--Day four--
GAME OVER. GAME OVER. GAME OVER.
“Oh come on!” Carly shouted in frustration, throwing the computer console onto the sofa cushion, Jasper quickly retrieved it and played eagerly after watching Carly lose in the space of two minutes. Two minutes too long, Jasper thought as he started a new game of the addicting Call Of Duty: Zombie version video game.
“Don’t sweat it Cal’s,” Callum said, as he looked through Jasper’s movie selection, “I couldn’t even last long in that game.”
“That doesn’t necessarily reassure me,” Carly muttered, as she flopped on the bed Liam was sprawled out on, pulling a bowl of cheese puffs towards her and munching on them.
They were in Jasper’s room again, which was situated in the basement of the house. Jasper’s parents were extremely rich but were satisfied with the quaint house that they took residence in fifteen years before. So it was no wonder that Jasper’s room was like a theatre and a comic book store crossover. On the far side of his room a whole wall was dedicated to his movies and T.V shows – which were all in alphabetic order - on his dark mahogany bookshelf, the wall opposite that had the same bookshelf but this one was filled with his music CD’s and his comic books. His bed was raised slightly from the ground on a platform, making Jasper trip every morning without fail as he forgot about the two steps that descended from his perch. The bed was against the back wall just a few steps from the right of the door, in front of that was Jasper’s purple coach and his T.V. His flat screen plasma T.V was attached to a surround sound system and had amazing HD experience, making the theatre come into effect. A foosball table was situated in the space between the movie bookshelf and the bed. Two other doors were in the room, one led to his bathroom and the other led to a small room containing all of his snacks and drinks.
The four friends were having a sleep over, something that they try to do every two or three weeks on a Friday. When they had first tried it it had been extremely awkward for Carly, the main reason being that she was a girl and they were all guys. However, Carly had easily gotten into the routine of things and had quickly become comfortable with the three boys, enough so that she slept in the same bed as them. Callum and Jasper had found it immensely funny when Carly had woken up one morning, screaming, when she saw Liam sleeping next to her; it had been an embarrassing ordeal for her but an amusing tale for the others. She gradually grew used to waking up with either one of the boys sleeping next to her; she trusted them to know that they would never do anything to her. Of course she hadn’t told her Father that she was going to have a sleep over with three guys, instead she had lied to him for the first few weeks before coming clean. John had grilled the boys with numerous questions, making sure to make them sweat. It had worked and he managed to see that all three of them were idiots, classing them out of ever doing anything damaging towards Carly, thus allowing Carly to go on the numerous sleep over’s.
“Ah! Finally found one!” Callum shouted, pulling out one of the movies from the bookshelf.
Liam’s eyes stared suspiciously at Callum over a Spiderman comic book, “What movie did you pick this time?”
Callum turned the movie over so that it was facing us, the words The Conjuring could be seen in bold white letters.
“Ooooh,” Liam and Carly said looking towards each other with a grin, “The Conjuring.”
“Put it back Callum,” Jasper said, not turning his head away from the T.V.
Jasper hated scary movies, he blamed it on the fact that they were too boring but the three friends had steadily noticed how Jasper would, discreetly, cover his eyes with the blanket whenever a scary scene was about to take place. His bookshelf contained every genre of movies except for the horror, so Carly, Callum and Liam had taken it upon themselves to add some of the best horror movies when Jasper wasn’t watching.
“Aw is Jasper scared?” Carly cooed from the bed, Liam chuckling beside her.
“Come on Jasper it’s not even that scary,” Callum said as he moved to turn off the PS3.
“Callum I will fucking kill you if you touch that power button,” Jasper said calmly.
The thing about Jasper is that he will never shout at you when he threatens you, instead he likes to say things quietly and in a calm tone. He believes that it scares people more and he was absolutely right in his assumption, because as soon as the threat left his mouth Callum had quickly scurried away from him and towards the bed. Liam and Carly both giggled as Callum leaped onto the bed, causing it to shake. Carly placed the bowl of cheese puffs on Callum’s, chest so that all of them were able to reach for them. The three of them lay on the bed waiting patiently for Jasper to finish his game. It was five minutes and a torrent of curse words later that the three friends made their way to an almost pouting Jasper.
