*lucas mirambaud as james*
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I let Zeke into the house. My mum's on another date with the same guy as last time which I was thankful for, so we have the house to ourselves. He turned up in a black leather jacket and looked smoking hot (not that I told him) and after leading him upstairs we sat down and took a look at my film collection.
"They're all chick flicks." Zeke chuckles, amused.
"I'm a girl. I like a bit of romance." I fight back and snatch both films of The Princess Diaries from his hands. "So you don't recognise any of these?"
"I recognise them, yeah. But whether I like them, is another matter." He confirms.
"So do you like.... Twilight?" I tease.
"Seriously?" Zeke waves his hand in the air and tosses the DVD's on the floor.
I scan the rest of the films spread out across the carpet. "Okay... The Holiday? You have to have watched that."
He rolls his eyes at me. "Of course I've watched it. I've got two sisters, how could I not have?"
I shrug and place the film back in the pile. "Well we have to find something to watch. And the only one you didn't say a direct no to was Twilight..."
"No."
"Oh come on! Unless you want to watch The Vampire Diaries, Snow White or Cinderella, I can't help you." I claim and cross my arms.
"How about this?" Zeke asks and holds up a random film that I didn't even know I had.
"Where did you find that?" I frown.
"Behind the back of the bookshelf." Zeke mentions as he assesses the description of the film. I think Rebecca got it for me for Christmas last year so it must be alright. "It's got action, adventure, mystery and romance, it says here. What can go wrong with that?"
I shrug and place the disk into the DVD player whilst Zeke makes himself comfortable on my bed. Plonking myself next to him, I watch as the figures on the screen start to move. I wriggle a bit, trying to find a comfortable position, until Zeke chuckles and slides me towards him, letting me rest my head on his chest. We lay in comfortable silence as we watch. The film is alright, the typical stereotypes and storylines portrayed perfectly, although halfway through I hear a noise.
"What was that?" I ask Zeke who looks down at me, displaying a chubby double chin.
"What?"
I hear it again. "That."
"I can't hear anythi—"
"Shh!" I hush him and wait for it again. He finally hears it and frowns. "I swear if that's Mace throwing stones again, I'll kill him." I warn and roll out of my comfortable position. I open my window only to hear the same noise again— giggling? "What is that?"
"Mace and Rebecca are having their own movie night, remember?" Zeke reminds me from where he is sat up in my bed– fully clothed, if I have to remind you.
An idea creeps its way into my mind and I grin. Mace, Rebecca and horror films all together make a great show. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Zeke frowns for a second until he visibly perks up as he realises my thoughts. He smirks. "I get it. Let's go."
I turn the movie off and put on my trainers before joining Zeke at the front door. "How are we going to do this?" I ask nervously.
"Improvise." He states with a wink. "Just be your normal badass self."
I roll my eyes. "Thanks for that."
We make our way to Mace's house as quietly as possible and try to sneak through his front door but find it locked. "What now?" I whisper.
"Let's try the side gate." Zeke replies and tip toes around the side of the house. "Nope, it's locked too. We'll have to climb over."
My eyes widen. "I'm not climbing over, I'm wearing a skirt!"
"I don't mind." He grins and climbs up a couple of steps on one side of the gate like its a piece of cake. Oh my god... Cake... I really want cake right now. That would so boost my energy levels. Or maybe I need caffeine?
"Come on!" I hear from an annoyed but slightly amused Zeke.
"Okay okay." I hoist myself up to his level and he positions himself to give me a foot up. "Now if you do anything dirty-" I warn.
"I won't, don't worry. I've had the chance all evening as I have been sitting next to you, but I reigned myself in."
He actually had to try to?
Oh.
Ohhh....
I greedily balance my weight onto his hands and jump over the gate, somehow managing not to flash my underwear to the cocky, immature jerk behind me. He then starts climbing over too, but when he is nearly over, I can see his shoe right in front of my face.
God I want to prod his foot right now. It's just so close... And it would be so funny.... You know what? I don't even care. What's the worst that could happen?
I lean over and start viciously prodding his foot, causing Zeke to squirm and jump about. My laughing is uncontrollable, my hand over my stomach.
