Zoey's POV
One word. Four letters. Two of which are vowels. It's something that is close to my heart. It's something magical. We can't live without it. And what might this something be?
Food.
That's right.
I gape at the sight as Chris and Caden gracefully place another plate of food onto the table.
"Is this necessary?"
They ignore me and smile innocently, before retreating back to the kitchen.
"Oh fuck, I'm going to be so fat." Evelyn curses.
Don't get me wrong, I do love food - a lot. But this is just a little too over the top, I mean, the table top is practically covered with around twelve plates of food - and there is actually more to come.
Chris, Caden and the rest of the boys are in the kitchen, busying themselves. Emma is sitting across the table, with Evelyn beside her.
I scowl at the wall, wishing the intensity of my disbelief can pierce through it and stab the boys in their backs.
Levi steps out of the kitchen with another plate.
"How long will this go on?" Evelyn groans and gives a hard smack on Levi's butt.
"Don't fondle me," he smacks her hand away and smiles, " - two more to go."
And he disappears into the kitchen.
Apparently, all of this is happening because Evelyn and I were being annoying. All of us were watching a movie together at Chris' house since Emma wanted to see the boys. Since I didn't want to be the only girl in the house, I called Evelyn here.
We were halfway through the movie when Evelyn and I started to feel hungry, so, out of natural human instincts, we start to complain and whine.
The boys obviously didn't budge so we continued to groan and moan and all that.
Eventually, they got so annoyed by us and this is their counterblow for us - which is sort of cute on one hand, yet very stupid on the other.
After Caden and Levi placed two more dishes onto the table, all of the boys emerge from the kitchen and take their seats.
"You guys are incorrigible."
"By incorrigible, you mean we're extremely kind and thoughtful for you and Evelyn, then yes, we're incorrigible." Chris smiles beside me.
"I'm very surprised by the fact all of you guys know how to cook."
They shrug collectively, but Levi speaks, "Chris' mom taught us how to."
I raise an eyebrow at the change of atmosphere. The air is still and the boys are trying to act nonchalant, but it's so damn obvious that something is wrong.
I think Evelyn notices the uncomfortable semblance too, she frowns inattentively, before picking up her fork and start to pick on the food on her plate.
I don't like this kind of feeling. Even Emma is quiet.
I guess Chris takes pity on me, since I was squirming awkwardly, he grins and starts a conversation with Seth, which lessened the tense ambience.
I think I know what is going on, but I still want to ask Chris about it - later on.
-
After we finished our food, most of us left the house, leaving me in the house with Chris and Emma.
I am sitting on the couch, flipping through the different channels on the television when Chris enters the room.
I acknowledge his presence by groaning, "I think I'm gonna throw up."
He laughs as he plops down beside me, making me bounce a little. Then, he pulls me into his lap, so that my back is leaning against his front.
"I want to show you something."
"Yeah?" I start to move out of his lap.
"No, later." And he tightens his hold on me, successfully securing in his arms. He rests his head at the juncture between my shoulder and neck. He lets out a sigh.
"You've been so moody lately."
Chris doesn't say anything, instead, he sighs again, and pampers my skin with light kisses.
It feels nice, but it's so ticklish. I resist the urge to nudge him away.
"Is it because of your dad?"
"Mmph." His voice comes out muffled.
"Chris -" I begin to shift so that I can face him and talk to him, but his arms stiffens and locks me in place. He grunts against my neck, making his intention clear that he doesn't want me to move.
We stay in this position for quite a while. The death of his father really hit him hard. I kind of remember the time when my parents left each other, I wasn't really fazed by it since it all happened over a time span of a few years. They were arguing and arguing and dragging the pulverized marriage on and on. I was sad in the first place, since I didn't knew what's going on and I detested the noise they make, but as the time goes by, I sort of became accustomed to them fighting and I never really cared anymore. There's no point for me to get frustrated over it anyway.
"You're really shaken by it, aren't you?"
Chris nods.
"Hey, can I tell you something?"
Chris being candid and straightforward about all these got me thinking. I am not exactly being frank about my parents. All Chris knows, is that they are divorced and my mother doesn't really bother to care about me. He is being so honest about all this baggage that he has and I'm not reciprocating this gesture to him. But, will this be the right time for him to know about my little sob story? He probably has a million things running through his head already. And judging on his character, I know this will make him even more troubled. Nope, not the right time.
"Actually, it's nothing. Do you want me to do anything for you?"
"No. This is nice." He hugs me tightly. I smile at myself. It's nice to have him so close, I can smell his hair. It smells something like pineapple and Clementine.
Without moving myself, I begin to speak, even though Chris didn't tell me to, but I feel the need to say something.
"Chris, don't be too hard on yourself. Of course, you'll miss him. It's natural. Just don't think too much about it, so that you wouldn't be too distracted with what's happening around us. Dwelling on it gets us nowhere, yeah?"
He sighs.
"Yeah. I shouldn't be wasting my time on him." And within a mere second, a glint appears in his eyes and a playful grin on his lips. Mr. Capricious, ladies and gentlemen.
"I should be wasting my time on you instead."
Then he pulls me against his lips, kissing me fiercly.
Okay then.
I return the kiss hesitantly, I don't know what brought this on, but I'm more than fine with it.
I pull away from Chris before he does.
"What brought that on?"
"Nothing. I just felt like doing that."
Before I can reply to that, he continues, "You wanted to tell me something, right?"
My eyes widen infinitesimally. I shake my head no.
"What is it?"
I shake my head again.
"Zoey." He presses on.
Do I want to tell him that right now? I just don't deem it as the right time to do so.
"I'll tell you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"Tomorrow." He smiles. It's this word again. I grin wittingly. Ah memories. It's only been one or two weeks since Chris asked me out. He was so sweet.
