Chapter 2
"Words cannot describe how much I hate you right now," Levi grouched jokingly, slinging an arm around my shoulder while the others trailed behind us, all of us hauling one of my bulging suitcases.
"You're just jealous," I teased as I called for the elevator. The lounge was, in one word, stunning. The open floor plan was constant lit by several wide windows with their lacey drapes drawn back. Most of the space that surrounded a flat screen was taken up by lengthy couches covered with silk pillows and cashmere blankets. Downy carpet lay over the wooden floors, if you went around the corner, you'd see several small tables seated between two squishy chairs apiece. Golden globe lights hung from the ceiling, right over the four billiard tables in the room. Once we stepped through massive cherry wood elevator, the glittering interior greeted us warmly. "Holy crap," I breathed. "And all of this belongs to him?"
"Every last light bulb," Griffin said as he shuffled in with the case containing my clothes. "As does the lounges on the second, third, and forth floors. If anybody needs them, though, he gladly loans them out. He does, however, keep his rooftop pool to himself." I sent him a look.
"A rooftop pool?" I exclaimed. "What does this guy do?"
"Well," Cade laughed, clearly ignoring my second question. "It's alright because there's another one out back that the rest of the guys use." I simply shook my head. It looks like I'm going to have to room with a spoiled rotten kid. Greeeat...
A minute later, the doors slid open with a whoosh, revealing the most gorgeous room I've ever laid eyes on. "Now this is the standard I expect our room to be up to." You see, after Pine dragged the guys into his office, he basically told them 'Clean up the apartment or you'll be sleeping outside.' And I got to decide how clean is clean.
"You do know this guy has a maid, right?" Vander pointed out, begging me to reconsider. I ignored him and looked around. Picture the perfect living room: spacious, plush carpeting, open floor plan, large and small couches, a flat screen the size of the front wall, and glittering crystal chandeliers. In the corner of the room, there was a spiral, marble staircase that spun to the level upstairs.
"I thought there were only five floors..." I turned, confused, to the boys.
"Oh those are only the floors that are available to the other students. The sixth floor is exclusively for him." My jaw dropped.
"Well that hardly seems fair..." I trailed off, turning to race up the shiny steps. "Whoa..." Briar basically had a flat up here. The dining room was stark white and crystalline; from the glass table and diamond chandelier to the powder colored velvety loveseats scattered tastefully throughout the room. From the wall-lengthed window, you could see a dazzling pool, its cerulean water looking like a silky sheet; the light breeze stirring its surface. Maybe I won't move out...
"Ayv," Levi called. "Message for you." Jumping up, I ran into the sparkling clean kitchen. It was the extremely modern and high end kind with silver appliances built into everything. Levi, being a typical boy, was raiding Briar's industrial sized refrigerator when he noticed a note sitting on the marble-top island.
Dear Raven,
I'm very sorry to tell you this but not five minutes after our talk, I got called away on important business. I promise I'll be back by the end of the week. Unfortunately, I don't have a guest room (it got converted into my study) but I put a new set of sheets on my bed. Make yourself at home; anything here is free for you to use - including the four floors of lounges. If you do choose to invite over friends (which I don't have a single problem with) please just make sure they clean up any messes. I really am sorry for being gone; I'll make it up to you when I get back. Please feel free to call me for anything that you need. See you soon.
I'm looking forward to meeting you. Briar.
P.S. That was not a very nice way to say goodbye, love.
"Who's Raven?" Levi asked, reading over my shoulder. Ignoring him, I whipped out my cell phone and quickly punched in Briar's number.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Briar," I started, suddenly a little shy.
"Raven," he greeted happily. "I'm so glad you called! How is everything?"
"It's absolutely stunning; thank you so much for letting me stay here!" A laugh drifted through the line.
"You're quite welcome. I'm just glad yo-" Levi stuck his head next to mine.
"You're getting more of a warm welcome than we did, man!" he yelled into the receiver, cutting Briar off.
"Who was that?" Briar asked in a low voice after a long pause.
"It's... uh... this guy," I stammered, not quite knowing how to tell him I already had a stranger in his house.
"'This guy?'" he quoted, his voice taking on a little bit of a dangerous edge.
"Tell him he knows me," Levi hissed.
"I, um... I mean... You know him, I think... I gotta go, bye!"
"Raven, don't you da-!" In a panic, I stabbed the end button repeatedly, silencing his shouting. Not a split second later, my cell started vibrating, screaming out the theme from The Big Bang Theory. Levi shot me a look.
"You answer it," I stated stiffly, "and you will die." With a hard gulp, he raced out of the room. Sending the call to voicemail, I watched as call after call came in. Then came the texts.
Raven please pick up the phone and talk to me.
Raven please answer me love.
Raven please! I'm sorry I freaked out.
Raven call me.
Raven call me!
Raven! Call me right now!
And they go on and on. My favorite was 'Raven if that boy is your friend, it's fine. If that boy is your boyfriend, I will end him.' And you can't forget 'Raven if you two are hooking up (in my house or somewhere else) I will know and I WILL kill him! Call me this instant!' From there, the calls started coming in again. At that point, I just blocked his number and went to show the messages to the guys.
