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Thalia Lively
I sat in the living room, completely ready to go, unlike Nathan and Riley. Nathan still hasn't come downstairs and Riley had left to go change her outfit, not to mention we also had like five minutes left before we had to go meet up with the boys. I changed into black leggings and a grey crop top, with a denim oversized jacket on top. I decided to go the 'simple and comfy but still cute' look.
I huffed as I waited on the couch, looking around the living room since my eyes couldn't help but wonder. I haven't really been around the house much, which is weird since I live here, but I'm usually in the kitchen, my room or at school. I stood up and walked around, looking at paintings and decorations. I stopped at the fireplace and picked up a framed picture that caught my eye, it was of Nonna and my grandpa, someone I never met because he passed away before I was born. I admired the picture silently, smiling at the way he looked at Nonna— with such adoration and love. I set it down gently then moved onto the next picture, pausing slightly once I saw it was a picture of my brother and I. The resemblance was uncanny, both of us having light brown hair, hazel eyes, slight freckles, slight dimples. So many similarities, we could've easily been mistaken as twins if he wasn't older.
"You're leaving?" I heard Nonna's voice from behind me and I turned around go look back at her.
"Yeah, we're going to the movies. Is that okay with you? If not, I can stay home, it's really not a problem." I said to her, knowing that if she needed me around I could easily just stay home.
"No, you can go." She brushed me off but she looked extremely tired which made worry spiral in me.
"Are you sure Nonna? You look tired, I could stay." I offered again.
"Yes I'm sure, I'm just tired. I've been going around all day but I'll be fine. Go have fun." She smiled at me and the worry settled slightly.
"Okay, but please rest." I said to her, giving her a hug and she waved me off as she hugged back then walked off. I stood in the living room for a couple more seconds before I had enough and went up the stairs to see if the princess was done getting ready. I made it up the long set of stairs pretty quickly since I continued to skip a step. I noticed the washroom he was using was empty now, so where did he wonder off to?
I saw my room door open and I walked to it, seeing him standing in front of my mirror as he tried fixing his wet hair. I chuckled when he huffed as just let it droop down his forehead. He turned around and narrowed his eyes at me.
"What's so funny, huh?" He said while crossing his arms over his chest and I avoided looking at his biceps that poked through the shirt.
I didn't respond, instead I just walked to my bathroom and took my blow drier, bringing it to my desk and plugging it in. I pulled my chair to face him and patted it, indicating for him to take a seat.
"Welcome to Thalia's hair salon, please take a seat." I said trying to be professional but screwed it up once he started laughing at me. I laughed along with him and he followed my orders and took a seat. I turned on the blow drier and started helping him with his wet hair. He had curly hair so I continued to scrunch pieces of his hair as I dried it, wanting to maintain the curls. He sat down on the chair calmly and he hummed as I switched off the drier and started to fix his hair so it wasn't a mess.
"I love it when people play with my hair, well I never let anyone touch my hair except my sisters but I still love it." He said as I continued styling his hair.
"So what you're saying is I'm special? I, Thalia Lively, get to touch the Nathan Reyes' hair?" I gasped and started fake fan-girling which made him shake his head in amusement and shove me in the stomach lightly. Since I was standing and he was sitting, I was looking down at him smiling. "Well okay fine then, since you wanna push me away I'll stop." I said dramatically, clearly joking around and his arm flew out and hooked around my waist just before I could leave.
"No." He whined and pulled me back towards him, placing me in between his legs, while still keeping his arm around me. I ignored the butterflies in my stomach, that shouldn't exist might I add, and continued making my masterpiece with his hair. I didn't put any product in his hair because it's naturally so soft and the curls were so defined. I jumped when the door bell rang, and he groaned while resting his head on my stomach.
"C'mon let's go." I said softly while stepping away and pulling him from his seat. He complied and followed me out of my room and down the stairs, both of us grabbing everything necessary. Our phones, jackets, wallets, etc. He grabbed his bag that he brought with him and pulled on his black jacket.
"We're leaving now Nonna, love you!" I yelled to Nonna and heard a 'bye, be careful' in return. I opened the door and a very excited Riley entered my vision within seconds.
"Are ya ready?" She asked and I nodded while looking back at Nathan who finished putting on his shoes.
