Chapter 14- That's Surprisingly Nice Of You

“So, yeah, that’s why she’s a psychotic psychopath,” I chirpily explain to Mason later that same day, referring to Holland.

“That’s so…gross,” Mason laughs, sitting up on my bed and looking up at me in my full-length mirror, which I’m standing in front of.

“Right? Like, I just want to run her over with my car,” I murmur, yanking my bristled hairbrush through my hair, trying to get any remaining chicken pieces from the broth out of my long locks of hair. I’ve already had to wash it like, four times now since I got home about an hour and a half ago and, believe it or not, the scent still isn’t gone.

The disgusting watery chicken broth odor is still embedded in my long blond tresses, but it’s sort and muted now by all of the shampoo that I had in it just a few minutes ago while I was rigorously scrubbing my hair to clean the chicken bits out. I just finished telling Mason about the whole lunchtime fiasco thing between Holland and me and he’s humored by it, I think. I mean, I don’t know why because nothing about this situation is even in the slightest funny to me. Granted, it’s not like he’s just outright laughing at me, but he was chuckling throughout the story quietly.

He tried to mask his laughs as coughs or something, but he ended up failing miserably at it. I think that’s pretty funny though, because he’s like, an award-winning actor. Not to mention, one of the highest paid teenagers in Hollywood. At least, that’s what Holland told me, that he’s one of the highest paid. I wouldn’t know since, like I said, I don’t follow his career really.

That’s beside the point though. Clark called me a little while ago and she said that she was talking to Holland, who is apparently, ‘almost as mad’ as I am. Clark’s words, not mine. Though I’m not sure what could have Holland upset though—  it’s not like she stinks of raw chicken and grease or no longer has a phone or anything drastic like that. 

“Well, that’s pretty violent,” Mason notes and then adds, “Also, I’m pretty sure that hitting someone with your car on purpose is like, you know, illegal and stuff, so you’d probably go to jail,” He informs me absentmindedly, running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. It’s actually pretty long, Mason’s hair, I mean. Well, for a guy, anyway. It’s not so long that he can put it in a proper ponytail or anything like that, but it’s long either way. Maybe he always keeps it that length though, I don’t know, but in Act of Valor and Murder on Magnolia—  the only two movies of his that I’ve actually seen—  his hair was short and brown.

“That would be really, really bad then,” I sigh, shaking my head and putting my hairbrush down. “I’ll just have to do something else to her then, I guess,” I reply with small sigh, walking over to my bed, about to side down beside Mason on the mattress. I don’t have the chance to though because Mason wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me towards and I clumsily fall on his lap in a sitting position. It’s a comfortable position though, so I don’t move, I just wrap an arm around his neck loosely. 

“I don’t think that you should do anything to her,” Mason disagrees, shaking his head with a small frown.

“So, you think that I should just…let her get away with this?” I ask him with an incredulous look on my face.

“Aria, haven’t you ever heard of karma?” He wonders, chuckling softly.

“Of course I’ve heard of karma, but who knows how long that could take to happen?”

“You’re just really, really impatient,” Mason reminds me, looping and arm around my waist.

“Yes, yes, I am,” I admit with an exasperated sigh, dropping my head down on his shoulder.

“You always have been,” He chuckles, turning his head and moving it down a little, pressing his lips to my forehead.

“What do you mean?” I wonder, giving him a curious look.

“Don’t forget that we did go to school together for like, seven years,” Mason responds. “I used to watch you sometimes, I guess.”

“Mason, I think you’re kinda a stalker,” I teasingly giggle.

“I am not a stalker,” He denies with a laugh. “I was just observant,” Mason defends. 

“Uh huh, that’s exactly what a stalker would say,” I rebuttal, kissing his cheek lightly.

“Okay, Aria, whatever you say,” Mason appeases me with a small grin. “You still smell like chicken broth,” He laughs after a second.

“Oh, shut up,” I demand, playfully rolling my eyes at him. “I do not, I showered for like, half an hour,” I remind him.

“I remember,” He assures me, nodding. “But really, you still smell just so terrible,” Mason repeats, but I think he’s teasing.

“Leave me alone,” I lamely retort, punching his arm frivolously.

“Hey, don’t blame me, I didn’t do it to you,” Mason laughs quietly.

