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Excuse the mistakes
Dedicated to ZakahRobinson, who made the banner on the side. Thanks hun!
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“You’re so boring!”
I swiveled around in my desk chair to see Zephyr flopped across my bed on her back, with her head at the footboard. Zephyr had commandeered one of Thomas’s mini soccer balls, and for the past fifteen minutes, she’d just been laying there throwing it up and down.
“Why are you still here, then?” I asked, rolling my eyes. She’d been here since we finished teaching at the studio, which was a little over two hours ago. Her complaining was really getting on my nerves; it wasn’t like I could control the amount of homework I had for tomorrow.
“My parents warned me they had a lot to talk about tonight,” Zephyr said, sitting up lazily, “Which we all know means that they’re going to be having tons of sex of the kinky variety.”
“Oh, Zeph, I really didn’t need the visual,” I stated, quickly shutting my eyes and shaking my head. I’d known Zephyr’s parents forever, and the mental image of them getting busy in some weird way was not something I needed.
Zephyr laughed, and I turned back to my computer and resumed typing up my lab report. “How long are you going to be here?” I asked without looking back at her, “Parker’s coming over soon because we have to write something for health class.”
“Ooh, really?” Zephyr replied, and my bed creaked as I heard her bounce off of it. Suddenly, Zephyr’s body was right next to mine, and her face was less than two inches from my face. The girl had serious boundary issues.
“Take a step back, Zeph, before I shove my pen in your arm.”
“Wow, that’s violent,” Zephyr said with mock offense, “Just for that, I’m not leaving.”
I turned quickly to look at Zephyr, who was now sitting on my window seat, and I thought about protesting. However, I didn’t feel like fighting with Zephyr when she had that determined look on her face. So, I just sighed and accepted defeat.
“Fine,” I said, shaking my head, “Whatever. Just know, Zephyr, you’re going to be bored.”
“I don’t care,” Zephyr replied, pulling her knees up to her stomach, “I am just really curious to see how you two act around each other. Like, how long has this whole fake dating thing been going on?”
“Um,” my voice trailed off as I did some quick math in my head, “About four weeks maybe.”
When I said it out loud, I was struck by how much time had passed between me and Parker. It felt like only yesterday, I was that drunk, impulsive girl who asked a guy she barely knew to be her fake boyfriend, and he actually said “yes”.
I really needed to start making better choices.
“Wow,” Zephyr breathed, giving me an impressed look. “That’s a long time for something like this. Is Maya still being a dumbass?”
“Maybe,” I drawled, being purposely vague on the subject. Ever since I told Zephyr about Maya teaming up with Triss, she had not stopped bad-mouthing her. I couldn’t blame Zephyr, though, since I would do the same if someone was being mean to her.
“She needs to pop some Prozac and get over herself,” Zephyr stated, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. “Now, tell me, what are you planning on wearing when Parker comes over?”
“Are you saying what I’m wearing isn’t good enough?” I asked, and I saved my document and turned my chair to face Zephyr completely.
“Let’s just say that a pair of polar bear pajama pants and a SpongeBob t-shirt doesn’t inspire a guy to get romantic,” Zephyr stated, giving my outfit a pathetic look. I thought about feeling offended, but in the end, she was right.
I didn’t want to give my mom any reason to suspect I wasn’t dating Parker for real. If I didn’t wear actual clothes when he came over, my mom might get suspicious and realize something was amiss. That meant I was going to have to change.
“I will put on jeans,” I said, standing up, “But SpongeBob is staying on.”
Zephyr’s eyes narrowed, but after a moment, she nodded in approval. “At least wear something to cover up that awkward hole on the back,” she said, and I nodded as I remembered about the time I decided to cut my shirt like in those cool pictures on the internet. It took one try for me to realize that if I continued, my shirt wasn’t going to look badass; it was going to look like I’d put it through a wood chipper.
I grabbed a pair of unfolded jeans from the bottom drawer of my dresser, but just as I stripped out of my pajama pants, the door bell rang. “Shit,” I hissed, fumbling to unbutton the jeans, “That’s Parker.”
