"Your abnormally happy today," mom commented with a laugh.
"What do you mean?" I asked with a huge grin that I couldn't seem to wipe off my face today.
"Hmm? Maybe because you've been energetic, social, and you haven't stopped smiling since you woke up this morning?" she suggested with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes at her and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just in a good mood today."
It technically wasn't a lie that I was in a good mood, but I knew the exact reason why I was in such a good mood today.
I guess waking up to a text from Leo saying, 'Morning Eathy. 😊 I had a great time last night. Oh, and feel free to give my clothes back whenever. Or just keep them, as you looked better in them than I ever have, 😉' put me in one of the best moods I've ever been in
And I've been in a good mood ever since.
"Well, I'm glad for whatever reason you're actually out here being social and not in your dungeon," dad remarked.
"Dungeon? I always open my blinds when I wake up," I retorted.
"Really? Because every time I go in there, it's always dark as hell," Drew remarked as he plopped down on the couch beside me.
"You never come in my bedroom until after 5, so yeah, I do close my blinds when it's dark, outside." I sent him a smirk which he rolled his eyes at.
"Whatever," Drew grumbled as he turned back to his phone.
My own phone vibrated on the table, and I leaned over, scooping it up and turning it on.
From: Abbster.
Hey Eath, you wanna give me all those lavish details about your date? 😉
I have to pick up a present for Tina and I'm forcing Will to go to the mall with me. Wanna come?
Sure.
What time are you picking me up?
About half an hour.
Or do you need more time to make yourself look beautiful? 😏
Don't call me beautiful. 😡
And that's fine, I'm already ready to go.
What, is your boyfriend the only one who calls you that? 😜
He doesn't call me beautiful.
And he's not my boyfriend. 😡
Mmhmm. I'll see you soon. 😙
I was blushing -yet again- at Abby calling Leo my boyfriend, as he clearly wasn't my boyfriend. We've only hung out once, and been on one date, and I met his parents, and...
Oh God, is he my boyfriend?
I shook that thought out of my head as I laid my phone back down on the coffee table. "Abby's gonna pick me up in half an hour and we're gonna hang out. Is that okay?"
Dad glanced up from his book and raised his eyebrows. "Sure, it's fine with me." He turned to mom with his eyebrows raised, silently getting her consent as well.
"It's fine with me." She shrugged, turning back to her computer and frowning at it before furiously typing something.
"Where are you going?" Drew interrupted.
"The mall; apparently Abby's buying a present for Tina's birthday." I shrugged and rolled my eyes.
Drew wrinkled his nose and muttered, "Guess I'm not going then."
"Oh come on, the mall's so much fun," I remarked, feigning disgust even though I was secretly extremely excited to go; even if I didn't buy anything, I still liked browsing all if the clothes and things the mall had to offer.
"Uh, no it's not. It's pure torture." His phone vibrated and he turned back to it, suddenly completely absorbed his phone.
I stared at my own phone for a moment, contemplating if I should invite Leo along.
My hand shot out and snatched my phone off the table, before my brain could catch up, my stomach doing a somersault at the prospect of talking to Leo...A.K.A my boyfriend, apparently.
To: Leo
Hey, Leo. 😊
Abby, Will, and I are hanging out.
You wanna come?
No, I can't. I'm working. 😧
Then why are you texting me? 😋
Because I'm a bad boy. 😉
My cheeks immediately flushed at the 'bad boy' portion of that text. Of course, my brain thought of all the dirty ways he could be a bad boy. Specifically, if he was a bad boy in bed.
Why do I even care? It's not like I'm ever going to be in bed with him, we're just friends... Maybe...
Oh really? Am I bothering you then?
Nah. We've been really slow today, plus my manager is around much, so I've just been playing games on my phone. 😅
Just trying to pass the time in any way, shape, or form. 😴
Damn, I was hoping you would say yes, so I could stop texting you. 😏
I sat there anxiously waiting for him to respond.
I didn't like texting when you were joking around because it's difficult to convey the fact that it's a joke sometimes, and the other person could easily take it the wrong way.
