The rest of the week was a blur. I barely managed to keep my head above water what with my workload from class, practice every evening and coming home late every night.
‘Damn it,’ Remi grumbled when I entered the kitchen on Wednesday evening.
‘What’s up?’ I asked, heading to the sink to grab a glass of water.
‘Can’t have the party here Friday night.’
‘We were having a party?’
‘Well, not anymore. Dad’s going to be home this weekend now. Guess Chris will have to host again. We never had a party here before, I thought it’d be fun to do one before high school’s over,’ she added.
‘Yeah. Maybe in summer? Can’t say I’m not relieved. Cleaning up the house with a hangover doesn’t sound fun,’ I mused, grabbing some carrot sticks and hummus from the fridge.
‘We could just hire cleaners,’ she shrugged.
‘Sounds kind of rich kid-ish,’ I pointed out, leaning against the breakfast bar.
‘Technically we are rich kids,’ Remi replied. ‘We’re just not assholes about it. Well, actually your car is a little much.’
‘Have you seen the size of your wardrobe?’ I snorted, tossing a carrot stick at her head. ‘You’re the one walking around in designer clothes all the time.’
‘Someone’s got to buy ‘em,’ she shrugged, flicking the carrot stick back at me. ‘You’ve been eating far too healthy the past few days. I guess we were pigs last week,’ she said, pushing her nose up in an attempt to look like a snout.
‘You’re in a good mood today.’
‘Excited for Friday. Love watching the football games in person. After will be fun too, especially if you win. You better win,’ she added with a glare. ‘You’ll be all mopey otherwise and you’ve only just stopped with the mopey-ness.’
‘I’m not mopey,’ I scowled.
‘Yeah, not since-’ she paused. ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing,’ she said decisively before jumping up. ‘Raegan and Tara are staying over tomorrow,’ she called over her shoulder as she headed towards the door. ‘We’re making Roadrunner banners!’
* * *
I was hoping for a peaceful evening on Thursday so I could relax before the game the next day. When I parked outside my house though, I spotted Tara’s car on the street and remembered what Remi had said. No rest for the wicked.
Inside, I found the three of them spread out across the living room floor with surprising focus. Remi was cutting something up while Tara and Raegan were painting red onto long cardboard sheets which they’d no doubt be holding up tomorrow. I was never any good at artsy stuff myself. Couldn’t paint or draw to save my life. My hand writing was pretty neat but that was the only skill I had with a pen.
No-one had noticed me yet so I decided to get some petty revenge on Raegan for jump scaring me at my locker on Monday. It was only fair.
I snuck as close as I could manage, shushing Remi with a hand wave because she finally caught sight of me, and leaning close behind Raegan who was concentrating very hard on her painting.
I went with the classic ‘boo’ and grinned when she let out a yelp of sorts and nearly jumped out of her skin. She slowly turned and scowled up at me.
‘I hate you so much,’ she grumbled.
‘No, you don’t,’ I replied.
She wouldn’t hang out with me so much if she hated me. I was confident in that at least.
I crouched down beside her to get a closer look. For some reason I imagined her to be a sloppy painter, probably because her handwriting was pretty awful, but no it was very neat and tidy. Steady handed despite her overall clumsiness. She had a lot of contradictory traits, it made it kind of difficult to work out what her reaction would be in most situations. Maybe that’s why I liked bugging her so much.
‘This is actually pretty good,’ I told her. ‘I assumed you’d be a lot messier at painting.’
‘I nearly was at your freaking interruption,’ she grumbled at me before picking up her paintbrush again and letting out a breath.
‘What’s life without the surprises?’ I asked, smiling at her irritation.
I was in a strangely energetic mood and she was a great source of entertainment. And I did say the next time she came over she lost all her guest rights. Now she was classed as a regular.
‘You missed a spot,’ I pointed out when she didn’t reply.
She scowled at me again and snatched up a spare paintbrush from the floor, forcing it into my hand.
‘Stop complaining and help if you’re going to whine,’ she ordered, making me laugh.
I’d never seen her concentrating hard before seeing as she never gave a shit about school work. Seemed she didn’t enjoy constant little interruptions. What would she do if I gave her a big interruption?
