(18+) RED (Complete)

Ch. 8: Popcorn and payback

"No."

"Then what are you trying to say?"

"That we should have a movie date! 😁🎥"

"But how do we do that when I'm in Idaho and you're... Wherever you are."

"You have Netflix, right?"

"Ahhh... You're one of the smart guys."

"😌😌😌"

And cocky, I added to myself. Then I turned on the TV and prepared my usual pillow-under-chest-blanket-over-legs position, with the remote in my hand.

"I'm ready," I typed with a mischievous smirk. This was the kind of date I could actually like.

"Popcorn, too?"

"Damn, you're advanced, Jake. Gimme a few minutes. Brb."

Mom frowned when I came stumbling down the stairs, barely keeping myself from falling on my face.

"Where's the fire?" dad mumbled, but he didn't bother to tear his eyes off the NBA match on TV.

"Nowhere. Pretend I'm not here. And the gunshots you're about to hear are popcorn."

"Gunshots?" mom and dad exclaimed in unison, but I was too busy picking out what I wanted to drink. I already had plenty of chocolate and raspberry candy, because I had fallen asleep on the plane and didn't even eat half of it. So I brought home the whole damn bowl.

"I think I feel Exotic tonight," I chuckled to myself, and grabbed the last Fanta in the fridge, mentally making a note to buy more. I also made a note to wait until mom did it instead. What can I say? The benefits of living at home.

The fact that I was twenty-four and should have moved out long time ago was completely ignored. I was a student, dammit! And instead of living on a strict budget and working my ass off at some diner or whatever to make the ends meet, I had the luxury of having the university close enough to my home to live there. There were other reasons too, but I preferred not thinking about those.

"Zup, sis?" DeeVana asked suspiciously. She'd sneaked up behind me, and leaned on her elbows against the counter top next to me.

"Nut'n much," I answered and walked over to stare into the microwave. I was totally convinced that it popped faster if I only stared hard enough. Everybody had a secret superpower, and changing the radiation in a microwave from the 90's was definitely mine.

"Sho' doesn't look like it. You're acting the way you did at Christmas when we were kids."

"Huh?"

"You know, the intense sugar rush after you ate grandma's chocolate cookies all by yourself?"

She emphasized the last three words to make sure that she still had grudges for not letting her taste any.

"But she said 'I've got cookies for you'! How should I know she meant 'you' as in plural? And for your information, the doctor said I was completely fine."

"Fine my ass. There's always something up when you're like this. Are you plotting to paint dad's car again? If you are, you can totally count me in! But maybe we should use water colors this time."

I chuckled while I took out the burning hot bag of popcorn, opened it and emptied its contents in a huge glass bowl. Then I reached for the salt, that got snatched right before my eyes.

"Give it back!" I protested, but DeeVana just laughed.

"Not unless I get a little tas... Hey!"