Landon
"No, Bates, hit him! Yes, keep punching him--just like that. You got it! What! No! It's okay, it's okay, Bates. Get free -- move out of his way! Hurry!" I tried to advice Bates as he fought against Connor in Mortal Kombat. But his characters health was running low and only two more hits would end up kill him and we'd lose, letting Connor win.
Connor sat on the couch, feet propped on the table, and his face set in concentration. Bates, on the other hand, was on the loveseat with my legs in his lap while he punched the buttons on the controller repeatedly.
Connor let out a whoop of victory when Bates player died. Bates looked over to me, to see if I was upset, but I wasn't because it was just a game and I didn't take them too seriously like some hard core gamers did. Bates apologized and I planted a kiss on his cheek, saying, "Shut up, you did good," and I wasn't lying. He actually did do a pretty good job for a teenage boy he didn't play a lot of video games, that is.
He did pretty good considering Connor's health was pretty far down and he would've died if it wasn't for the multiple hits Connor got in at the last few minutes.
"My turn against you, buddy," I arched an eyebrow at Connor and he only tossed popcorn at me in response. I sat up a little, but stayed close to Bates.
"Be prepared to go crying to your boyfriend," spoke Connor as he selected his player.
Connor and Bates got along pretty well. Connor would playfully tease Bates and I, about us dating, or when we did anything cute together.
I scoffed as I quickly selected my player and the game began to load. "You talk a lot of snack for such a narrow minded boy like you."
Connor threw a decorative pillow at me, causing my controller to fall out of my hands and about the time, the game loaded, and Connor began to hit me as much as possible, to make my health go down.
"That's not fair!" I yelled as I furiously punched the controllers buttons. "You're such a cheater!" My player did a special attack, causing his health to go down by a lot.
Playing games with Connor was really fun, especially when he got upset when he lost, which was always hilarious.
After a while, we ended up watching movies. Emmy got bored coloring and walked up to me and crawled into my lap. We watched the movie for a long time, and Emmy fell asleep on me. Bates smiled at the sight and kissed Emmy on the forehead and me on the nose.
•••
By the time dinner was done, we were all seated at the table, hungry, and ready for food. Bates was seated beside me, he was playing with my fingers absentmindedly. Once Emmy woke from her nap, she had helped Mandy cook dinner and Mandy didn't seem to mind her company.
Which was kind of a shock. Not because of Emmy, because she was such a sweet, cute little girl, but Mandy who seemed to have a small likings towards her. Mandy wasn't a little kid person, and she certainly didn't like me, but she liked her own son, husband, and now Emmy.
"Here you go," Emmy said as she cautiously put down the warm plate of spaghetti in front of me.
"Thanks, Emmy," I smiled, tickling her sides, she giggled before going and getting another plate for her brother and Connor. My dad arrived just as all the plates were filled and we began eating. He fixed himself a plate and sat down.
"How was everyone's day?"
"Good," we all said together.
My dad smiled at us. He looked at Connor, who was in front of Mandy. I was in the middle of Connor and Bates while Emmy sat beside Mandy. "That's good. Today was busy for me and there's a chance I'll be getting a promotion."
Mandy's fork dropped on her plate and she looked up and smiled. Her smile wasn't meant to be mean, or cruel, or anything like she does to me. But it was happy and she looked proud.
It kinda made me wanna throw up.
Connor, Mandy, and my dad all discussed the details while Bates and I talked quietly.
"I should probably be heading back..." Bates said lowly.
I frowned. "To your house?" He nodded. "But I don't want you to go," I told him honestly. "I was kinda already getting used to you being here."
"Yeah, for a day," he laughed a little, but when he saw I was serious and wasn't laughing, he stopped. "It's not like I don't wanna stay here, because I do," he smiled at me and my throat kinda closed up at how beautiful he looks, "But this isn't my house and I don't want to over stay my welcome."
I started biting my lip. "Yeah, true," I said and looked over at all of them who were in a deep discussion, not paying attention to us. Emmy was still eating her food and singing to herself. "Can you just stay for, like, an hour longer?"
He smiled again, making me suck in a deep breath. "Okay." He said. "What are we going to do in this hour?"
"Hmm," I thought for a moment, looking away, but I could still feel his eyes on me. "We could go get on Netflix and watch American Horror Story."
"Where at?"
"Either the living room or my room."
"Your room," he answered.
"What about Emmy?" I asked, looking over at her once again.
"She can color. Mandy gave her some coloring book and crayons. Plus, if she gets bored we could put on a carton for her while she colors in the living room." Bates said.
We got up from our seats and went towards the steps. My dad, hearing us, stopped talking about the promotion and looked at us. "Where are you two going?"
"We're going to watch American Horror Story." I told him. He nodded and we went upstairs. Just as I went to close the door, I heard him yell, "Keep the door open!" I looked over at Bates who was laughing at my dad and I rolled my eyes and kept it open.