I decided to test this out by dipping the brush into the red paint and swiping it across her cheek. Her reaction was almost comical as she reached up and touched it in confusion. Her face got annoyed again as she saw the paint on her fingers.
I forgot my rule about underestimating her, however, and when I laughed, she took advantage of my distraction. Her hand shot out and she grabbed a fistful of my shirt before attacking my face with her own brush.
‘That’s mean,’ I complained, pushing her off before she poked my eyes out.
‘Well, you did it first,’ she replied, leaning forward and using my clean white shirt that I’d put on less than half an hour ago to wipe the paint off her face.
‘Guys, we need to finish the banners before tomorrow so that they can dry overnight!’ Remi said, making me glance over at her. ‘Stop flirting about and get on with it!’
Flirting about? Well, maybe I was a little but I doubted Raegan was anywhere close to flirting with me. I was in a childish pulling-her-pigtails kind of mood whereas she was probably just getting irritated by my presence.
‘That last part sounded kind of dirty,’ I noted, earning a middle finger from Remi and a snort of laughter from Tara.
I was still looking over at them when I felt Raegan hit my chest so when I looked down and saw a huge red streak of paint across the front of my shirt, I couldn’t tell whether she’d done it on purpose or not.
But my mind was made up.
‘Believe it or not, I actually didn’t mean to do that,’ Raegan said as if reading my mind.
That had been happening a lot recently. She seemed to often know what I was about to ask or say. If she was that perceptive then how did she not notice me practically drooling after her? I hadn’t exactly bothered to hide it very well.
‘And I didn’t mean to do this.’
I could have been super evil and poured the paint over her head. But that would mean getting it in her eyes and mouth and I really just wasn’t that cruel. Instead, I tossed the pot a little lower so it got the ends of her hair and neck before quickly dripping down her own shirt. Our clothes were definitely no longer salvageable.
‘You’re so fucking dead.’
I probably deserved whatever she had in store for me but instead I ran away the moment she lunged forwards. I really hoped the paint was water based else that shit wasn’t coming off the living room carpet. Luckily the rest of downstairs was hard floor so the mess wouldn’t be too bad. It was a sign I was getting old that I was worrying about cleaning up paint instead of the angry girl chasing me.
When I reached the hall and stormed up the stairs taking two at a time, I finally didn’t hear her following so I turned back to look down at her and saw her hovering near the bottom step.
‘Ran out of energy already?’ I asked with a smirk. ‘Looks like you’ve got something just there,’ I added, touching my own cheek.
It seemed to do the trick and she charged me again. See? I didn’t need to chase her across the field with a knife in order to get her to run. I just had to annoy her until she wanted to murder me. Now that I thought about it, it would be interesting to watch a horror movie with Raegan in it. I think she’d end up getting all pissed off with the murderer and killing them herself.
Apparently I’d slowed down while imagining that and it gave her enough time to catch up and jump onto my back. I just about managed to stop us from falling over but it was close.
‘Woah,’ I said, regaining my balance and grabbing her legs so she didn’t send us keeling over backwards. ‘If someone like you can catch up with me, the odds don’t look like they’re in my favour for the game tomorrow,’ I said, hoping to appease her anger with a self targeted joke.
‘You won’t be going to the game tomorrow because I’m going to kill you,’ she growled in my ear.
I didn’t expect to find a death threat from her hot, but for some reason I was sort of into it. I think it had more to do with the fact that she was practically wrapped around me and her breath was tickling my neck in a sensual kind of way. But still, getting murdered by Raegan didn’t sound like the worst way to die.
My desire was short lived though as she began annoyingly wiping paint all over my face. I could already feel that the back of my shirt was soaked from it too. Wearing white today was a mistake. Maybe wearing white around her in general wasn’t a good idea.
‘Well, you don’t seem like you’re trying very hard,’ I replied, proud that my voice had come out normally.
‘I don’t want to get paint all over your house,’ she admitted whilst proceeding to smudge it into my hair.
‘Oh shit, I didn’t think about that one,’ I replied sarcastically, making my way down the hall towards my room. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to go there but standing around in the hallway weird and I didn't really want her to get off of me yet. ‘Open that,’ I said when I reached the door.