You can always add an emoji, or say lol, or something like that, but it still hard to tell when someone's joking sometimes.
Haha. Maybe I don't want to talk to you either. 😛
And sorry, I had a customer. The only fucking one I've had since my shift started 3 hours ago. 😪
It's fine, there's no need to apologize.
And wow, apparently people don't want their cheap, knock off slow globes and t-shirts?
😂 No, apparently.
Look, I gotta go, my boss is getting suspicious. 😧
I sent him a quick 'okay' then turned my phone off.
"Who was that?" Drew remarked as I set my phone back down.
"Uh, Leo was texting me," I murmured with a shrug.
"You seemed awfully excited to be talking to him." He smirked and waggled his eyebrows at me, reminding me that he was (besides Abby and Will) the only one who knew my...little secret.
"Yeah, what was he saying that was so funny? You were laughing, out loud, the whole time," dad added, adding extra emphasis to 'out loud' to make sure he got his point across.
I felt a hot flush staining my cheeks as I struggled to find a way around telling them what we were joking about when I was saved -literally- by the bell. The doorbell that is.
"That's Abby, and Will," I announced as Twinkie jumped up and galloped over to the door, barking her head off.
I got up and headed over to the door, attempting to shut Twinkie up as Lea was taking a nap, and if she continued barking Lea would wake up and she would be pissed if Twinkie woke her up.
"Twinkie, shut up. It's just Abby." I growled, shoving her out of the way, so I could open the door.
As I opened the door, a blast of hot, humid air slapped me in the face as Twinkie's tail slapped against my leg and the wall. I grinned at my friend and shoved Twinkie over against the wall so she couldn't escape out the open door. "Hey."
"Gee, someone's happy to see me," Abby remarked as she stared down at the ball of excitement next to me.
"I guess so," I muttered, then called goodbye to my family before closing the door, careful not to shut it on Twinkie.
"God damn, that dog is a psycho when someone knocks on the door," I muttered as I locked it.
I heard Twinkie whine on the other side of it and paw at the door. "Go lay down Twinks. I'll be home later," I said to her, causing her to emit another long, pitiful whine.
"I don't think she can stand the thought of you leaving," Abby remarked.
"She's like that when anyone leaves or comes home." I followed Abby to her car, squinting in the blinding sunlight and silently wishing I'd grabbed a pair of sunglasses.
"True, but she's 10 times worse when you're the one coming or going," Abby remarked as she opened her door.
I rolled my eyes at her as I opened my own door, and slid into the seat behind Will.
"Hey, dude," Will said as he turned around in his seat and held his fist out to me.
I bumped my closed fist against his and grinned. "Hey. I heard Abby forced you to go to the mall." I shrugged my jacket off, hot for once, and tossed it on the seat beside me.
Will sent a playful glare at Abby before turning back to me, his voice flat with annoyance. "Yeah, she told me we were going to Charley's, then she dropped the bomb about going to the mall on the way over here."
"Damn, someone's being rather conniving today," I remarked, leaning back in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest.
Abby rolled her eyes at me in the rearview mirror. "So? He wouldn't have to come if I didn't trick him, and besides, he needed to get his ass outside anyway."
"What? He never goes outside or leaves his house?" I feigned confusion and sent Will an innocent smile.
"I kinda have a reason not to. You know, the whole chemo thing seems to keep you inside a lot," Will retorted, then glanced out the window, staring way too intently at a half-dead bush beside the driveway.
"Mhm, blame your lack of social activity on your chemo," Abby remarked slyly as she backed out of my driveway.
Will rolled his eyes at Abby before muttering, "Whatever. How long will your little shopping trip take?" I noticed an immediate difference in his demeanor when his treatment was brought up, but I decided to keep that observation to myself.
"I don't know. It depends on how easily I find something," Abby replied.
"Well, I hope it doesn't take too long because I might keel over from starvation in there." Will grabbed his stomach and sent her a pouty look as it loudly grumbled.
"If we eat first will that make you happy?" Abby questioned, only half serious.
