Popcorn at hand, me and the boys are waiting around before going into screening room three. We decide to watch the comedy, after many debates between Flynn and Tom, me and Grayson quickly book the comedy without Tom and Flynn seeing. We come back to them with tickets in hand.
"Comedy it is then," Tom sighs and I snort.
"Don't feel so bad about it boys, next time we can watch the horror," Grayson smirks at this remark and I eye him, he winks.
"Right shall we make our way into screen three then?" Tom asks looking at the ticket to see what room we are in. I nod.
"I don't want to walk... Tom, piggyback?" I bat my eyelashes innocently.
"In your dreams baby, I love you, really I do but I can barely walk on my own without crashing onto a sofa shortly after two steps let alone having another person on me." He hugs me quickly and releases me, stealing some popcorn from the box and I slap his hand away.
"Not until the film starts! Flynn, will you give me one?" I cross my fingers hopefully.
"Sure. Hop on," He says, crouching a bit to allow me easy access to jump up.
I shove the popcorn to Grayson, not trusting Tom with it because knowing him he'll just eat them before going in. I rub my hands together to get ready and leap onto Flynn. He boosts me up and I wrap my arms around his neck, I lay my head in between his shoulder and neck and his scent fills my nostrils. Such a warm and cosy scent, makes me feel safe and calm.
"How long is the film?" I ask, watching my legs bounce limply either side of Flynn, his hands are latched under the knee.
"Around an hour and a half to two hours," Tom says, typing away at his phone, "I'm hungry," He moans.
"Bro, all you think about is your stomach, can't you think of anything different then eating?" Flynn shakes his head in a mock disappointment.
"Well... I do think about something other than eating. Sleeping! Now those are the best two things and it's not my fault my stomach is nagging at me, if it doesn't get food you all will be sorry." He smiles a lopsided grin.
"Was that a threat?" Grayson chuckles, crossing his arms for a brief moment.
"I don't know, ask my starving stomach." Tom gives Grayson a glare and grins wider.
We reach the third screening and walk in, the place is empty as the film has ten minutes to start as well as the twenty minute adverts in the beginning. Why they do that I do not know, I do know that Tom will give up and eat the popcorn during the adverts instead of the film. Flynn plonks me down into one of our assigned seats; Grayson sits to my right, Flynn on my left and Tom besides Grayson.
"You two better behave! If I hear you bickering then I'll... I'll... I don't know what I'll do but I do know that you'll be sorry," I threaten, snatching the popcorn from Grayson's arms and pushing my glasses up a little more.
"Someone's being bossy," Flynn laughs and I nudge him slightly and I can't help but smile at him.
I hear Tom and Grayson murmuring to each other but I can't make out any words as they're being too quiet, I decide to concentrate on the screen even though nothing has come on- not even the adverts.
Suddenly, I feel someone tap my shoulder from behind. I look round sharply. Nothing. I turn back to Flynn and we begin to talk about random topics, then the tap occurs again. I turn round just in time to see Tom retreating his hand back.
"Seriously?" I toss the popcorn to Flynn to hold and stand up, no one's in the room so I don't need to worry about blocking people's view or speaking too loudly. "Stop. Being. So. Annoying." With each word I jab my finger into his chest and he looks at me in shock. I smile evilly at him and cross my arms playfully.
"Wanna fight?" He asks, standing up quickly, the seat behind him flings back up.
"Come on then," I reply, we move to a bigger space which is in the middle of the cinema screening. I take the first move and kick him in the shin, he flops down but soon recovers.
"That's the second time today you've given me jelly leg," He summons, rugby tackling me to the floor. It didn't hurt as he didn't do it roughly, he grabs me and hangs me upside down, jiggling me up and down.
"Stop. It," I say with a wobbly voice from all the movement. I can't help but laugh due to the sound of my voice and Tom chuckles also.
"Dude you're hurting her," Grayson stands up and picks up Tom, which makes Tom put me down on the floor, Grayson still has Tom in his arms and swings him round.
"Aww Grayson you stole my bromance away from me," Flynn sulks and laughs. I giggle also.
After a while, the film begins and I laugh now and then at the funny bits. The film is about a girl that is going through high school, it's a bit like Mean Girls but less 'brutal'.
Now and then I reach my hand into the popcorn and shovel them into my mouth, I do it again and feel someone's hand on top of mine, my heart skips and butterflies begin. I look at whose hand it is and I notice it's Grayson's. He looks down at it then at me and smiles, I smile back.
I lean my head on Flynn who wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer, I breathe in his scent again. So good. A chill goes down my spine and I shiver, I look up to see the air con is on right above me.
"You cold?" Flynn whispers in my ear.
"A little but I'm fine," I mutter back. He retreats his arm back and begins to shuffle, soon enough, I feel his hoodie being pulled over my head and onto my body, it's a little too big on me but I don't mind, it feels cosy.
"Thanks." I smile and lay my head back on him.
Back home, we all settle down in my room, Aunt Susan isn't back until late so we have the house to ourselves.
"What do you wanna do?" Tom asks, throwing a stress ball he found in one of my drawers into the air and catching it continuously.
"I don't mind, whatever you guys want to do, I'm up to it," I reply, biting a split nail off.
"Go for a wank," Tom laughs.
"Nothing like that!" I roll my eyes at his sarcasm.