"I'll drive." Nathan said, and we both agreed since neither of us wanted to drive at the moment. I sat in the passenger seat and Riley say in the back, immediately going on her phone and I looked back at her amusingly.
"Whatcha smiling at? Is a certain someone texting you?" I teased her and she didn't bother hiding her smile.
"Tell Emmett I said hi." Nathan joined the teasing towards Riley.
"Not you too." She complained and sunk back into her seat. I chuckled then turned back around to face forwards, reaching over to turn on the radio. "No, Nathan do you have an aux cord?" Riley stopped me and leaned forward in her seat to pop up in between Nathan and I.
"Yeah," he said while reaching over to give it to her, and she accepted it happily. I kept my eyes trained on the window after that, there was just a feeling you sometimes get when you drive around during the evening.
"What movie are we watching?" Nathan asked me over Riley's music but she turned it down a bit as we spoke. Her focus was fixated on her phone so she wasn't paying attention to us anymore.
"I don't know to be honest, we made this plan pretty last minute." I admitted and he shook his head while lazily driving, having one hand on the wheel while the other pushed his hair back. I could watch him do that all day, I don't know why I found it attractive.
His phone buzzed and he looked down at it then back at the road. "Can you answer it?" He asked me and I nodded, reaching over for his phone that rested on his lap. He could've easily just handed it to me but he just happened to have both hands on the wheel now. I grabbed his phone but made sure my hand graced his leg, just to get revenge for earlier today. This is only the start.
He gulped and I smirked, feeling like I had control now but he shook off his reaction then nodded looking over at me briefly. "So that's how it's gonna be now, huh?" He asked me and I shrugged.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I denied innocently, looking back at him with a smirk and he fought his smile.
"Mhm," he hummed. I looked down at his phone and realized I didn't have his password so I held it out for him, to unlock it. He wasn't paying attention to me so I grabbed his hand and tried taking his thumb to use his fingerprint as a way to unlock it. He let go of the wheel with the hand I grabbed and allowed me to use his thumb and once I unlocked it, I went to put his hand back on the wheel. However he has other plans since he intertwined his hand with my left hand and rested it in the middle of us. I bit my lip and looked over at him but he wasn't looking at me, he was looking forwards but had a silent smile on his face.
Carter
We bought you three your tickets, since you're all taking so long and we've been waiting here for so long.
Carter
Can you guys hurry the fuck up? Austin chose some scary movie to get back at Ethan for something, so you guys don't have a say in what we watch.
Nathan
Hey, it's Thalia, Nathan's driving. I think we're close, we'll be there soon.
Carter
Hey Thalia and okay we'll wait near the front.
Nathan
Okayyyy
I finished texting Carter but I didn't give back his phone yet. "Do you have any games?" I asked him and he chuckled.
"You sound like Maya. Yeah I have games." He answered and kept his hand tangled with mine. Playing a game is going to be hard without two thumbs but I didn't want to pull my hand away. Before I went to his games, I went to the camera app and started making faces as I had every intention of spamming his camera roll with my face. I made a series of goofy faces and some cute ones but they were mainly just weird. I then moved over and tried to get Nathan in the background and I did as I pulled our intertwined hands up and towards me. I smiled and he managed to look over in time and smile as well, just as I was going to take the picture.
"So cute." I heard a mumble come from behind me and I assume Riley finally looked up from her phone. I moved to take a picture of her too and she stuck out her tongue in time, making a wild face but still looking cute.
"I hope you enjoy looking through all those pictures." I said to Nathan who released my hand and parked the car. I put his phone near him and got ready to get out of the car, with Riley following my actions. We both gathered everything we needed and got out of the car, walking to towards the movie theatre. Nathan came up behind us and took long strides as he walked, looking way cooler than Riley and I. I was walking fast and Riley was skipping around in excitement.
"My week has been so boring, I'm so happy I'm finally doing something fun." Riley said, emphasizing the word fun. I nodded, agreeing with her since I barely went out this week as well. As we got closer to the entrance, we saw the boys standing near the doors but inside of the theatre rather than outside.
"Hey guys!" Riley said excitedly once we entered and their faces lit up and came to greet us. Riley went to hug Emmett first and I had a slight grin on my face once I saw that. I hugged Austin first since he came up to me before everyone else, and I turned my head to look at Nathan who was being hugged by Ethan.