It was a mistake on my part. I could feel her face close to mine when she leaned forward and I only just about managed to not turn towards her. It took most of my willpower.
‘Damn,’ she said quietly. ‘Your room is massive.’
She shifted slightly and I took it as a hint to let her go at last although I didn’t want to. She made a nice backpack. My shirt clung to my back when she pulled away from me.
She made her way over to my desk immediately and looked down at it. She ignored the school work and textbooks I had piled up and went for the sole picture frame. It was a family photo from a few years back on one of our last vacations together. One of the only decent photos of the four of us. Remi and I tended to pull dumb ass faces in pictures when we were kids so this was a rare one where we didn’t look like morons.
‘Do you mind not smearing red paint over my stuff?’ I asked.
I felt oddly nervous at her being in my room. It always felt quite personal showing someone around for the first time. I wonder if she felt the same when I came over to her apartment the other day. I was pretty obviously nosy when I looked around.
‘I could smear it on you if you’d prefer,’ she suggested, interrupting my thoughts.
Yes please. I’d prefer.
Okay, I needed a cold shower or something because I was not in control of my hormones today. What in the hell was wrong with me? Let’s just blame it on the fact that I’d had a long day. And I hadn’t really seen her all day except briefly at lunch. I hadn’t built up my Raegan tolerance, that was it.
‘As long as you don’t get it on the carpet, I’m okay with it,’ I replied.
She probably thought I was joking but her manhandling me was one of my favourite activities. Not that I’d admit that out loud to another human being.
While I was stretching my arms, she moved forward and flicked me straight in the forehead just enough that it stung.
‘Ow,’ I complained, more from surprise than anything else. ‘What was that for?’
‘The paint doesn’t seem to bother you so I thought that would. Now show me how to get back downstairs so I can finish the stupid banner you probably ruined,’ she said before flicking me in the forehead again.
‘No more of that,’ I complained, snatching up her hand before she could do it again. That was annoying. Though I’d spent the last half hour pissing her off so it was deserved.
I ended up ordering the girls pizza again at Raegan’s request. I got the feeling it was her favourite thing to have for dinner just from the enthusiastic way she ate it. I didn’t eat any myself, instead opting for a somewhat cleaner chicken pasta I’d made for dinner last night. The pizza did smell good though. But I’d wait for Saturday night.
I had to shower for a long time to get the paint out of my hair. It came off easily everywhere else but I had to shampoo at least three times to finally get rid of the last dried in paint.
We’d luckily managed to not get any paint upstairs, though I found some on the bannister on the way down and cleaned that up. Also, on the dining room floor. The living room was quite bad. A lot of the paint had gone on the newspaper the girls had laid down but when I’d thrown the pot over Raegan, a lot had soaked into the carpet beneath her.
I scrubbed for a while and got most of it out but there was definitely a patch of darker carpet. It’d probably lift out with a carpet washer so I’d sort it out later at some point. It was probably time for a spring clean anyway.
‘Want to watch a movie?’ Remi asked, as I washed my hands in the sink. ‘The Hills are calling my name.’
‘You’re into the scary films lately, huh? I finally had an effect on you.’
‘They’re funny when you watch them with other people,’ she shrugged. ‘I watched one at Kyle’s house the other night and Cole was hilarious, I literally couldn’t breathe. Their family is so funny.’
‘So, you’re being accepted into the family already?’ I asked. ‘When will you be moving out?’
I was trying to be nice about Kyle. It was easier when he wasn’t actually present. I just got a tiny bit annoyed when I saw them together. Personally, I didn’t think it was unreasonable. Remi was still only seventeen after all. Wasn’t it normal to be protective of your younger sister? Especially seeing as some guy just screwed her over recently. I didn’t want her rushing into shit too fast if her mind wasn’t in the right place.
‘Never. Have you seen this house? It’s awesome.’
‘Yeah, it is,’ Tara agreed. ‘How you doing?’ she added, hopping up on a stool as I dried my hands on a towel. ‘Ready for tomorrow?’
‘For the most part,’ I shrugged.
‘You’ve got this,’ she nodded. ‘George was telling me about your long ass practices this week. At least you’ll be able to relax tomorrow night at the party. You are coming right?’
‘Of course.’