"Ow, stop it!" Zeke shouts angrily but before it's too late I get knocked to the ground by a huge lump, my laughter hitching in my throat.
I open my eyelids to go crosseyed at a sharp nose. My eyes make their way up to some frozen eyes.
I am staring straight at Zeke.
He is on top of me.
His body is pinning mine to the floor.
He's actually quite heavy– must be all the muscle.
Did you know he has abs? I saw them when he was diving.
FOCUS!
I can't move.
Help.
He stares at me for a second before I open my mouth. "You know, that actually quite hurt."
His face is now millimetres away from mine and he rubs his nose against mine as he speaks. "It was worth it though." I blush and shift uncomfortably, but he stays firmly on top of me. "I knew we were going to fall head over heels for each other eventually, but I didn't think it would happen literally." Zeke chimes, amused.
I roll my eyes. "In your dreams. Now get off me, I'm sure this could be classed as abuse or something."
"But I'm not hurting you." He says innocently.
"Oh really? Because a hundred tonnes of teenage boy could never hurt anyone. Actually I think that I would go unconscious from the smell before I could get squished. Now get off."
"Make me." Zeke teases and I swear I would slap him if it weren't that my hand is wedged in between my body and his.
"Fine!" I say defiantly. "I will make you!"
I try to wriggle my body so that I can free my arms but fail miserably. Zeke just laughs as he watches me.
Nope. For some reason I'm not budging and neither is he. God, why is this boy so difficult?
I try to wriggle even more and finally get somewhere. Yeah, I look like I'm doing a really violent version of the worm on a pile of trash but it worked. I manage to flip him off me and he lands with a heavy thump on a pile of glass bottles (It didn't hurt him if you were worried).
"Ha!" I shout wildly and kick his leg. "Beat that you great big pile of shi—"
I'm cut off by a voice behind me. "Zeke?" Uh oh, um... Mace comes up behind me with a worried Rebecca clinging to one arm and a frying pan in the other. "It's alright babe, it's just Bitch and Zeke." He soothes Rebecca who visibly relaxes.
Wait a minute, did he just call her 'Babe'?
Ew ew ew ew ewww! Stop it... eww... I can't believe this is happening. When Zeke and I said it we were joking but Mace saying it to Rebecca in front of me now? I just want to hide in a hole, far underground, where no one can ever find me.
Apart from Zeke... I might let him find me.
"What are you doing here?" Mace asks.
I look at Zeke for help but he just looks straight back at me. Great. Just great. He's put me in an awkward situation again. "We– erm–" Think fast, think fast. "We were playing tennis in the garden and the ball flew into your back yard. We just came over to get it."
I cast a nervous glance at Mace who looks not at all convinced. "So you couldn't be like normal people... And use the front door?"
"It was locked and we didn't want to disturb you." I sum up convincingly. "I know how much you guys love Netflix and chill..." I smirk and Zeke stumbles to his feet next to me and grins.
Mace steps an intimidating step forward and points a fat finger at me. "Look here, Bitch. What Bella and I were doing is none of your business."
"She's my best friend." I state defiantly and cross my arms. "Jerk."
I don't know what he was thinking– a best friend's role is to know everything about the other's life. If you don't know their gossip, then you won't understand when they come to you with a broken heart.
Anger burns in Mace's eyes. "Look Bitch, I've got a frying pan here, I wouldn't get too sassy if I were you."
I raise an eyebrow. "Oh a frying pan? Because that will do a lot of good."
Yeah it did great in Tangled but that's not the point.
"And there are plenty of other kitchen utensils which could easily find their way to you if I wanted them to." Mace glares at me. "Bitch."
At this point, Zeke steps in. "You know how much she hates being called Bitch." He says gruffly to Mace who immediately gets intimidated and whimpers back a step. "And all of that knife bullshit? Yeah, that's not happening. I know you're mad at me, so don't take it out on her."
Wow, I was not expecting that speech. What is Mace mad at Zeke about? This can't be good...
"Oh you're playing the hero now, are you?" Mace snickers. "The not-so-handsome knight? The crappy prince? Well what if you're the one in the wrong, hm? What if you're the bad guy?"