"You said whatever we do you'll do!" He protests and I push him lightly, grinning.
"How about we go for a walk?" Flynn asks, flipping through Instagram for a while.
"Na, I'm too lazy for that dude." Grayson smiles and I can see him stare at me with his cute eyes, I pretend I don't see him.
"Let's just sleep then," Tom yawns and stretches, getting up from the floor and flopping onto the bed instead.
"I'm down for that!" Flynn says, going into my bed also- spooning his brother.
"Why not bake some cookies or cupcakes or something?" I reply, standing up and brushing off my shorts.
"I'm down for that!" Tom shouts, standing up.
"Of course you are," I mutter and we make our way downstairs.
"Flour, eggs, milk... oh sugar, maybe some cocoa powder." I read off of the recipe book Aunt Susan made, the fridge and all cupboards are open.
"Eggs, check, sugar, check, flour, check," Tom says as he throws each of the ingredients onto the counter, "Cocoa powder where you at?"
"Here, and there's the milk," Grayson says, tossing them onto the counter.
Flynn starts lining cupcake cases into the tray and I start mixing the dry ingredients together.
"Here's the milk and eggs measured and ready for mixing," Tom says, pouring them into the bowl. I start mixing but soon enough my arms begin to ache.
"Grayson take over," I command, shaking my hands in the air to get circulation in them. He soon takes over.
"Hey El," He says and I turn, he flicks the mix on the spoon at me. I gasp.
"Oh no you don't!" I shout, throwing some at him with another spoon.
Soon enough we are all throwing cupcake mix at each other, the kitchen is filled with shrieks and laughter, followed by mixture all over the floor and counter tops.
"Stop!" I shout, "there won't be enough for the cases," I laugh and snatch the spoons out of everyone's hand.
Tom begins spooning the mix into the cases after retreating a spoon from my hand, I see the concentration on his face as he tries to get them exactly the same. I glance over at Flynn who gives me a lopsided grin- much like Tom had done at the cinema.
"Right, fifteen minutes on the timer... what we gonna do whilst we wait?" Grayson breaks the silence.
"How about the Wii? We have Just Dance and Wii sports." I walk over to the front room and switch on the Wii, thankfully we have more than one controller but someone will have to sit out as there are only three controllers.
"Okay, so, whoever wins the first round, the winner will have to play the person sitting out. The last and second winner will play and whoever wins that, they will have to play the other winner and the two losers will have to go against each other." I put the controllers in the middle of the glass coffee table, the first three people to grab one will play. That was me, Flynn and Tom.
We decide to play Wii sports tennis but beforehand, we made Mii characters for Grayson and the twins. I win the first round so I have to play against Grayson. We both stay seated as Tom and Flynn go against each other. Flynn wins and he cheers in Triumph, Tom sulks on the side of the sofa.
Now it's me and Grayson's turn.
"Let's do the bowling," Grayson says, moving the controller towards the bowling icon.
We begin to play, now and then I drop the ball backwards and the Mii characters spin and gasp. I take my last shot and the game ends. Grayson wins. I stomp my foot jokingly and he picks me up by the waist and hugs me, swirling me around.
"Better luck next time my gem," He whispers in my hair, laughing a little.
"Get off." I try to stop the smile from spreading across my face but it doesn't work.
"Come on Tom, me and you now, see who is the true sore loser." He stands up, controller at hand.
"Let's do this." He goes completely serious, I think he's competitive. Very competitive.
I win of course and he hasn't looked so angry in his life. I feel kind of scared next to him, his jaw seems to be clenching together. Flynn wins the winners round and he fist pumps the air.
"Hey bro at least we have one Mitchell as a winner, keep the family name going bro." He winks at his brother, a small dimple forms as he grins with happiness at his win.
"Shit!" I shout, "the cupcakes!" I run to the oven and open the door, grabbing the tray and removing my hand quickly after, the adrenaline of thinking they were burnt made me forget the oven gloves.
"Careful there El!" Flynn says, grabbing my wrist and running me to the tap, allowing the cold water to pour over my burn.
What's one more burn going to do?
I look behind me and see Tom fishing out the cupcakes, they are golden brown- not burnt.
"Perfect," He says, placing them on the cooling rack.
"How's your hand feeling?" Flynn asks.
Painful. Like it's sizzling my skin. Nothing I've never felt before though.
"Fine," I say, taking a deep shaggy breath and releasing it.
"Cupcakes are done." Tom spreads Nutella on top of the little cakes and pops one in his mouth, moaning in pure bliss.
"Food orgasm much," Flynn laughs, shovelling his own cupcake into his mouth.
"How are you?" Grayson whispers against my ear, making me jump a little. I didn't notice he crept up on me.
"Fine." I smile and grab a cake and hand it to Grayson, he doesn't hesitate, he grabs it and forces it down his mouth, throwing the cupcake case into the bin.
The door handle turns on the front door and Aunt Susan steps in.
"Do I smell cupcakes?" She cheers, dumping her handbag in its usual spot and she moves into the kitchen, grabbing a cake for herself.
I hide the burn on my hand, mostly for my own sake so I don't remember the haunting scene of the fire that once happened many years ago- any burn I see brings back those memories.
Don't need to remember that again. Ever. But it always resurfaces, no matter what.