"So, are you ready for an awesome night!" Bill said as he walked through the door.
I looked up from the T.V. to see Bill with a box of pizza in one hand and a bag filled with video games and DVD's in the other.
"Yeah." I said relieved that Bill forgot we were supposed to make dinner.
Dee was fun to hang with, but it was nice for a change to hang with a guy and do guy stuff. Bill turned on his Xbox and put in a game. He handed me a console and we both stared excitedly at the screen as the opening credits played. My phone jingled in my pocket and I ignored it.
Bill looked over to me.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" He said knitting his brows.
"Nah, it can wait."
It was Greyson. We’d been texting all afternoon, but at some point, he asked about my parents, like what were they like and what they did. No one ever asked me about my parents, even Dee knew it was a taboo subject and was careful when making jokes about them.
Memories of my father biting his nails and pacing back in forth in our living room flashed through my mind. His usually kept hair was in disarray from his hands constantly brushing through them. He had huge bags under his eyes and every time he looked down at my eight-year-old self, he’d chew off another nail and mumbled something I couldn't hear. All I know, is I had once again done something wrong without being aware of it.
"Hey, Maddy!" Bill shoved his hand in my face and waved it around. "The game is about to start. Focus up, dude.”
I blinked a few times before going back into reality.
"Sorry, I got distracted." I looked grimly at the screen.
"Well bashing a few zombie heads will defiantly fix that!" Bill said pressing start on his console.
"Yeah" I said turning my phone on silent and pressing start.
*~*
It was around eight-thirty when we finally called it quits. Bill had ordered another pizza and was popping a horror flick into the DVD player.
"Um… I'm not really a fan of horror movies." I shifted my position on the couch.
"Hmm, that's funny you were perfectly fine when we were fighting Zombies." Bill said tilting his head.
"That's different. They're cartoons, so I know it's fake." I replied.
"Feel free to snuggle into the blankets if you get too chicken." George said from behind me before throwing a pile of blankets on my head and turning off the lights.
"I knew this would lure you out from your man cave!" Bill grinned.
"I waited this long, just to find out we're having pizza for dinner?" George scoffed
"Well, what about Saw II? You told me once that you liked horror movies." Bill said trying to lift the other man's spirit.
George just shrugged.
"Catch short stuff." George threw a cold bottle in my hand.
My eyes widened it was beer! I don't get beer often since, I don't ever go to parties. The only time I do get alcohol in my system is when Dee sneaks me some of the hard stuff from Doug's bar, and she only does that when she wants to get information out of me. Of course, the other night was also an exception to the rule.
George plopped himself on the other side of Bill and handed him a drink. I watched as both boys easily popped off the cap of their bottles, while I was doing everything in my power not to look like as weak as I was.
Bill noticed I was having trouble and smirked.
"Here let me help you with that." He said taking the bottle from my hand and twisting the cap off.
"Thanks," I said a little defeated when he handed it back to me.
George just laughed at me as I took a swig and scrunched up my nose in disgust. It was clear he was making fun of me because he thought I was a goody-two-shoes. I kept drinking to prove I wasn’t, which probably wasn’t the best idea after the third bottle.
Half way through the movie, Bill had dozed off and his head kept switching from my shoulder to George's. I tried to fall asleep as well, but was constantly getting scared out my mind. Every time a character died, it made it harder and harder to keep my eyes off the screen.
I took another swig at my drink as Bill shifted once again. This time his head was a lot closer to mine and I could feel his breath on my neck. I felt slightly uncomfortable, but figured guys did this all the time so, I didn’t push him off. Although, I probably should have with the way George kept looking at me like I stole something from him.
I tried to drown out the awkwardness that filled the room with alcohol, but it only got worse when I started to hiccup.
Bill's hand went to my belly.
"Shh... Maddy's stomach, I am trying to sleep." Bill mumbled and I looked down at him shocked.
I hiccupped a few more times causing Bill to get annoyed and lean on George for comfort. That seemed to satisfy George and he stopped murdering me with his eyes. As I turned back toward the movie, yet another person was getting murdered.
I jumped up and walked to the kitchen. I couldn't take this scary crap anymore. Bill stretched his legs when I left and shifted his body to lie on George's lap. One day, I’ll be brave enough to just sit down and watch a movie with friends.
Just not today…
I notice my phone glowing in my pocket. I sighed and decided to take it out. I got a few messages from Dee asking me how I was doing at Bill's and that next week I should "Deff" come into work because she hates doing it alone. I also got a missed call from Greyson and four unanswered texts.
I sighed and decided to answer Dee's messages first. I told her I was fine, even though I was forced to watch a scary movie and Bill's roommate was kind of a jerk. When I looked at Greyson's messages, I was going to tell him I was busy, but he called me just as I started to text him back. I let the phone ring twice before picking up.
"Finally, you answer!" Greyson laughed into the phone.
I looked over my shoulder to the living room and heading for the front door. I thought it would be best if I went outside so I wouldn’t piss off George.