"I've missed you, I thought you died." Ethan fake cried on Nathan then his mood suddenly switched within seconds. "Never do that again, giving me heart attacks and shit." He then hit Nathan to add onto his extra-ness. Nathan kept his pokerface intact then looked at Ethan, who then dusted off Nathan's shoulders awkwardly. "Glad to have you back buddy." Ethan finished his scene off with that and walked to the rest of the group silently.
I was the first to laugh, then I was followed by Riley, Emmett and Austin. And then there was Carter who shook his head at Ethan, almost as if he was looking at a little kid. Everyone greeted each other properly after that.
"The movie starts in five minutes, let's go." Carter said and everyone started walking towards our movie screening room. Riley was walking ahead of me with Emmett, Nathan was behind me talking to Carter, Austin disappeared to go to the popcorn line, so that left me with Ethan.
"How was your day so far? Anything new happen at school?" Ethan asked me, putting down his goofy facade and walking beside me calmly.
"Good, and nope. How's your hangover?" I asked him, as I recalled this morning.
"Way better, this morning was so rough all I wanted to do was pass out in my bed but no, these assholes wouldn't let me." He nodded towards Emmett and looked back at Austin who caught us staring at him. Austin stuck up the middle finger towards Ethan for no reason but I suppose they didn't need a reason for that since Ethan did it back without hesitation. They did that little interaction like that was their way of waving to each other.
Emmett looked back and looked at Ethan with amused eyes. "Hey don't blame us, you shouldn't have made that bet with Austin in the first place. He made a bet with Austin that if he could throw more paper balls in the garbage can, he wasn't coming with us to look for Nathan. But this idiot challenged a basketball player, thinking he'd win." Emmett explained to Riley and I then shook his head at Ethan, who blew him off.
"Whatever, everything's gucci now. No need to bring up the past, that's why it's the past. It's behind us, over with, caput." Ethan shrugged, pushing away the topic with ease as we walked into the dark theatre. The ads were still playing on the screen which meant the movie hasn't begun yet, which was good since Austin was still getting us popcorn. Riley was ahead of everyone so she was really the one who decided where we sat, since we were just following her lead. She chose seats near the middle but more towards the top and no one seemed to object.
Emmett was behind her so he, of course got the seat next to hers. Austin popped up out of nowhere with five large popcorn boxes, huddling them all in his arms. Ethan took one for himself and went to go sit down, Carter took one for himself and one for Riley and Emmett to share I suppose, and that left two large boxes left. Austin shrugged and handed Nathan one then went to go sit down beside Carter. I followed next and sat down beside Austin, and Nathan joined, being the last one in the line.
"What movie is this?" Riley asked from the other end of the row, leaning over to look at everyone.
"Some bullshit scary movie Austin decided to pick out." Ethan answered first, holding a certain aggressiveness in his voice.
"He hates scary movies." Nathan leaned closer to me and said amusingly. The room was dark but I could still faintly make out Nathan's facial features, and I took the time to do so as he looked straight, watching random movies trailers pass by. I was unfortunately caught staring when he looked at me from the side of his eye, then smelt me his oh-so famous smirk. That smirk seemed to love finding its way onto his face whenever started getting cocky, which I didn't mind that much since it was cute.
The movie started playing suddenly, and the room got even darker once the huge movie screen turned black. I heard a 'for fucks sake' mumble come from someone and I immediately knew it was Ethan.
"I don't like scary movies either." I whispered to Nathan, as I leaned towards him. I sunk down in my seat as the movie started, the suspension of an upcoming jump-scare was giving me the worst kind of shivers. The movie started off with the camera slowly going down an empty hallway that was completely trashed, the lights were twitching and everything. It was getting closer to a door at the end of the hall where blood was splattered everywhere, and the closer the camera got, the more I noticed the door was opening.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? We could've watched something else." Nathan to me and I slightly jumped since I was already on edge.
"They already paid for the tickets by the time I found out we were watching a scary movie, I wasn't going to make their money go to waste. It's okay, I'll deal with it this one time." I gave him a reassuring look and he was hesitant but nodded nonetheless.
