My Beautiful Valentine

Chapter 6

"Good. How are you?"

"I'm great. Come on in."

I stepped into the house. My cousin Shelby was sitting on the couch watching tv. She had her cell phone in her hands and my guess was she's texting one of her friends.

I coughed and she looked up from her phone. She smiled when she saw it was me. "Hey!"

"Hey. How's it going?" I asked.

"Good."

I walked over and sat down next to her. "So what are ya doing?"

"Just watching tv."

I looked at the tv. Pretty Little Liars was on. "Good show."

"I know right?"

I heard footsteps in the room. I looked up. My cousin Evan was walking in with someone I didn't recognize.

"Hey, Evan," I said. "Who's your friend?"

"Jordan," he replied. He turned to Jordan. "This is my cousin, Erin."

Jordan looked at me and smiled. "Hey."

"Hi," I said. "I'll be right back." I stood up and went upstairs to use the bathroom. When I walked out a few minutes later, Jordan was leaning against my aunt and uncle's bedroom door.

"Hey."

"Um... Hey."

"What's up?"

"Not much." I started walking to the end of the hall. He followed.

"So do you like basketball?"

I looked at him kind of confused as to why he asked that. "Yeah. Basketball's fun." I paused. "Why are you asking?"

"I was just thinking maybe we could go outside and play. You want to?"

"Sure. If I can ask Evan and Shelby if they want to."

"Of course you can."

"Okay." I went downstairs. Shelby was still watching tv and Evan had joined her. Only instead of watching Pretty Little Liars they're watching the movie Taken. "Hey, guys."

They looked up at me. "Hey," they replied simultaneously.

"Do you want to play basketball with us?"

"Sure." They stood up and we all went outside.

Evan grabbed a basketball. "Are we playing a real game or what?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jordan replied.

"Okay. What are the teams?"

"You and Shelly can be on a team and Erin can be on my team." Jordan flashed me a smile.

Shelby rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you my name is Shelby? Not Shelly."

He laughed. "Whatever you say, Shelly."

We all got into our places and started the game. It went on for about twenty minutes until uncle Preston came out to tell us dinner's ready. Mine and Jordan's team won.

"Yes!" Jordan said and high fived me. He put the basketball away and we went inside. I sat down at the dinner table and Jordan sat next to me.

"So did you guys have fun playing basketball?" Aunt Erica asked.

"Yeah," the four of us replied.

"Who won?"

"Jordan and I did," I replied.

"Cool." We ate in silence after that. A few minutes later I finished eating so I went into the living room to watch tv.

I had just turned on the tv when I heard someone say, "Hey."

I looked up. Jordan was standing against the door with his hands in his pockets. "Hey," I replied. "What's up?"

"Nothing." He walked over and sat down next to me. "So I need to ask you something."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Well this might be a little weird since I'm your cousin's best friend, but would you maybe want to go out with me sometime?"

Shock filled me. I definitely was not expecting that. I just met the guy! "Sorry but I don't date."

He looked surprised. "Really? Why not?"

"Um... Well... I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay." He looked sad that I rejected him and I felt kind of bad.

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

Just then my parents came into the room. "We're leaving."

"Okay." I stood up and we went to the door. 

"Bye," Aunt Erica said and hugged me. Uncle Preston hugged me next.

"See you, Erin," Shelby and Evan said.

"See you," I replied. My parents opened the door.

"Bye, Erin," Jordan said.

I turned to him. "Bye." I gave him an apologetic smile and walked out the door. My dad unlocked the car and I slid into the back seat.

Just like on the way here, the car ride was quiet other than the music on the radio. A few minutes later we got home. I went up to my room, grabbed my laptop, and went onto Skype. Luckily, Riley is on.

I clicked on her name to request a video chat. A second later she appeared on the screen. "Hey. What's up?"

"Not much. Can you come over?"