"Levi, your friend is insane!" He read all the death threats and started holding his throat in terror - all night long. "Guys please go start on the room; I want to get out of here as soon as possible... I'll even help!" I just didn't want to be here when creeper got home...They all brightened at that and we ran out of the room to start.
*
"So much dirt... so much food..." I shuddered to myself as I stood in the shower late that night. After all those hours, we got the main rooms clean - minus the carpet that's going to have to be replaced and the walls (they're going to need to be bleached... twice). Stepping out of the hot spray, I shut everything off, wrapped up in a huge towel and went out the pool. What? I'm clean and there's nobody here... besides I've always wanted to try this.
Flinging the towel onto one of the huge lounge chairs, I dove into the lit up water. "Cold!" I gasped, leaping out. "Colder!" Quickly jumping back in, I squealed at the weird sensation the water made on my naked skin. I officially love this. About twenty minutes later, the poolside telephone started chirping. Thinking it was the guys (who said they'd call the landline if they needed anything); I pulled out my cell and tapped this app that I've had for a while.
"Hello?" I said into the receiver, my phone making it come out in this sexy guy voice.
"Who is this?" Briar thundered. My eyes bulged before I regained control of my panicking brain and quickly started talking again. "Hello?"
"This is Denver," my cell spit out. "Who's this?"
"Briar. Why are you in my house?" His voice came out in a feral snarl that made my hand start to shake my phone. He was so buying this! It was a quality app but still... How does he not know it's me?
"I'm visiting my girlfriend of four years." The phone on his side made this mutilated squealing sound. I quickly raced back eight feet or so.
"Den hang up the phone and come back to the pool!" I tittered in a fake bimbo voice.
"Raven!" The roar reached all the way back to where I was standing. "Stay away from her; you hear me?"
Scooping my cell back up, I kept going. "Whatever, man. Look Rae and I need to get back to skinny-dipping in the pool. Nice place, dude." With that, I cut off possibly the most frightening sound I've ever heard in my life. I better be out of here by the time he gets back...
*
"Ayv," Cade whispered, shaking me awake. With a scream, I leapt up and socked him in the nose. "Ow!" He collapsed on the ground, moaning. "Dammit Ayvril!"
"Oops..." I cautiously peeked over the bed at him. "Sorry Cay..." While he looked pretty unresponsive, I didn't want to take any chances; causing me to hightail my butt out of there.
That day consisted of more cleaning of that nasty thing they call an apartment. Today, it was Griffin's room's turn to get cleaned out. Underneath all that decrepit food and boxers (shudder) we actually found some interesting things in his room: a parachute under the bed, some nun-chucks stuck to a slice of purple pizza, a monster-sized teddy bear (that wore all of his jackets and hats...), a mini mace, and a huge carton of pistol and massive riffle ammo. I'm really scared of Griffin now... It literally took all day to bleach and disinfect everything. At least his room is all clean now - though he was really mad we made him send his box of death home.
That night I received more frantic calls from Briar - which were promptly ignored and the phones disconnected. The next day Levi's room got attacked by a trunkful of Clorox, bleach, and Mr. Clean (courtesy of my parents' wallet). His room was surprisingly normal - aside from the ocean of old food and clothes. Yeah, that week, my guys learned how to do their own laundry. They were utterly stunned to find out the thing they had been stuffing with trash bags the last couple of months was meant for clothing.
*
"Ayv, we can't," Cade protested as I spread another sleeping bag onto Briar's expensive looking couch.
"You can and you will." You see, I had just found out that all the cleaning fumes were making the boys sick at night (probably the bleach). So, I went out and bought some non-moldy sleeping bags and told them they were moving in with me until our project was done - something they seemed terrified of doing. "Trust me Cay; it'll be fine, I promise." Cay, the teddy bear of the group in all honesty, looked at me skeptically. "I'll order Chinese food," I sang, making him finally cave.
"Fine," he mumbled, shuffling into the living room with the rest of us. Giggling, I pulled him onto the squishy loveseat and sat on his lap, snuggling back into his arms. I loved all of the boys, but by far, Cade was my favorite. Seriously, I've known him for less than a week and already he was my new cuddly best friend.
"One thousand, six hundred, and twenty-eight missed calls," I read in disbelief, staring in shock at my phone as it booted up. "Some much for blocking his number..." Cade rested his head on my shoulder and read through the list with me. Every single one was from Briar. "Obsessive much?" I muttered, trying to find the number to a nearby delivery service.
"You have yourself a stalker babe," Cade laughed before eagerly pointing to a restaurant of the list. "That one; pick that one Vee!" Smiling at his nickname for me, I called and placed our order.
Thirty-five minutes later, we were all still arguing at which movie we should watch that night when my cell rang. "Briar," I groaned before accepting the call. "Hey which movie should we watch Briar; The Lucky One or The Green Lantern?"
"You can't just block my number Raven," he said tersely, ignoring my question. "And you shouldn't disconnect someone else's phone. I've been worried sick!" Playfully swatting at Cade (who was trying to listen in), I rolled my eyes.
