A pounding on the door woke Dannie up from her daydream as she stared out the window. It must be Katy, she thought, who had probably once again locked herself outside the house. Lazily making her way down the stairs, she opened the door to reveal an angry Van. If they were cartoon characters, steam would be blowing out of his ears no doubt.
"Can I help you?" she asked quirking up an eyebrow.
The boy angrily shook a bottle in her face. It was the bottle of vinegar she had prepared and Dannie silently praised Katy on a job well done.
"Do you think this is some kind of joke?" he hissed taking a step into their house. Dannie cowered a little at his aggressive stance but made sure to keep the expression on her face calm.
"So you're probably not a vampire because you just stepped into my house without permission," she said jokingly.
The veins in Van's neck visibly bulged out as his faced turned slightly red in anger. Dannie wasn't quite sure if he was going to explode first or if he was going to strangle her first. She hoped it was the former. There were a lot of things she had to do before she died.
"What's going on?" a new voice asked and Dannie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Quinn coming to the door. "What do you want Van?"
"What do I want? What do I want?" Van asked incredulously. "What I want is for you," he jabbed a finger at Dannie, "to explain why you got my brother drunk off of tequila!" At this, he dragged Dexter out from behind him. The boy looked around seeming a bit dazed.
Dannie pulled back slightly stunned at his accusation. It wasn't tequila in that bottle, it was obviously vinegar. And as far as she knew, vinegar did not get people drunk.
"What are you talking about? There's vinegar in that bottle!" Dannie protested.
"Yeah, we wouldn't go so far as to get you guys drunk," Quinn said backing up her sister.
"Well tell me why my brother is drunk and why there is alcohol in a bottle that your sister gave to him," Van said crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at the two sisters.
The thought seemed to hit both of the sisters at the same time.
"Katy!" Dannie shouted at the top of her lungs. This wouldn't be the first time the girl had snuck behind their backs to play a dirty trick.
Katy skipped into the room, her light brown hair flowing lightly behind her. "Yes?" she asked blinking innocently.
Dannie glared at her sister, unwilling to blink until Katy did. A few moments passed before Katy let out a big huff of air.
"Fine. I might have added a tiny amount of tequila to the drink. You know, spice it up a little," she told Van smiling with satisfaction when she saw Dexter stumbling around on his feet.
"You guys are freaking insane," Van muttered under his breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The three sisters stood there awkwardly as Van continued to mutter to himself under his breath.
Suddenly, a familiar car pulled up in the driveway.
"Oh crap! Mom's already home from work!" Quinn said frantically to Dannie.
"Okay, so you should probably leave now," Dannie said to Van. His head snapped up as he looked at the car which had now come to a complete stop. As his head turned back to the Hales, his eyes narrowed.
"I'll cover up your stupid prank for you this time. But just remember, this is not over," he said before turning around and stomping back to his house.
"Katy..." Quinn started.
***
"We're out of Frosted Flakes!" Katy whined the next morning at breakfast.
"It's your turn to buy groceries," Quinn reminded Dannie from her stool at the kitchen counter.
Dannie groaned and grabbed her wallet from the table. She hated not having a car to driver places. Their parents had decided that since the island was so small, that they had no need for a car and could walk everywhere.
She stuck her earplugs in and trudged down multiple streets until she finally arrived at the grocers. Humming lightly, she picked up some cereal and her favorite fruit. Maybe some chips too...
She stood on her tippy toes and reached for the highest shelf. Damn these employees who put the best foods so high up. Dannie carefully placed her feet on the lowest shelf, giving her an extra couple of inches. A couple more inches, she thought to herself as she cautiously stepped onto the second shelf. Grazing the bag with her hand, she pulled it from the shelf, but not before her grip on the shelf slipped and she ended up falling down. And landing on her butt, hard. Dannie groaned as additional bags of chips fell of the shelves and hit her head.
"Need some help?"
Dannie looked up to see Seth above her, his lips pressed into a tight line as he tried not to laugh.
"No," she said standing up and brushing herself off. "I'm fine." She began to put the bag of chips back onto the shelf one by one and ignored Seth as he stared at her with an expression of amuesment.
"Stop staring, it's rude," she snapped at him.
"So is getting other people drunk without their permission," he replied.
"That wasn't my fault!" Dannie cried shoving the last bag of chips back onto the shelf. "I just put vinegar in the bottle!"
"Still pretty rude if you ask me."
Dannie let out a huff of breath and walked away. That boy could be so persistent and annoying. She groaned internally when she heard footsteps behind her.
"So I think you should do me a favor and I'll call it even," he said falling in step beside her easily. In all honesty, he had already forgiven her for the little incident. He just wanted to see what favors he could squeeze out of here, or maybe play a little prank of his own.
"What favor?" she asked stopping in front of the seafood section and looking at the live fish swimming in the tanks. They looked so vulnerable, in a tank and waiting to be killed.
"Kiss that guy over there," Seth replied pointing at a middle aged man. He had colorful tattoos trailing down both arms and several piercings on his face. The jacket he wore screamed 'serial killer' along with the spikes that he wore around his neck and wrist.
"Gross! No! You are so sick Seth Parker," Dannie said a scowl making its way onto her face.
"Aw come on, he looks so lonely without a lady friend," Seth chortled.
"That is seriously messed up. I think you should shut up," Dannie muttered turning back to the fish.
"Hey!" Seth hollered waving a hand at the guy he had told Dannie to kiss. "My friend Dannie here-"
Dannie panicked as she heard his words. The guts this boy had! She quickly grabbed a net and scooped up a floundering fish from the tank. Being on nearly every sports team the school had to offer did have it's advantages. Dannie swung the net like a lacrosse stick and watched as the fish landed straight in Seth's face.
