Cover attached made by VeiledCrimson Thanks so much! It's very professional :)
Chapters 11-12 have been posted
His Game: Chapter Eleven
At promptly 8 o'clock, Joey shows up at my house. As she pulls into my driveway, I realize I definitely never gave her my address. I have no clue how she found it, but it's proven not to be that difficult. Hell, all I have to do is type her name into the search engine and I'm sure I'll get at least three different social media sites to find a multitude of information on her.
The internet is an amazing, terrifying place.
I watch as Joey effortlessly gets off of her bike, slipping her helmet off with a small shake of her head to let her hair fall down her shoulders. Why is that so sexy to me? Then she sets her brown eyes on me, strikingly so but not as much as if they were blue.
"Hey Punk," she says as she walks towards me.
"Josephine," I smirk.
If she's going to call me Punk, I'll call her a name she doesn't like. It's only fair.
However, instead of showing annoyance or irritation, she simply smiles and waits for me to let her inside. I scowl deeply, if it doesn't bother her then it's no fun.
"I thought you didn't like the name Josephine..." I mutter as I open the door.
She chuckles, "It's not that I don't like it, I just think it's too long."
Well that plan didn't work.
Ugh.
We walk inside, and she instantly notices the setup I laid out; an array of Chinese food on the living room coffee table, set out with a rose and a pile of movies for us to choose from.
I am playing all the cards to get her into bed.
Joey slowly walks into the living room, peeling off her jacket, and then turns to me with a sly smirk.
"I thought I was supposed to do the cheesy gestures to make you fall for me, not the other way around," she hums.
I smirk and saunter over to her, sliding my hands onto her waist that is a perfect fit to my grip. "Is that you admitting you're falling for me?"
She places her hands on my chest, causing my skin to jump at her smooth touch, and then she lightly shoves me back. "Keep dreaming, Punk."
With a small chuckle, I pull away and move towards the food I laid out. It's no Italian, but I am actually starting to like Chinese food.
"I got two orders of dumplings, fried rice, lo-mien, orange chicken, sesame chicken, and some soup," I list.
She raises a brow at me, "You're really trying, aren't you Punk?"
I shrug, "What can I say? I know how to win a girl over."
She snorts and sits down, sinking into the couch. "You're finally on the right track," she admits with a sly look, "What else do you have in store for me, Rhett Calvetti?"
I smirk and grab the stack of movies resting on the counter. In the mix is practically every horror movie one could think of.
I'm kind of a horror movie buff. I go see nearly every one that comes out on the night of the release, and if I like it I buy it the day it comes out on DVD. You could call it a passion or a hobby of mine, and it's one I won't ever grow out of.
I show her the pile I have in my hands, a bit of excitement dancing through me as I anticipate which she'll choose. I love them all, so she really can't go wrong. Most of the girls gravitate towards the most popular movies, classics like The Exorcist or the Blair Witch Project, because they assume those are my favorites.
Kelly was the only one to choose my actual favorite; It. Of course, it's newer so it's only recently become my favorite, but you can never go wrong with Stephen King.
I love all movies in the stack I have, though, so it's a win-win situation for me no matter what Joey chooses.
But she somehow still finds a way to make me lose the situation by shaking her head decisively. "Nope."
My expression drops, "What? Why?"
She leans forward to make herself a plate of food, not holding back on anything I laid out. I don't think her plate is going to hold the amount of food she's taking. "I don't like horror movies."
I stare at her as if she is absolutely insane. Who doesn't like horror movies?
"How?" I exclaim.
"I don't like being scared and having my heart race that fast if it doesn't need to. Why would I want to feel like I'm going to have a heart attack?" She mutters as she takes a huge bite of chicken.
"That's the fun of it!" I practically yell.
"I don't call that fun."
"I would hate to learn what your definition of fun is, then," I mumble, nearly throwing the movies back onto the table out of annoyance.
I stop my pouting, however, when I feel Joey suddenly very close to me, placing her finger on my jawbone to guide my face to hers. I meet her brown eyes with my green and I see the suggestive undertones to her gaze.
She smirks at me, lightly biting down on her bottom lip as she blinks at me under her dark lashes, quirking a seductive brow. "Oh, I have a feeling you would love my definition of fun."
My mouth goes dry and I stare intently at her ruby red lips, imagining them trailing up and down my body. The things this girl probably knows how to do...
"Too bad you don't want to," she shrugs, dropping the seductive look and sitting back on her own end of the couch to eat some chicken.
Wait. What just happened. Why is she not kissing me?
"No, wait I do!" I rush out.
Wow Rhett. Two years of playing the game and that's the response you come up with?
Joey glances at me with a raised brow, "Rhett Calvetti, don't sound so-"
"Desperate, yeah I know," I mutter, rubbing my forehead from the embarrassment of such a sad line from me. "Anyways, if not horror, what movies do you like, then? Maybe we can come to some agreement on what to watch. The Shining isn't too scary," I say, sorting through the movies to find it.
"I really only watch Rom-Coms," she admits with not an ounce of shame.
I snap my head over to her and nearly drop my jaw.
"No." I say. "We are not watching a rom-com."
"Why?" She asks.
"Because I have never had to watch one!" I exasperate. "I don't like them!"