"Maybe..." Will replied with a half grin tilting his lips.
"Ugh, fine. I guess we can eat first," Abby allowed.
"Yay!" Will replied with overly forced enthusiasm.
"Wow, that was enthusiastic for you being so starving and all," I said with a smirk.
"It was, that's about all the enthusiasm I can muster for eating shitty food court pizza, and Coke that has more water in it than syrup," Will retorted.
"Fine. How about I make a deal with you?" Abby slyly grinned as she pulled into the huge parking lot for the mall.
"Oh, God, do I even wanna know where this is going?" Will muttered, sending me an eye roll before turning back to Abby. "What's this little deal you wanna make?"
"The deal is: We go shopping first, then we go to Charley's for dinner slash late lunch," Abby replied as she scanned the completely full parking lot for an empty space.
"That sounds good to me, but you're buying me a snack first." Will grinned slyly like a child that conned his mother out of a toy that they didn't need.
Abby sighed dramatically. "Fine you needy bastard. I'll get you a snack first so you'll stop complaining."
Will winked at me, obviously pleased with himself. "Good, because I'm probably gonna want the most expensive snack I can get."
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"Okay, now that you have your food are you happy?" Abby asked with a smirk, sending a pointed look at Will's cookie dough ice cream cone.
He grinned at her, amusement lighting up his milk chocolate brown eyes. "Yup. I'm probably going to regret this later, but I don't fucking care. I'm starving."
"Good, now shut up," Abby remarked.
Will took a big bite of his ice cream, deciding to rub in the fact that he had food and we didn't a little more. "Mmm. It's so fucking good," he moaned.
Abby laughed and muttered, "Don't rub it in, asshole."
He continued to smirk at Abby as he continued happily eating his ice cream.
"Alright, now what should I get Tina for her birthday?" Abby murmured more to herself than to us as she scanned the sign labeling all of the stores on this level of the mall.
"Why don't you get her another pink top? It seems like she can never have enough of them?" I suggested sarcastically.
Abby looked up from the sign and glanced around the mall, probably looking for whatever shop she wanted to scope out for the perfect present. "True, but I wanna get her something original."
"So not a frilly, pink top?" Will added with a smirk.
"No, not a frilly, pink top." Abby rolled her eyes.
"Now follow me, the sooner we can get her present, the sooner we can get out of here," Abby said as she sauntered off towards some store.
Will and I fell into step beside Abby as we headed to the clothing store she apparently had her eyes on. "So, are you going to inform us about your date?" Abby remarked as we entered the store.
Fuck... I was hoping she forgot about that.
"Umm...we uh..." I stammered awkwardly, my cheeks inflaming at telling my best friends about my first official date with a guy.
...But not your first...
Abby's eyes widened and she stared at me with a strange look on her face. "Wait! You guys didn't..."
I knew exactly where she was going with this and I quickly cut her off. "Oh no, not that... We just...went to the beach."
We technically did go to the beach, but the fact that everything was completely innocent, and sweet was kind of a lie.
'Considering you were just grinding your ass against my dick a minute ago,' echoed through my head causing a hot flush to ignite under my skin.
"You went to the beach for a date?" Will questioned, his lips twitching as he struggled to keep his composure.
I was about to respond when an employee shot out from behind the counter and hurried over. The employee's thin hips swished as she hurried over, her high-heels click-clacking on the floor, a look of horror on her face. "No, no. Sir, you can't bring food in here." She stared pointedly at Will's ice cream cone, what was left of it, then back up at him.
He glanced down at the half-eaten cone in his hands, then back up at her confusedly. "It's just a cone."
"Well, even if it is 'just a cone,' it's still prohibited in the store." The woman plastered a sickeningly sweet smile on her (very filled with Juvederm) lips, her gaze locked on the cone in Will's hand like a lion locked on its prey.
"Oh, okay. We're sorry. He'll finish his cone, then we'll come back," Abby replied sweetly as she slowly backed out of the store.
The employee nodded to us as we turned around and left, making sure we were 'doing as we were told.'