‘Good,’ she yawned. ‘Come on, let’s watch a movie before I fall asleep. Popcorn?’
‘I’ll get some in the microwave.’
‘I’m going to brush my teeth to discourage me from eating candy,’ I said, tossing the towel on the side.
‘Tell Raegan to hurry her ass up! She’s been in the shower for ten years,’ Remi called.
She needed to be, didn’t Remi see how much paint she had on her?
After brushing my teeth, I made my way down the hall to Remi's room and opened the door, taking as I walked in.
‘Remi says hurry the hell up because she really wants to watch The Hills Have Eyes again,’ I said swiftly, making Raegan jump in surprise.
‘What if I was changing?’ she scowled.
‘It’s obvious you’d get changed in the bathroom as paranoid as you are,’ I replied. Actually I hadn’t considered that at all. My bad. Though, if I were staying at someone else’s house, I’d probably get changed in the bathroom. ‘Are you looking for something?’ I added.
She looked lost. She also looked cute in those pyjamas and I was at risk of staring too much so was thankful when she pointed at her hair wrapped in a towel as it gave me somewhere specific to focus on.
‘I need a comb or something.’
‘Hmm, I think there’s a basket in her cupboard,’ I said, pointing it out.
I found myself staring again as she crossed the room in her search for a comb. I’d seen her in pyjamas last week so I didn’t see why I was struggling so much with seeing her in them today. I swiftly snatched up one of Remi’s magazines so I had something else to look at while she brushed out her hair.
‘Where shall I put this?’ Raegan asked.
I looked up and spotted her towel in hand. Her hair was neatly arranged down her back now, still damp because it looked closer to black than the usual light brown.
‘There’s a washing basket in the hall,’ I told her before tossing the magazine back on the side, cringing as I caught sight of an article about plastic surgery gone wrong. ‘Let’s go before Remi starts whining again.’
Back downstairs, Remi had set up the movie and the smell of fresh popcorn lingered in the air. Tomorrow I’d eat whatever I wanted. Tonight, I vowed to have some restraint. I could at least control one of my urges.
‘How long does it take to shower?’ Remi complained as she caught sight of us in the doorway.
‘You had so many shampoos, I didn’t know which one to use,’ Raegan retorted.
She wasn’t wrong. Remi had enough shampoo to run her own salon. To be fair, she seemed to always be gifted toiletry products by our relatives for Christmas and birthdays. I couldn’t even count the number of aftershaves I’d been given. Most of which I’d not even opened. We weren’t close with much of our extended family so I guess toiletries were always a safe bet for gifts.
‘Corner is mine,’ I said.
There was no way I’d be nice enough to give Raegan the best seat twice in a row. She found this out the hard way when she lost our scuffle and ended up in the middle seat.
‘I hate you.’
‘No, you don’t,’ I said dismissively. ‘Anyone going to press play?’
‘Don’t order me what to do after you kept us waiting so long,’ Remi grumbled, throwing herself onto the other side of the couch and grabbing the remote. She tossed a pillow at my head too but why on earth was I getting the blame?
‘That was Raegan!’
‘Bradley, quit your whining,’ Raegan said with a smirk. ‘Save it for ten minutes before the big game so only your teammates have to hear it,’ she added teasingly.
Damn nervousness jokes. I guess it was better than the old people jokes for now but I know they’d soon make a comeback after tomorrow was over.
‘No more whining, Bradley. The movie is about to begin,’ Remi called, turning the volume up high. I gave her a glare which only deepened when her partner in crime flicked me on the temple again. I did not enjoy those two teaming up together against me.
‘No more flicking.’
She could have the flicking or the verbal teasing but not both. We had to have at least some ground rules.
As we sat there watching, I realised she hadn’t made any attempt to pull her hand back, neither was I trying to keep it there. Yet here we were. I couldn’t help myself really. It was like handing someone a slice of their favourite cake and telling them not to eat it. And today of all days I was already struggling to keep my mind in check when it came to her.
I traced my fingers over the back of her hand lightly and glanced sideways. She didn’t seem to mind so I kept going. Her hands were a lot smaller than my own, I compared them by pressing my palm up against hers. No rings, no nail polish. Unembellished. She didn’t need anything to exaggerate her looks. I liked that she was comfortable in her own skin. It was rare for anyone to be nowadays what with all these celebrities and lifestyle people telling you how you should act and look. It took a certain strength of character to ignore that kind of pressure. Admirable even.
