Chapter 32
I placed the phone to my ear, dialing Emilia’s number. After a few rings, she picked up. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Would you mind me, uhm, coming over?” I asked her.
“Sure! You want to spend the night?” Her voice was perky. I bit my lip.
“Yeah, if it’s all right with you.” I replied, starting to pack a bag.
“If it wasn’t, would I offer?” Emilia laughed and I smiled.
“I’ll be there in 20.” I told her before hanging up. After packing clothes, my phone charger, and my bucket list, I walked downstairs with Blake in my hands along with my bag over my shoulder.
“I’m spending the night at a friend’s, can you watch Blake?” I asked my Aunt. She shrugged, taking the small dog in her hands and cooing. He just stared at her with a stupid expression on his face, it was adorable.
“Who’s house?” She asked me, petting the small dog before looking up at me.
“Emilia’s house.” I told her and she raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know her.”
“Okay. Call when you get there, love you!” My Aunt said as I walked towards the door. I got into my car and drove off to Emilia’s.
When I walked up the stairs to the house, Emilia was already on the porch. She had her phone in her hands and was sitting on the swinging seat. She had her hand on the spoon sitting in her mouth while her other hand was scrolling on her phone. A pale of ice cream was sitting in her lap. Her eyes looked up when she heard my footsteps. “Fiona!” It sounded a lot like ‘Pee-own-uh’ but I caught the drift.
The spoon fell from her mouth and I laughed while she frowned at it. She walked over to me and encased me in a hug before opening the door for me. “My dogs are away.” She warned me and I sighed in relief.
“Can I take a shower?” I asked her and she nodded.
“I’m going to get a selection of movies while you’re in there. Don’t take too long.” I took my bag with me towards the bathroom she pointed at.
___
I quickly got dressed in my ducky pajamas. Stupid me, I packed the most idiotic pajamas that I own. Well, it was only Emilia.
I entered the living room while I shook my head, my hair was damp. “Hey!” A male voice announced. My eyes darted up.
“Hey, Trent.” I smiled. Wasn’t this awkward? I was spending the night at my best friend’s crushes house? Well, not for him but for his sister.
“What’re you doing here?” He asked with a smile. “Not that I don’t want you here, it’s just… you understand what I’m saying, right?”
“Yeah, I’m spending the night with Emilia.” I replied and he nodded, kicking back on the couch. I dropped my bag. His eyes widened suddenly.
“I let the dogs out.” He exclaimed. Though it seemed that he was quoting a song, he was talking about his two dogs that were only fond of people that they knew. I nearly superman punched through the ceiling and onto the roof when he said that. “I’m joking; you should have seen your face. I haven’t seen pure terror like that since I pushed Logan off of the roof!”
“You pushed Logan off of a roof?” I asked, my mouth widening in shock.
“Yeah. There was a trampoline at the bottom so I was safe, scared, but safe.” A different voice replied. I turned to see Logan stuffing his face with Emilia’s popcorn. Where had that girl gone? I walked over and sat on a separate sofa.
“Do you know what we should do?” Trent piped in. We turned our attention towards him. “We should invite Adrian over, right, Logan?”
“NO!” I sounded like an old man when the words escaped my mouth. I came here to get away from him. “Maybe we should invite Jessie, huh?”
“I’m perfectly fine with that.” Trent smiled smugly. I stuttered over my words. Did this mean that he likes Jessie? Wait until she finds out! She’s going to be so happy! “Not that I’d, y’know, sleep with her but it’d be fun to have her around.” Trent blushed.
“You’re very open about your crushes, Trent.” Logan announced, kicking back on the sofa. “Fiona, why the sudden hostility against Adrian? I swear you seemed so… flirtatious around him before?” Logan wriggled his eyebrows and I felt my face warm up.
“I’m not hostile against Adrian and I was never flirtatious!” I snapped at Logan.
“Are you hostile with me for bringing up your hostility against Adrian?” Logan continued. I didn’t know he had such words in his vocabulary. “Or are you hostile with me for bringing up your flirtatiousness when you’re around Adrian?”
I nearly growled and dug a hole in the floor when the words escaped his mouth. Thankfully, Emilia came to my rescue. “Okay, okay, leave Fiona alone.”
