girly voice, fluffing his hair.  He shifted his weight to rest mainly on one leg, so his hip stuck out like a girl’s.  I was me who first started giggling, but Will, and then Wade, soon joined in, until we were all cracking up.  Just feeding the fire, Wade started to strut around the pool table, occasionally stopping to pose for us in a very model-like fashion.  I was laughing so hard I leaned against one of the bar stools for support.  Suddenly though, it fell out from underneath me, falling down to the ground and taking me with it.  Both of the boys laughter increased tremendously at my stunt, and I felt my face go bright red.

            Wade was bent over himself, shaking with amusement.  “That,” he struggled to get out between chortles, “was pretty damn funny.”

            I looked for something to throw at him, and plucked a tennis ball off the floor.  When I missed him, hitting the wall instead, it just doubled his sniggers.  “Oh, shut up,” I muttered, and tried to pick myself up off the ground.  Will, though laughing at me as well, held out a hand and pulled me to my feet.  “Thanks,” I muttered, and then louder said, “At least someone’s a gentleman here.”  Wade just kept on laughing.

            With a swift swipe with the pool stick, two balls dropped into one of the pockets with a satisfying clink as they hit each other.  I smirked.  “Looks like that’s game boys,” I announced smugly, as Wade and Will looked between me and the numerous balls they still had on the table.  Originally, Wade had told me and Will to switch off, to give me a “fair chance” at getting close to winning, but that hadn’t lasted long, and it ended up me facing off against the two guys.  It was a sad loss for them.  Almost half of their balls still waited to be pocketed.