Once
"Somebody's dress is see through!"
I heard a singsong voice somewhere to the right of me. I whipped my head around but only saw a blur of colours. It was Dean. I hadn't moved an inch since the phone call with mom, partly because I had no idea what to do, and partly because of what Dean had just said. I was still soaked and it's not like I planned on getting wet so obviously I didn't prepare a change of clothes.
"Oh yess," Lawrence dragged the last letter longer purposely and was simpering, he was doing this just to annoy me, and it was working.
"Piss off," I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest; his eyes darted over to my arms but didn't say anything.
Just then, Rosie coughed a little beside us and sat up.
"That's it, I'm outta here, this is way to inappropriate for me," she waved her arms dismissively and sat up. "Feel free to do whatever you guys like just not in my presence. Please," I gaped at her. Was she really four? I felt like she was a ten year old stuck in a four-year-old meat suit.
"Are you sure? I think it would be better if you stayed here because then we would be able to keep an eye on you," I said.
"Nah, seriously, I feel great," she coughed a little but gave a wavering smile. Then she hopped - well, not literally hopped - off the couch. She stretched a little, her cheeks were flushed from the heat but her eyes seemed to be bouncing with excitement.
Lawrence raised an eyebrow at me.
"What?"
"Nothing," he shook his head. What the hell?
I looked up, but Rosie was already gone. I sighed.
"Are you gonna change...or what?" Lawrence gesture at me with his hands, grinning. I swatted his hands away, a little bit annoyed.
"Trust me, that would be fantastic but I doubt borrowing your mom's clothes is a good idea," I mumbled under my breath. I was being a little judgmental, but the way Lauren had held herself today scared me a little. Obviously she was a preeminent woman, there was no doubt about that, but she also came off as a little ostentatious.
"Who told you you could borrow my mom's clothes?"
Oh god, did he seriously have to be so straightforward with it?
"Nobody, that's why I said I won't borrow her clothes," I said and dipped my head down and tied my hair up into a bun, without an elastic band. It was a little trick I learned from my mom, the one thing I actually remember her teaching me. The trick usually only works with wet hair, all you have to do is twist your hair into a normal bun but at the end, tuck the ends underneath. It worked more than ninety percent of the time.
I kept my head down and didn't dare look up. But there was silence.
"Lawrence?" I said to nobody in particular because where he was just seconds ago, there was no one.
I stood up, a little confused as to where in the world he had gone. Is it some sort of a power the Campbell kids had? To disappear into thin air? First Rosie, now him?
After a few seconds, when I saw that he still hadn't showed up, I tiptoed to the closest wall and leaned against it like a ninja while I crept slowly towards the edge. I don't even know why I did that but I guess I just felt I should be a little secretive at that moment. Maybe he was just around the corner, scaring him would be fun too.
"What the hell are you doing?" a voice disrupted my train of thought, and nearly caused me to shit my pants. "You looked like you just robbed my house and is trying to make a run for it. You didn't do that, right?"
"Jesus Christ," I glared at him angrily. "Why do you always have to be so-"
"Hot, handsome? No, sexy. That's the word," ah, yes. It was Lawrence #2 that I was talking to right now, the arrogant, obnoxious, irksome one. But he wasn't necessarily wrong...
"No, I meant annoying as hell,"
"Hell? How do you know what hell's like? Have you been to hell before?" he asked innocently. I wanted to punch him in the face, but no, my temper wasn't that short and I definitely was not going to punch him in a house full of young children.
"Just..." I looked down at his right hand, it was holding a grey looking piece of cloth, I would assume that it would be a piece of clothing of some sort. "what's that?" I pointed at it.
"Wow, I underestimated your intelligence," he said sarcastically, "it's a shirt, the only clean one I could find," he rubbed the back of his neck slowly, almost like he was a little embarrassed to admit that this was the only clean shirt he had right now.
"And you have it out because..."
"Once again you're so-"
"Shut up,"
He sighed, "it's for you,"
I let out a ragged breath, "W-what?"
"You deaf?" he sounded like he didn't want to repeat what he had just said.