"Then I'll have a master plan to destroy you." Zeke states. He isn't very loud but that seems to make the whole situation more intense.
Mace grunts and thrusts the frying pan at a shocked Rebecca, who catches it just in time, before raising his fists for a fight.
"You're messing with the wrong guy Mace..." Zeke warns and raises his fists as well.
"You're worth messing with." Mace mutters and all at once dives at Zeke who dodges the punch.
He pushes me towards the gate and mutters. "Get out of here." But I completely ignore him. I'm not leaving him to fight the psychotic troll on his own, just to defend me. Zeke turns back to Mace and throws him a punch which hits Mace's cheekbone. He winces slightly, but raises his knuckles to defend once more.
I glance at Rebecca who looks back at me and we nod in silent agreement. In a split second, we both jump in between the two guys and shout in sync. "Stop!"
Zeke immediately drops his punch when he sees me and I sigh in relief. Mace, however, is too angry to stop and shoves Rebecca into the wall to make another desperate attempt at fighting Zeke, who immediately thrusts me behind him and blocks Mace's punch.
I watch the scene in front of me and want to scream. Rebecca has cut her lip and grazed her arm, Zeke is trying to hold Mace back– who is still in attack mode– and I can't do a single thing to stop it. Zeke however, changes everything.
"Mace, look at me mate." He says as he shakes Mace's shoulders to try and get him to focus. "Mace, look at me. Calm. Down. You hear? Chill. Think about what you've done. Stop and think."
Mace breaths heavily for a few seconds before dropping his aggressive stance. He takes a look at my shocked face and Rebecca's frightened one and sighs. "What have I done?" He questions pathetically. He falls to his knees and looks at his knuckles, ashamed.
Zeke crouches beside him and places a comforting hand on his shoulder, before looking at Rebecca. "You should go inside the house. Mace will be there soon and explain. You'll be okay." Rebecca nods quickly and heads inside, wiping the blood from her lip as she goes. Zeke then turns to me. "Go back to your house." He instructs, as though he already knew that I wanted to stay.
"But what about you?" I ask quietly.
He gets up to come closer to me and whispers, "I'll be fine. I'll come back to you once I've finished here. I have a few things to clear up."
I nod grimly and shrug out of his embrace before trudging towards the padlocked gate. I climb over with ease but feel eyes on me as I go. I turn to see Zeke smirking and he winks at me.
Shit.
Even after all my efforts to stop him from seeing my underwear, I had to be stupid enough to let my guard down after one stupid smile.
Ugh.
What is this life?
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It's midnight when I hear footsteps moving up the stairs. I feel like a wife waiting for her husband to come back from the war, not sure whether he is even alive. I'm laying here in my cocoon of duvets, all cuddled up warm whilst waiting for a certain jerk to come home.
The door creaks open and Zeke walks quietly in, closing the door behind him. I stay wrapped up warm in my blankets and watch as he comes and perches on the side of my bed. He looks down at me and strokes the hair away from my face.
"What happened?" I ask softly, unsure of whether I should break his trance to bring up the topic.
He sighs and rests his hands in his lap. "We talked things over and Mace got a bit frustrated again but it's all okay now."
I nod and sit up in my bed. "He gets very angry doesn't he." I say grimly.
It didn't take me long to work out that Mace has anger issues.
"Yeah. You can't blame him though, he's been through a lot. Just like us. You know about Mace's parents, don't you?" Zeke looks at me.
"Yeah. He told me about how his Uncle wouldn't take him in so he has lived with his grandparents since his parents left him." I say as I sum up the memories.
"And they only left, they didn't die. No matter what Mace says." Zeke explains and I look up at him in confusion.
Why does Mace like people to think that his parents died?
Zeke seems to understand my thinking. "To Mace, the memory of his parents died when they left because they put him in an orphanage. He didn't have to stay there for long because his grandparents took him in and became his substitute parents. He never heard from his real ones again though."
"Oh God." I murmur. "I never knew. I'm such an idiot."
Zeke looks up at me. "Why?"
"You're meant to deny it first." I half smile. "It's just because I was so angry that I was hard on him and I shouldn't have been—"
"Hold on, what are you talking about?" Zeke asks with furrowed eyebrows.