“You’re a really, really terrible boyfriend,” I sigh, dropping my head back onto his shoulder.

Of course I don’t actually mean that though. I mean, Mason’s probably the nicest guy I’ve ever even talked to. And he’s definitely, without a doubt, the best boyfriend that I’ve ever had. Though, it’s not like I’ve had a ton of boyfriends or anything. I’ve had only like, three boyfriends in my whole life and one of them—  Billy Marx was a crap excuse for a boyfriend, so, only two good guys.

I don’t even know how that’s possible though, the fact that I went from dating normal high school guys to dating one of the most famous teenagers on the planet. Not that I only like Mason because of his fame, because I don’t. In fact, if I didn’t already know that he was so famous and I met him, I’d have never guessed that he was because he’s just so…unlike how I’d imagine a famous person to be.

He’s just so modest and humble and nice and all that good stuff. I mean, I didn’t think celebrities were mean or anything, I just had no idea they were so normal and down to earth. Granted, I know one celebrity and surely they aren’t all as perfect as Mason is.

“No, I’m not, you’re just stubborn,” Mason corrects me.

“I guess so,” I shrug, sitting up on his lap. “So, what’re you doing tomorrow?”

“Um, probably just gonna lay around at my old house and watch Jerry Springer all day and eat.” He tells me simply.

“You’re ridiculous,” I giggle. “Why would you do that when you can literally do anything that you want to do?” I query.

“Because that’s what I wanna do,” Mason laughs. “I mean, really. When I’m not working, I’m doing school stuff and when I’m not doing school stuff, I’m working, so this is basically the only free time that I have. Now that the entire world knows that I’m back here though, I’m sure my free time won’t last very long,” He informs me.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I mutter.

“Don’t be, I mean, it’s not like you’re the one that told,” Mason reminds me, patting my knee. “Anyway, why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering,” I retort. “Since I’m gonna be spending a whole lot of time at home now, I thought we could do something.”

“Sure, we can do that,” He agrees. “What do you mean though? Why’re you gonna be staying at home a lot now?”

“I didn’t tell you? I got suspended,” I inform him awkwardly, twirling a loose end of my hair around my finger.

“Wait, what? You got suspended?” Mason asks me skeptically. When I nod, he frowns deeply. “Why? That makes no sense!”

“That’s the same thing I said,” I sigh, shrugging my shoulders. “Apparently at my school though, if you’re even involved in a, erm, as Principal McAdoo said, ‘psychical altercation’, you’re getting out of school suspension, effective immediately with a minimum of five days,” I tell him, reciting what the Principal practically shouted at me and Holland after the security guard dragged us to his office. That’s why I’m home already. I mean, it’s only about 12:30, so obviously school isn’t out. Due to the extensity of my and Holland’s ‘fight’ though, Principal McAdoo said we weren’t allowed to stay until to the end of the day and to just go. So, that’s what I did. I don’t know what Holland did since she doesn’t have her car and I really don’t care either. 

“So, you both got suspended then? For five days?” He wonders.

“Well…yes, and no,” I retort, taking a second to think about that question.

“You lost me just now,” Mason chuckles, tangling his fingers in my messy blonde hair.

“Simple minded people,” I teasingly say. “We did both get suspended but no, not for five days. Five days is the minimum. Holland got eight days, I got six,” I explain. “School days, that is. So, yeah, I’ll likely be spending a lot of time here in my house,” I sigh.

“That’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Mason huffs.

“I agree whole-heartedly, but missing a few days of school should be fun,” I counter.

“It is pretty fun, I would know since my private teacher still hasn’t found me,” He boats.

“You are just so rebellious and I think that I’m the only one who sees it,” I reply, glancing at the house phone as it rings on my beside table.

“I’m not rebellious at all,” Mason denies with a laugh, grabbing the phone for me and handing it to me.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I respond in a singsong voice, looking down at the phone display.

My breath immediately hitches in my throat and my palms get all clammy at the one word on there: Mother. Like I said, my mother is definitely not a sympathetic person. I guess the school just now called her and told her of my suspension and I’m guessing that she’s calling to yell at me. I wish they wouldn’t have called her. They should have just called my dad.

I mean, he’s at work, so he probably wouldn’t have answered, but still; I’d rather get my dad’s small lecture over my mother’s mean screams. I could ignore it, but I know she’ll only keep calling—  she does that when she’s mad. Climbing down off of Mason’s lap, I walk over to the window and accept the call, pulling the phone up to my ear.