"You, the oh so mighty Lawrence Campbell is letting me, borrow your shirt?" I couldn't believe it. This wasn't happening, and even if it was, I wasn't going to wear his shirt if my life depended on it.
He raised an eyebrow and thrust the shirt at me.
"I can't wear that," I pushed him away, "I would be pantless,"
I heard a distant laugh somewhere deeper inside the house. Honestly, were those two devious twins just hiding around the corner eavesdropping on our conversation?
"Trust me," he eyed me from head to toe, "just by looking at you I can tell any of my shirts will be a dress on you,"
Looking at me? What was that supposed to mean? Sure, I had a tiny frame but that doesn't mean it'll be big enough to be a dress. But then again, I was starting to shiver and night was dawning on us, and fast. I couldn't sleep in soaking wet clothes.
"Fine," I glared at him and grabbed the shirt from his hands. "Where can I change?"
"Around the corner," he pointed to a direction, and I nodded.
After stripping off my soaking dress, I found out that my undergarments were still dry, a little damp, but definitely not wet. I was extremely thankful. I eyed the shirt that I had placed on the bathroom sink, I felt mixed feelings right then, did I want to wear his shirt? Yes. But I also felt so wrong wearing it. I barely knew him and I obviously didn't want to give him the wrong idea, especially because Olivia constantly has her eyes on me, watching my every move.
I grabbed it off the counter and rubbed my thumb over the soft fabric. I never noticed this until now but it was an ACDC shirt. One of my favourite bands, I couldn't pass on a chance to wear a shirt like this.
I pulled it over my head and much to my surprise - but definitely not to Lawrence's - the shirt fit me like a short dress perfectly. My butt was covered up and so were a lot of thigh. Good. I didn't want to dress like some slut walking around his house. I grabbed my dress and exited the bathroom.
Lawrence's eyes widened half an inch.
"I know, I know. You're surprised that you were right too. I guess I was smaller than I thought I was, or you just wear really big shirts," I grinned a little. "I should probably check up on Rosie, see how she's feeling,"
"Y-yeah, ok. After, go to the kitchen, dinner," he turned around and walked off. I raised an eyebrow, was it just me or did he seem a little out of it?
I did a good 360 degrees turn, where in the world was Rosie's room?
"Wait!" I called out to thin air. He wasn't here anymore. He wouldn't be able to hear me. I sighed, might as well do a little hunting myself.
The house was probably over ten times the size of my apartment, and probably triple the size of my house back in London. Finding Rosie's room would be like trying to find a pin in a haystack. I figured that all the bedrooms would be upstairs since all I could see downstairs were rooms full of couches, tvs, sofas, etc. There were just living rooms everywhere in sight.
I climbed up the stairs with my hand on the bannister. The stairs were unbelievably steep.
There were rooms alongside the wall once I had reached the top, and when I say "rooms" I mean more than six at least, not including the master bedroom that seemed to be at the on the left and in a whole different area.
I peeked inside the first room. There were books everywhere, on the floor, the bed, the shelves, basically anywhere with space was filled with books of all sorts. Obviously I would expect it to be Sam's room, but sitting at the desk opposite to where I was standing was a boy with golden honey coloured hair. It was Dean's room.
He seemed to have sensed my presence because he whirled his body around and gaped at me with saucer sized eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here, can't you read the sign?" he pointed a shaking finger at the door. It said "no girls allowed".
"What are you? Six?" I laughed a little but left because the look Dean had given me was lethal. He must've been really embarrassed to be caught reading. Which wasn't even a bad thing. I appreciated a kid who actually took the time to read, kids nowadays were to absorbed with games and god knows what. But I guess Dean was too cool for school.
But the thing that really surprised me was the fact that Dean didn't even realize I had changed into Lawrence's shirt, he must've been super shellshocked to see me standing at the door to notice what I was wearing.
My feet led me to the second door, which happened to have been left ajar. I peeked a little, careful not to have made the same mistake as I had made with Dean. When I saw that there was no "no girls" sign on the door, I knocked on the door a little.
"Come in," a voice spoke up from the left side.
