5 Seconds |a.i. & l.h.|

⇒ 5

Unedited
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Lia's POV △

"Chocolate or vanilla?" Michael asks, leaning back in the large red love seat in the living room.

"Chocolate. DUH. What kind of question is that?" I ask sarcastically.

"Well, I'd prefer vanilla ice cream over chocolate," Erin says, running her fingers through her hair.

"Really? Any reason why?" Ashton asks.

"It's sweeter than chocolate," she shrugs.

"You're so weird," I laugh, "Hey! Who wants to play a card game?"

The boy's hands shoot right up in the air and Erin's hand follows. A grin spreads across my face.

"Do you guys have any cards?" I ask Michael with a laugh.

"Um..." he says, getting up and scratching his neck, "I honestly don't know. Ashton, do we have any?"

"Yep, they're in the cabinet right under the television mate," he says, pointing to the mahogany colored wooden cabinet.

Michael slowly walks over to the television set and crouches down, opening the cabinet, before pulling out a deck of cards. He closes the cabinet softly, and quickly stands up. He walks back over to the couch and plops down, setting the deck of cards on the glass top coffee table. I reach over the table and grab the deck of cards, opening the pack and letting the cards spill into my hand. I laugh when I see them; they are decorated with kangaroos and koala bears. I look at the package which reads, 'Playing Cards: Australia Edition.'

"Australia playing cards?" Erin laughs, taking the card box from me.

"Hey. It reminds us of home!" Ashton says defensively, "Don't judge."

"Whatever," she says with a laugh,
"What game do you want to play?"

"OOH. CAN WE PLAY BALL SACKS?!" Michael yells frantically.

"The hell is 'Ball Sacks?" Erin asks, highly confused.

"Wanna see mine?" Michael asks seductively.

"Michael!" she squeals, picking up a black couch pillow and throwing at him.

He catches it, and throws it back at her, hitting her in the head, messing up her hair. Erin lets out a yell and jumps up onto the couch picking up another pillow.

"Guys, let's not," I say with a serious tone.

"She started it!" Michael exclaims, pointing at Erin.

"I don't care who started it. I'm finishing it," I say sternly.

Erin quickly sits back down of the couch, setting the pillow behind her as she lays back on it. I take the cards and quickly shuffle them. We, try to shuffle them, that is. My hands are a little too small to shuffle the big deck, so instead of the cards ending up in a nice pile, they spread out across the tabletop. I guess Ashton sees me struggling, so he gathers up all the scattered cards and chuckles.

"Want me to do it?" he asks with a small smile.

"Yes please," I smile, handing him the cards in my hands, "Thanks."

"It's no big deal," he shrugs.

He quickly straightens all the cards out, before splitting the deck in two and shuffling them together in a bridge. His large, muscular hands easily shuffle, and he does it a couple times before straightening them out again and handing them to me with a grin.