“When she admits to her sudden flirtatiousness when she’s around Adrian.” Logan replied, smirking as he finished off Emilia’s popcorn. She was already prepared with a new bowl of the buttery goodness in her hands.
Emilia distracted him with a quick kiss to the mouth in which Trent groaned, placing his hands over his eyes. “I may be okay with you two dating, but I don’t like seeing you kiss.”
“You’re out of luck.” Emilia replied, sticking her tongue out at her brother. He just rolled his eyes at her immaturity. I, on the other hand, thought that was adorable and cooed.
“That’s adorable.” I smiled and Trent glared at me.
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“I’ll get Adrian to come over.”
“No you won’t.”
“I so will.”
“I’ll choke slam you.” I threatened.
“This isn’t WWE.”
“I can change that.”
“I know something they don’t know.” Adrian challenged in a sing song voice.
“What?” Emilia replied, listening intently to our conversation while Logan sat upside down on the couch beside her.
“I just know that Fiona-.” I threw a pillow at him and it hit him in the face.
“You don’t trust me, Fiona?” Emilia frowned. I shook my head.
“I trust you; it’s him I don’t trust.” I replied, pointing to the boy sitting upside down.
“I can keep a secret. I promise.” Before I could reply to this, Trent was already shouting it.
“SHE LIKES ADRIAN!” Logan tried to sit up and ended up whacking his head on the table and Emilia smiled creepily at me.
“You’re such a jerk, Trent.” I spat in Trent’s direction. He just smiled innocently at me. Okay, maybe he wasn’t as innocent as I thought he was before. That’s why Jessie likes him.
“I knew it!” Logan and Emilia shouted in unison.
“What?” I furrowed my eyebrows. Was I that obvious?
"I’m so right!” Logan jumped up, dancing in circles despite his, possible, minor concussion he’d earned moments ago. “I knew it!”
“It wasn’t that hard to guess, she made it really obvious.” Emilia replied to the boy dancing in front of her. My face was bright red as I furrowed my eyebrows deeper.
“I did?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, but I’m sure Adrian doesn’t know, he’s really dense if you haven’t noticed.” Emilia replied with a smile.
“I don’t like him anymore, anyway.” I informed mainly Emilia.
“Well, I’ll go tell Adrian that you did like him.” Trent replied, standing up and placing his keys into his pocket. I dived onto the carpeted floor and grabbed his ankle.
“NO!” I shouted once more, latching my arms around his ankle. Red faced and covered in ducky pajamas, I was holding onto a cute boy’s leg, not any cute boy, but my best friend’s crush.
“I thought you said you were over him.” Trent looked down at me.
“I smell a lie!” Logan sniffed the air. I buried my face into the carpet.
I let out a sigh, they already knew about my crush. I might as well explain my reason of trying to deny it to them. “I have no chance.” I mumbled into the carpet, still holding onto Trent’s leg.
Trent’s leg vibrated and I looked up at him. He casually took his phone out of his pocket and skimmed the text before looking down at me. “Who’s Blake?”
“Why do you ask?” I replied, looking up at him.
“I got a text a few hours ago from Adrian saying; ‘First Isaac, Now Blake.’ And then I got another text that says; ‘Cross off Blake, he’s just a fat guinea pig.’” Confusion crossed everyone’s face while I laughed.
I let go of Trent’s leg and shook hysterically with laughter. I was rolling on their super soft carpet laughing loudly. Logan calmly walked over and kicked my leg. I stared up at him while laughing. “Are you on drugs?”
His question caused me to laugh even more. When I caught my breath, I sat up and looked at them. “Blake is my mini Pomeranian, not a fat guinea pig or a hot guy.” Emilia laughed just as hard as I did while Trent shook his head sadly and Logan danced to my ringtone.
Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I’m homebound.
I walked over to my bag, still chuckling lightly before digging around and looking at my caller idea. “Hey, Jess.” I smiled, standing up. Trent’s eyes darted to me, how sweet.
“How’s it going?” Jessie asked me, her voice calm. I knew she was hiding something. I smiled.