I turn away so that I don't have to look into his eyes anymore before continuing. "I had been talking to my mum about my father and Mace overheard. I was so angry and frustrated at him. I'd kept it a secret for ages– even Rebecca doesn't know the whole story. When I was upset Mace told me that his parents died and that he was alone too and all I did was nod and told him to go away. Ugh I am an idiot."
Zeke leans over the bed more and twists my face to look at him. "You are not an idiot. You may seem like one sometimes but you're not." He smiles cheekily and I can't help but roll my eyes. He then turns serious again. "Is that why you were crying? Before we went on our date?"
I nod and tears form in my eyes again which unfortunately Zeke spots. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry otherwise you'll set me off." I can't help but reach up and wrap my arms around him. I bury my face into his warm chest and can faintly hear his heart beating fast.
Holding him close just feels so right. He places his chin on the top of my head and strokes my hair as I sob. Yeah I'm a crybaby– whatever. I'm just pleased that I can be comforted by someone for a change. Someone who understands.
After a while, I slowly move my head away from his chest and examine it before looking up at him. "I made marks on your shirt." I try to laugh.
"It's okay, it's an old one anyway." He soothes with one of those cute boy-ish half smiles.
"Do you need to get home?" I ask, unsure.
"Nah my mom's out." He confirms with a smirk. "Why?"
"We still have the rest of the movie."
Zeke grins. "Shuffle up then snuggle-monster, I want some blankets too."
I do as he asks and Zeke slides next to me. He wraps the blankets around both of us before looking across at me. "You can get into a more comfortable position than that."
I try to hide my smile as I work out what he's talking about.
I move my head onto his chest which heaves slightly. He places an arm around me and gently strokes my back, before finally pressing play on the TV remote.
I don't really watch the rest of the movie. All I can think about is Zeke drawing circles on my back, or the way his heart thumps in his chest. His clothes are soft under my head and form a lovely pillow. All I need now is some chocolate and then this would all be perfect...
"Zeke?"
"Yeah?"
I turn my face upwards to look at him. "Did you bring any chocolate?"
He chuckles and nods. "I left it downstairs. I'll go get it."
Suddenly my comfortable pillow shifts and I fall onto the mattress with a thump. I have to say, Zeke is so much more comfortable than my bed. Once the warmth of his body has left I immediately want it all back.
"No wait," I call and he turns around to face me with an entertained look in his eyes. "Don't bother."
I can't believe I'm saying this.
I'm choosing a guy over chocolate?
Wow I'm going insane.
He strides towards me and ducks down to my height on the bed to look straight into my eyes. "I won't be long." He smirks. "You won't miss me too much."
And before I know it, he leans forward towards me and pecks my forehead. When I open my eyes again, Zeke is gone.
Was this all a dream?
Because if this is one of those stories where you find out at the end that none of it ever happened and you actually don't live in Neverland with magical fairies and pink unicorns, then it is such a rip off.
After a few minutes I hear quick footsteps racing up the stairs again and know that it wasn't a dream. Zeke walks confidently into my room with a bar of chocolate and sits next to me on my bed. I don't relax onto him yet, I need my chocolate first.
He takes a chunk out of the packet and waves it in front of me. I reach up to get it but Zeke bats my hand away and gestures that he'll feed me. I close my eyes and open my mouth obediently to find that the jerk has already eaten the piece himself!
"Zeke!" I cry and he chuckles.
"Okay okay, this one's yours." He says and waves a chunk of chocolate in front of my face. I try to grab it with my mouth but he keeps teasing me and withdrawing it every time I'm close.
Eventually I stop trying and just give him a death stare.
He grins. "Yeah yeah, you can have it now. Wow you're desperate."
I roll my eyes and open my mouth as he feeds me the cube of goodness. I shut my mouth quickly so that he can't tease me but Zeke's finger brushes slightly against my lips.
Whoops?
He smirks and retracts his fingers from my delicate pink lips. I look away shyly before snuggling back into my original position on top of his warm chest.
I watch as the movie keeps playing and wish that one of the lovebirds kissing on the screen was me.
JOKING!
I'm not that desperate.
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