His Sister

Chapter 4.

We're all sprawled against Luke's couch, watching TV. THe fan is buzzing from across the room, causing Michael's hair to blow. He's laying upside down on the couch while Ashton scoops ice cream out of a pint and flings it in Michael's mouth. Luke picks on his guitar, working on a new cover. Calum sits next to him, smushed between Luke and Ashton.

"Ugh, I'm bored." Ashton says, and Michael adds with a mouth of ice cream,

"And hot." It's extremely hot outside today, and we're all practically dying in our own sweat. Though, Ashton takes Michael's comment jokingly and teases,

"Heck yeah you are." Gosh, these boys. Ashton adds, "And sexy." they laugh and Michael wiggles his eyebrows. His face is red from the blood rushing to his head. He's been upside down for a long time.

"Hey! Let's go to that really good gelato place we love!" I suggest, and Ashton says with a mouth full of Mint Chocolate Chip,

"I'm down for it." Luke plays a quick power chord and then mutes his guitar with his hand.

"Me too." Calum wiggles out of his crunched position between Luke and Ashton,

"Me three." The others start to get up and I look at Michael,

"Michael? What about you?" Michael answers through short breaths, face looking like a strawberry,

"I...can't...feel...my...face..."I laugh and help him upwards. He finally takes a deep breath and shakes his hair out for some reason. I laugh and Ashton jumps,

"Ooh! Let's invite Ivy!" Luke yells through the kitchen,

"Already called her!" Ashton groans, mad Luke got to Ivy first. Ashton stomps out the door and the rest of us follow.

~~~~~~~~~~~

We get to the gelato place and order. "Gelato Tower." Is the name of the place. Ashton and I came here all the time as little kids. He'd order a giant cookie monster supreme with extra sprinkles, and I'd get a Minty Dog Express.

"Minty Dog Express, please." I say, and Mrs. Amcroff, the owner of the place, says,

"Your usual!" I nod and she chuckles. She hands me the receipt with my change and soon I see Ivy walk up. Ashton and Luke try to play it cool, laying their elbows on the counter. It doesn't go well. Ashton accidentally makes a napkin holder fall, along with the spoons.

"Huh, that's weird. Usually Calum is the clutz." Michael teases as Ashton embarrassingly picks up the spoon and napkins. Ivy giggles and drops to the floor, helping Ashton pick them up.

"Is the, uh, minty dog express good?" Calum sheepishly says, scratching the back of his neck. Him and I haven't really talked since...the photoshoot. I'm shocked when he asks me this, and I stutter,

"What? Oh, uh, yeah." He smiles at me and sort of laughs, like he thinks it's cute I'm making a fool of myself. He then says softly,

"I'll have to try it, then." I don't know why it sounds soft and quiet, but it makes everything even more hair tingling. I don't know what comes over me, but I spit out,

"You can maybe...share mine...with me..." Calum lights up, and I see Michael raise his eyebrows, whistling out of awkwardness. He points to a booth with a chair in front of it.

"I'm just going to go...sniff this...booth." Michael means to say "sniff" and I know it. I smile at his ridiculous way of getting out of Calum and I's awkwardness, and Calum nods his head,

"Yeah, we can share."

~~~~~~~~

We all join Michael at the booth, and I see Ivy glance at Ashton a couple of times. We eat our gelato, mine specifically delicious. Maybe it was Calum's eyes.. Not the ice cream. Ashton's gelato looks like something Buddy The Elf would eat. Sugar on sugar on sugar. It's towering over everyone else's and I think I actually see tiny hearts forming in his eyes.

"So, we really need to get to know you, Ivy." Ashton says, mouth full of cookie dough ice cream and sprinkles. She nods. I shoot with an idea,

"Hey! How about we all come over to Ashton and I's house tonight! We can all spend the night and get to know Ivy!" Everyone nods and agrees. Ashton looks particularly excited. Ivy replies,

"Sounds great! I'll see you tonight!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"hey, Ivy!" I say, welcoming Ivy in to our house. She has a bag in her hand, and she smiles. The boys are all on our couch playing Mario cart and somehow found Mario hats.

"Look who's here!" Ashton says, and drops his remote, zooming to Ivy. He puts an arm around her and exclaims,

"Welcome to our humble home." she laughs and Luke makes an "Oomph!" sound, trying to win at Mario Cart. Calum's Mario hat is on sideways, and Michael's is on backwards. Luke doesn't have one on, but he's wearing a red bandana.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" I ask, and Ivy sets her bag down. Luke shrugs, zoned in to the TV. They actually are all lost in the game. I look at Ivy, forming a plan in my head. I whisper,

"Follow me." We tip-toe to the closet where Ashton keeps all of his stuff. I dig into the heap of junk and find two silly string bottles and loaded nerf guns. I hand her a silly string bottle and we nod, going back into the living room.

We step in front of the Tv, the boys groaning, trying to look around us at the game. We then pull out our bottles of silly string bottles from behind our backs and spray them. They scream and holler, and that's when they see the Nerf guns I have laying at my feet. Michael grabs them and hands some to the others. They start to shoot us as we silly string them.

It turns into a full on war. Girls versus boys. We won, of course. And we decided the losers have to clean up the mess. As the four losers clean up the stringy and sticky mess, we head upstairs to my room.

We hop on my bed, and get to the good stuff. Girl talk. Ivy smiles as I ask,

"So, who's your favorite?" I squeal it, and Ivy blushes. She tries to dodge the question, but then I get her to answer,

"Okay, Ashton..." she seems embarrassed, but I squeal.

"Well, he likes you, too." she scrunches her nose,

"Really?" I scoff. How does she not see it?

"Yes! He trips over himself when he sees you! I mean, granite, he does that anyways, but I know my brother. He likes you." Ivy smiles and jumps up and down on my bed. She finally asks,

"What about you?" My heart skips a beat. I open my mouth but then suddenly someone speaks,

"What do you mean 'What about who'?" Ashton. Michael laughs and Luke slaps his hand on my door frame.  Calum smiles a crooked smile, and Ivy freaks out. I freak out, too.

"How long have you guys been there!"

"We just arrived. Geez, jumpy." Ashton snorts and Michael jumps on my bed. He does his best impression of a girl,

"OMG let's talk about boys and periods and how much we hate girl drama!" I laugh at this. This is what he thinks girls talk about? Okay...it may be a little true....but there's more to girl talk.

"Don't forget how much we hate having our brother and their three idiotic friends interrupt us!" I tease, and Michael holds up his hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." he gets up from my bed and they walk out, hooting and hollering random things as they walk down the stairs.

"Boys," I say, shaking my head. "What're you going to do with them."