“Good, I’m at Emilia’s, what about you?” I asked and she let out a loud squeal. Logan even winced. I yanked the phone away from my ear.
“You’re at Emilia’s?” She asked me.
“Yeah.” I replied, shifting my weight onto my other leg.
“You’ll never believe this! Today, I hung out with-.” She began to speak but I cut her off, not wanting her to say her business while Trent was in the room. It was most likely about him.
“Jessie, lower your voice, people are here.” I told her and she giggled. “To a whisper, at least.” I told her when Trent casually walked closer to me. I took a few steps back.
“He’s in the room? Okay, well today, I hung out with Trent. Can you believe it? He just asked me. We saw a movie and we ate! I’m so happy!” She explained in a whisper. I smiled goofily for her. I loved seeing my best friend happy… or hearing her happy.
“I’m sure you are. What’d you see?” I asked her, trying to be quiet. I looked over at Logan to see him confused and Emilia was smirking at Trent who was smiling quietly.
“I don’t really know; we got kicked out halfway through for laughing too loud. I think it might have been a horror movie because nobody else was laughing. I spent most of my time, when we weren’t laughing, just staring at him. He’s so adorable, Fi.” Jessie explained and I smiled, giggling. “I wish I knew if he liked me, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, don’t you think?”
“It would be easier to know, wouldn’t it?” I asked, staring straight at Trent. He stared at me for a moment before a slow smile crept across his face.
“One second, I’m getting another call.” Jessie clicked over and I heard Trent start to talk.
“Hey, Jessie.” I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me next Saturday night.”
He waited a minute to reply. “You have to discuss with your consultant?” I heard Jessie’s voice enter my phone.
She screeched and I tossed my phone onto the ground from instinct. I quickly picked it up. “Thank you! He just called me!”
“I know. We are in the same room, you know?” I replied with a smile.
“I’ll be right back.” Jessie clicked over again.
I looked at Trent and he smiled. “Yeah?”
Of course she’s going to say ‘yes’ you idiot, do you think she was screaming in my ear because her cardboard box just gave birth?
“Okay, I’ll see you then.” Trent stated, hanging up the phone. He slowly sat down, a smile on his face.
“Don’t hurt her.” Emilia and I said in unison. We looked at each other briefly.
“I won’t, calm down.” Trent replied. I looked at Logan who was practicing his Macarena in the corner of the room. “Now, Fiona, to make up for what you did.” Trent said, switching on his phone. I dived towards him and snatched it out of his hand, backing away slowly with the sleek phone in a tight grip.
“It’s not the same. We aren’t on good terms. And even if we were on good terms, rejection hurts.” I replied, shaking my head. He furrowed his eyebrows, taking a step closer and reaching for his phone. “Don’t do anything.”
“I won’t, calm down. I’ll let you work your problems out like adults.” He sighed, taking his phone back from me and slowly putting it into his pocket before holding his hands up.
The four of us watched a few movies before Emilia and I headed upstairs. We talked in her room for an hour before I started dozing off and headed for the guest room. I stared up at the ceiling. If only me and Adrian’s problems were as easy as Trent and Jessie’s.
__
“I’m going to go home, Em.” I announced, grabbing my bag as Emilia started getting ready. She had a date with Logan today. She nodded. I had helped her get ready.
“Text me later, bye; love you!” She called. I laughed before exiting the house. I looked at the familiar Camaro that Trent was leaning against. Adrian must’ve said something because Trent turned and smiled at me, it wasn’t kind, it was more like a devious smirk.
“Leaving already?” He called out. I nodded, quickly walking towards my car. When I arrived home, I went inside and decided to walk Blake. I hooked him up to a small leash and exited the house.
I walked down the street, stopping at a small park on the corner. I saw Mattie swinging on the swing and Denise was sitting on the swing beside him. They were laughing and obviously having a good time. Mattie saw me and waved me over.
“What’s that?” Mattie asked when he saw Blake.
“His name is Blake, he’s a mini Pomeranian.” I told him.
“I want one, mom!”
“You’d probably step on the poor animal.” Denise laughed, smiling at Blake.
