Buttery scents and a salty smell assault my nose as Autumn opens another bag of popcorn. The microwave has been beeping for at least two minutes while she argues with Adrien about the proper amount of butter to place in the bowls of the movie treat. I'm too preoccupied with setting up the countless blankets on top of the couch to notice Lucas before he's already behind me.
"Boo!" He squeezes the sides of my waists, successfully making me jump in fright and elbowing him in the ribs.
"Not funny!" I grapple for a bowl of popcorn on top of the coffee table, filling my hand with the greasy snack before throwing a piece at him.
Opening his mouth to catch the popcorn, he's still laughing at my reaction. "If you find me scary, how are you going to handle a horror movie? You're going to be screaming the whole time."
"Demons, witches, dolls," I wave a hand dramatically, "that's nothing. Your face is scarier than all of them."
He gasps, holding a hand over his heart like I wounded him. His hurt demeanor changes when he pulls me into him instead, snaking a hand under my chin and gently kissing my lips a single time. "You don't act like you hate my face." His smug voice trails down my spine.
"Maybe don't make out in my living room?" Adrien sighs, placing two more bowls of candy and popcorn onto the table in front of the couch. I only giggle in response, pressing a kiss against Lucas's cheek before he gets yelled at by his best friend. I'm wearing a hoodie that Lucas let me borrow, although he doesn't know that he's not getting it back. The fabric still smells like him, the earthy scent of his hair coming to mind as I sniff the cuff of the sleeve one more time.
Time has not been on our side recently, with Lucas constantly rejecting my plans at best and completely neglecting them at worst.
Last night we were an hour away from meeting for a picnic, my outfit picked and make up done, before I recieved the text that he was called into work. I understand why he has to cancel on me so much, and I make sure to be supportive on the days that he's too drained to spend time with me, but it doesn't make the feeling any less painful.
Sometimes I question if he regrets asking me to be his girlfriend, or if I am something he only wants to display rather than truly interact with. I tell myself everytime the insecurities slide their way into my mind that Lucas isn't like the people who have done that to me before. The reason we can't be alone much together has nothing to do with me, and it isn't because he only wants people to see us together. How could I be so self-centered to be offended by his problems?
Moments like these help remind me that everythig between us is real. When he whispers in my ear or holds me in his arms, I forget all of my fears instantly.
Chloe clatters open a cabinet door inside Adrien's dining room, drawing my attention to her frantic state.
"What are you doing?" I whisper-shout, coming up behind her and crounching under the counter top like she is. Her fingers are touching most of the porcelien, surveying them as if she was checking their value.
"Do you know how expensive these are?" She gapes.
"What?" I worry that my best friend has lost her mind. Suddenly she grips my wrists, yanking me up and hurridly leading me to the massive window stretching across the dining room. The house's massive backyard comes into view, acres of land stretching wide in between the brick walls that encase Adrien's property. With the sun setting at the edge of the long horizon, the landscape appears to glow. With subtle hills and gardens across the entire field, the property is definitely pricey and beautiful, but I'm not in as much awe as she is.
"I thought my parents were rich, but this is insane. Did you see all of the sports cars in the parking lot? I never would have guessed that Adrien was so wealthy. He definitely doesn't act like it." She huffs, crossing her arms in spite. I can't tell if it's because Adrien must be worth more money than her, or because he's proven a point she has never wanted to believe.
In her mind, rich kids always act spoiled. Her whole family reeks of entitlement, a selfishness that fostered inside of Chloe after years of them treating others as beneath them. Our friends and boyfriends the past few years have only supported this idea, buying their way through life like they had every right to it. So although Chloe herself has always preferred to ignore the poor than mock them like other rich kids our age, she's been taught that flaunting her wealth was the only way to act like she was worth anything at all.
Seeing Adrien be kind to everyone and loved through out the school, despite portraying himself as a lot poorer than he really is, proves to Chloe that she could be like that too. She never had to cut off friends because her parents didn't want her talking to lower classes, she wouldn't have been compared to her sister based off superficial things, and she has no right to treat people as she does.
There's a pain stretching across her face, despite how well she tries to hide it.
It comes from the realization that her family's horrible treatment of those around them and their own daughter had nothing to do with their money. Adrien has the same amount of money, if not more than her, and still his family never taught him to be as judgmental or spoiled as Chloe's family did. If money didn't make Adrien's family horrible people, why did it make Chloe's so cruel?