Callum put the movie in, while Liam busied himself in making a comfortable nest on the couch that Carly and Jasper were already seated on. Jasper only sat with his arms crossed childishly across his chest as Carly took it upon herself to poke him endlessly in the cheek. She only stopped when Jasper attempted to bite her fingers. All four of them sat squished on the purple couch that Jasper had kept since his parents bought the house. It had been the only thing that he had bought in order to contribute to his big room and had stayed, much to his Father’s distaste.
The movie started, the speakers making the floor actually vibrate. Carly, Liam and Callum exchanged excited grins while Jasper readied the blanket so that he could hide behind it.
***********************
“The clapping scenes were the best part!” Carly gushed, while Callum placed the DVD back into its case.
“Oh and the part where that priest’s wife was in the basement,” Liam countered giddily.
“Yessss!” Callum and Carly said together as Callum came to sit back on the couch.
Jasper said nothing; the only thing that showed that he was clearly upset was the constant twitch in his left eyebrow. Carly grimaced slightly, feeling concern for her best friend; she knew how much Jasper hated scary movies and couldn’t help but want him to forget he ever watched the movie.
“Hey guys don’t you think its been ages since we last saw Narnia?” Carly asked.
Callum and Liam stopped their exclamations on the best scenes of the movie, so that they could turn curious eyes on Carly, “Yeah it has,” Callum said, a reminiscing look crossing his face.
“I really want to watch it, actually,” Carly stood up with some of the blankets wrapped around her, “Let’s watch all three of them!”
“Yeah!” Liam shouted just as excitedly getting up too; however he fell flat on his face when the blankets tangled around his legs.
“I’m up for it,” Callum said with a shrug. Carly turned towards Jasper, catching the slight nod as his consent; Carly didn’t miss the small smile on his lips.
Callum looked down at his watch, “We need to get something to eat first. Ok I’ll go get the food, Jasper you come with because I know by the time I get back you’ll be too immersed in your game for us to even watch anything. You two just...I don’t know laze around until we get back.”
Jasper heaved a heavy sigh as he got up and grabbed his jacket, following Callum out of the door. He turned just as the door was closing, “Liam don’t play on my games,” He said, the door clicking shut as soon as the words left his mouth.
Liam tended to get a little too violent when it came to playing video games. An incident occurred, involving Liam throwing the game console towards the T.V. screen, done out of frustration when he had lost his sixth round in a Call Of Duty match. Fortunately, Liam was hopelessly uncoordinated so instead of hitting the T.V. he had hit the wall instead. However, it hadn’t stopped Jasper in banning Liam from going anywhere near the T.V. or the games.
Liam sighed and sank onto the ground, his legs stretched out as he leaned his back against the sofa. Carly stretched out on the couch taking pleasure that she had it all to herself. She scratched at the wig as it irritated her scalp, yes; the boys had still made her dress as a boy even though no one could have possibly seen her in her girl state.
Five minutes went by in which Liam and Carly spent their time trying to eat as much of the candy that Jasper had set out for their sleep over. Seven minutes in and they were both on a complete sugar high, spouting stories that had no link to the last whatsoever.
“Man I love those chicken nuggets you can get in Chicken Heaven,” Liam slurred as he popped another skittle in his mouth.
“I love how Elliot’s legs look in those shorts he wears,” Carly replied with a giggle.
“I love how Marissa’s legs look when she wears skirts,” Liam drooled as he laid his head back onto the sofa.
There was a beat of silence as both of them became lost in their own thoughts. That came to a stop as both of them abruptly registered what the other had just said.
“WHAT!? They both shouted, twisting their bodies towards each other.
“You like Marissa?” Carly exclaimed.
“You like Elliot?” Liam shouted back.
“Since when?!” They both shouted simultaneously, “You first! No you!”
“Okay,” Carly said holding up her arms, “There’s only one way to solve this...rock, paper, scissors.”
Liam lost.
“Okay since when have you liked Marissa?” Carly asked as the two of them sat opposite from each other on the couch in a crossed legged position.
He blushed profusely and stretched the collar of his shirt, “Um, since...” Here Liam mumbled the last part unintelligibly.
At Carly’s demand to repeat himself in a louder voice, Liam huffed and said, “Since forever.”
