I walked through the doors, Parker behind me, reading off random things we could do first.
He doesn't even have the list in his hand. He has photographic memory.
Of course he does. He was known for being a very multi-talented kind of guy, so why should I expect anything less?
"We could go camping tonight." He says. I glance at him, ignoring the curious/shocked expressions from the fellow nosey peers.
"Its a school night, Parker." I remind him. He snaps his fingers. I sit in my usual seat in the corner of the room, and he sits beside me.
"Hmm. Oh, I know!" He says, a smile growing over his features. "We coul-"
"Hey West! What are you doing?! Get over here, idiot!" One of his friends call out to him. He looks over. He looks back to me.
"Your one of those guys, aren't you? Yes, yes you are." I decide before even giving him a chance to reply.
"What?" He asks, his smile slowly fading.
"Your one of those guys that sit with the jocks and act like them for reputation, but you don't want it, do you? You don't care about the reputation, or the popularity. You just like the game, and with the game, comes the issue of those douchebags." I murmur quietly. His lips twitch.
"And you figured this out how?" He queries.
I lean forward slightly. "Because if you were one of them, you would look at that list, and you'd laugh at me. You'd say I have no life, and I never will have a life because guys like those ones are bullies. But here you are wanting to help me fulfill my list." I whisper. That heart-breaking, perfect smile finally breaks free, dimples showing.
"West!" His friend calls out to him. Parker sits back in his seat, smiling to himself as the teacher begins to speak. His friends size me up, glaring. I just giggle as I look at the teacher.
Maybe Parker West isn't as cliché as people make him out to be.
.
.
.
"What are we doing in a plant shop?" I ask curiously.
"Number 20 on the list: Raised Anything Whatsoever. It doesn't matter, right? So we're going to raise a plant." He says.
"We're? Wow. Its always been my dream to be the baby mama of the Parker West's child." I say, faking a dreamy look and tone. He laughs and tugs me into isles. "I like that one." I lie, pointing at some random plain green plant. He looks at me with a bored expression.
"We're getting you some flowers." He says. "Hmm. Flower. I like that nickname. It suits you. Come on, Flower." He says, testing it out. I shake my head as he pulls me into the flower section. Colors. A lot of them.
"Is this because my entire apartment is black and white?" I ask in monotone, not liking that he was mocking my bland style. He looks back, sending me a wicked smile that gave me all the information I needed. He picks up a red flower of some sort and tugs me by the wrist to the counter. The lady behind the counter looks down at it.
"Ahh, poppies are so pretty. Good choice." She murmurs.
"Yes, this adoption was very hard to think about. So many in so many different colors, shapes, sizes, beautiful all alike. We are honored to raise such a gorgeous child. Thank you so much, Ma'am." Parker says with a serious face and serious tone. She looks at him like he's insane, then glances at me.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, he hasn't taken his meds today." I whisper loudly. He looks at me, slowly narrowing his eyes. Her eyes widen and she basically throws the now bagged plant at us. He catches it on instinct from being a basketball player. He grabs my wrist and drags me out.
"What the hell?!" He hisses at me. I shrug. "Your gonna pay for that later, but for now, we need to go shopping."
.
"What the hell?"
"Maybe they're expecting and they're practicing."
"Aww that's so cute!"
"I hate you. This is incredibly embarrassing." I mumble to him as he hums and pushes the stroller with our red poppies strapped inside, a pink blanket around the pot.
"Shh. Don't speak such crude words around Mila and Kila!" He hisses at me. I roll my eyes and shake my head.
"You... are a bit obnoxious, huh?" I state. He stops, so I do so too. He turns to me.
"Rude."
Then he continues pushing the carriage. I stand there, dumbfounded at his ability to not be offended by anything I insult him with, before he glances back at me with an impatient look. He motions for me to come over, but what he doesn't do is look at where he's going.
He trips on a ledge of a sidewalk thing, and goes flying to the ground, the stroller doing the same. Dirt flies all over him, and I burst out laughing. I even go as far as to slap my knee.
Knee-slapper indeed.
"O-oh my god!" I say between laughter's. People look at us as I slowly fall to the ground laughing, tears escaping my eyes. I hit the sidewalk with my fist, roaring with laughter.
"Shut up!" He hisses at me, scooping up dirt and putting it back in the pot.
"I-I HAH!" I let out, and fall into little giggles instead.
Slowly but surely, I get control again, and we start walking again as I wipe my tears.
Priceless. Gold. Vine-famous-worthy indeed. Funny funny funny.
I look at him, my lips pressed tightly to keep in laughter. Dirt remains on his shirt, his jeans now stained, some on his hair too. Finally, I laugh again, clutching onto his arm to keep from falling as I fall into a fit of laughter.
"Okay, Ally, we get it! Joke ended 5 minutes ago!" He shouts at me, causing me to laugh even harder. A smile tugs at his lips. "Really, you can stop laughing now." He says, and I start to gasp for air.
Finally, I get it out of my system.
"Wooh." I blow out an audible breath, then let one more laugh rise until it finally ends.
"Do you just like, love people getting hurt? Do you honestly take pleasure in that?" He asks. I grab onto the handles of the stroller.
I give him my best blank expression. "It turns me on." I tell him. His eyes widen. I start pushing the stroller.
"Are you serious?" He calls from behind me. I look back and smile.
I guess I shouldn't have done that.