"Everything could be yours too, Chloe. Consider it a wedding present." A voice sneaks up behind us. I turn around, finding Adrien leaning on the grand doorframe of the room, oblivious to the heartbreak Chloe is experiencing.
She recovers quickly, a tint of embarrassment cover her cheeks at being caught snooping around. "No money could be worth sharing a bed with you." She smiles sweetly.
"Should we test that theory?" He smirks.
Almost imperceptible, the soft noise of Chloe's breath hitches, so quiet that I doubt Adrien realizes the affect he truly has on her. Maybe Adrien can be something other than a reminder of her own parents failings.
Maybe he can show Chloe how to be better.
I'm smiling when I walk out of the room, missing the rest of their flustered banter with each other. Stumbling back into the living room, I'm confronted with the large flat screen TV as Zoya swipes between different scary movies. The two nerds – I mean Zoya and Lucas – are arguing about which horror series is the best.
"The cinematography in Halloween is simply better." Zoya clicks on the preview of the first movie.
"You're telling me that the development of setting in The Conjuring wasn't perfect? You're crazy."
"Nothing matters besides how loud the movie can make Chloe cry. I don't care about plot or characters," Autumn scoffs, settling onto the couch by throwing a fluffy blaket across her lap, "just pick the scariest one."
Lucas glares at Zoya before they compromise and press play on 'Sinister'.
It's only moments before we are all rushing onto the couch, squeezing together despite the long length of the velvet sofa. Zoya and Autumn sit next to each other, Zoya's knees pulled against her chest and turned slightly towards Autumn as they whisper, splitting their conversation up between trivial gossip and scathing criticism of the government. Lucas lays down on the other side of Autumn, pulling me ontop of him so that my back is pressed against his chest. His arms don't let go of me while the beginning credits start to play and Zoya turns the lights off, except to wrap a blanket around our laps and hold me closer to him.
Dark, eerie noises begin to play through the expensive sound system connected to Adrien's TV, but that's not the reason I have goosebumps across my skin. The warmth spread between me and Lucas's body sends my body on edge, desperate for more contact with the boy I like.
Sadistically, I slowly reach my hand below his shirt, stroking against his abs with a teasing touch. I feel his body freeze below mine, a war fighting against his conscious between my promising finger and his awareness of our surroundings.
Giving in to me would be a horrible idea; but I still catch him struggling to breath as I continue the motion. Petting him in the shadow of the blanket, Lucas grips my thigh with one hand but doesn't stop me from continuing, his restraint slipping away. Tightening his hold on my leg, I peer up at Lucas to see an expression of panic and pleasure on his face.
I'm suppressing a smile as he looks around the room, the two girls oblivious as Lucas worries about getting caught.
The taste of his nervous innocence and fearful excitement is a submissive contrast to the demands and confidence he always uses against me when we are together. I'm reminded of the stuttering boy who isn't sure how to touch a woman, and I'm reminded of everything I want to show him.
"Don't sit near me, Adrien, go to the other side of the couch." Chloe says, approaching us on the far end of the group with the brunette boy right behind her. I'm so startled by their presences that I drop my hand from Lucas's chest, receiving a silent relieved groan from him.
"But there's no where else to sit," he notes smugly, ignoring the feet of open space besides me and instead sitting so close to Chloe that there is barely any distance between them. "Don't worry, princess, you can hold my hand if you get scared."
Chloe rolls her eyes.
Forgetting about my vicious game of teasing the pure boy behind me, I snuggle into his chest and intend on innocently enjoying the rest of the movie.
Jump scares have me squeezing onto his arm everytime the demon pops up on the screen, the sudden screams and retched cries of the possessed bring me to yelp every time. Lucas only laughs, insisting he's too brave to be scared by a fake movie.
When the screen goes completely black, leaving no light in the room besides the full moon outside of the living room windows, I shake Lucas. Before he can cover his mouth or bite down the fear, he's yelling like a child afraid of the dark.
I don't even attempt to hide my laughter, enjoying the way his hands hold on to me nervously for the rest of the movie.
After the movie ends on a cliffhanger that leaves even Adrien refusing to be in a room alone, we turn on all the lights, comfortably stacking pillows on the carpeted floor and sitting together. Ontop of my stomach with a pillow beneath my head, we form a circle with Lucas at my right side and my girls on my other. Chloe seems to finally have succeded in pushing Adrien away, sitting on the other end of the circle with Zoya promising to protect him from any angry spirits.
"That movie was not rated for teenagers." Adrien insists, flinching at every small noise in the house.
