Thin Lines - Chapter Three
"Ugh, great. We're early!" Trish whined, as Ally shot off the car's engine. They were now in the parking lot of the movie complex and were indeed ten minutes earlier than the planned time.
"Punctuality is everything Trish. I don't want Austin to think I don't care." Ally didn't even look at her as she said this, smoothing her hair down as she looked into the small car mirror instead.
"But now that idiot that is his so called best friend will think I'm all eager to see him and will use it against me. Can't I just stay in the car for a bit?" Ally finally turned away from the mirror to give Trish one of her famous reprimanding looks. After a few stubborn seconds, Trish sighed and looked away first, which meant that she had given in.
"I'm sure this will be fun. Dez is a nice guy Trish, just give him a chance." Ally's words caused Trish to let out a snort of disbelief.
"Yeah, no chances are going to be given what so ever. I'm just here for the free popcorn and beverages." And before Ally could scold her she quickly unbuckled her seat belt and rushed out of the car.
-TXD-
Five Minutes Later...
"What happened to always being considerably five minutes late?" Dez questioned from the passenger seat of Austin's car. They were making their way to the movie complex, and for once, Austin was driving there to make it on time.
"I keep telling you Dez, Ally's different. She's special and I guess I want to impress her you know?" Dez observed the warm smile that was now on Austin's face and couldn't stop the one settling on his own. Austin would probably deny this around some of their 'guy friends' like Dallas or Elliot, but with each other, nothing was kept a secret.
"I'm glad. Ally seems great... it's just a shame about her taste in best friends though." It was like everything around him was a constant reminder that one of his least favorite people in the world was going to be his sort of date for the day. He could already imagine a scenario in which she would stand ten feet away from him at all times and demand that he buy her food because she was the girl and that meant -
But wait. His mind stopped him. We've made an agreement. At the memory, his body relaxed slightly but his mind still revolved around stressful thoughts. They would have to act civil towards each other sure, but that didn't mean that she couldn't easily go back on her word.
"Oh come on, we've been over this before Dez. We all know you find her best friend hotter than hot." Dez turned to shoot him a glare, rendered out of his thoughts.
"Are we really back to that again?" Austin laughed at how quick Dez was to become so defensive.
"We're here anyway, so I won't interrogate you until later." Dez just simply rolled his eyes as the car went to a stop. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Austin make the turn into the parking lot. The two young men stepped out of the car, Dez frowning as they made their way to the movie complex entrance.
Once inside, they excused themselves passed groups of other teenagers until they noticed Ally and Trish standing next to the food stand laughing about something. Once Dez's eyes landed on his sort of date for the day, he couldn't stop his eyes from roaming down her form. In all honesty, he had expected her to dress like a slob just to be difficult - but it looked like she really was going to go along with their agreement.
For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to look away from the sight of her laughing. She looked almost...did he dare use the words down to earth? Her brown eyes were lit up in happiness, giving off the aurora of a carefree person. He had yet to remember a time he had seen her like this before; usually if she was laughing it was with an evil gleam in her eye. He quickly dampened his rambling thoughts again once they reached the two girls and they both turned to look at them upon their arrival.
Dez couldn't help but notice the way Trish's smile dropped once she laid eyes on him.
"Yay! You're here." Ally squealed, before throwing her arms around Austin's neck. He buried his nose into the crook of her neck and pulled her closer, swinging her back and fourth. While this was going on, both Trish and Dez suddenly felt the same sense of awkwardness. Would they have to acknowledge each other now too?
Glancing away from the happy couple, Trish turned to Dez who was standing opposite her with his hands in his pockets. He was dressed...actually okay. She couldn't help but observe how annoyingly well the plaid shirt he was wearing fit his long arms in a way that made them look more built.
Shut up Trish! He's tall and lanky, not built. Built and Dez do NOT go in the same sentence.
As if feeling her eyes on him, he turned to face her and rose an eyebrow in interest once he comprehended the fact that she had already been staring back at him.
"Admiring me already?" He asked mockingly, a smirk settling on his lips. "I wouldn't say you're exactly my type moody." Trish leered at him and ground her teeth, feeling regretfully embarrassed before replying.
"In your wildest dreams freckle face."
"Not really, no." He deadpanned and she scoffed at him but didn't say anything as she folded her arms. Dez grinned, watching her reaction.
"You guys, this is supposed to be a nice 'outing' between friends." Austin and Ally had finally stopped 'greeting each other hello' at this point. Trish and Dez both looked over at Ally at the same time to see a pout forming on her lips and a slight frown on Austin's face.