"Ookay, looks like I'll be taking my business elsewhere," Abby muttered after she closed the door; dramatically stretching out the 'okay,' anger flashing in her emerald eyes.
"Damn, did you see the look on her face when I told her it was just a cone? She looked like she wanted to rip the cone out of my hand and throw it out the goddamn door." Will waved his cone around for extra emphasis, his lips twitching again.
"Ugh, I know. What a bitch," I agreed, my own lips twitching as I struggled to not burst out laughing.
Both of them glanced at me for a second, before we were unable to hold back the laughter, all of us immediately bursting into laughter.
We all collapsed onto a bench outside the store, laughing so hard we couldn't even stand up anymore. I struggled to catch my breath as every time I tried to take a breath and calm down, I just exploded into another fit of laughter.
"Oh, my God...okay..." Abby huffed as she tried to contain her fit of giggles.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. "Okay, after we turned into a bunch of psychopaths, where are we going now?"
Will nodded, still chuckling. "Yeah, where are we going? And preferably a store where we're actually welcome."
Abby shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to hold the laughter in. "Um, this way." She got up and started swiftly walking away from the store we were just kicked out of, heading towards another high-end clothing store.
Again, Will and I followed her as we weaved around all of the other 100s of customers either walking around aimlessly or determinedly weaving in and out of the other customers with looks of annoyance on their faces. Will and I were probably the latter option as neither of us particularly like going to the mall...well, at least Will was the latter option.
"So, getting back to what we were originally talking about-" Abby paused to send an amused smile my way, her eyes twinkling with amusement-"before we were so rudely interrupted." She yanked the door open to another clothing store as she waggled her eyebrows at me and sent me an expectant look. "You guys went to the beach for your date?" she prompted.
I held the door open for Will and shrugged. "Yeah. We just had a picnic on the beach," I said as I followed my friends into the store.
"Aww, that's so adorable!" Abby squealed.
I blushed -what's new there- as I hissed, "Shh!"
She waved me off as she scanned a rack filled with tops. She glanced over her shoulder at me and said deviously, "Tell me everything."
So I told them everything, leaving out the whole 'Leo yanking me in his lap thing' as there was no way in hell I was ever telling them about that.
It was embarrassing enough that it happened in the first place, and it would be a whole other level of embarrassing if my friends knew about me technically dry humping Leo without even realizing it.
"Aww, he calls you Eathy?" Abby said in a high-pitched baby voice after my embarrassing speal about our date ended.
"Yeah, and it's embarrassing as hell." I ducked my head, awkwardly scratching my arm.
"It's not embarrassing. It's adorable," Abby said in that high-pitched (annoying), squeaky voice.
"It is pretty fucking embarrassing," Will agreed. "But then again, so is you calling Leo by his full name, which he obviously hates." He sent a smirk my way, his eyes dancing with mischief.
"It's payback for his embarrassing nickname," I replied slyly, my face feeling like a wildfire was burning beneath my skin as I heard Eathy swirling around in my brain in Leo's deep growl when I was ass to dick in his lap.
"I mean even the fact that you 2 are calling each other embarrassing nicknames is adorable. Only extremely good friends, like us-" Abby paused to send a loving look at Will and me-"or 'couple's' do that." Thankfully she dropped her voice to a normal tone, but she sent a wink at me when she said the 'couple's' part just to prove her point.
"We are not a couple," I growled.
Will chuckled and sent a disbelieving look my way. "Did he text you this morning?"
"Yeah, so?" I inquired.
"Okay, so he flirts with you non-stop. He constantly wants to kiss you and he can't keep his hands off of you. He's taken you on a date, and you've met his parents, then gave you a dorky ass nickname. Correct?" Will rattled off all of the things I'd just told him, finally finishing with a raised eyebrow.
"And Leo called Eath 'his man' at school the other day," Abby chimed in as she moved on to another rack of clothes, this one filled with pants, a couple of tops hanging off her arms.
Will smirked at me and crossed his arms over have chest. "See? You guys are dating. Maybe not officially, but Leo obviously thinks you're dating."
