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boyfriend material
Ever since I spent my free time with Justine, everything's sugar and spice and everything nice.
She surprised the whole school when she started playing badminton regularly. They were even more surprised when she actually played with people "below her status," also known as, well, underclassmen.
Of course, this infuriated the girls in her clique, especially Iris. She tried talking her out of it, saying it was "disgusting to sweat so much," but Justine waved them off. She even gaped at her when Justine sat with kids we like to know as full-on geeks. Luckily Yolanda was there to catch her faint. And that was before Justine pulled her hamburger out.
I'm so proud of her. Like a mother who's cheering for her baby. Trey's been so supportive of her, and he's never pressured her into anything she doesn't like. Boyfriend material right there.
Almost-there boyfriend material.
It's 5:30 pm on a Friday night when Justine calls me. I give Penelope the TV remote and prop my legs on the table, watching as the screen flashes from Criminal Minds to Girl Meets World.
"Wassup?"
"Hey." Her voice is light. "There's a party I'm suppose to go tonight, but I'm feeling really lazy. Wanna come over and watch Netflix instead?"
Despite knowing the real Justine, I still have to get the whole popular-party-girl image out of my head. Justine and I are more alike than I thought, actually. Not conforming to categories that society gives us.
I grin. "Sounds rad. Popcorn?"
"Plus soda," she chirps. "And maybe energy drinks for Jude."
Jude. Her twin brother. Who lives with her. "Right."
It's not like I've been actively avoiding him. I'm just keeping it low. A safe distance. I'm still polite to him and he's still rudely polite to me. He doesn't grill me about the weird behaviour, maybe because he doesn't pay attention as much. Thankfully.
I'm about to turn off my phone when she adds, "Bring Trey, too."
I laugh. "Did you even have to ask?"
***
"Dad!" I call. "I'm going!"
I grab my bag and cross the living room, ruffling Penny's hair. She squirms away from me but gives me a half-hearted hug around my legs. Dad comes down from the stairs, eyes with dark circles and his hair untidy. Mom usually arrives home late so I texted her earlier.
"You can take my car," he says.
"No need. Trey's picking me up."
At the mention of my friend, Penny's ears perk up. She swivels from her seat at me. "Oooo, Addie's got a date with the pretty boy!"
Dad raises his eyebrows. "Pretty boy?"
I sigh. "It's not a date. We're heading to Justine's later and we're going to watch movies. Is that okay?"
Penny looks disappointed and goes back to her TV. Dad, meanwhile, is very relieved. "Sure it is, hon. Don't forget to give that pretty boy of yours a gnome to show him how generous our family is."
"That would likely scare him."
"Then any boy who is scared of my gnomes is no match for my daughter." He winks, and shoos me like a king would to a servant. "Off you go, chop chop."
When I'm out and walking down the porch, Trey is leaning against his silver Maserati, wearing a blue crew neck sweater with the sleeves rolled up. His long lashes flutter, and at this moment, he looks awfully, and effortlessly, gorgeous.
I blush and I hope he doesn't notice me staring like some kind of Peeping Tom. But he does lift his head up, but not to observe me, no — to observe the gnomes.
He looks at me and does the infamous eyebrow-arch.
"My dad loves gnomes," I say. He nods as if that's explained all the world's answers.
During the ride we, like always, talk about all kinds of different topics; one in particular, the new Apple Watch that's coming out. I'm excited as hell, but Trey is unfazed. He says it's going to trend for a couple of years — or maybe months — before Apple releases yet another product, and have that overrule it. It's a good point that makes me feel dumb.
When we arrive, I'm caught off guard as to how normal the Reynolds' house seems to be. The twins' undeniably good genes, talents and a knack for popularity gave me pretty high expectations.
But apparently it's just them that's every bit of extraordinary.
"Hi, guys!" Justine sings. "Come in, come in."
She escorts us quickly through the living room and down a flight of stairs. There's a basement, but it's dark if not for the fluorescent lights and the giant projector screen.
"Voilà! Welcome to our fabulous home theatre, sponsored by the Reynolds family." Justine grins at both of us. Okay, maybe they're a little loaded. "Trey, you can stay here and help me set up the projector. Addie, can you go upstairs and get the snacks for us?"
Um. "Sure." Trust a girl in a home she's never been to before.