Carly made a ‘go on’ motion with her hand which only caused Liam’s blush to darken, “Well I was kind of bullied in Kindergarten, and one day after some kid kicked me in the shin she tried to make me smile by giving me her half eaten cupcake. It did make me smile and it also caused my confidence to boost. It was enough so that I finally approached two kids that I’d always see playing in a sand box by themselves. If it wasn’t for her I don’t know what sort of loner I would have been today.”
“Wait those two kids were-” Carly started.
“Jasper and Callum,” Liam smiled softly, his blush going down so that it only left a rosy hue on his cheeks.
“But that was all the way back in Kindergarten, how come you still like her now?” Carly asked.
Liam’s maddening blush returned, “I only came to realize after that day that she lives next door to me and has since that day.”
Carly smirked and leaned forward slightly towards Liam, “Oh? Do you watch her through your window Liam?”
“Yeah,” He said absent-mindedly, his eyes widened when he registered his answer, “Wait! No, no, no.”
Liam furiously tried to amend what he had just said while Carly howled with laughter, “You’re such a stalker Liam!” Carly spluttered.
“Shut up!” Liam cried, “What about you and Elliot?”
“What about me and Elliot?” Carly asked, all signs of humour leaving her features as she fixed a glare on Liam.
“What happened to ‘Elliot’s legs look so good in those shorts’?” Liam repeated Carly’s words in a high pitched voice, which Carly assumed, was supposed to resemble her voice.
“Well they do,” Carly muttered as she blushed too.
“Go on, tell me when you started liking him,” Liam said leaning his chin on his hand.
“The start of freshman year,” She answered reluctantly.
“Ah love,” Liam said wistfully, “It’s a funny thing.”
Carly nudged him and chuckled at his weird statement, “Do the other guys know about your crush?”
“They have an idea of it,” Liam said linking his hands at the back of his head, “But they never really approached me on it, I guess they wanted to be sure on the matter.”
Carly nodded, both of them falling silent for a second. However, the room soon filled with war cries from both Carly and Liam as Liam initiated a food battle when he threw some skittles at her.
*********************
“Should we stop them?” Callum asked already taking a step forward.
He was stopped by Jasper’s hand on his arm, Callum looked back to him shaking his head no, his eyes still trained on the two idiots, “Let’s watch a bit more.”
What they were watching exactly was Liam and Carly throwing all sorts of candy at each other while they laughed manically and occasionally sprouted random words such as “chicken”, “shorts” and “skirts”.
Callum and Jasper ducked when a profiterole was launched at their heads, it hit the wall behind them with a squelch and slid down it before resting on the floor, “Are you sure? They’ll end up wreaking your room.”
Jasper sat in a chair, picking up a discarded bowl of popcorn which had been tilted on its side, allowing some of the popcorn to decorate the red carpeted floor, “I think it will be worth it,” He said with a slight grin as he pulled out his phone and started recording his two oblivious friends.
“Bet you ten bucks that Liam will be the victor,” Callum said sitting in the chair next to him and taking a handful of popcorn.
“Deal,” Jasper said immediately, shaking hands with Callum.
Callum lost.
***********************
I’ll meet u guys after skool, Carly texted the soccer group chat.
She was leaning against the head board of Jasper’s bed about ready to fall asleep, sending some last minute texts out to the soccer team. Liam had conked out in a cocoon of blankets at the foot of the bed when his sugar high left him. Callum – as always – had fallen asleep on the couch during the Narnia marathon. And Jasper...stood next to the bed with a pillow clutched to his chest as he watched Carly silently, his face void of any emotion except for a small hint of anxiety.
Carly glanced up once, then twice, before finally settling her eyes fully on Jasper. She placed her phone on the night stand with a sigh, before pulling back the covers, “Get in.”
Jasper didn’t need telling twice as he quickly buried himself in the blankets so that only his eyes could be seen. Carly scoffed, “Not scared of movies my ass,” She muttered, as she dimmed the lamp light so that only a small glow could be seen.
Jasper only smiled beneath the covers when he saw that Carly didn’t turn off the lamp completely but, instead, allowed a comforting glow to surround the room and ease some of Jasper’s fears of the movie.