Honor Among Friends (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter 9-A

His response to her question was to raise both of his hands in the air, forefinger and pinkie up as his thumb held down the others and bang his head like he was at a rock concert. "The one! The only!"

"Are you sure?" 

He looked so offended by the comment she felt the need to add, "It's a valid question. I don't know why the golden boy of our school would hang out in the bleachers during his crowning moment. Isn't this the type of stuff guys like you live for?"

"Guys like me?" he asked rhetorically. A long pause, then he muttered, "Could you make me sound any more pretentious?"

Her eyebrows pushed together as she thought of how her words might have sounded. "I didn't mean to offend. It's just I don't understand why you're out here hiding."

"I am not hiding!"

She gave a small snort. "Right. You must be lying down by yourself in the bleachers for the lovely atmosphere."

"I was....was watching the stars! Yeah—watching the stars."

"You're not a very good liar are you?"

"Hey!" he barked, insulted by her comment. "I was here first. I don't need to explain anything to you." He put his nose in the air and puffed out his chest, pressing a hand to it. "Besides, I'm your king. You shouldn't question anything I say."

"Is that right?" she murmured evenly. She had a feeling Zach Brewer was either bloated by ego or alcohol.

"Yes!" He was really starting to get into it now. He even waved his arm around like he had a golden scepter in his hand. "By this staff I rule all! In fact, I order you to get me a drink, peasant."

She was wrong. Clearly, his insanity was a mixture of both. "No," she told him.

"You dare defy your king?" The outrage in his voice was so real, so hilarious Madison turned into her arm to muffle her laugh. "I heard that! Off with your head!"

"I think someone's taken one too many tackles," she replied once she regained her composure.

"You're probably right." He let out a long sigh and flopped back down onto the bleachers. There was a moment of silence before he told her, "You remind me of someone."

"Who? And if you say your mother I will throw this shoe at you."

"No," he puffed out with a laugh. "Not my mother—though she's a wonderful woman and anyone would be lucky to be compared to her. No, you remind me of my sister. She doesn't take any of my crap either."

"Good for her."

"Yeah." That one word held a wealth of emotion. Affection, warmth, care. It was all there, but the most predominant was love—the type of love that went bone deep. 

"Are you out here because you're fighting with her?" she ventured to guess.

"We're always fighting. That's nothing new." When he didn't expand further, she got the hint and dropped the topic. She didn't speak till a few minutes later when he asked, "Why are you out here instead of back at the dance?"

"I was feeling...suffocated."

"I understand. Too many people, too much drama."

"Something like that." She hooked her feet under the bleacher seat in front of her and used it as leverage to lean back. "I don't think high school dances are all it's cracked up to be."

"No fairy tale ending for you?"

An image of Carson and Lauren popped into her mind. "Nope. Not for my friend either." For some reason she found herself telling him about Avery and Wyatt. "And no one seems to know why he's acting this way. People always say women are the confusing gender, but I have to disagree. Males are just as, if not more, perplexing than females. You guys change your minds as much as a traffic signal."