Oh, crap. What the fuck do I say now?
"Well, yeah. Leo's great. He's sweet, funny, understanding..." I trailed off finally getting the realization that Leo was more than a friend to me (apparently kissing Leo and going on a date with him wasn't enough), even if we hadn't discussed the whole 'boyfriends' thing, Leo obviously thinks of me as his boyfriend. "Okay, I think I'm getting your point now."
"He's finally getting the fact that they're not friends," Will remarked exaggeratedly to Abby, pulling her out of her shopping mode.
"Oh, really? I thought he'd never come around," Abby said astonishedly, a smirk curving her lips.
"You guys love to embarrass me, don't you?" I sighed, shrinking down further into my jacket, not only because of my embarrassment, but because I was genuinely getting cold again.
Will grinned at me and slung his arm over my shoulder. "It's our favorite pastime. We have to find some way to entertain ourselves."
"I think you entertain yourself just fine without embarrassing the fuck out of me," I huffed, shrugging his arm off my shoulders.
He chuckled as he leaned against a nearby wall. "Considering I'm in a boring ass shop in a mall that plays horrendous music, I have to find some way to entertain myself while I'm waiting on this one." He gestured to Abby who was standing in front of a mirror holding the clothes up to her body and examining them -I'm assuming- because she and Tina were similar sizes, so if it fit Abby then it should fit Tina.
"Those pants wouldn't fit Tina. Her hips are wider than yours, and the pockets on the back would make her ass look enormous," I announced after a moment of studying the outfit she picked.
Both of my friends stared at me with different looks on their faces. Abby was staring at me in disbelief, while Will's look was pure amusement. "What?" I asked after nobody said a word for a moment, awkwardly fidgeted under their gazes.
"How did you know that?" Abby asked, astonished, as she put the jeans back.
"Uhh..." I nervously chewed on my lip, wishing I hadn't said that. I didn't wanna admit the fact that I was slightly addicted to shows about fashion.
"Yeah, how did you know that?" Will asked with a smirk, obviously amused about my fashion advice.
"Umm... I may watch...sh-shows about fashion..." I stammered.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Will said, not even bothering to hold back the laughter.
"Really? I didn't know that." Abby tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy. "But that's great! Then you can help me find something that would fit Tina, and I'll tell you if she would like it." Abby grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the rack of pants.
What surprised me the most was she wasn't surprised at all by me watching fashion shows. Will obviously thought it was funny -which made sense- but I was just happy that they didn't find it strange.
I glanced at the rack of jeans and awkwardly sifted through a few pairs. I pulled a pair out that was slightly on the shorter side, as Tina isn't very tall, and they were wider in the hips than the last pair Abby had.
I held them out to Abby for examination. "What about these?" She took the pants from me and looked them over.
"Nope. Tina does like pants with rhinestones on the pockets." She put the (incredibly cute) jeans back on the rack and shrugged.
"Why?" I questioned, confused, as I looked through the rack again.
"Don't ask me, she just doesn't," she replied with a laugh, and an eye roll.
"Well I like bedazzled jeans...or anything really," I murmured, sifting through the pants again for a pair that would work.
"Damn you really are gay, huh?" Will remarked. He quirked an eyebrow and smirked.
I sent a glare at him and growled, "I'm bi, and can you announce it to the whole fucking store next time."
"Maybe I will..." he murmured, a devious glint in his eyes. "And damn, someone's sensitive about his sexuality."
I sighed and rolled my eyes at him, exasperated. "Yeah, I am sensitive about it considering we're in a place where many teenagers frequent, and those teenagers could go to our school." I glanced pointedly at a couple of girls I recognized from school looking through the racks on the other side of the store.
Will glanced at them and shrugged. "So? What are you so worried about? You're graduating next semester; so why would you care if they know you're bi? I mean you're technically dating a guy right now. Plus you have way bigger things to worry about right now, than people knowing you like dudes and girls."