The floor upstairs is completely empty, so their parents must be out tonight. The kitchen is not totally vacant, though. Bags of tortilla chips, popcorn, gummy bears and soda bottles are stacked messily, and before I can make sense of it, a figure pops up from below the counter.
"God!" I let out, clutching my chest. "Don't jump at me like that!"
Jude only glares at me, swinging a towel on his shoulder. It has a stain on it. "My sincere fucking apologies."
"Very sincere," I mutter. My eyes turn their laser-focus to the snacks only, but I make the most horrible mistake out of all Horrible Mistakes possible. I step on the stained floor Jude must've been wiping and my feet slips like I'm iceskating (note: I'm very bad) until my flailing arms get ahold of something.
But once I raise my head, I pale. I'm holding on to Jude.
I'm in his arms.
"Keep holding on, Hale," he teases.
I'm gripping his biceps, and he's gripping my elbows, and his skin is warm, electric, against mine. I am so close to him I can feel his breath on my cheek. The way his chest moves rapidly with his pounding heartbeat. The feel of our bodies only inches away makes me dazy. I don't meet his eyes but I can feel the way his burn through mine.
I want to move but I can't. Or won't. It's when Jude begins brushing his thumb against my arms that I wake up.
I pull myself away. "I'm glad I amuse you," I try to say casually, but my shaking voice slips through. I clear my throat.
He's looking at me with an expression I can't place.
***
"AH!" Justine screams, covering herself with a blanket.
Trey laughs and soothes her blonde head. She squirms closer to him.
The screen blares with The Blair Witch Project, which is this found-footage style film made back in 1999. It's about a group of friends who explore the woods to try to find this witch, and along the movie, she plays with them and kills them one by one.
I made a brilliant film choice.
A scary scene pops up, and to top it all off, the screen actually glitches. I'm being honest when I say my heart is beating twice as hard.
"Fucking fantastic," Jude mutters.
"What's going on!" Justine blurts out. She crawls and rushes to the machine, fumbling with the buttons, and Trey joins her quietly, soothing her already stricken state. I giggle at her reaction.
When the glitches stop, Justine sits on my other side and pushes me to the middle.
"Hey," I frown. "This is my spot."
"And this is my house," she argues back. "Now scoot, Addie!"
By pushing me to the middle, she's inevitably drawing me closer to Jude. When she's satisfied with the distance, she grins and plops back against Trey, who's holding her close, slinging his arm around her blanket-covered body. I have to get used to them like this.
But my focus is elsewhere. I'm too aware of Jude next to me. The strain in his muscles, his steady breathing, the sheer masculinity radiating off of him — how can one presence undo me?
The scene we're waiting for comes on. One guy from the friend group faces a wall, and the girl holding the camera cries out to him, but he never moves. The air is thick with tension. Justine buries her head in Trey's chest. Trey is looking at the scene like he's about to do a deconstruction for Mrs. Clarke's class.
My eyes stay open the whole time. I'm scared as hell, but I want to see how far I can go. I want to laugh. I'm even competitive with myself.
Justine screams, and even Trey looks away for a bit, but I keep my stance. Jude's deep voice comes from my right.
"Just wait for it..." I hear him whisper low, close to my ear. I shiver, but not from the film.
Then the camera drops wildly to the ground, the sound blaring and booming. I scream, and Jude throws his head back, laughing like a hyena. Actually, that's a lie — his laugh is loud but it's filled with happiness, and it's pleasant to hear. But when I screamed, I also jumped back... to him. Both his palms were behind him, and my back collided with his arm. But because he's fit as hell, he kept me from falling.
It doesn't stop me from hitting his shoulder, though.
"Ouch," he mocks me. "That fucking hurts."
I stick out my tongue at him.
He raises an eyebrow. "What are you, eight?"
"Seven, actually."
Jude grins, and I know it's a mischievous one. Because he draws his arm back, and I still stumble back in embarrassment.
"Cheater!" I cry. I push him roughly on the shoulder again, but he doesn't move a freakin' inch. He smirks at me, and when I push him harder, he grabs my wrists, and a second later we're wrestling. I push him to the ground, thinking for a second that maybe I'm stronger than Jude Reynolds. I secure his wrists by pinning them on each side of his head. He's most likely letting me do it. Because he's grinning like crazy.
"I win," I say breathlessly, looking down at him.