Just as I looked back to the movie, the camera was right at the door, and the door was being pushed open wider now. I knew it was coming, the creators of this movie weren't fooling me.
"Why the fuck are you going in— FUCKING HELL." I heard Ethan say just as something jumped at the screen, I say 'something' because I didn't pay attention to what it was, I hid my face once I heard the loud, abrupt noise.
"Oh this is going to be great." I heard Austin say from beside me, and I looked at him only to see him eating popcorn while smiling at the screen. I have him my best evil glare even though he couldn't see me, I'm with Ethan on this one.
I knew Riley didn't kind scary movies since one time I saw a bunch of them on her Netflix list, so I unfortunately wasn't going to see the typical 'girl gets scared and jumps into the guys arms' scene. Damn it Riley.
The movie finally properly started with a family moving into a new house, and I was getting the feeling that the house is either haunted, they have ghost neighbours or a killer is on the loose. Those are always the options if the movie starts off with a happy family moving into a big house. I leaned back in my seat and relaxed a little more.
It isn't real. It isn't real. It isn't real.
How could I possibly be afraid of something that isn't real? Get yourself together Thalia, I reminded myself. Nathan held out the popcorn for me to take and I took it while grabbing some to eat. He also leaned back in his chair and lazily relaxed in his seat, looking completely unfazed by the jump-scare. He always looks so calm, well when James' isn't around to trigger his anger, but besides that he makes it look so easy to hold everything in and keep his facade out together. I can never figure him out, and I had the guy instinct to at least try.
He was like one of those huge puzzles, except with a few missing pieces, it's hard to put him together without having those missing parts. The missing pieces resembles his past that still hasn't been revealed to me, James was a piece. Each piece in a puzzle has a part to play, James plays a part in Nathan's life, even if it's not a good one. Nathan's mysterious tattoo plays a part, what did it stand for? Nathan doesn't seem like the guy to get meaningless tattoos is begin with. Finding those missing pieces of a puzzle always takes a while but I'm willing to wait.
"You okay? You're dozing off." Nathan said to me which pulled me away from my thoughts. I blushed thinking about how he was watching me get stuck in my head, thank god it was dark as hell in this room therefore he can't see my blush.
"Yeah, I'm good." I said honestly and he nodded.
And from there I started paying attention to the movie. The movie that mostly likely wasn't going to allow me to sleep peacefully tonight. Can't wait.
• • •
We walked out of the movie— Emmett, Riley, Nathan, Carter and Austin walked out of he movie theatre, Ethan and I ran. We were out of there faster than Ethan could call Austin an asshole. The movie was almost two hours long, meaning it was about nine p.m. at the moment. We ran out into the breezy weather, not bothering to look back, it was almost as if we were running away from that demon in the movie— something that girl should've done also but no, no she had to be curious and stupid.
"Pussies." Austin said from behind us and Ethan and I both came to a halt. We turned around slowly and eyed him with a certain urge of revenge. Ethan and I both simultaneously took off running at him but two people came to block both of our paths. Nathan stepping in my way, and Carter stepping in Ethan's.
"You can be a good guy and save Austin tomorrow." Ethan said to Carter and tried moving around him but Carter just followed his actions. "Why are you helping him? He threw popcorn at you!" Ethan argued and I chucked remembering how Ethan kept calling Austin a 'd¡ckhead' so Austin retaliated by throwing popcorn towards him, which ended up hitting Carter as well.
"The security guards are watching us, you idiot." Carter said to Ethan. "Calm down, you're up here," Carter put his hand up. "Bring it the fuck down here." He then put his hand really low.
"Bring it the fuck down here." Ethan mocked him and scoffed, turning around to face the rest of us. "Can you believe this guy?" He said then looked back at Carter who was glaring at him, making Ethan jump.
"Carter, you're up here right now." Ethan lifted his hand up and didn't get to continue since he flinched when Carter took a dangerous step.
"So, where to now?" Emmett asked us, putting his arm around Riley which would've made me jump and down but since everyone was here, I couldn't exactly do that.
"I'm going home." Nathan spoke up first.
"Me too." Carter followed.
"Yeah me too, I have a project that was due like a month ago so I might as well start it." Austin said and I nodded, being able to relate on a spiritual level.