"We're not fighting, fighting. Are we Trish?" He turned his attention back to the short girl, giving her a silent message through his eyes. Remember the agreement.
"No, we're not." She eventually agreed, and managed a small smile that looked more like a grimace. "Just friendly banter between friends." And just because she could, she gave him what looked like a playful punch on the shoulder, but what really had a lot more force behind it. She watched with silent satisfaction as Dez tried to smile through the pain and discretely rub his now sore shoulder.
Austin and Ally stared at the two for a moment before glancing at each other and shrugging.
"Well okay...let's get to that movie. I heard it was kind of jumpy though." Ally frowned, causing Austin to laugh.
"Don't worry, I'll be in there with you remember?" Austin winked, causing Ally's frown to disperse with a giggle. Holding hands, they walked over to the ticket booth and as if forgetting about their other friends, left Trish and Dez standing there.
"Did you really have to hit me that hard." Now that Austin and Ally were out of ear shot, he allowed himself a glare in her direction. Trish simply smirked at him.
"Hey, it's not my fault you're a wimp who can't take a punch from a girl." A girl who had also done kick-boxing for five years, but she wasn't going to mention that or the whole insult would've been ruined.
"Yeah, well just don't go grabbing out for my hand in the dark. If you know, scary movies aren't your thing." Dez said, as the two began walking towards the ticket booth side by side.
"Please, I wouldn't grab out for your hand if I were about to fall off of a cliff." Trish told him plainly, rolling her eyes at him. Dez simply shrugged, not looking at all offended by her comment.
"Fine by me. I probably wouldn't have offered it anyway." Asshole. Trish thought to herself, fighting the urge to punch him again as they stopped behind Austin and Ally in the line. She was beginning to believe that the day would go on longer than the whole depressing week leading up to the event did.
-TXD-
Two hours later, the movie was over and people were now exiting the theatre. Trish was extremely glad too, for she didn't like the way her arm had been brushing against Dez's every five minutes when leaning on the arm rest. Mainly because the feeling she was getting from the contact sent a weird sense of warmth through her body that she was unfamiliar with. Practically racing out of there, she had to wait for one of the others to walk out of the theatre for a good thirty seconds.
And ironically, Dez, the one person she was trying to get away from was the second one to arrive. The annoying smug smile that she usually wanted to slap off of his face was occupying his lips again as he strode over towards her.
"Someone ran out of there pretty fast. It was just a movie you know." Trish just simply gave him a dirty look and didn't bother with a retaliation. Instead, she turned her attention to behind his head for a brief moment.
"Where's Austin and Ally?" It was Dez's turn to roll his eyes once she mentioned the two.
"Austin 'dropped his phone under the seat' and now they're both staying behind to 'find it'." After putting air quotes around the right words with his fingers, it didn't take long for Trish to understand what he was implying.
"Eww, couldn't they have waited until later to do that?" Trish asked rhetorically with a shudder. "And that is the worst excuse I have ever heard."
"Tell me about it. There's no originality these days." They both shared a look with a matching expression of disgust before it dissolved into brief laughter. It ended as quickly as it started however, for the two quickly realised how weird it was for them to agree on something let alone laugh together about it afterwards.
Clearing her throat awkwardly to break the silence, Trish then spoke up.
"So, uh, anyway..." She was having trouble figuring out what to say, looking up at Dez who was now standing uncomfortably. She didn't have to anyway, for she was cut off by a certain someone who she failed to notice heading towards them.
"Trish? Is that you?" Her back was turned but she could recognise that voice anywhere. She stiffened, suddenly feeling tense and out of place. Her mind began to overload with alarm and she almost all but ran back into the movie theatre, not really caring if she walked in on Austin half on top of Ally or whatever it was they were really doing.
Dez watched the way Trish's face changed. She looked panicky, as if whoever it was walking over towards them was a threat of some sort. Curious, he lifted his eyes up and away from her to see who it was.
Trent St. Jones.
He himself, personally didn't like the guy. There had been an incident where he had tried in vain to steal the internet sensation title from Austin, and so he was automatically an enemy. He was also a sketchy kind of person. Girls were like play things to him - two at a time wasn't a bad thing.
"It is you isn't it? Hey." Trish silently cursed to herself before turning around and giving him a cold stare as a greeting.
"Trent." You would think she was talking about a deadly poison, what with the way she said his name. This intrigued Dez as well as confused him, as he had been sure Trish only used that kind of tone on him. He stood by silently watching anyway.