"You win," he whispers, out of breath too.
On the other side, Trey clears his throat. We both turn to him, and he gestures to us with his fingers.
"You're in a compromising position," he states. "In case you didn't notice."
I look back at the body under me. Somehow, one of my knees rests between his legs, and the other cages him on the side. My torso aligns with his, and every other body part possible.
I scramble back and drop to my butt. Justine gives me a knowing smile.
Jude groggily sits back up, ruffling his already messy hair. He rolls his eyes at us. "It's no big fucking deal," he mutters. And he turns directly to Trey. "I'm sure you've been in a compromising position before, Gonzalez. Or compromising positions."
Oh my God. My head snaps to Justine. She has an unreadable expression, and as if he senses it, Trey glances at her, too. She's still tucked around him, but he looks outright awkward for once. "As a matter of fact, I have. But don't act like you haven't."
"I didn't fucking deny it, did I?" But he doesn't look at me, and I'm glad he doesn't.
Then a crash erupts from upstairs. We all freeze.
"Fuck," Jude curses.
"Please tell me I just imagined that," Justine chokes out.
Trey turns to her. "If I did, then it would be a lie." We inspect the ceiling again, waiting for the noise. Nothing comes. "It sounded like broken glass."
"It's the Blair Witch," I gasp, swooning. "She's coming for us!"
Jude throws a pillow at me, and when I set the pillow aside, I catch his glare turn into a smile. Butterflies flutter in my stomach.
"Let's check it out," Trey murmurs, and we all stand. Justine keeps a tight grip on Trey's shirt while I clutch the pillow Jude threw at me. Both boys flank in front of us.
The living room has an eerie feel when we reach it. Golden lights gleam the vacant space, but the darker parts in the corner look like black holes of hell. I unintentionally push Jude forward, and he grunts.
The clanking of pots and plates makes us all jump, and we slowly turn our heads to the kitchen. It's pitch dark in there.
"Turn on the lights," I whisper.
"Funny, I've never thought of it before."
"No time for sass, Trey!"
He reluctantly advances, and after trouble finding the switch, a click is heard. The lights illuminate the kitchen, bright and blinding, and on the centre, standing like a guilty convict... is a cat.
"Bobby!" Justine rushes to the white Persian cat, who is frozen on the counter, eyes bulging out like he knows he's caught. "We've been searching everywhere for you," she murmurs.
Trey frowns. "Bobby was lost?"
"For a few days." She strokes him even more, and Bobby curls inside her chest.
"So this is the infamous Bobby The Cat," I say, inspecting the creature while walking towards the counter. "To be honest, I expected — "
"Addie!" Jude grabs my wrist in a protective grip, and I fall back against his body. Trey holds his arms out in front of me. I look down. Bits of glass cover the floor, probably from the noise earlier.
"Oh," is all I say.
Jude rakes a hand over his head, and gestures to us girls to wait in the living room so he and Trey can clean up the mess. Now I'm sitting on the couch, Justine beside me and Bobby The Cat between us.
"He pays attention to you a lot," Justine says quietly.
I frown. "Bobby?"
She looks up and laughs. "No. My dear ol' brother."
We both glance at him at the same time. Apparently he pricked his finger with one of the glass, and Trey's laughing at him while he's cursing.
"I think he's like that to a lot of people," I say absentmindedly, ignoring my racing heartbeat.
"Yeah, but it's different with you. He's attentive to others because he's suspicious of them — but he's attentive to you because..." she shakes her head with a smile, leaving that open to theory. "He's been waiting for you to give him your phone number, by the way."
I gape at her. "What?! I've been waiting for him to give him his!"
She rolls her eyes. "He was afraid because he thought asking for it would implicate something more." She peers at me. "Does it?"
"It's only a phone number." But I swallow heavily.
She reaches into her pocket and hands me her phone. "To save both you guys the trouble."
I hesitantly take it, and type his phone number into mine. The name Jude Reynolds stares back at me from my screen, and I grin to myself without thinking.
My eyes finds Jude again, and when he looks up, I'm still smiling. He raises his eyebrows, not smiling at all, but he doesn't let his gaze stray away from mine. Not once.
"You guys are so obvious," I hear her mutter.
A/N: Thought I'd break the stereotype of shitty Wattpad parents. Also, tried to cut this shorter, but everything was too cute.