When Emily's phone started vibrating for the fourth time, she grabbed it and received the call.
"What?" she snapped into the mouthpiece.
There was a short silence on the other side. Then Gale's voice came across. "Em?"
She sat up in her seat. "Oh. Gale? What's up?"
He snickered on his side. "Did you forget?"
She frowned and tried to rack her brain within seconds but came up with nothing. "Forget what?"
"It's movie night, geek! Where are you?"
"Shit I forgot! I'm sorry! I'm over at Matt's, we have this thing in Biology we have to present together in class and-- "
"Matt's?" He interrupted.
"Yes, I-- "
"Do you live in his house now, Blake?" He cut in again, annoyance rippling through his voice. He didn't bother hiding his disapproval of her being at Matt's.
She rolled her eyes. "We are almost done, I'll be there in minutes."
She hung up just as Matt came back into his kitchen from the bathroom.
"Wanna hang out?" she asked.
Matt looked at Emily one more time, in indecision. "I'm not sure he will want me here."
"Why not? You two have rode together to school all week, you practise football everyday after school together, and you both discovered your common obsession with bikes. Aren't you supposed to be cool with each other by now?" She asked, giving him a skeptical look.
"It's not that," he said. "This is your thing, I don't think he will want me crashing-- "
"You're not crashing, I invited you. He won't mind. Come on, let's go in," she said and took his hand.
Before he could protest further, she pushed the front door of Gale's house open and led the way in.
"Shouldn't you knock?"
"He knows I'm coming."
They took the stairs and were soon getting into one of the bedrooms upstairs.
"Thought you would never come," Gale said from his spot on the floor, where he was sorting movies.
"As if," she said and went to kneel next to him. "I brought Matt. Have a seat, Matt."
Gale turned and gave her a sharp look, then looked behind her towards where Matt was standing. He nodded at him, and Matt nodded back. Emily shot a smile at Matt, as if saying see? He's cool with it.
"What do you want to watch?" Gale asked her, his voice clipped.
"Spiderman."
He snorted. "We watched Spiderman last Friday."
"The newest."
"No, we are not spider people to watch Spiderman every week. Something else?"
"You said you have the new Into The Badlands season."
"Yeah?"
"Well then let's watch that," she suggested.
"There's a reason this is called movie night, Em." He smarted.
She took the discs that were in his hands and sorted through them. She lifted one to show him. Life Of Pi.
"I remember now, we were supposed to watch this last week before you fell into my spidie trap."
Gale chuckled and took it from her. "Okay, that's one."
While Emily and Gale made their choices, Matt took a seat at a table in the room and took in his surroundings. A single cursory glance around brought one word to his mind. Blue.
The carpet was a deep blue, the bedspread was blue, and the cream walls were covered with blue posters because apparently, the guy was a Chelsea fan.
There were medals hung on the wall, definitely from football tournaments, and a ball hung in the middle of the ceiling like a chandelier. There was a small sticker beside the window that said, Blue is the colour football is the game.
There was also some shelves lining the top of one of the walls, holding several trophies. And he was up against this guy, for a first team position?
"Come on Em, let's go get popcorns," Gale's voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up, and their eyes met. And held. Maybe Gale had meant to look threatening, in which case he failed miserably. Matt knew that look, and it wasn't a threatening one.
Gale looked away after a couple of seconds, then he rose and hurried out of the room.
"Be back shortly," Emily called as she hurried after him.
The guy still didn't like him, did he?
"What the fuck Emily?" Gale asked the moment they were downstairs and out of Matt's earshot.
"What?" She asked though she knew exactly what. She knew Gale was uptight about Matt, she just didn't know why.
"Why did you bring him?" He demanded.
"It's no big deal," she dismissed and followed him into the kitchen.
"The fuck it isn't. This is our movie night, Em. Why did you bring him along?"
She put her hands akimbo and glared at him. "Jesus, Gale. I thought it would be nice to invite him to hang out with us, instead of being holed up in his room all night. We are his only friends here!"
"Oh, you are good Samaritan now?" He taunted.
"Suck it up, Anderson!" She snapped and headed behind the counter.
"You are always involving him in our stuff, and I don't like it," he grumbled.
"Why? What's so wrong with it?"
"You don't even spend your free time with me anymore. And when you do, you are always like Matt this, Matt that. I know you have a crush on him, but you don't have to rub it in my face every time!" He snapped.
She turned around, her lips parted in surprise. "That's not it at all, Gale! Why would I even do that? You are my best friend!"
"Am I?"
He sounded so bitter, she stared at him, speechless for a moment. Then she shook her head and took a step towards him. "What's up, Gale?"
"You fawning over Spencer like some brainless fangirl," he spat. "What do you even see in him?"
She recoiled. The insult hurt her, and she turned back towards the counter.
Gale regretted his words instantly and took a step forward. "I'm sorry, Em. I didn't--"
"It's fine. If you don't want him here, I'll get him then we can leave."
She started for the door, but he grabbed her hand and stopped her. "I don't want you to go."
"How about you not be a jerk, then?" She suggested, her eyes flashing with suppressed anger.
He sighed and toussled his hair. "Sorry, he can stay. I'm just afraid we don't have any more us time, Em. He is always there."
"I don't get it, Gale. What's so wrong with that?"
She searched his face, trying to read any reason off him.
Gale stared at her, as if wondering how she still couldn't get it. Did it not mean anything to her? Wasn't their friendship special to her? Or perhaps he was being clingy?
"Nothing," he said. "Let's just get the snacks."
He went back to the counter, but not before she saw the look on his face. He looked sad. Her chest clenched at the sight, but she couldn't get why he was sulking.
There was the sound of throat clearing from the direction of the door. They turned to find Matt standing in the doorway, awkwardly holding his phone up.
"Sorry to interrupt, but my aunt just called and there's some place I gotta rush to."
Gale turned away from him and said nothing.
Emily was too embarrassed to say anything coherent, she just nodded. Had he heard their argument?
"Cool, see you around tomorrow," he said with a nod.
She nodded again. He turned and left the room. Seconds later, they heard the sound of the front closing.
Emily stood still for a few more seconds, then made for the door too.
"Em..." Gale started, likely on an apology, but she cut him short.
"Don't bother," she shot back, allowing him no time to say a thing more.