Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

The Tiny Man with the Tiny Chainsaw

All the party people cleared out eventually, leaving the people for the sleepover. A few people from the gang went to go get their overnight stuff from the Ross-Smith-Stump house (Mikey had already brought his bag) as I drove Kellin to Stromberg's. He was meeting his family there and he assured me they had a minivan they could drive home in.

Spencer had already claimed (and called dibs) on the recliner, leaving the rest of us to either sleep in the chairs and floor or try to find some sleeping arrangement for the pull-out couch. Josh and Tyler decided they would share a chair and I figured the rest of us could fit on the sleeper sofa.

So, Dad helped me pull out the couch and we all got comfy. I wanted to watch a movie, so everyone suggested what kind we should. I pulled up Netflix because they were all shouting about movies we didn't own.

"I just turned on Netflix," I announced. I scrolled down. "Ooh! Look, they have Disney movies! We should watch The Little Mermaid. I haven't seen that in forever."

"Nah, man," Mikey said. "We should so watch Jaws. It's just so good; it has so many layers."

"No, no, we should watch Ghostbusters," Patrick said. "It's definitely the right choice."

"Why don't we watch something with actual ghosts in it?" Spencer said. "I think they have a horror film section."

"The only kinds of horror films we're watching are the joke ones;" Josh said, "Tyler transforms if he gets too scared."

"Transforms?" Mikey asked. "Into what?"

Everyone was silent, realizing their mistake. All who knew glared at Josh.

"...A blubbering pile of shaking and whimpering," Ryan said and we all hoped Mikey wouldn't see through it. "Can we watch Twilight?"

I looked over at him. "We'll consider it." We smiled at each other and I turned back to the television, a certain movie caught my eye. "Guys! Guys, we have to watch Parent Trap! There is absolutely no question."

We all couldn't decide on a better movie, so we watched that and were enjoying it until Spencer's phone rang.

A few of us glanced at the source of the noise on the coffee table before returning our attention to the movie.

"Could somebody get that for me?" Spencer asked to be met by 'SSSHHHH's. "Oh, come on! It's probably really important."

We were silent, trying to focus on the girls' devious plan of dragging Meredith's air mattress out onto the lake.

The phone started ringing again and Spencer sighed exasperatedly. "Guys, please! It's probably Vic!"

"And that's exactly why we're not giving it to you," Ryan said. "Now shut up and watch Meredith fall into the lake."

Spencer sighed again and picked up one of his crutches. "Fine." He reached over and tried to move his phone closer to him with the crutch, managing to knock it off the table. He groaned and said, "Come on! One of you guys has to have a soul!"

Josh sighed and picked up the phone, handing it to Spencer. "I can't violate my duties to you."

"Thank you!" Spencer exclaimed grabbing the phone and answering it. "Hello, my little señor! Sorry it took me so long to answer; the guys were being dipshitheads." He paused as he readjusted. "What? Sorry, this damn movie's too loud." He grabbed the Wii remote from beside him and paused the movie.

We all gasped at him, unwilling to listen to Spencer baby talk a phone for the next ten minutes. Including a chorus of 'I miss you already' and a three-minute disco remix of 'no you hang up first'.