I pushed the door a little wider but still didn't go in, I needed to find Rosie ASAP and by the looks of the room, it wasn't Rosie's.
The room was pretty plain, it was like someone has just moved in, except with no unpacked boxes. The walls were a pasty white with a few photos here and there, but it was no wear near filled like Dean's was.
Lying on the bed was Sam, wearing headphones. His eyes were closed and his head was bobbing up and down, whatever music he was listening to was definitely not melancholy music. Most likely rock or something. I feel like Sam and Dean's personalities both caught me quite off guard.
Sam opened one eye for a brief second before closing them again.
A grin grew wide on his pale face.
"Nice shirt,"
I turned a little red...ok, fine. Maybe a bit more than a little red. More like, beet red. I was glad his eyes were closed and he couldn't see me.
"Uh...well, do you know which room is Rosie's? I need to check on her," I mumbled.
"it's down the hall," he replied, still not looking up at me.
I sighed, "what's up with the undecorated room by the way? Not to sound nosy or anything,"
He took off his headphones and sat up, "I like it the way it is," he stared at me with his dark eyes, "I can think better this way, when posters are plastered everywhere and things are scattered all over the place it makes my mind feel the same way, all disorganized. It's totally annoying,"
I nodded, impressive.
"Cool," I shuffled out of the room.
"Wait, Alice?" Sam's voice sounded from the room.
I didn't bother going in again.
"I'm shocked that you're wearing that one particular shirt," he said with a weird tone in his voice, you didn't need to see his voice to know that there was something off.
I poked my hand into his room, expecting some sort of a response, but he already had his headphones in and was bobbing to the music.
I closed the door and walked into what I thought would be Rosie's room, but definitely not because the walls were painted a dark blue, almost black and on them were posters. They were plastered everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Posters of bands from the 80's and cars. The car posters were just insane, I felt a magnetic force pulling me into the room even though I had a gut feeling I shouldn't be doing this and I was right because I hadn't stepped foot inside more than five steps before a toneless voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Now I'm seriously starting to think you're some sort of burglar," Lawrence's drop dead gorgeous voice mumbled.
I spun around and tried to look like I was supposed to be here. I wasn't a burglar; I didn't steal anything, so why did I feel so guilty?
"I was just looking for Rosie's room," I muttered and inched towards the door, but realized that he was standing there, blocking the entrance with his entire body.
"Hm, that's interesting," he mused, "I never knew that there was a possibility of Rosie's room being in my room,"
"Ah, this is your room? I had no idea," I gave a chuckle, "alright, I'll leave,"
He took a step forward, clearing the pathway. I could just make a dash for it, but what are the chances of me actually making it right?
"What makes you think you can just leave this easily?" he narrowed his eyes, "you invaded my privacy and now I'm going to make you pay,"
I gulped, "I really like your posters," and that my friends is my last pathetic response before he fell. No, he didn't actually really fall, but rather body slammed into me. Dean and Sam were standing at the doorway, laughing their faces off.
"Oh man, I'm so sorry, we were just playing tag!" Sam said between laughs.
I gave them what I thought was my death glare. Then I realized Lawrence was still on top of me, having no intention to move anytime soon. His head was sideways so I couldn't really see his face properly, all I could see was a huge mop of extremely golden hair, I didn't even need sunlight to tell that.
The heat radiating off his body was incredible, I would've appreciated if it was winter and not summer in Miami but I still didn't really mind, expect for the fact that he was heavy, like real heavy.
"Uhhh," I poked his shoulder.
There was no response and I swear I heard the devil kids high five softly.
"Ummm Campbell," I poked his head; my legs were getting a little numb.
This time, there was a response, except not verbally. He moved his head so it was facing me, but I did not prepare myself for it. His eyes were incredibly bright, multi-flecks of green danced around in his iris while his pupil dilated quite a bit.
I don't even know why but I stared into his eyes with mine for a good ten seconds before averting my gaze to Dean and Sam.
"Sam, last I saw you, you were in bed! And Dean! You were reading just seconds ago!" I pointed a finger at them angrily. Something in my guts told me they weren't playing tag at all.
Sam shrugged, "I stopped, obviously," he turned around and shuffled away.