He squealed like a girl before jumping backwards, clutching his heart as if he were the one gasping for air and not the fish on the ground. Dannie doubled over laughing as tears leaked out of her eyes. The look on his face was too much. She could barely stop laughing as Seth scrubbed at his face furiously.
"What is wrong with you?" he shouted at her.
"Me? What is wrong with you?" Dannie countered as she tried to scoop the fish back into the net.
"A fish? Where the hell did you even get a fish?" he asked less vocal this time as he watched Danie try unsuccessfully to bring the fish into the net. It was no use as she couldn't pick up the fish with the net because it was lying on flat ground.
"We're in the seafood section stupid," Dannie rolled her eyes. "Here, pick up the fish."
Seth looked at her disbelievingly. "You're the one who threw the fish at me!"
Dannie gave him a flat look. "You're the one calling out to the serial killer look alike. Now help me get the fish back into the tank before the store manager kicks us out."
Seth groaned as he knelt down beside the fish and carefully took it in his hands. It was still dripping wet as he lifted it off the ground. Suddenly, the fish flinched and Seth gave a shout, throwing the fish up into the air.
"You idiot!" Dannie shouted at the same time Seth said, "Catch it!"
Dannie lunged toward the fish and caught it in her hands before it could hit the ground. The slimy and scaly skin of the sea creature was too much for her though. "You take it," she shouted tossing the fish toward an off guard Seth.
He looked up just in time to see the fish hit his neck and slither into his loose t-shirt.
"Holy shit!" he shouted as he squirmed, trying to figure out how to get the animal out from his shirt.
"That stuff ain't holy," Dannie laughed as she watched Seth wriggle until the fish finally came out. He glared at her and dumped the fish back into the tank, a look of revulsion on his face.
"I am never eating fish again. Ever," he stated as he slipped his shirt off.
"What are you doing?" Dannie hissed looking everywhere but at his well-defined chest.
"Just trying to feel a little less disgusting," he replied using the shirt to dry the water on his chest from the fish. Dannie felt a little bit of bile rise in her throat at the thought.
"You should do that when you get home, not in public," she retorted as she began making her way towards the cash register. Dannie focused on keeping her eyes forward. If she let them slip, her sight would no doubt end up on Seth's abs. Something she very much wanted to see. Wait, no, she didn't want to see them.
As they arrived at the check-out line, the girl handling the cash register froze for a moment as her eyes grazed over Seth's body. Dannie rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. The girl's face reddened as she hastily put Dannie's groceries into the plastic bags.
"Have a nice day," she said faintly as she gazed at Seth all the way out the door.
"You are such a show-off," Dannie muttered once they were outside and on their way back home. Seth smiled at her twirling his own groceries in his right hand.
"It's not my fault she couldn't keep her eyes off of me," he replied cockily.
Dannie rolled her eyes again. His ego was literally the size of Jupiter. Maybe bigger. "Are you going to put your shirt on any time soon?" That just had to slip out of her mouth, didn't it?
"Only if you're hot and bothered," Seth said cheekily. Dannie pulled back her fist to punch him but he was already to prepared for that. So she had to make do with a girly kick to the shin.
"Ow!" he yelled grabbing his shin dramatically and falling onto the lawn. They had already arrived back at their houses and Dannie saw Van come out the front door.
"Hurry up Seth! We don't have time for your stupid antics!" he hollered before slamming the front door shut. Dannie cringed and glanced at Seth who was rolling his eyes.
"Why is he always so grumpy?" Dannie asked. Seth stiffened slightly and appeared uncomfortable with the topic. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that," she said quickly. "I didn't mean to pry."
"No, no it's okay. I guess you should know since his temper is directed towards you and your sisters a lot," he trailed off before sitting up on the grass. "It's just that his...erm girlfriend, she uh, she broke up with him."
"Oh," was Dannie's genius response. She hadn't been expecting that. She had thought that maybe he was still mad over the whole tequila incident, but a girl? How could a temperamental guy like him ever get a girl?
"Yeah, he's just a bit sour over that still."
"Is that why he was mad at you a second ago?"
Seth looked startled before smiling sheepishly. "Er, no." Dannie waited patiently for Seth to continue. "I think he's just a bit jealous of me."
"Jealous of you?" Dannie interrupted. "Is he jealous of your inflated ego or your underdeveloped brain?" Seth threw her a quick glare before continuing.
"No, he's actually jealous because my girlfriend back in California is still with me and we're trying the whole long distance thing," Seth explained, a faraway look in his eye. His lips were slightly tilted up and his fingers played with each other idly.
Dannie felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Seth had a girlfriend? How did a guy like him get a girlfriend? Okay, admittedly, he wasn't bad looking, but still! Dannie thought that whoever this girl was, she could probably do better.
"That's kind of hard to believe," Dannie said blatantly.
Seth chose to ignore her comment. "I think she's coming over sometime in the summer. You two would probably get along really well," he said getting a dazed look in his eye again. Dannie wanted to barf. Seeing Seth looking so lovesick was just so...so...Dannie didn't know. It just made her uncomfortable.
"Seth!" a thunderous voice roared from the Parker house.
"You better go before he blows," Dannie said as Seth quickly scrambled up and darted inside the house.
Even after he was gone though, she still felt sick. Why was she feeling so sick? Perhaps it was the fish carrying some waterborne disease. That must be it, she thought as she walked back inside her own house.
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A/N So, as promised, I uploaded before the weekend! Barely, but I did it :) anyways, vote please? *pulls out puppy dog face* and if you're feeling extra generous, maybe comment?
Anywho...have a nice day! Oh and don't be afraid to message me or PM me or anything, I got bored a lot so having somebody to talk to is always nice :)