She frowns, "Oh come on, you mean to tell me all of the other girls were okay with watching horror movies?"
I nod, "Um, yeah! It's not like we watched the whole movie anyways," I smirk.
She scowls at me, "I'm not watching a horror movie."
"I'm not watching a rom-com."
"Yes, you are," she says.
"No, I'm not."
"Punk."
"Joey. I'm not going to watch some chick-flick."
Fifteen minutes later, I'm stuck with a deep scowl as we watch The Princess Bride off of some illegal movie site Joey knows the ins and outs of. Joey has the biggest smirk on her face, and I'm sitting here with my arms crossed and lips tugged into a grimace.
I cannot believe I am watching this movie. I don't even know if sex is worth this torture. I glance over at Joey and let my eyes trail down her body, drinking in her undeniably gorgeous features, and I internally huff as I look back at the movie.
It is worth it, which I both love and hate right now.
"That kid is me right now," I mutter as the movie begins and the little boy complains that the book is a 'kissing book.' "Being forced into a chick-flick."
Joey rolls her eyes, "Just shut it and watch."
As the movies goes on, as much as I hate to admit it, I actually start to pay attention and find myself engrossed in the story line. I mean, how can you not get sucked into a battle of wits? I really thought he was going to die with the whole poison fiasco.
I keep my expression passive nearly the entire movie as not to show I'm actually somewhat enjoying it, but I can't help the little grin as she shoves Westley down the hillside, following ridiculously after him once she realizes who he is.
What can I say? It's a funny, ridiculous, and somewhat cute scene.
"Is that a grin I see?" Joey says almost instantly with a teasing tone.
She just had to see the one grin I crack.
I glace at her, "Oh be quiet."
She gapes, "You like this movie!"
"No, I don't." I defend.
"Then why the grin?" She asks with a sly smile.
"I thought of something funny," I retort.
She raises a brow, "Just admit it, you like this movie more than you thought you would."
"I will not admit something that isn't true," I say, crossing my arms defensively.
"Say it!" She laughs.
"No!"
"Rhett!" She says with a loud laugh, and suddenly there's a piece of chicken thrown at me.
I stare at her. Blink once. Then again.
She just...she just threw a piece of orange chicken at me.
As I stare at her, I watch as she tries to hold back her laughter, so I reach for the food on the table and throw a dumpling at her. She retaliates with another piece of chicken, and then it develops into a full on food fight.
"Say you like the movie!" She yells, deflecting a piece of broccoli.
"No!" I say, catching some orange chicken she threw and eating it. "Damn that's good."
"At least admit it's not as bad as you thought!" She says, hitting my nose with a half a dumpling.
I narrow my eyes at her, debating whether or not to let her win once again tonight and take this game one more step in my direction.
So I smirk and cross my arms, "As you wish."
She grins widely and throws her hands in the air as if she just won something. "I knew it!"
"Okay, whatever. So I don't hate the movie. I still prefer horror."
"I get it," she shrugs.
"Get what?" I ask, scrunching my face up.
"Well, with a horror movie you can act like the knight in shining armor because you won't get scared. With a rom-com, you have competition with the guys in the movie," Joey says.
I scoff, "Competition?"
She nods, "Precisely. You felt inferior to Westley at at least some point in the movie."
I open my mouth to retaliate, but somehow she's right. I did feel inferior to him at certain points, questioning what move I would make.
"You clearly watch too many of these things," I mutter.
"You should watch more," she hums, "for fresh material."
"Fresh material?" I echo.
"Yeah, you need some," she hums slyly, settling back into her seat to pay attention to the rest of the movie.
I snort and go to watch the movie like her, but my gaze lingers on her for a few seconds longer than it probably should; not staring at her body and imagining what she'd be like in bed, but instead staring at her small smile and wondering how she's playing my game so effortlessly.
I wonder if she's dated around in the past towns she's lived in. If she's dated anyone similar to me and that's how she knows how to act. If she gets her confidence from being in a certain friend group before.
"For the game going on for a little over a week," I start once the movie ends, "I don't know much about you."
Joey quirks a brow, "Well you aren't the type to ask a girl questions about herself."
I scowl, "And you aren't the type to freely open up."
She shrugs.
I sigh and set my feet up on the nearly empty coffee table with all of the food cleared out. "You've got a brother, right?"
"Yeah," she answers shortly. I wait for her to elaborate, but she never does.
"Does he have a name?" I ask rhetorically.
Joey squints her eyes for a second or two and then looks back at me, "Jacob. You?"
I slowly nod, debating how much to tell her about Belle. I don't try to keep her a secret, but some people don't understand her autism and treat her negatively because of it. I just try to shield her from that.
"A twin sister," I end up saying.
Joey snaps her eyes to me and nearly spits out the last of the food on her plate, "You have a twin sister whom I've never met or even heard about?"
I shrug, "Well...yeah."
"Do I get to meet her?" She asks with a smile.
I stare at her for a few seconds. Do I let someone I barely know meet my autistic sister when half of society treats her differently because they see a disability where the other half sees something beautiful? Do I test my luck and hope Joey is the latter as opposed to the former?
But as I stare at Joey, I have an inkling she's not as judgmental as most people are, and I smile.
"You can tomorrow."
Vote and Comment
What are y'all thinking of the book so far?