“Fi-Fi, do you want to help paint my room?” Mattie asked me, his eyes wide and innocent. “It’s going to be blue! Mommy bought me all new furniture and toy bins! It’s going to be so much fun! Do you want to help paint it?”
“You don’t have to, honestly.” Denise piped in and I shook my head.
“No, I’d love to! If it’s okay with you Denise, I love painting.” I smiled and she nodded.
“It’s perfectly fine with me.” Denise smiled before her cell phone started to ring. She picked it up and apologized before walking over towards the slide.
“It’s going to be so nice, Fi-Fi! You’re going to be helping, too! So it’ll be extra pretty! Just like you!” Mattie smiled at me and I smiled widely at him.
“Awe, thank you Mattie.” I hugged him and he started to blush.
“I was just being honest! We’re going to start painting it this Friday! Mommy’s taking me to get the paint tomorrow after school!” Mattie explained, jumping up and down in excitement.
“Really? Is blue your favorite color?” I asked him. While Mattie was explaining to me what his favorite color was, I heard the gravel crunching from behind me. I turned around to see Adrian standing there, his hood over his head and his brown hair covering his eyes as he stared at the ground. I smiled down at Mattie and let him finish his sentence.
“I’ve got to go, Mattie. I’ll see you later.” I told him and he nodded his head, reaching his arms out and hugging my torso. I hugged him back before walking past Adrian silently with Blake in my hands.
I went inside and let the poor dog eat and drink water before I ran upstairs. I unpacked my bag from Emilia’s and eagerly filled out my bucket list, smiling as I raked my eyes up and down the page.
Bucket List
1. Go on a real first date (with someone I actually like) for a picnic, I like picnics. (Where I'm asked.)
2. Get kicked out of a store, one I don’t go to because they might ban me and I can’t have that. (With Adrian.)
3. Skip school for a day and go out, not stay home. (With Adrian.)
4. Go on a rollercoaster at an amusement park, one that my instinct says ‘No’ to. (With Adrian.)
5. Dye my hair a crazy color, for example; dying the tips red or blue. Or maybe even a streak. (Or two.) (With Jessie.)
6. Dance in the rain with someone, hopefully a guy… who has abs, and happens to be shirtless but I’ll settle for Jessie if I have to. (With Adrian.)
7. Go to a drive in movie. I think this is pretty self-explanatory.
8. Throw a drink in someone’s face because they’re a jerk. (With Ethan)
9. Pull an all-nighter and watch the sun rise on the roof, it seems fun. (With Adrian.)
10. Carve my name into a tree and hopefully it’ll stay there.
11. Go laser tagging, it seems amazing; lasers and tag. (With Jessie, Trent, and Adrian.)
12. Have a paint fight… an accidental one.
13. Go through a drive through on foot, it’ll tick off the worker and it’ll be fun! (With Adrian.)
14. Have a nerf gun fight, if I can get my hands on some. (With Adrian.)
15. Jump into a pool with all of my clothes on, or maybe get pushed. Ha, kidding. (With Adrian.)
16. Play Hide n Seek at midnight, its dark and fun. You have to play it with people you know though; you can’t play with an ex-convict because they can shank you. (With Emilia, Trent, Logan, Jessie, Adrian.)
17. Have a shopping cart race at Wal-Mart or any other large department store. (With Adrian, Jessie, Trent.)
18. Go swimming at Midnight, it sounds adventurous and dangerous. (With Emilia, Trent, Logan, Jessie, Adrian.)
19. Buy white Converse and have people sign them, hopefully there isn’t anything bad on it, though. I may want to wear them to school.
20. Go to the Zoo, I’ve never been there and I really want to go. (With Adrian.)
21. Take pictures in a photo booth with either a guy that I like or a friend, it seems fun. (With Adrian.)
22. Play Hide N Seek in a store. If you get caught by a store clerk, pull a Velma. ‘My glasses, I can’t see without my glasses.’
23. Have a scary movie marathon. (With Adrian, Jessie, Trent.)
24. Have boys vs. girl’s water balloon fight… probably won’t happen. But one can dream, right?
25. Have someone win me a giant stuffed animal. And again, one can dream, right? (With Adrian.)
26. Get a boyfriend… and I repeat, one can dream!