I opened my mouth to reply than snapped it shut as -yet again- he was right. I shouldn't be so worried about my classmates (or strangers, in general) knowing that I was partially gay, but I was.
As much as I told myself no one would care that I'm bi, I still can't seem to shake the thoughts that are always in the back of my mind. The side of me that says if people knew I was bi they would treat me differently, that they wouldn't be as excepting as my friends, or my brother. Or worse, that they would bully me like what happened to Leo...and me...
"No. Put me down!" I screamed as I flung my arms out; struggling against Ryan's grip.
My heart pounded in my chest, my veins filling with adrenaline as I kicked Allex in the stomach. He didn't even flinch as he stared at me with a downright devilish smirk."Oh, come on baby... You said you wanted this..." He took another step forward and reached out to me...
"Eath," Abby said gingerly touching my arm, pulling me out of the past, and the horrible memories.
I yanked my hand back from the rack of pants, and her touch, hell I practically jumped out of my skin when she touched me.
"Dude, are you okay?" Will stared at me wide-eyed, confusion and concern evident in his unwavering gaze.
I blinked at my concerned friends, my heart pounding in my chest as I stood there blinking away the horrible memory. "Um...y-yeah, I'm fine. I was...just thinking," I stammered, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jacket.
"Uh, that looked like more than thinking. You were standing there shaking," Abby said shakily.
I glanced at Will, and he nodded confirming the fact that I was shaking. Hell, I still felt shaky on my feet.
"What was that all about, Eath?" Abby asked.
"Yeah what the fuck just happened? And don't give us any bullshit this time," Will demanded.
"I was remembering Ryan...and Allex," I whispered.
A muscle flexed in Will's jaw as pure fury filled his eyes and he curled his hands into fists at his side.
Abby hugged me tightly and whispered, "It's fine. You're fine Eath. That was in the past..."
Alright, guys!! Another chapter for you gorgeous, amazing creatures (btw 'creatures' is being used positively as apparently I think being a 'creature' is a good thing 😂).
I will tell you, I had a very different idea for this chapter when I started writing it, but I'm still extremely proud and happy with the way it did turn out.
Now to the A 2 R, Q + A section!
Ps. Read that in a ridiculous announcer voice, it makes it sound much cooler than it actually is. 😂
1. If you get a text from your significant other saying something as simple as, "Good morning," does it make your day? Or just your morning? 😂
It makes my whole week honestly. 😅 Or it would if I had a boy/girlfriend. 😧
2. Do you guys turn on every light possible, or are you an "I live in a dungeon" type of person?
Ps. This is an inside joke between my dad and me -and now you apparently- as he seems to think you need to turn on every light in the room to do something as simple as watch YouTube. 😂
3. Do you text at work? If so, do you ever get caught? I probably would honestly, if I have nothing else to do. 😏
Guess I'm just as bad as Leo, huh?
4. What are your thoughts on the mall? Is it a place of torture, and extremely overpriced items? Or is it affordable, and fun?
It's complete torture to me. 😧
5. Do you have any pets? And if you have dogs, do they act like Twinkie when you leave? Or do they only freak out when another person in your house leaves or comes home? 😅
My 2 dogs act like Twinkie when anyone leaves or comes home. 😊 Fun fact (guess I'm just full of these today) I had a greyhound named Twinkie in the past.
That's why I pictured her to have a brown brindle pattern, as that's exactly what she looked like (reference picture in chapter 9) and that was her name. 🐶
6. Are you guys grumpy as hell when you're hungry? Or are you just hungry? 😂
I'm both. I'm extremely starving and pissed off. 😅😤
7. Would you guys tell your friends about Eath, and Leo's little dry humping situation if it happened to you? Or would you keep that info to yourself?
There is no way in hell I would ever tell my friends if that happened. 😶😶 Much too embarrassing. 😂
8. Lastly, what do you think happened to Eath? Who do you think Ryan and Allex are?
I don't know...or maybe I do... 😂
Okay, tha-tha-that's all folks! You guys get that reference? Probably not... 😧
Love you, as always my little loves
-F1oridaLov3r