“I’ll get it!” Zephyr cried, and faster than I’d ever seen her move, she sprinted across the room and out of my door. I rolled my eyes as I heard the distinct sound of the creaking stairs as she hurried down the stars. I yanked on the jeans.
Just as I pulled up the zipper, Zephyr reentered my room, grinning from ear to ear, with Parker right behind her. “Hey,” I said, running a hand through my hair to try and hide the fact that I needed a shower, “I see you finally met Zephyr.”
The night of the party, when Parker and I made our deal, he’d had to go save Eddie from getting in a brawl, and he’d just missed Zephyr returning to the back patio.
“Yeah,” He replied, glancing at Zephyr, who’d settled back down on the window seat, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Nothing too bad,” Zephyr replied, grinning. She wasn’t exactly flirting, but she wasn’t acting like a nun either.
“Don’t worry, Zeph,” I said, dragging a stool over next to my desk chair, “I only told him about your collection of beheaded Barbie dolls.” Zephyr scoffed and Parker and I laughed. “Here,” I said, pointing at the stool, “You can sit here so that you can see the computer.”
“My masculinity feels insulted,” Parker stated, eying the stool.
“Well, you can have the stool or the bed,” I replied with a laugh, “But the desk chair is mine.”
“I’ll gladly take your bed,” Parker said, and without another word, he practically dove onto the unmade sheets and stretched out like he was about to take a nap. “Oh, oh yeah,” he mumbled happily, “What kind of mattress do you have? Is it like memory foam?”
“Yeah,” I stated, glancing over at Zephyr, who looked extremely amused, “Now, stop lusting after my bed. We need to get our midway report done for health so that I can get an A and you can pass.”
“Who says I can’t get an A?” Parker demanded, sitting up.
“I think you have to be present in class all semester to even be able to get a B,” I replied, pointing out his many absences.
“Point taken,” Parker said, and I rolled my eyes and chuckled. I sat down in my desk chair and looked over at Zephyr. “Zeph, things are about to get boring. Are you sure you’re gonna stay?”
“Do you think I really want to go home right now?” Zephyr shot back, and I grimaced as the unwanted mental images of Zephyr’s parents returned.
“Oh, yeah, you can stay,” I replied quickly, shaking my head to get rid of the X-rated scene playing out in my mind against my will. “But don’t distract me because I really want to get this done.”
“No problem,” she stated, and she whipped out her iPhone. “I have Candy Crush to keep me entertained!”
“Okay,” I said, turning my attention away from the app-obsessed girl, “Let’s get this done.” I pulled up a Word document, and I grabbed the sheet of questions we had to answer out of my backpack.
“What’s the first question?” Parker asked, the tone of boredom already seeping into his voice.
“What is the full name of your egg?” I read out loud from the sheet as I placed my laptop on my lap.
“Benedict Cumberbatch Hadley-Hunt?” Parker suggested, and I grinned at the reference to one of my favorite British actors.
“I didn’t peg you as someone who watched Sherlock,” I said as typed the name down next to the question number. “I thought you were more one of those guys who watched cop shows.”
“Seriously, Reed?” Parker replied, raising an eyebrow. I shrugged, and Parker put his hand to his chest. “I am insulted that you would think I was into mindless shows like that.” There was a pause, and then he added, “But yeah, I sometimes do watch those cop shows, especially Animal Cops.”
I laughed and glanced up from the laptop screen to see that Parker was chuckling as well. He was also wrapped up in my comforter, which was a dark purple. That sight made me laugh harder.
So, for the next hour or so, Parker and I went through the questions on the sheet. Some of them were dumb, like when is our egg’s birthday and what were its favorite things. However, others required a lot of bullshitting on our part, as they were far too complicated to make much sense.
After I finished typing up the last question, Parker pushed himself off of my bed and yawned. “Where’s your bathroom?” he asked, pushing his unruly hair out of his eyes.
“Um,” my voice trailed off as I thought about where the bathroom was. Usually, I would just let Parker use mine, but I’d done laundry today, and there were underwear and bras hanging up all over it. “Down the hall to the left,” I said, hoping my directions were accurate.
“Thanks,” Parker said, and he disappeared through my bedroom door. As I saved the document to my computer and sent it to the printer, I couldn’t help but feel like someone was staring at me. I looked up, and sure enough, Zephyr was just sitting on the window seat, giving me an ambiguous look.