"I tried to call you earlier. You kind of left me hanging." Greyson did his best to hide the worry in his voice.
“Mmm-My bad." I stumbled reaching for the doorknob and tiptoed barefoot out the front door lawn.
"What have you been up to till now?" He sounded more interrogating than curious.
"I've been playing video games n' watching movies. Although, I don't like the movies 'cause they're scary and I can't even sit through the entire thing. Does that make mmm-me a wuss? I don’t want to be a wuss."
"Maddy are you drunk? You're slurring your words."
"Nope,” I shook my head forgetting Greyson couldn’t actually see me. “I'm not drunk, but I did have a few drinks. Which I can handle, ‘cause I’m not a wuss.”
I sat on the grass, standing was getting annoying. I hiccupped into the phone and heard Greyson sigh.
"I don't like sound of you being drunk in someone else's house."
"This isn't just someone’s house, It’s Bill’s ‘n he’s chill!" I laughed that almost rhymed!
"Yes, that did almost rhyme, but you shouldn't stay there while you're like this."
I growled into the phone.
"Hey, stop reading my mind! You -you... Mind Reader! Oh, and I already have one over protective friend, I didn’t need another one."
Greyson went silent for a beat.
"Maddy I'm- his voice got cut off when George came charging outside and grabbed my phone out of my hand.
"Hey!" I shouted.
"Shut the hell up!" George screamed at me. And I hiccupped in fright.
He put the phone up to his ear and started shouting at Greyson. "Look here Jackass, I don't care what you two are talking about, but he is waking up the whole damn neighborhood!”
George paused for a beat as Greyson spoke into the phone.
“This is George who the hell is this?" There was another short pause before he spoke again. "Like The Vasiliev? Of course, I know of you, Jager is my family name. ...Well it is a small world after all."
I furrowed my brows, did these two know each other? If so, I didn't like it.
"Hey! Stop talking to him! A-are you guys planning s-somethin’ against me?" I stood up, almost falling as the world grew dizzy around me. I poked George in the chest. 'I-I-I’ll f-figure it out."
George looked down at me and grinned. "You know he's kind of cute when he's drunk...Chill, Vasiliev, it was a joke. What do you want me to do with him?"
George picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.
"Hey! I’m-m-m not a toy you can just pick up whenever you ple-ase." I hit George’s shoulders as we walked back into the house.
"Yeah, you can come and get him in the morning."
We walked into the house and George told me to be quiet because Bill was sleeping. He placed me on one of the kitchen chairs and pressed his index finger to his lips. I nodded, feeling the world nod with me as I sat there, while he went into the fridge to get me a glass of water.
"Did you guys mate already? He reeks of your kind,” George handed me the water and watched me carefully as I drank from the glass. “Really? Weird…. Alright I’ll put him to bed and update you in few minutes, just text me your number."
George hung up the phone, but continued to watching me intently.
"George, are you British?" I asked placing the empty glass on the table.
"No, why would you think that?" George chuckled. It was weird. Maybe he was a little drunk too… Not that I was or anything.
"Because you used the word mate."
"Oh, you were listening,” George scratched his head. “Well you don't have to be British to use British terms."
I nodded.
"Tell me something, do you know what you are." George's eyes started to glow a bright blue and I wanted to poke them, but I knew that would be bad.
"I’d rather you didn’t poke me in the eyes. Can you answer my question, please."
"Okay, but are you a mind reader too?" I tilted my head. It felt heavier than usual.
"No, you just say things out loud." His eyes were still glowing and I wished mine would glow like his.
Suddenly, George took a step back and scratched the stubble on his face. “Crap, it’s worse than I thought,”
"George, why don’t you like Bill?"
"Is that what he thinks? George sounded distracted when he replied. He sniffed the air again. "I knew it was more than one scent I was smelling on you."
He mumbled under his breath. I didn't quite understand what that meant so, I continued.
“He said that you don’t acknowledge his existence, but the way you treated him while we were watching the movie makes me think otherwise.”
George paused his weird mumbling and frowned. “That’s not true. He got into a car accident at the end of his senior year and things between us have been different ever since.”
“I’m-m s-sorry,” I mirrored his expression. “Did you have somethin’ to do with the acc-accident?
“We should get you to bed,” George’s voice turned monotone as he pulled me up and helped me to the living room. George moved the coffee table and pulled a bed out of the couch.
"Where is Bill?"
"I put him to bed a while ago." George said as he fluffed a pillow and fixed the blankets. I flopped onto the bed before he could finish and he just chuckled throwing a blanket over my body.
"Nighty Night George."
"Nighty Night Maddy."
I closed my eyes as George walked away dialing a number on his phone. I heard him unlock the front door and shuffle outside.
"Did you know what he was?” George’s words sounded strange to me, but I couldn't dwell on them because sleep was taking over my body and a little part of me wished that there was someone lying right beside me.
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