"Briar, dear, you need to calm down. I know you're worried about a total stranger," I stressed the two words, "trashing your house but you don't need to call or text every two seconds to check up on me; I promise. No one is trashing anything any time soon - not Denver, me, or the boys; alright?"
"That's not what I'm worried abo- boys?" he snarled dangerously. "What boys?"
"The ones I'm having a sleepover with, duh," I sang sarcastically, making the guys shoot me wide-eyed glances, mouthing 'NO!' at me. Wusses. I heard his phone clamor to the ground.
"Sir, can I please leave? I know this council is vital but I need to leave right now. It's Raven!" I put the phone on speaker and set it down for the guys to hear; which, strangely, they seemed like they already could (they all stiffened at the overheard conversation).
"What's wrong with her, Dryth?" a deep voice questioned. "Is she hurt; in danger?"
"No not at all," Briar rushed out. "She's in my house with a bunch of -" The voice cut him off.
"Then you will stay."
He retrieved the phone with a growl. "Is Denver there?"
I giggled with the guys; they knew all about my sexy-voiced 'boyfriend.' "Not yet," I murmured suggestively, making Cade slap a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter when Briar started snarling.
"Raven I -" I cut him off.
"Look Briar, if you're not going to answer my question, I'm going to hang up."
"No!" he cried desperately. "Um... which one do you want, dear?"
"The Lucky One," I stated. "But the guys don't want to."
"It's a total chick movie!" Levi yelled before Briar could speak.
"Nuh uh!" I argued back. "It's about a Marine and in the first scenes he's at war. War equals shooting and shooting equals boy movie! Only the rest of it is a girl movie, idiot."
"Dude!" Griffin protested. "The rest of it is gooey, mushy, chick crap!"
"Shut up, Mister I-Keep-Bullets-Under-My-Bed," I shouted, lunging at him before Cade pulled me back.
"Bri, please don't make us watch that," Vander groaned. "If you love me, you won't make us."
"Vander?" Briar said incredulously. "Why are you guys there?"
"Their apartment is full of bleach," I stated simply before making my voice all nice and sweet. "Bri, please pick my movie... please baby?"
"No fair!" Cade whined. "And besides, you just want to stare at Zac Effron."
"That could not be more true," I said, making Briar grumble.
"Green Lantern," he said firmly.
"Outnumbered!" the guys all yelled victoriously.
"That's fine," I shrugged, thinking of what to say to get back at Creeper-boy. "Ryan Reynolds is definitely hot too." Briar howled furiously down the line at me. And the Universe must love me because, at that second, the Chinese-food-guy rang the doorbell. "Oh that must be Denver! I gotta go, Briar; bye!" I ended the call, cutting off yet another growl. That kid is disturbed...
*
"Mmm morning," I mumbled, going to stretch - and being promptly yanked right back down. "What the..." Looking up from the bare chest I was currently being smooshed to, I saw a mop of blonde curls nuzzling the side of my neck. "Cade," I sighed, trying to peel his arms off of me - which not only failed but also resulted in him slinging a leg around me and his arms tightening.
"Teddy bear," he murmured in his sleep, smiling and snuggling closer. How did I even get in his sleeping bag? Wait... hot pink pillow... that's mine! I cracked up suddenly; what if he had crawled into Vander's? Cade must've heard my laugh subconsciously because he beamed and reached a hand up to pet my mess of ringlets. "Pretty puppy." I laughed harder; he was never living this down.
He abruptly rolled over and pinned me to the side of the bag. "Cade," I hissed, thumping him. "Move you fat-head!"
Frowning, he hugged me close. "No Griff... my teddy... mine..." Huffing, I tried wiggling out; which finally made him wake up with a glazed look in his brown eyes. "Wha?" he slurred.
"Cade, get off me," I groaned, thrashing around. "Cay!"
With a drunken look in his eyes, he glanced down. "Teddy?"
"No not teddy, not puppy either; Ayvril. Ay-vril." He smiled and rolled on top of me.
"Teddy." I groaned loudly.
"Need some help there?" Levi's voice drifted down to me. "The big guy can be tough to wake up."
"Thanks," I moaned, hugging him tightly once he'd pried Cade off and had lifted me up. "I owe you one."
"Mhmm," he agreed in a sleepy voice. Not putting me down, he stepped over two other sleeping bags and shimmied down into his. When I gave him the look, he just laughed. "Oh you thought I was letting you go."
"Uh kinda, yeah..." I flicked him in the head.
"Well I figured I'd help you out there; you were making too much noise - I couldn't sleep." While I stared at him open-mouthed, he wrapped his bulky arms around me and scooted closer. "I'm still tired and I was lonely. Now," he interrupted himself with a yawn. "Both problems are gone... Night Veevee." At that point, I just kind of gave up and laid there, falling asleep shortly.
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Hey guys! I hope you still loved it!
Lemme know what you think!
Oh, I think I like this cover for this story, but Hot Or Not still DESPERATELY needs a cover. I found this one picture just to have something but it's kinda suckish hahaha. So please guys! Thanks!
Love you guys!
P.S. The guy on the side is kinda what I was thinking for Cade.. but minus the facial hair. :P
~ Star Way