note: this is a weird chapter, but I needed to wrap up a few things so i can move onto some new things ;)
the title is completely unrelated, it's just because of the music i'm listening to at the moment xD
--
When Anthony woke up, he was confused as hell.
Why was he in a wheelbarrow? Why was he outside? Wasn't he in a shed? What time was it, anyways? How did he get here, and when did he fall asleep?
Anthony pushes himself up, and stands up on wobbly legs. He feels a bit shaky, though he's not sure why. Anthony just shrugs off the feeling and goes inside, where he sees his friends all sitting in the living room, watching a movie together.
"Guys? Why was I outside? And who picked the movie?" Anthony leans over the back of the couch, glancing at the television. They were watching Star Wars.
"Hey, Chilled! Good to know Steven didn't murder you! And we let Steven pick the movie, to answer your question," Galm says casually.
"Okay, but why was I outside?" Anthony raises an eyebrow, reaching for the bowl of popcorn in Tom's hand.
"Steven knocked you out. Now go take a shower, you look like a fucking bus ran over you," Smarty says, pulling the bowl out of Anthony's reach.
"Way to throw him under the bus, Smarty," Aphex laughs, throwing an arm around an embarrassed Ze.
Anthony gives him a look, before turning to walk away. "We'll talk about this later. I'm hungry."
\(*n*)/
Now clean and less hungry, Anthony joins his friends on the couch for a movie. "Why did you try to kill me, Ze? I thought we had something special!"
Steven gives Anthony a guilty look, shifting around in his seat. He hangs his head, hands playing with the hem of his shirt.
He looks so cute and not guilty that Anthony almost forgives him, right then and there.
Almost. He's not getting away that easily, of course.
"Do I get an explanation, or am I gonna have to ask later?" Anthony nudges Steven, who looks up at him nervously.
Steven shrugs. "I tried to hit the spider, it was- was on your leg, but I missed. I'm sorry," he mumbles.
Anthony looks at him, with his pretty eyes and messy, curly hair, then sighs. "Fine. I'll forgive you, but only because I can't get mad at you. Plus you look like a sad puppy. Too much for me."
Steven brightens up a bit, even more so as Anthony kisses his forehead gently. "Thank you, Chilly Willy."
The two looked at each other, then smiled and turned back to the movie. Despite the slight pain in his head, Anthony was content. Especially with Steven by his side.
..
Six teenagers are left alone, unsupervised, in a lake cabin for a week. How many things go wrong?
Not as many as expected, because they were responsible people. Six mature, responsible teenagers who were currently screaming over an owl who flew into the kitchen.
"Who the fuck even opened a window? It's cold! It got cold yesterday, it's supposed to be colder tomorrow, why would you think that's a good idea?" Steven screeches at all of them, holding a broom in hand to defend himself from the owl.
"Because it smelled like shit from Tom's cooking!" Galm peeks out from under the table, hiding behind the chairs. Smarty, who was right next to him, just nods in agreement.
"Okay, look. It's not my fault I can't cook, okay? I overestimated my cooking abilities," Tom argues. He's holding a frying pan, waving it at the owl in an attempt to shoo it back out the window.
"You guys can do this, right?" Anthony is around the corner, eyeing the owl from afar.
The owl remains unaffected by all of their acts, sitting on the faucet and blinking calmly. It looks around at them all, then blinks again, giving a small coo.
Steven steps forwards, pushing the broomstick towards it. To their surprise, the owl jumps onto the stick, and Steven is now wielding an owl-stick for a weapon.
"Guys? What do I do now?" His voice is quiet and notably distressed, just like him.
Tom nods his head. "Stay calm, Steven, and gently move the owl out the window."
Steven does as told, carefully stepping forwards more as he moves the owl towards the window. All was going well, until Aphex screeches somewhere from the living room.
A small, furry animal scrambles into the kitchen, startling everyone, especially the owl. The owl jerks up into the air, diving at a poor raccoon, who scrambles towards the back door.
It's Smarty who gets the courage to open it, despite the shaken look on his face.
Aphex is now in the kitchen, and staring confusedly at everyone else. They all share awkward looks, and then decide that maybe it was time for bed.
Mature, responsible teenagers don't stay up all night, obviously. Especially after nearly shitting themselves over a raccoon.
(*~*)
Today was their last day here- which upset Anthony a bit, because he hadn't gotten his chance to push someone into the lake. But then again, maybe that was a good thing, because the lake was starting to get cold.
It was almost cold enough for snow, actually. Which, from the way Steven was grinning and laughing about it, excited him to no end.
Anthony was kinda excited too, because cold weather usually meant snow, which meant that Anthony could pelt his friends with snowballs. Snowball fights were the best, especially when you were tall and could easily stuff snow into someone's hat for fun.
So as they packed up most of their things, they all talked back and forth about their plans for the holidays.
"Should we do a secret santa? I mean, I think I know you guys enough to get gifts. It'll probably turn out better than the one we had last year, of course," Smarty says, sitting on the couch.
At the mention of last year's secret santa, everyone but Steven and Aphex grimaces.
"I thought we weren't talking about that," Anthony whispers.
"What... What happened last year?" Steven looks worried, as though he was forgetting something important.
"Last year... Last year we let Adam organize it. It, uh, it turned out about as well as we make it sound." Tom speaks quietly, staring down at the floor.
"You know, I never thought I would see Bryce curse so much," Galm says thoughtfully.
"And I had never seen Minx look so done with life before, but wow. I'm surprised she didn't rip Adam's head off back there," Anthony adds. "The point is, it went badly. So maybe this year we'll have a smaller one, and it'll turn out better."
"Anything would've turned out better than that," Tom laughs. "God, what was he thinking?"
"So we're doing it? Secret Santa for us six?" Aphex is excited, leaning over the couch and grinning at everyone.
They all share a few glances, and then Galm nods.
"So it's set. We're doing gifts for each other this year, and we'll decide everything later because I need a nap."