Although, if the day came where she did purposely dress up to look even better than she usually did, then I think it was safe to say I was well and truly screwed.
It wasn’t until the end credits came on the TV that I realised I hadn’t paid much attention at all. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to care right now. I was a little drunk on the girl beside me.
I barely paid attention as Remi and Tara left us two alone. We were watching some late-night quiz show and despite being tired, we were getting far too into it. Maybe it was more entertaining because of the lack of sleep.
‘You know some strange things,’ I commented after she’d answered some very obscure questions.
‘You know some nerdy things,’ she retorted.
‘You’re the one who knew about octopuses having three hearts,’ I pointed out. ‘Who on earth would know that?’
'Who wouldn’t know that? It’s interesting as hell,’ she pointed out.
She was competitive. So was I usually but the day was catching up with me and I was all but nodding off. Her own energy ran out after a short while and she ended up curling up on the corner of the couch like a cat.
‘Come on,’ I said, turning off the TV and regretting it because I could barely see anything. My eyes slowly adjusted and I could make out her figure in the same place from the street light coming in from the window. 'I’ll show you to a guest room.’
‘No,’ she muttered. ‘Just leave me here, I’m comfy.’
‘I can't just leave you down here on the couch,’ I replied, rolling my eyes. ‘I promise the beds are just as comfortable as here.’
‘Not moving.’
‘Raegan,’ I sighed, tugging at her wrist impatiently. ‘Come on-'
‘Just lay down, idiot,’ she grumbled, twisting in my hold and pulling me instead.
‘I – lay down?’ I repeated, unsure I’d heard her correctly.
As in... with her? On this small ass couch with barely enough room for one sleeping person?
Apparently, she did mean that because when I didn’t move, she pulled at me again.
‘Okay,’ I said doubtfully, still certain she was messing around and planning some elaborate way to annoy me.
But when I lowered myself beside her she didn’t shove me away or yell, quite the opposite in fact. Within a couple of seconds, she’d pressed her face into my neck. I was too surprised to move like at the bleachers when she’d used my shoulder to nap on. She really caught me off guard sometimes. When she moved again, I expected her to roll away but no, she pressed closer as if waiting for someth-
Wait. Did she want to... snuggle?
It certainly seemed like it.
I moved before I could convince myself not to and managed to worm my arm beneath her head. She made a noise at the disturbance but when I pulled her back to me, she went limp once more, nudging her face into my chest.
I was close to passing out. And not because I was tired – I mean I was tired but right now my heart was racing like I’d just ran a hundred laps around the field. For someone who said she hated me several times a day, she sure did know how to behave in the opposite way. And... she was nice to cuddle. I wasn’t afraid to admit it.
Though it was hard to sleep now.
Her hair was tickling my forearm and I hesitated for a long moment before gently brushing it back. It was dry now and had that same silky texture from before. Also, it smelled fucking delicious. It took me a while to work out what the scent was exactly.
Strawberries.
It suited her. She was sweet too. Usually when no one else was around like right now. And she was kind, though it was often overlooked by her witty humour which our other friends enjoyed. But all of these things were there if you looked close enough. And I had been.
These feelings weren’t going to go away, were they?
The more I looked, the more I liked. The more I wanted her around me, the more I noticed her absence.
I was just stroking her hair at this point. I was surprised she hadn’t woken up seeing as she said she was a light sleeper. Looking down at her now, she was dead asleep. Something which I should be too.
Crap. It was late.
I sighed and stilled, deciding I should try get some shut eye and probably stop staring at Raegan like some kind of creep.
A few moments later, however, she stirred and I absentmindedly began stroking her hair again. Oddly enough, it worked and she stopped moving.
Damn it. She was cute. Real cute.
I was grateful she didn’t act like this when she was awake – how on earth would I deal with that?
I really had to get some sleep. This was tough. I let out another sigh and squished her closer to me briefly, planting a kiss on the top of her head. Just one. Okay, maybe two. And when I finally managed to fall asleep, for some reason all I remembered dreaming about was the smell of strawberries.