Because next I know, the toe of my shoe gets caught on the sidewalk, and now I'm tripping. And now he's the one laughing. His laughter is so loud, that when I glance around, people are looking to him, then to me, and their eyes widen. People swarm around, helping me up ad glaring at him.
"What is wrong with you?! She could have gotten hurt!" Someone scolds him.
"Yeah she could have broken something!"
"You're so rude!"
"And you just stand by laughing? You're a sick human being!"
"How dare you!"
"Are you alright sweetheart?" someone asks. I place a hand to my elbow and hiss in pain when I touch some ripped skin that's bleeding, tears building up in my eyes.
"Aaawwww." A bunch of people coo at the same time.
"Baby. Its okay." And old lady says, pulling me in her arms. Parker looks confused as a crowd of fifteen verbally bash him for laughing at me tripping. She grabs band-aids from her purse and some cream and applies them. People pat my shoulders and give me their blessings before walking away with pitying looks and glares to Parker.
"Thank you." I tell the lady with a wobbly smile. She smiles back and pulls a lollipop out of her bag, giving it to me. I give her a hug in appreciation before she walks off. I glare at Parker while picking up the poor plant that bound to die all-too-quickly at this rate.
Finally my apartment building comes up as he walks silently behind me, muttering to himself about how double-standards are ridiculous and how women live life on easy mode. I roll my eyes and laugh, seeing as he's only jokingly upset.
When we get inside, I put the now disformed plant on the counter and water it, apologizing to them.
I open my lollipop and turn around, licking it as he glares at me, and he shakes his head twice.
"That's ridiculous. Where oh where is my crowd of beloved fans when I need them?" He ponders.
"I'm a nerdy looking girl with no taste in clothes. Your a guy that dresses like a total fuckboy and total overall douchebag." I state, motioning towards his khaki jeans and polo t-shirt, sported with a pair of black Jordan's. "Of course they're going to help me." I state, laughing a little.
He raises a finger, opening his mouth, but nothing comes out. He slowly lowers his hand, his mouth closing.
"Okay, I see your point. I'll get you for that too." He says. I snort. I turn around, shaking my head, repositioning the plant, and suddenly I'm picked up and thrown over his shoulders. He carries me into my room and throws me on my bed before walking to my closet. He opens it and pokes around. He tosses my brothers' old jersey before tossing me a pair of my cotton shorts and going to my shoe section. He lets out a whistle of appreciation upon sight of all of the basketball-made shoes.
"Damn," he says, "you should wear these more often." He says, picking up a pair of high tops and inspecting them. He picks up a pair of black and blue Adidas and tosses them to me, which I catch easily. "You like basketball?" He asks, still looking at the shoes.
I have a shoji binder in my room, so I tuck behind it so I can change without Parker seeing anything.
"Yeah." I answer, changing quickly.
"Best sport in my opinion." He says.
"Likewise." I say with a small smile before coming out. His eyes widen slightly and I grab a hair tie, slickly putting my dark hair into a high ponytail. Perks of having straight hair. So easy to work with.
"Jersey's suit you." He compliments as he grabs my wrist again and pulls me out. The second we reach the living room, the door of the apartment opens, and Laney and Sam enter. They both stop.
Silence.
"Uh." I say quietly.
A smile slowly grows over Laney's features.
"Don't even think about it." I tell her, knowing well about the Rylani fan page that happens to still be up and running. She pouts.
"Who's your friend?" She asks, holding out a hand to him. He shakes it quickly.
"Parker West. You know him." I say, waving a hand.
"..Parker... West.... Hmm... See, hold on, I don't pay much attention to other boys but Sam, so give me a second." She states. Sam gets a gleam in his eyes upon hearing that. She unknowingly probably just made his entire week with that sentence alone. "Oh! The basketball golden boy that everyone is obsessed with in my English class!" She states, seemingly recollecting her memory.
"That'd be the one." I say.
"Why are you here?" She asks in a serious tone, clearly confused. I let out a choking sound, a tragic laugh escaping my lips.
"Its a long story." I tell her. She smiles.
"Oh well. I don't care. Ally needs to get out more anyways. Have fun with your.. game I'm assuming because Ally goes to every single one." She says. "Psst, Parker," she says as we pass, "she has a sign with your name on it." She whispers.
"I do not!" I yell at her as he yanks me down the hallway. She peeks her head out, smiling wickedly, but I see Sam's arm wrap around her waist before he tugs her in forcefully.
Ew no thanks.
We talk about pretty much anything on the way to the field. Favorite colors: mine being blue, his being aqua green because he has an unhealthy obsession with Aquaman, favorite animals: mine being camel because I've always wanted to ride one, his being narwhal because of the song, favorite food: mine being chicken tenders because they're bomb, his being croissants because I guess he does a mean creepy French accent.
"Ready?" He asks.
Is he so oblivious to the crowd of guys watching us from the sidelines?
Is he really focusing on me that hard, or the game?
"I was born ready, West." I reply in a serious tone, taking a defensive stance, while still being casual about it, letting my shoulders back.
Do as your brother taught you, molded you to be.
Be the wiz at basketball you are.
Take out the college recruit.
He takes a rigid defensive form, one that's too rigid, way too rigid.
And the game begins.
--------------------------------
I love this so much, this book. It makes me so excited and idk why.
How twas chapter 2?
Who do you feel bad the worst for: Parker, Ally, or Mila & Kila the plant?
XoXo
-Elisia