"Yeah, it's getting late." Riley also said, looking up at Emmett shrugging. I see you girl, getcho man.
"Okay so home it is." Carter said and started walking towards the parking lot since we've been just standing in front of the theatre.
"Um, that demon is waiting for me in my closet, I can't go home." Ethan argued with out choice to leave, and he even seemed genuinely serious as he spoke.
"What he said." I took his side and stepped to stand next to him. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight and that pissed me off because I'm getting tired and I was really excited to sleep tonight. Yes, I get excited to sleep.
"It's Friday, you can sleepover at my house if you don't wanna sleep alone. Or I could come over." Riley suggested. "I just wanna leave, I'm getting tired of standing here, so let's go." She continued and started walking towards the cars, everyone following her except Ethan.
I put my hand on his shoulder and we both shared a pained look. "I understand." I said to him.
"I appreciate you." He replied and with one more look, we began walking towards everyone. Well we walked until we heard a bang and took off sprinting. "I think the fuck not!" Ethan yelled while suddenly becoming a track star as he zoomed through the parking lot. I caught up with him and jumped into Nathan's car without a second thought. Ethan must have drove with someone else so he disappeared into another car within seconds.
"Where's Riley?" I asked Nathan, looking around for her but she wasn't anywhere in my view. My eyes widened and I looked back at Nathan alarmed. "T-the demon took her, didn't it?"
He blinked at me then he broke out into a loud laugh and it was my turn to do another of his famous looks, the pokerface. "What's so funny, huh?" I repeated his words form earlier while crossing my arms across my chest.
"She's alive and not taken by the demon, unless you consider Emmett a demon then yes it took her." Nathan said to me then nodded at the window, making me turn to look and see Riley getting into Emmett's car.
"Oh, well would you look that." I said, observing the scene.
"Time to get you home, it's past your bedtime kiddo." Nathan joked and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Wait, when's your birthday?" I asked him, suddenly remembering I had no idea when his, or any of the guys' birthdays were. Riley's was on November 20th, she wrote it in huge letters on the calendar we have in the kitchen.
"January 16th." He answered. "Yours?"
"February 16th, woah we're exactly a month apart." I noticed with wide eyes and he chuckled at me expression. Without me realizing it, we were getting closer to my house, which I didn't want because the night seemed to end so quickly. "Your birthday is coming soon, are you planning on doing anything? You're finally turning eighteen." I dove into conversation and he shrugged.
"Nah, I'm not really planning anything. I never do anything for my birthday." He informed me and I nodded in understanding.
"Neither do I." I agreed. I haven't celebrated my birthday since was fifteen, if I remember correctly. I remember my fifteenth birthday but I don't remember any birthdays after that so I assume I did nothing worth remembering.
"Why not?" He asked me, turning to look at me quickly before looking back on the road.
"I don't want to celebrate another year of not having my family." I kept it short, but I now unfortunately brought the mood down. I didn't talk after that and neither did he, but I could feel his gaze here and there.
We got to my house quite fast and I made sure I had all of my things with me, phone and etc. I looked back towards him and saw him already looking at me.
"I'm here if you ever need anything, don't forget that." He said sternly and I nodded, knowing he held truth behind his words, I could see it in his eyes.
"Same for you, I'm a great listener and an amazing therapist so if you ever need anyone, ya girls available." I tried brightening the mood and it worked when a smile crossed his face gracefully, his dimples popping and all.
"Noted." He gave me his signature charming glance and I suddenly wanted to stay in this car with him forever, because little talks like this mean something.
"Thank you for the ride." I thanked him and had enough courage to lean over and kiss his cheek, having my lips linger on his cheek before I left the car completely.
He seemed stunned then nodded at me and I was off to my house, that might contain that movie demon. At least Nathan's face was the last face I saw, unless Nonna was awake and ready to scold me for taking my sweet time coming home.
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{NOT EDITED AT ALL I KNOW THERE ARE MISTAKES ILL FIX IT TOMORROW BUT I REALLY WANTED TO POST TODAY}
I'M STEPPING MY UPDATING GAME UP GUYS!! DID YA LIKE IT?
oKAY ITS LATE AND IM TIRED SO ENJOY AND I LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU FOR READING IT MEANS THE WORLD AND MORE. ❤️