He stretched out on my bed, smiling. He had borrowed some of Connor's clothes for school today and they fit him pretty well, since both him and Connor were almost the same height. He was wearing a plain black shirt and dark jeans with his Converse. Except he wasn't wearing the shoes anymore, he only had his socks on right now.
"Scoot over, you bed hog," I grumbled at him after I got on Netflix and selected the show. We had the fan on in my room and I wasn't so warm in my pajama shorts and t-shirt. He scooted over and I curled up under the blankets.
"Are you cold?" Bates asked me.
"Yeah," I said half distractedly. I was too focused on the show. Suddenly his arms wrapped around me, surrounding me in the warmth.
"You truly are my personal heater," I noted with a straight face, but when he looked over at me, a smile broke out on my face. We hadn't talked about his mom or my biological mom, and I don't think we needed to. We got it both off our chests and that was that. Done.
My phone rang from across the room once we got halfway through the second episode. I groaned, but didn't move. My phone still ringing, Bates looked at me at me and said, "You should probably answer that."
"I don't wanna," I groaned. "I'm so warm here." Nonetheless, I answered it anyways. It was Alice and she sounded excited.
"Hey!"
"Hey Alice," I greeted as I climbed back on my bed. Bates paused the show and began to poke my knee repeatedly.
"What's up?"
"Just watching American Horror Story," I shot Bates a glare, telling him to stop poking me because it was starting to get annoying.
"Where's Connor and your parents? I meant, your dad and step mom -- sorry."
"It's fine," I replied. "And they are probably downstairs still."
"Hey -- So do you know when I can come over?" She asked me curiously. About that time, Bates squeezed right above my knee -- a tickle spot of mine that made me laugh like crazy, and I yelped and jumped.
"What was that?" asked Alice loudly.
"Uh, me," I said as I began to smack Bates who was chuckling as he dodged my hits. "Sorry. And, uh, probably this weekend -- if your parents will let you."
"Landon, is someone else at your house right now?"
"Connor?"
"No, someone else." She said. "I can hear you smacking them and them laughing."
"Oh," I stopped hitting Bates and he kept shiedling himself as if I'd hit him again. And if I wasn't on the phone with Alice, I wouldn't have stopped hitting him so he was smart to do that. "Yeah, Bates is."
"Oh," said Alice, being quiet for a moment. "I didn't mean to interrupt you two, sorry. We can just talk about this tomorrow."
"Are you sure?" I asked her.
"Yeah," she said.
And after I hung up, I glared at Bates. "Why did you do that?"
Bates, attempting to look innocent but knowing good and well what he was guilty of, held his arms up. "What did I do?"
I tried to be mad at him, but couldn't be too mad. Because that was hard to be furious with him with Bates looking at me like that. "Oh, you know what you did," and I said it softly, not being able to act so mad anymore.
"Well, I'm sorry," he said, adding, "for whatever I done." He knew exactly what he did, but would always tease me until the end, it seemed.
"You should be," I sassed and then he pressed play and we started watching where we left off. We got about maybe three or four minutes into it when my dad yelled for us to come downstairs.
So we did. And my dad asked if Bates was going home today -- and Bates, keeping his word like always, said yes and we ended up driving him and his sister home. Emmy started sniffling once we pulled up to their house, her resting her head on my arm. "It's okay," I soothed somewhat distractedly, it was the first time seeing his house. "I'll see you soon, alright?"
Emmy looked up at me with a hopeful expression, "Can I stay at your house soon?"
I smiled down at her, "Absolutely."
"Yay! Can it be just you and me? 'Cause Bates keeps you all to himself," she did this half pout half smile thing that made me laugh. Bates, who was listening in on the conversation, laughed also, but quietly.
"Well, if you ever need anything else, like a place to stay, or something..." said my dad with a tad bit of awkwardness in his tone. He liked Bates a little more, once he got to see how good of a guy he truly was and all.
"Yeah, I know," smiled Bates and he climbed out of the car, turning back to look at him. "Thank you for letting us stay, once again. It means a -"
He held up a hand to silence him, "I know, bud. You be careful now, okay?"
"Bye Landon's dad!" yelled Emmy as she hopped out of the car and grabbed Bates hand.
"Is it okay if I go and walk them?" I hurriedly asked. Dad nodded, telling me not to take too long because he had work and I had school. So I walked them up to their house. It was a small house with a small lawn, but I didn't care. On the outside, it looked nice and full of love and life. But from what Bates had told me, it wasn't like that on the inside. That's the thing about houses, you never know what goes on in the inside.
Bates slowly knocked on the door. Someone answered rather quickly. A women dressed in a big t-shirt and shorts stood there. Her light brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun. She has bags under her eyes, looking tired, and from here I could smell what smelled like alcohol. She scowled at her two kids.
"Where have you all been?!? Ugh, you two-" she turned and saw me standing there silently. When we met eyes, her lips instantly formed into a fake smile. "Oh, hello! Bates didn't tell me he was bringing friends over. It's so nice to meet you. What's your name, sweetheart?" She went from sour to sweet in a matter of seconds.