"Oh my god Alice! Stop!" Dean gaped and stomped back to what I assumed would be his room.
I looked down at Lawrence, "I would appreciate it if you moved you know,"
He grumbled something inaudible but still obeyed.
Sam and Dean were acting so very suspicious today, and it wasn't just their swapped personalities. Something else I couldn't quite put a finger on.
Lawrence ran a hand through his hair after he had sat up.
"Get outta my room," he smirked, "I mean, girls should be a little more conservative because guys only think about that one thing..."
I kicked Lawrence the chin as hard as I could and went to go find Rosie, I knew her room was the next one down the hall, which was also the one closest to the master bedroom. As I made my way there, I couldn't help but think back to the second when Lawrence fell onto me. His warmth, his body...oh god, stop Alice, you're practically going out with Hunter now, this was so wrong.
I don't know why I didn't see this before but on Rosie's door was pictures of angry princesses all pointing at me with word bubbles saying "hey you! Yeah you! Knock!" I chuckled a little bit to myself before knocking three times.
I heard a cough from the other side of the door and a soft voice that said, "come in,"
I pushed the door open and went straight to Rosie's bed, I felt her forehead a little, her temperature had dropped but not a significant amount and I could tell she definitely needed some Tylenol.
"Rosie where's the medicine?" I said softly.
She giggled a little, "I don't want medicine,"
"Sorry kiddo but if you want your fever to get better then you got to take some," I knew how she felt because I hated taking medicine when I was younger, I remember mom would always made deals with me about how if I drank the whole cap of medicine I would get to watch a whole episode of my favourite show, and I always said yes.
"Fine, it's in the bathroom," she said crossly.
"Where's that?"
"It's right there," she laughed at me as if my question was obvious. I turned to see a bathroom, in her room. Did everyone have a private bathroom all to themselves and in their own rooms? These kids had no idea how lucky they are. Even though I technically had my own bathroom back home in England, it was far from my room and my dad had complete rights to use it whenever he needed. Talk about awkward.
I fumbled through the cabinet and grabbed what I thought would be good for her situation.
She took it reluctantly but a smile lit up on her face.
"Hey, it tastes like strawberries! I want more!"
I smiled, "You can get more if your fever gets worse but for now you should sleep,"
I would wake her up for dinner but she probably wouldn't have the appetite.
"Alice, are you wearing Lawrence's shirt?" she grabbed the corner of my shirt and ran a thumb over the fabric.
"Yeah..." I felt so odd saying it even though she was just four and probably didn't really understand much.
"Huh,"
"What?"
"This isn't just any of his shirts," she sounded a little surprised. "What did he say when he gave it to you?"
I frowned, what did she mean? "Well, he said it was the only clean one he could find,"
"Wow," she said thoughtfully, "you know our dad gave it to Lawrence before he ran off right?"
No, I definitely did not know that, "oh really?"
"Yeah, and he totally hates whenever someone touches it, he barely ever wears it himself. Once Dean hid it for fun and Lawrence just lost it, he was so scary," she shook her head miserably. "You better take good care of it for him,"
"I will, don't worry," I said, "I promise,"
She beamed, "I'm sleepy..." her words slurred, I guess the medicine started to kick in.
I closed the door and went downstairs. I could smell lasagna cooking; I guess Lawrence had started to make dinner. I didn't bother him but rather went to one of the million sofas they had and slumped down. The skies outside were nearly dark, since it was raining before, there were no beautiful multicoloured skies, but rather just grey ones. Giving the atmosphere a gloomy and doleful feeling.
I thought back to Rosie's words.
If this shirt really was once Mr. Campbell's and Lawrence had kept it like it was some sacred item, what did it mean? He let me wear it; I was just some random girl who happened to have spilled soup on him, what made him think he could trust me with it?
With these amorphous thoughts in my mind, I fell into a deep slumber right on the couch.
sorry guys for the long wait! i will be going on vacation for the next week or so, so that means no updates until at least august 10th :(
tons of lawlice in the future chapters so check it out!
don't forget to vote and comment, it means a ton to me!
thanks,
Summer