Conversations roll on from there, everyone answering questions until it feels like we have all known each other for our whole lives. Zoya tells us about how she met the boys: a dramatic retelling of Adrien chasing her without knowing how to flirt properly while Lucas desperately needed a friend who also loved to read. Autumn confesses a story that even I have never heard before, describing the time she accidentally hit our principle's car in the parking lot and blamed her ex-boyfriend.
Before I realize it, the clock is telling me that it's midnight and still I have too much energy to fall asleep.
"Rome, truth or dare?" Adrien asks me, at least the fifth round we've played so far.
"Dare." I let him scour my camera roll for embarrassing photos of me, only content when he reveals a picture I took during eighth grade and sets it as my phone's wallpaper. I can't tell if my braces or self-cut bangs were worse as I slide the phone back into the pocket of Lucas's hoodie.
I turn to Lucas, catching him as his eyelids attempt to flutter shut. He jolts awake, smiling at me like I am the best thing he as ever seen. After a long shift this morning and many more over the whole week, Lucas can barley stay awake. I've assured him countless times already that no one will mind if he needs to pass out early, but he won't let himself fall asleep.
"Truth or dare?" He chooses truth, foiling my plan to dare him to go to bed in one of Adrien's guest rooms. Instead, I fumble for a random question. "Describe yourself in one word."
"Yours." He mumbles fuzzily, smile drooping as he leans on his hand and shuts his eyes again.
I'm blushing before I can stop myself, the butterflies in my stomach flying uncontrollably as I convince myself that this isn't a dream. What did I do to deserve such a sweet boy?
"Gross, love makes me sick." Autumn groans, although I catch her grin from across the people between us. I couldn't name a happier moment in my life than right now, not a single time that felt better than being with these people.
Lucas flinches when he hears Autumns words, a comlete opposite reaction to the warmth I feel when thinking about how he treats me. What makes him so uncomfotable with what she said? Is it because she said 'love'? Lucas is staring at me until we make eye contact, quickly breaking away and looking elsewhere as if there is something he didn't want me to see on his face. Is the idea of coming to love me in the future such a horrible option for him?
I don't get the time to brew over those questions when Zoya speaks up. "Chloe, it's your turn."
"Dare," she repeats, the fourth time she's been forced to do some sort of unnecessary challenge. Grumbling, an annoyed Zoya shakes her head.
"You can't keep picking dare!" Autumn collapses on top of the pillows below her in order to emphasize her frustration. "What's so scary about a little truth?"
"My secrets are mine to keep," Chloe responds coyly with a smirk on her lips, but I hear the warning in her words. Never one to open up, there is no chance Chloe is going to be comfortable allowing us to ask her any questions.
"That defeats the point of the game, but fine." Zoya rolls her eyes, contemplating a dare for her beyond the emberassing ones they have already forced Chloe to comitt to. Suddenly Zoya's thin eyes light up. "I dare you to tell us why you're so closed off."
Chuckling, Lucas and Adrien eagerly await what they believe to be a cheat around Chloe's high walls. Autumn and I know the truth though, that Chloe doesn't play by anyone's rules or expectations but her own.
With silent steps, Chloe stands up and begins to walk out of the room. Zoya's genuine apologies are unanswered as the blonde girl turns her back on us. I curse, promising her we will drop the questions or play another game, but nothing seems to affect her resolve.
"Campbell, come back. No one is going to judge your answers." Adrien's voice is soft but powerful, stalling Chloe's long, pale legs.
I realize Adrien saw something that no one else did, read Chloe's reaction in the exact way she needed someone to.
The three of us were raised in families that picked apart everything about us. Any efforts I made to be myself or attempt new things was ridiculed by my parents, while Autumn's father screamed for hours about any mistake she ever made. But I never considered how Chloe's judgement from her parents was differnet because she has a sister.
Compared to the older version of her for Chloe's entire life, every action or thought she had was inferior to her sister's in some way, and her mother made sure they both knew it. Chloe's feelings were scrutinized the most, always too extreme compared to her sister's calmness, leading her to fear admitting how she feels.
As quietly as she had left, Chloe sits back down on the blanket fort we had made, positioned at Adrien's side instead this time, finding support and understanding in the last person I ever expected her to.
We all fall asleep soon after, the six of us cuddling on the small mass of couch cushions despite the countless bedrooms the house has.
The company seems to mend a part of us all that we weren't aware was broken.
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Thank you so much for reading! I wanted to give you all a short, sweet chapter before i release a long one next!
(and the long emotional ones that come after hehehe)