"How's it going? We haven't seen each other in a while." He smiled at her as if everything was as right as rain and she wanted to strangle him. He was acting as if he hadn't broken her heart only just over six months ago at all.
"There's a reason for that." She told him, and she sent him a snide smile; her eyes still giving off a cold vibe. Trent grinned, as if knowing this fact already before glancing over at Dez who he finally noticed had been standing right behind Trish the whole time.
"Whoa, are you hooking up with Wade now? I thought you guys hated each other." Dez's eyes widened, not expecting to be brought into this. The mere thought of hooking up with Trish was just to foreign to even think too deep into and the fact Trent thought this was a possibility was just so wrong.
But before he could verbalize how wrong Trent was, Trish spoke up with words he never thought he'd ever hear in his entire life.
"Yeah, well, you thought wrong." And then it was all happening so fast once she turned around, put her arms around his neck and brought him down close to her.
What the hell am I doing?! Trish shrieked to herself silently in her head. And where the heck is Austin and Ally? She'd only wanted to wipe that stupid smug expression off of her ex-boyfriend's face and prove that she could move on as easily as he had brushed her off. She had only wanted him to know that he wasn't even a blimp on her radar anymore...and unfortunately Dez was the closest thing next to her that could help her 'prove' such a thing.
She knew what she was doing was something she would regret in an hour or two, but it was too late now. She would have to go through with it.
"Play along with this and I'll give you ten bucks." She whispered hastily into his ear and Dez couldn't help but shudder at the contact. This may have been Trish De La Rosa, the most annoying girl on earth...but she was still a girl and even though he would never admit to her face, a somewhat attractive one at that. And he was still a guy.
"...Fifteen." He eventually said back after a beat. Trish almost pinched him, but remembered what was going on.
"Deal." She said quickly, before releasing him and turning around with a bright smile on her face. She stood next to Dez and grabbed his hand, not expecting the shocks that came from doing so and momentarily stunning herself.
Dez couldn't stop himself from glancing down at their interlaced fingers. Why had something thrilled through his veins at the contact? Why was he not objecting to the feeling her soft hand in his was creating? What on earth was going on?!
"Hm, well I can't say that I'm that surprised. Everyone including me knew it would happen eventually." They both turned to attention, as if only remembering the reason for what was happening.
"Yeah, well that's great." Dez said sarcastically. "Now why don't you run along now and go find the screen for the movie you were going to watch or whatever it was you were actually doing before." Dez said, and used his free hand to wave Trent away dismissively.
"I would you see, only I'm waiting for my date."
"Another girl already," Trish said with humorless laugh. "Why am I not surprised." Trent simply shrugged, the irritating face-consuming grin back once again. By luck, his phone rang in his pocket and after grabbing it out he read the screen.
"Well I hope you guys work out. I've got to go meet my girl. See ya later." He gave them a two finger salute before turning around and walking away to answer his phone. They watched him go, hands still clasped until he was out of sight. Once gone, they quickly withdrew their hands from each other, not forgetting to create a large space in between their bodies.
"There, he's gone. Now give me my money." Dez flailed the hand in the air that was previously holding hers, now outstretching it for money. Rolling her eyes, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her purse.
"Here." She forced a five and ten dollar bill into his outstretched hand. "You happy?"
"Very." He replied, observing the money with a smile before putting the money in his own pocket. It was then Austin and Ally decided to emerge from the screen room, looking jostled and slightly breathless.
"You guys are subtle aren't you," Trish deadpanned, giving them a look of disapproval. "Whatever, I'm going home."
"But we were going to go to the Melody Diner afterwards!" Ally quickly said in attempt to prevent Trish from going anywhere.
"What?!" Dez exclaimed, snapping his head to his friend. "Austin, you know Mindy's dad owns that place. And she still has that creepy crush on me remember?"
Realisation dawned on Austin's face before he looked back over at Dez with a sheepish smile. "Oh yeah. My bad, dude."
Upon hearing the words "Mindy" and "creepy crush" in the same sentence, Trish turned to him with a new found interest. If it meant that she got to witness Dez feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the night then maybe she wouldn't mind staying a little bit longer.
"Well, in that case I guess I'll tag along." She decided with a grin, causing Ally to squeal and clap her hands in happiness. Dez turned to look at her, narrowing his eyes in the process.
"You just like to see me suffer don't you." He stated more than asked, as the four of them made there way to the exit.
"Like's not a strong enough word freckles. More like love."