Returning Shadows

(5) I'm Not a Bloody Slave!

CHAPTER 5

I'm Not a Bloody Slave!

When Rob... I mean Danny, had finally shat the entire contents of his guts out, which was about half an hour later, he came and sat down in between Shawn and I on the sofa, looking quite pale.

"Your pizza's cold and your shandy's warm," Shawn said, trying to hide the obvious humour in his voice and failing miserably as he completely burst out laughing.

Apparently, he found it amusing that I'd indirectly met him and at the same time managed to get him to eat a triple dose of laxative. "You're bloody brilliant," he'd said after I told him how it all happened.

Danny narrowed his eyes at his friend, and all of a sudden, Shawn let out a whelp. Danny had elbowed him in the side.

"Hey! Don't hurt him!" I cried, leaning forward to see if he was okay. He was still shaking with silent laughter, so he must have been.

Danny picked up his now cold pizza and ate it, looking extremely pissed off.

"Sorry I gave you laxatives," I said.

I wasn't really sorry. I would have done it again in a heartbeat, simply for the laughs, but maybe he might forget about it if I apologised.

He studied my face for a few seconds, and I found I couldn't keep eye contact so looked at the ground with a blush.

"No you're not."

"I'm sorry I ruined your evening," I told him honestly. I did feel guilty about ruining his meal.

After a minute, he laid his hand on the top of my back between my shoulders. "Don't worry about it."

Suddenly, Shawn let out a loud cough, causing me to jump, and the warm hand on my back to be removed, much to my disappointment. "What time have you got to be home by, Alexis?"

"Not too late." I responded.

"Have you got time to watch a film?" Danny asked, his eyes now fixed on me.

I resisted the urge to squirm under his piercing gaze which I could feel burning into the side of my face. "Um... sure."

I briefly glanced over at Shawn who was now frowning at me. I shrugged my shoulders innocently. I didn't want to go home. I stayed at home every day, isolating myself from the world; why would I turn down the opportunity to watch a film with two hot guys, who for some reason, were taking more of an interest in me than my own family?

Danny was already aiming the remote at the TV in front of us and scrolling down a list of available films.

"Ooh! What's that one?" Shawn cried excitedly at the picture of some type of scary movie.

No. No. No. Not a horror. Please!

The film was titled Fragile and Danny read out the description. "Horror. When a young nurse starts a job at a British children's hospital as night nurse, she gets more than she bargained for. Not only are there children in the soon to be abandoned hospital, but also a sinister resident, who the children refer to as Charlotte."

"Sounds good," I found myself saying, just so that I wouldn't look like a scaredy-cat, even though that meant I was probably going to be awake and paranoid every night for weeks after.

Both Shawn and Danny raised their eyebrows at me. "Really?" they said in unison.

"Y-yeah. Press play then u-unless you two are too chicken."

Danny shrugged. "Alrighty then."

"Lexi, go get the pop corn," Shawn said absently, already engrossed in the film, even though it was just the writing coming up on the screen with the theme song.