“Kayla are you home? I have smoothies and pizza” Paige let herself into my house like she always does and was shouting up the stairs as usual. We were having another movie night like we do every week.
“I’m upstairs with Charlotte. Come on up” I shouted. Charlotte would not stop squirming as I tried to French braid her hair. That girl was a big bundle of energy.
“Hey Char how’s my favorite six year old?” Paige came in and pulled us both into a hug.
“My name’s Charlotte and I’m great! Can I watch a movie with you guys tonight?” Paige gave me a look saying ‘I try calling her Char every time, but she still won’t let me. Are you sure your sister doesn’t secretly hate me?’ I couldn’t help but laugh because Paige had been trying this for years and Charlotte still stubbornly refused to let anyone besides mom and I call her Char, well us… and Jake.
“You can watch one short movie with us, but then you have to be in bed by 8, mom’s orders” I tried to give her the ‘I mean business’ look my mom had mastered, but mine never seemed to have the same effect.
“Fine. Can we watch Frozen? I love Olaf he’s my favorite person in the whole wide world. And see I have a braid just like Elsa. And I know the words to all the songs. I’ll sing every word to every song you’ll see! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I love Frozen so much can we please please please watch it I’ll love you forever” Charlotte rambled on and on.
“Come on we watched Frozen last week and the week before that and the week before that and the week-“ Paige whined
“Let it go let it go” Charlotte started singing in response. I started cracking up and gave her a high five while Paige pretended to be mad at us.
“Of course we can watch Frozen slow down motor mouth. Why don’t you go find the DVD and Paige and I will grab the pizza. Sound like a plan Stan?” I asked Charlotte while Paige and I shared a knowing look.
“My name’s not Stan, it’s Charlotte” She shouted behind her as she ran down the stairs.
“So what kind of smoothies did you bring this time? Oh and don’t let me forget to pay you back for that and the pizza” I knew Paige would try and sneak out later without letting me pay for half the food. Between her job and her two very successful parents who co-owned their veterinary practice she had plenty of spending money and was always trying to subtly pay for my stuff. I knew she was just being a good friend, but I could pay for it on my own.
“Strawberry for me and mango for you as usual, and then I got Charlotte that berry blast one she loves so much, but this time I had them put carrots in with the spinach instead of the broccoli since she noticed the broccoli last time” Paige whispered. I swear Charlotte had radar for any mention of vegetables, which is why Paige and I had to sneak them into her smoothies.
“Perfect! Oh and don’t let me forget I have big news to tell you once Charlotte goes to bed” I knew the ambiguity of my comment would drive Paige crazy, but I couldn’t help messing with her, I’m her best friend, it’s my job.
“You and Jake are finally dating?!?” She grabbed my arm in a vice grip and squealed.
“No”, I covered my ears until she registered what I said and finally stopped squealing, “we are not dating and we aren’t going to so you need to let that one go. This isn’t about my nonexistent love life, it’s about your love life” I darted out of the room as Paige ran after me asking questions and threatening to attack me if I didn’t explain what I was talking about.
I picked Charlotte up and used her as a human shield as Paige chased me around the living room. She finally gave up when I promised I would tell her after Charlotte went to bed.
Two hours later after all the pizza was gone and Charlotte had finished her smoothie without noticing the vegetables, probably because she was too busy singing along to every Frozen song at the top of her lungs, I tucked her in and headed back downstairs. As soon as I reached the bottom step Paige attacked me… again.
“Tell me tell me tell me!” She pulled me over to the couch and sat looking at me intently with anticipation.
“Fine. You better not have work this Saturday because you are coming to my game… and so is Tyler Barrett” I leaned back in anticipation of her response. She didn’t scream or jump up and down as I expected her to. She just kind of sat there looking shocked. “Paige, are you okay? Did you hear what is said?” She nodded slowly
“What am I going to do? I can’t sit next to him for a whole game. What are we going to talk about? I’ve only talked to him in Calculus or at a couple football games, I wouldn’t know what to say” She sounded so flustered I started to get worried about how she would react when she found out she would be spending her whole Saturday with him too.
Jake and I had decided not to tell the two of them about the whole boat outing until after the game, partly so they couldn’t back out and partly because we wanted to see how they would react. We’re slightly evil, I know.
“It will be fine I promise. Now don’t worry about it until Saturday. Now what movie do we want to watch? I was thinking Olympus Has Fallen because Morgan Freeman is in it and he’s amazing” I tried to get her mind off Tyler before she went all mushy talking about him like she usually does.
Paige and I hated chick flicks, if we were going to watch a romance movie there had to be some action in it otherwise we stuck to straight up action movies.
“You know what they should sell. GPSs with Morgan Freeman’s voice instead of that creepy lady’s voice in my car. Uhh she freaks me out” Paige shuddered and I fell over laughing.
“Can you please not start ranting about Gertrude’s annoying voice again? The only thing more annoying than your GPS’s voice is you when you complain about it” I threw some pizza crust at her.
“It’s not my fault Gertrude is so irritating. She interrupts my music to tell me when to turn as if I don’t know where the freaking-“ Paige’s rant was cut off when my phone rang.
“Hello” I answered absentmindedly and chucked a pillow at Paige to get her to shut up, which of course was futile. When she starts ranting about Gertrude there’s no stopping her.
“Hey Kayla. I talked to Tyler about Saturday but I didn’t tell him about-“ My eyes darted toward Paige to see if she heard Jake.
“Oh hey Jake I didn’t know you lost your ointment, Paige and I are watching a movie right now, but I will look for it afterward” I had to cut him off before he mentioned our plan.
“Ointment? What ointment?” Jake clearly wasn’t taking my hint, but maybe I should have picked a more normal detour to the conversation. Oops.
“You know the ointment for that rash you have that you called me about while I’m sitting here with Paige right next to me” I emphasized.
“Ohh right the ointment for my… um rash. Yeah why don’t you look for it after Paige leaves and then call me back” Jake had finally caught on thank goodness because Paige was giving me a weird look as she listened to one side of that weird conversation.
“Sounds good, talk to you later. Bye Jake” I hung up before we could blow our cover and gave Paige a shrug before starting the movie. Jake could explain his nonexistent rash to her some other time.
My phone vibrated and when I checked I saw a text from Jake
Ointment? Really? That’s the best you could come up with?- Jake
Sorry I’m not good under pressure, besides it’s hilarious- Kayla
Hilarious for you maybe. You’d better watch your back Kayla Ryans because revenge is sweet- Jake
What's your favorite scene from Frozen?
What's the weirdest smoothie you've ever eaten?
Who else's named their GPS? Come on don't deny it.
Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment. In the next chapter are a lot of date details. It will probably be posted on Friday, but if i get 10 votes on this chapter I'll post it early