“What?” I demanded. Zephyr was looking at me like I’d grown a second head, and I had no idea why. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, but Zephyr’s expression didn’t change. “Zeph, stop looking at me like that!”
“You and Parker should date.”
“Wha—?” I couldn’t even finish my word I was so confused. I thought she was kidding, but Zephyr looked dead serious. “Why do you say that?” I asked in confusion.
“I’m not sure,” Zephyr admitted, “I just noticed the way he was looking at you, and—”
“Let me stop you right there,” I said, and I grabbed my boobs. “Zeph, I have boobies. Guys like boobies and looking at them. Thus, guys will look at my boobies. He wasn’t looking at me; he was looking at my boobs!”
Zephyr gave me a doubtful look, but she didn’t say anything else about Parker and me dating. “I’ll be right back,” I said, putting my laptop on my desk and standing up, “I have to grab our report from the printer.”
Zephyr waved dismissively, and I padded out of my bedroom and down the hall. I slipped down the stairs and walked into my mom’s office, where she kept the family printer. Thankfully, she wasn’t in there, so I just grabbed the document and stapled it together.
As I walked back towards the stairs, I thought about what Zephyr had said about Parker looking at me in some special way. Now, I’m a girl. I’m naturally inclined to read into these things, probably more than I should, but I just couldn’t see Parker looking at me like that.
Sure, we’d become sort of friends over the time we’d been fake dating, but I didn’t think he saw me as a possible real girlfriend. I wasn’t his type; needy, slutty girls who tanned way too much and wore enough makeup to resemble a clown.
I stepped up the stairs and started down the hallway towards my bedroom, but then I heard Parker’s voice mixed with Thomas’s. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, so I crept over to Thomas’s door and opened it slowly.
Parker and Thomas were sitting on the floor, intensely looking at a Gameboy DS in Thomas’s hands. Even Gus looked enthralled as he sat straight up in Thomas’s lap. They both looked completely captivated by whatever game they were playing, which was a mystery to me until Parker cried, “Hydro-pump, dude! Use hydro-pump! He’s a fire Pokémon!”
I cleared my throat loudly, and Parker’s head snapped up, whereas Thomas was still glued to his video game. “I thought you were going to the bathroom,” I said, folding my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow in amusement.
“I did,” Parker replied, “Reed, it takes a guy, like, two seconds to pee.”
“And then you just disappeared into my brother’s room to play Pokémon?” I asked, and Parker shrugged.
“I was walking back to your room when I heard someone yelling about how much fire Pokémon suck,” Parker explained, “and I walked in here to see Thomas was getting frustrated. You can’t just leave a fellow trainer to flounder!”
At the sound of his name, Thomas looked up, saw me, and grinned broadly. “Reed!” he cried, “Parker just helped me beat the fire gym leader! He’s beat the Elite Four almost as many times as you!”
“Wow,” I said, glancing at Parker, “That’s pretty cool, Squirt.”
“Almost as many times?” Parker echoed, looking at me questioningly. “How many times have you beaten the Elite Four?”
“Fifteen,” I replied casually, though I felt proud. Yes, I know I sounded like a nerd being proud of an achievement in Pokémon, but it was an impressive feat to me. Thomas thought it was the most amazing thing in the world, seeing as he’d been playing the same game for the past year and a half and hadn’t been able to beat all the gym leaders.
“I’m impressed,” Parker said, “I never had you pegged as a Pokémon master.”
“Well,” I stated, “Looks can be deceiving. “
“Yes,” Parker replied, giving me a weird look, “Yes, they can.”
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So what do you guys think of the chapter? Also, I would like to take a moment to point out that I play pokemon, and I have beaten the Elite Four close to ten times. Yeah, I'm proud of it.
The song on the side has been stuck in my head for the past couple of hours. I love Brandon Flowers, you guys. I would do... you know what, we don't need to talk about that... but yeah, he's just really attactive.
Also, I recently reached two landmarks. I have gotten 2000 votes on Stupid Cupid, and I've gotten 500 fans! So, I just wanted to take this time to thank all of you for supporting this story!!!
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