Chapter Twenty Three: Debbie Downers
It's Saturday morning and Stephanie is getting ready for her outing with the guys after having breakfast with her parents.
Just as she's looking through her closet for what to wear, her phone rings. It's a video call from Brody.
She picks her phone from the bed and sees the caller ID.
To say she's surprised would be an understatement. This is the first time that Brody is calling her in a while. He texts once in a while but barely calls.
When she calls, he's usually too busy to answer or something. The last time they spoke on phone was on Monday, six days ago and she was lucky that he answered. Now he's calling her and it's barely been a week.
She swipes across the screen to answer with a grin on her face.
His face appears on the screen.
"Hello Stephanie," he greets with a grin of his own.
"And to what do I owe this august call?" She asks suspiciously. "And not just any call - a video call."
"Just decided I wanted to see my little sister's face cause I miss her. Is that a crime?" He asks with a full on grin.
"Why don't I believe you?" Steph asks incredulously, fighting back the smile that wants to appear on her face.
"I've changed Steph. I'll make time for you now," Brody fails his attempt at the puppy dog eyes thing.
Steph laughs. "Yeah, yeah. What's up?"
"How are you?"
"I'm good. You?" She responds, looking away from the screen to her closet.
"I'm great, awesome, elated." He exclaims.
Steph's eyes return to the screen and she narrows them at her brother's reply.
"Okay," she drags the word. "What's going on?"
Brody notices that she is doing something else so she isn't totally concentrating on him.
"Are you busy?" He inquires.
"Not really," she shrugs. "I'm just looking for an outfit to wear out today."
"You're going out?" Brody gapes, not quite believing it.
"Yeah," Steph answers absentmindedly.
"With Brooke?" He guesses.
"Yeah. It was supposed to be she and Cole only but they insisted that Luke and I come along just because they do not want to admit they're going on a date," she explains to him. She walks away from her closet and sits on her bed.
"So Brooke has a boyfriend now and who's Luke?" Brody probes.
Steph rolls her eyes at the screen.
"No Brooke doesn't have a boyfriend yet but I'm pretty sure she'll be dating Cole soon. I can see it already. And Luke? Luke is in my grade. A very cool and good looking guy."
Brody wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "And very soon you'll be dating Luke."
"Impossible," Steph huffs.
"Why?"
"He's poison Ivy's boyfriend," she deadpans.
Brody winces. "Ouch. She still has a boyfriend. Jheeze! They must have a lot in common."
"They don't actually. Poison Ivy is you know- herself, but Luke is a very nice guy. I don't think they have anything in common," Steph says promptly.
"Then she must be blackmailing him," he speculates.
"I doubt that."
"Why else would he be dating her?" He asks in confusion.
"I don't care. That's their problem to sort out," Steph says, dismissing the topic.
"So what's going on with you? Any progress with Keeley?"
Brody grins at the mention of her name.
Steph smiles. "If the grin on your face is anything to go by, there is progress - a good one. So spill," she squeals.
"I told her how I felt yesterday and she feels the same way. She said she wanted to tell me but she didn't wanna ruin our friendship. She didn't think I'll ever think of her in that way," Brody tells her with a dreamy look on his face.
"Aha!" Steph exclaims and points her index finger at the screen. "What did I tell you? Are you guys dating now?"
"Yeah. She's my GIRLFRIEND." He emphasizes with a grin.
"I didn't expect you to tell her so quick, to be honest. I was thinking you'll wait for a month or something."
"True but I'm glad I didn't," Brody answers truthfully.
A car honks before she can say anything else. Steph knows that sound but she still rushes to her window and looks out. She sees Brooke's car pulling into their driveway.
"Oh my! Brooke's here and I'm not ready yet!" She exclaims, her eyes slightly wide.
"You have to go? I'm sorry," Brody says.
"What for?"
"You're not ready because of me," he replies.
Steph shakes her head with a smile. "Silly you. We'll talk later okay?"
"Yeah sure. Have fun," he says and ends the call.
Stephanie drops her phone and hurries to the closet. She chooses what to wear and gets dressed. Five minutes later, she's hurrying out of the house to Brooke's car.
"Bye mum. Bye dad," she yells and shuts the door behind her.
***
Brooke parks her car in the parking lot and they both get out.
"Where are we meeting them?" Steph asks.
"At the front," Brooke replies and leads the way. As expected, they meet up with Luke and Cole at the front, both of them looking as gorgeous as always. Brooke grins and hugs Cole who is smiling. "Hey."
"Hey," Steph says to Luke awkwardly and he replies.
She begins to think of how bad an idea this is. Cole and Brooke will probably be acting all lovey dovey all day and she and Luke would just watch. It'll be awkward.