If she was a candy she'd be a sour patch. I cleared away the thoughts of candy and instead smiled at her. "I'm Landon."
"Oh, would you like to come in? Maybe have some dinner -- actually, I was making dinner right now for my boyfriend and I-"
"Andrew is here?" snarled Bates. Emmy was behind Bates, looking scared. I frowned slightly at that. Was she scared?
Their mom's smile faltered. "Uhm, yes...He's my boyfriend. Of course, he'd be here!" She then looked back at me, seeming a bit embarrassed, she opened the door wider. "Why don't you come inside?"
"Her dad's waiting in the car," Bates said irritably.
"Ok," she pulled another overly fake smile. "Well, it was nice meeting you! I really hope to see you again, darling. I'd love to get to know you."
"What's goin' on?" yelled a deep, rough voice from inside. It was Andrew. "Why are you at the door, baby? Hurry up, I'm hungry!" Andrew appeared at the door, beside his girlfriend. "Well, would you look at that? The lost strays came home!" He smiled, showing off his yellow teeth and looked over at me. "Hi there, sweetums. Who's this?" I didn't really like the way he stared at me for too long. I could just be paranoid since I know that he and Bates mom locked them out of the house. So I didn't have much to worry about.
"Landon," said Bates and Emmy's mom. "She's a pretty thing, isn't she?"
"Mhm, she really is," said Andrew.
"Okay, time to go, Landon," Bates said sternly and ushered me to my dad's car. My dad was on his phone, not really paying attention to the scene on the steps while the whole thing played out not far away.
"See you tomorrow," he said before I began walking to the car. Then I stopped when I felt a tug at my sleeve. It was Emmy, her arms open for a hug. I hugged her tightly, trying to tell her that she's safe and loved.
"Bye Landon!" yelled Emmy right before Andrew shut the front door tightly.
•••
Connor left the next day. Which was sad because he was fun to be around, but he had to go back. And it was luckily Friday so I had a long weekend full of sleep ahead for me.
As I was seated in my room, reading and listening to music, my phone vibrated beside my book. I got a text from Alice.
Alice: The J's all want to do something tonight. You and Bates in?
I typed a quick reply to Bates to see if he was free and he texted back saying he was and he'd be over soon.
Me: Yeah where do you all want to meet at??
Alice texted back saying to all meet up at Jonas's house and Jessie would come pick us up. I changed into a black long sleeve with a pair of skinny jeans and slip ons. I brushed my hair and kept it down.
Bates arrived soon and we waited for Jessie to arrive.
Mandy was on her phone, scrolling through Instagram endlessly with a bored expression. She looked up and met eyes with me, "So where are you guys going?"
"To hang with Alice and the J's."
"The J's?" asked Mandy, scrunching up her thin pointy nose.
"Jonas and Jessie," I said and a horn honked outside. "That's them! Bye!" Alice was sitting in the passenger seat, smiling at us as we climbed in. Jessie greeted us then made sure all of us were buckled up before driving off.
"So what will be doing?" Bates asked as we held hands, our joined hands in his lap.
"I dunno," Jessie shrugged his shoulders, "It's Jones so probably something interesting."
"Probably," we all agreed with a smile.
•••
"Finally you have all arrived," yelled Jonas once we knocked on the door, him answering like he was already at the door. And he probably was. His house was really nice. It wasn't some big fancy house. In fact, it was a good size and looked really cozy.
"So what are we planning on doing, man?" Jessie asked as we all walked in and towards the living room. There was pop corn, chips, soda, energy drinks (lots of them), dip for the chips, Oreo cookies, and some sandwiches.
"Jonas, please don't say you are not throwing a party,"
He rolled his eyes. "Not for other people. But for us? Yes!" He happily clapped and went and started to open a energy drink.
"Wait," Jessie said as he watched Jonas take a long gulp of energy drink, "you're drinking a energy drink, Jonas!"
He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, shrugging, "Shush, I know. Tonight is an exception!"
"Where is your parents?" asks Alice.
"They went on some cruise for three days," he beamed. Then frowned. "I couldn't go because it was for them -- their own little getaway. So whatever. I get to hang with my friends!"
"Oh, what friends?" joked Jessie. "You don't have any friends!"
Glaring, Jonas stalked over to Jessie. And they started wresting, both their chuckles filling the air. Alice rolled her blue eyes. "I'm kinda in the mood for some pizza, where's Jonas's phone?"
Laughing mischievously as she spotted the phone on the table, Alice picked up his phone and called a place to get some pizza.
"Okay, okay!" yelled Jessie with a chuckle, "I'm done wrestling with you."
Jonas stopped, smirking, and said, "Ooh, you just don't wanna lose," he strolled in the living room where we were now seated.
"Who was on my phone?" Jonas asked, looking at his phone that was set on the table.
"How'd you know someone was on it?" Alice blurted, surprised.
"Because my phone was on the other side of the table, not this side. So what did you guys do to my phone?"
"Ordered pizza," Bates said.
Instead of getting mad, Jonas only smiled, and said, "This is my kinda friends."