That Boy Next Door

Chapter 10

"We've been in here for hours."

"More like days."

Dannie banged her head on a crate repeatedly.  They had been in the shed for what felt like an eternity and nobody had come to let them out yet.  She was beginning to get irritated and the only thing that kept her from spontaneously combusting was the fact that there was cola in the mini-fridge.

"You wanna sing to pass the time?" Seth offered after another prolonged silence.

"I can't sing."

"Do you want to dance?"

"I can't dance."

"What do you want to do then?"

"Sleep."

Seth huffed in exasperation.  He watched as Dannie sat back and dozed off, falling asleep in an instant.  Unfortunately, he himself could not fall asleep since the pounding in his head wouldn't go away.  

As Dannie shifted her head to the side, a tendril of hair fell onto her face.  Seth watched her face transform from the usual rough looking girl to an innocent and peaceful looking child.  Carefully and quietly, Seth stood up to move the hair out of her face.  It was bothering him for some reason.

He grasped the piece of hair and tucked it behind her ear, like he did with Kate.  He remembered when Kate had told him to move the hair from her face, as she said it was a "couple" thing to do.  He wondered if friends did it too.  With his hand lingering in her hair, he studied her face for a moment.

What he said in the closet to her was true.  She was indeed very pretty.  And though she had a small nose, stray freckles, and a light wrinkle in her forehead from stress, it only added to her beauty.  Dannie gave a soft snore and Seth chuckled at her.  She snored in her sleep too.  

An abrupt gush on wind snapped him out of his thoughts.  His eyebrows creased together.  He was in a shed, where there was no wind.

Slowly, he turned his head to see an open door with Oliver standing in the doorway, his arms crossed.

"How long have you been there?" Seth asked.

"What are you two doing in here?" Oliver countered, dodging Seth's question.

Seth frowned at his brother but answered his question anyway.  "I accidentally got us locked in here after she," he jerked a thumb at a peacefully sleeping Dannie, "dropped a bucket on my hand."

Oliver snorted and then smiled slightly at the sight of Dannie.  "Let's get her home then.  Wouldn't want the parents to find out that you two have been in a shed all day," he said the last part suspiciously, eyeing Seth for his reaction.

"Dude, that's seriously what happened.  I did not and would not do anything with her, got it?" Seth assured his brother.  Out of all the people in the world, he expected his brother and best friend to know that.  He would never be unfaithful to Kate.  

Whatever you say," Oliver said raising his hands in surrender.  His tone however, suggested that he still didn't believe Seth.

"God dammit.  You're so annoying!"

"Alright alright.  Chill out man," Oliver said.

Dannie opened her eyes a crack and was met with the familiar lilac walls.  She blinked a couple of times and then shot straight out of bed, groaning when the rush gave her vertigo.  A stray gleam of sunlight made it through her window and she frowned, trying to recall the events of yesterday.