They head into the amusement park after paying for tickets.
"What should we do first?" Brooke asks from Steph's right side.
Stephanie and Brooke are in between the boys. Luke to the left of Steph and Cole to Brooke's right.
"The rollercoaster," Steph suggests.
The guys shrug and they all head for the ride.
The ride starts out slow at first and when it picks up, Brooke begins to scream with burgeoning excitement. Steph giggles in excitement, happy she agreed to come.
Cole eyes widen as the velocity increases and eventually, it feels like his breakfast would soon come out of his mouth. Luke is just being his cool self with a smile. He notices the look on Cole's face and bursts into laughter.
"This is so cool," Brooke shouts, the wind blowing her long brown hair back.
"Yeah," Steph chuckles.
After the ride, Steph and Brooke also notice the look on Cole's face.
"Are you okay?" Steph asks in concern, beating Brooke to it.
"I'm fine. I just feel like I might puke," Cole grunts.
"Awwn. You baby," Brooke teases him, ruffling his hair. "You couldn't handle that little ride. That's so unmanly of you."
Cole glares at her playfully, not trying to defend himself. He removes her hand from his hair and holds it.
"Let's go on the Ferris wheel next," Brooke announces then turns to Cole. "You sure you can handle that?"
Cole huffs. "Of course I can."
"You sure buddy? Cause I don't want you puking on the ride," Luke taunts him.
"I won't puke," Cole grumbles.
"You weren't saying that about a minute ago," Luke chuckles.
"Luke," Cole yells in a warning tone.
Luke blows him a raspberry and just like that, they begin a wild goose chase around the park, like little kids.
Who knew Luke could be like this? Steph asks herself.
"Boys and their ego," Brooke says with a smile, shaking her head slightly.
"Enhanced Genetic Obtuseness," Steph says, remembering she once saw it in a novel; and they both begin to giggle.
After going on the Ferris wheel, Brooke speaks up.
"Let's go on the pendulum ride," she squeals.
"I think I'll pass," Steph replies.
"Me too," Luke agrees.
"I need to find the boy's restroom," Cole announces and walks off.
"Whatever, Debbie downers. I'm going to have fun without you guys," Brooke says as she walks away, leaving Luke and Steph at the bench they're seated.
"Your friend is something else," Luke chuckles, watching Brooke walk away.
"Trust me, I know that," Steph smiles.
"How long have you known her?" Luke asks.
"Since 9th grade and we've been best friends since," Steph answers.
"That's great."
Some seconds later, Cole joins them.
"Where's Brooke?"
"She went on the pendulum ride," Steph answers.
"Thank God I didn't go. That thing is terrifying," Cole cringes.
"Of course it is," Luke huffs.
Cole glowers at him then faces Steph. "My stomach is pretty messed up. I'm going to get something to eat. You coming?"
"I'm okay. I'll stay here," Steph answers.
"Get me something, okay?" Luke smiles.
Cole rolls his eyes. "Sure thing, master."
Luke and Steph laughs as Cole walks away.
"So...." Luke trails off, thinking of something they can talk about.
"What are your pet peeves?" Luke decides to ask. It's pretty random but it's still something to talk about.
"Uhm," Steph has a thoughtful look her face.
"I don't like people who disregard personal space. It's called personal space for a reason." Steph snarls with a scowl on her face.
Luke laughs. "Me too."
"I don't like slow walkers, loud chewing, dragging feet- they're annoying geez!" Steph tells him.
Luke smiles at the look on her face which shows that those things really annoy her.
"What about you?"
"Loud breathing, poor driving etiquette and I really really hate when people use the word 'your' instead of 'you're'. They are two completely different words," Luke huffs and Steph chuckles.
"Using 'could of' instead of 'could have'." Steph says.
And the conversation flows easily from there.
***
Olivia and Alexa just got off the Ferris wheel. They're best friends and they decided to come to the park today.
"Hey, let's go get Cotton candy," Alexa suggests.
"Sure," Olivia agrees, looking around. Just then she sees something that catches her eyes.
"Wait," she stops Alexa and points vaguely in a direction. Alexa follows her gaze and sights two people on a bench.
"Isn't that Luke?" Olivia asks.
"Yeah, it is," Alexa gapes.
"What's he doing here and with her?"
"Isn't that Stephanie?" Alexa inquires.
"Yeah. It is."
"Why would he be here with her?"
"I don't care but this information can be useful," Olivia smirks as she pulls out her phone and takes a picture of them.
"What do you wanna do with that?" Alexa asks in a curious tone.
"You'll see," Olivia smirks again, thinking of how useful the photo can be to her.
What are your own pet peeves? That's if you have any :)
Stay safe.