Chapter 6

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"Your mom sounds awesome," Xavier says after mama and I ended our call - I had her on speak while we talked.

"She is the best for sure," I grin, fondly thinking of her.

"Alright, food will be here in thirty," Xavier says a few minutes later with a grin as he slips his phone into his front right pocket of his blue colored skinny jeans.

"What kind of pizzas did you order?" Shay curiously asks Xavier.

"Two pepperoni, one cheese, and one meat lovers," he answers with a lopsided grin. "Oh, I also ordered twenty-four breadsticks with dipping sauces. Half the breadsticks have cheese, and the other half is plain."

"Sounds good," Shay grins. "Okay, what movie are we watching first? My vote is a horror movie."

Xavier quickly agrees with Shay's genre choice, and Logan opens his mouth to argue, but I rush out; "Whatever horror movie you pick is fine."

"Horror it is then!" Xavier exclaims in what I am learning part of his personality is - he is an ubeat guy which is nice.

Logan sends me a look that I am taking as 'what the hell?', and I shake my head at him to keep silent. He tightens his jaw, and I have a feeling he is not happy with me, but I refuse to ruin their movie because I am scared, or will be scared.

They settle on 'American Carnage,' and I wish I had my throw blanket here with me for securtiy and safe feeling. I would be hiding my face behind my dark blue and black stripped blankie with white stars. My grandparents gave me this for my eight birday the year they died.

Logan sits next to me on the two-person couch, and leans over to whisper into my ear; "Why?"

"I have ruined enough of today," I whisper back into his ear once he has moved away from me.

Laying my head on his shoulder as the movie starts, and Xavier and Shay settle themselves on the other two-person couch that is next to Logan's end.

Not even ten minutes into the movie, I have my eyes tightly shut, and my left thumb has slipped into my mouth for some form of comfort. By the end of the movie, I am tucked into Logan's side with my face tucked tightly into his neck. I managed to eat two slices of cheese pizza, and 1 bread stick before I tucked myself into Logan.

"You okay, Braelin?" Xavier asks, leaning forward slightly to look past Logan and Shay toward me.

"Y-yeah," I stutter, unable to form a longer response than one word.

"Okay, what next? Another movie, or another round of video games?" Shay questions.

"Another movie, but something that is not horror," Logan says before either Shay or Xavier can pick another horror movie.

"Oh, how about Braelin picks?" Shay grins at me, and I blush from their full attention.

"Um, do you have either 'Save the Last Dance,' or 'Center Stage'?" I shyly murmur with a nervous smile as I look between the three of them.

"I dunno, but let's see," Xavier replies as he grabs the remote to scan through the available movies, and he finds both. "Which one, Braelin?"

"Either is fine with me," I murmur, and I am rethinking my movie suggestions because I do not think they will like either of these. "Um, never mind, you do not have to pick either actually. I do not think you guys will like these, so pick something else."

Bringing my left thumbnail up to my mouth, I chew on the nail for barely a second before Logan's hand comes into my view, and he gently pulls my nail away from my lips.

"You do not need to chew on your nail,"he whispers, and I look toward him, and he is staring right back at me with a soft smile.

Before I can reply, I hear the familiar opening scene of 'Save the Last Dance.' Snapping my attention to the screen, I cannot hold back the smile that crosses my lips. Mama and I always watched both of these movies together, and both bring me some comfort. I do not even register when Logan wraps his arm around my shoulders to bring me back into his side, and I rest my head on his shoulder.

At some point during the movie, I have poped my left thumb into my mouth to suck, and I do not notice until the movie has ended. Quickly pulling my thumb from my mouth, darting my eyes to the others, hoping they did not notice as I try to discretly wipe the saliva off my thumb on my shirt.

"You can do that around us without fear of ridicule," Shay gently says as he stands to stretch, and grab the leftover pizza to place that in the fridge.

Heat floods my entire body at his words, and tears prick my eyes, and I mumble out a broken apology.

We spend until 10 p.m. together before we decide to head to bed. Xavier and I walk to our dorm room together, and he unlocks the door for us.

"Glad you hung out with us, Braelin," he comments as he shuts and locks the door behind us.

"Thanks for letting me," I whisper with a tiny smile.

"Maybe next time you will play a round or two with us?" he hopefully asks with an even wider smile.

I think I have the three of them figured out, personality-wise. Xavier is the cheerful one, Shay is the quiet thoughtful one, and Logan is the logical-protective one.

"Maybe," I softly answer with a tiny smile. "Have a good sleep, Xavier, and see you tomorrow."

"Same to you, Braelin," he chuckles, both of us moving off toward and into our rooms.

Stripping myself out of my clothes, I grab clean jammies, and place these on. My jammies are pants and a long sleeve shirt, both dark blue in color with white moon and stars little over the material. Crawling onto the bed, under the sheet and comforter, I plug my phone into the charger end on the nightstand before falling fast asleep.

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