His lips break into a grin too.
"I was so nervous, you know."
"What for?"
"I like you, I want to bring you out, but I didn't know what will you think of that."
I don't know why, but that sets off a blush on my cheeks. I smile shyly at him.
Then something pops into my mind.
"Chris, are you tired? Do you feel like sleeping?"
"Kind of...?"
"Oh."
"Why?"
"I was thinking of pulling an all-nighter with you."
Chris' lips quirk in interest.
"I can think of ways we can spend the night together." He grins suggestively.
"Yeah, I can too. We can watch movies or maybe you can teach me how to cook! Or we can - wait." Suddenly, I get what Chris is trying to hint. "Oh my gosh, you're a pervert."
He laughs gleefully. I can feel his chest rumble against my back. I try to contain my smile, but sensing his merriment, I join him and a smile paints my face.
"Asides that, what do you want to do? Do you want to - oh right, we shouldn't. You're tired. Never mind, let's go to sleep."
"You're staying over?"
"Yep. Is that okay?"
"Of course that's okay. You know that. Go and change into something comfortable. I'll put Emma to sleep first."
"Alright." I pick myself up from him and begin walking towards his bedroom, then halt. "Actually, can I put Emma to sleep too?"
Chris stands up, smiling. "Sure, why not?"
He walks towards me and wraps his hand around mine. We stroll into Chris' room, to find Emma in the middle of the bed, watching Pinky Dinky Doo on Chris' laptop.
"Hey Emma."
"Hi Chrisy. Hi Zoey." Emma rubs her eyes.
"Come on, you're tired. Let's go to bed." She nods and reaches for Chris. He lifts her up and walks out of the room. I follow after him.
-
"You see, once upon a time, there is this girl." Chris shoots me a look, before continuing. "She's very pretty. Very, very pretty. Not only that, she's very nice, very friendly and very sweet. One evening, she was just casually walking on the streets. She was singing a song." I prop my elbow on the bed, so that my hand is supporting my head. Chris glances at me again and grins. "She sang terribly." My eyes widen in realisation, is he...?
"She did not sang terribly." I interject.
His grin widens, "Sure." And he turns to look at Emma, "She sang very terribly." My hand reach to his thigh to give it a pinch, but his hand catches mine before I can do so. He brings it to his face and gives it a kiss.
"She didn't notice that there is this boy that is actually staring at her from behind. He saw her walking out of the store. And because of how pretty she is, he couldn't help but stare at her, yeah. That's how pretty she is, eye-catching-ly pretty." I flush scarlet.
I figure that I should say something too, so I smile at Emma and speaks, before Chris can. "Then this boy chuckled. And that got the girl's attention. She stopped her terrible singing -" I turn to look at Chris and there's a smile of amusement on his face, "- and she finally notices the boy's presence. She almost stopped breathing, you know."
Emma rubs her eyes, "Why?"
"Yeah, why?" Chris adds teasingly, but he seems genuinely curious.
"Because of how handsome and beautiful this boy is."
"A boy can be beautiful?"
"Of course. And this girl instantly knew that he is beautiful." I pause to look at Chris, he's smiling shyly. "Then the next day, this girl went to a new school. She didn't know that the boy studied in the same school as her. So, she was beyond shocked, when she saw him."
Chris' words stop me from continuing. "And the boy was shocked too. He thought he'll never see this beautiful girl again, but she magically appeared in his school all of a sudden. He was very happy to see her again."
"As the days went by, both of them got to know each other better. The girl enjoyed the boy's company. He is fun, exquisite, kind, caring, strong - the list is endless." I say.
"Is he very strong? Can he carry heavy stuffs?"
I chuckle, "Yes, he can. He's very strong. But not only strong in his body, he's strong in the heart." I feel a squeeze on my hand.
"He can carry heavy stuffs with his heart?" Emma's face is in a mixture of curiosity and slight horror. I laugh.
"No, of course not. This boy has some problems in his life. He is sad. But he is strong, he faces those problems without hesitating. He doesn't try to run away from those problems. Sometimes, he will talk to the girl about his feelings, and the girl is glad that he is actually telling her how he feels, so she knows how to understand him and help him."
"What is the boy's name?" Emma asks, her eyes half closed. I smile at her, then at Chris.
"Chris. His name is Chris." My eyes meet his, they are brimming with emotions.
"Wow, he has the same name as Chrisy..." Emma trails off, her eyes close fully, and I know she's asleep.
"Yeah. In fact -" I stare into the familiar blue eyes, "- he is Chrisy."
There is a silence for a moment, before he raises his hand to my head.
"You're so beautiful." Gently, he strokes my hair.
I smile. "I can say the same to you."
"Thank you."
"You were staring?"
"Yes."
The redness that was gone a moment ago is back on my cheeks.
"I don't sing terribly."
"Yeah, you don't."
"Thank you."
Without warning, Chris suddenly picks me up and throws me over the shoulder and starts walking. I yelp.
"Let's go to bed."
Then he picks up his pace, his steps heavy, a quick jog. My upper body and legs colliding with his body as he moves.
Chris enters his room and drops me down carefully on his bed.
"I can walk, you know."
"I know. I just felt like doing that."
Then he proceeds to drop himself on the bed, directly above me. Instinctively, I flinch away, but his hands grab mine and he pins them near my head, so that his weight is supported by them. He hovers close above me.
Then, it's there, yet again.
The palpable electricity.
Chris stares down at me and his lips closes on mine. It's a gentle kiss, I feel like he is trying to tell me something through it. Our eyes are close and the only thing that I can feel is the sensation surging through my entire body, and Chris' lips on mine.