“Hey mom,” I answer uneasily, my heart thumping. I don’t like being yelled at, it’s just awful.

“Don’t ‘hey mom’ me, Aria Jane Austin,” My mother scolds, her voice loud and full of anger.

“Um, okay then,” I awkwardly reply, twiddling my fingers. “Well, then…how are you today?”

“How am I? Well, I was doing just fine and dandy until I got a very angry phone call from Principal McAdoo a few minutes ago, telling me that my daughter was just suspended for fighting? And with Holland Melbourne, no less! In a cafeteria with pots and pans and chicken broth. Do you know how crazy that sounds to me Aria?”

“Well, it sounds pretty crazy to me, so I’m sure it does to you as well,” I mumble.

“You’re darn right it sounds crazy to me as well!” My mom bellows.

That’s the thing about my mother. Even when she is shouting and Caleb and me—  mostly me—  she doesn’t swear. Not ever, which is weird since she’s telling us everything that’s wrong with us and stuff. Even when she and my father are arguing, she doesn’t swear at him. Not while Caleb and are around then anyway. Then again, it’s not like they argue often or anything, but still.

“What possible reason could you have had for fighting with Holland?” She demands.

“Mom, I swear it wasn’t my fault. Okay, well, maybe it was a little bit, but Hol— ”

“You know what? I don’t even want to hear this right now. We’ll deal with it when I get home. I’m on my way now.”

“Okay, well, I just don— ” I don’t get to finish my sentence though because the phone beeps three times and then hangs up, which is how I know that my mother just hung up on me. She just hung up on my like we weren’t having a conversation or anything like that. She’s my mother and I love her and all but she’s just so incredibly rude. I put the phone down on the windowsill and sigh heavily before walking back over to Mason.

“Well, that was intense,” Mason observes when I sit back down.

“My mother is an intense person,” I shrug. “And she’s on her way and she’s probably gonna murder me,” I inform him.

“I really doubt it,” He laughs, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me to him kissing the crown of my head.

“That’s because you haven’t seen my mother in like, forever,” I remind him with a huff. “She’s just awful,” I complain.

“Hey, well, at least you get to see your mom whenever you want to,” Mason counters. “I see mine like, four times a year unless she and my dad come out to Los Angeles for a while, which they hardly do,” He explains.

“Yeah, but that’s different—  your parents are nice,” I reply.

“Yeah, I guess,” Mason shrugs and stands up. “Should I go now then you think?”

“Before my mom gets here?” I wonder. When he nods, I copy his motions and nod back at him. “Yeah, that’d probably be a good idea. Unless you would like today to be your death day, that is.”

“I don’t think my fans would like that too much,” He laughs.

“Nope, they’d be absolutely devastated,” I truthfully tell him with a giggle.

“I just love how you don’t include yourself as one of my fans,” Mason sarcastically says.

“Well, I’m your girlfriend, isn’t that enough proof that I like you?” I wonder, wrapping my arms around his neck as I stand up.

“I guess it’ll have to do, but I will make you a Masonater,” He promises.

“First, that’s a weird name and second, how do you plan on doing that when you refuse to even watch your own movies?” I wonder.

“I have ways of making things happen the way I want them to, Aria,” Mason chuckles, leaning down and pressing his lips to mine.

I’m widely aware of the fact that my hair reeks of chicken broth—  shampoo can only do so much and I’m hoping that once I wash it again in a few hours, the remainder of the smell will be gone—  but Mason doesn’t seem to mind it. The awful smell, I mean. Sure, he was teasing me about it earlier, but I know he was only kidding.

He really is just a huge goofball—  I don’t know how he remains serious when he’s filming his movies and stuff. Mason keeps our kiss slow for a few mere seconds, but that changes once his tongue traces over my lower lip. Aware of the fact that my mother will be home at any minute now and she’ll probably ground me, I won’t be able to see Mason for a little while, unless I sneak out, which I probably will, I immediately open my mouth and his tongue darts in.

Mason’s hold on my waist tightens a bit and he pulls me close to him, our fronts pressed together. He’s just so much taller than me though so my chest is like, against the top of his stomach. Our kiss quickly turns into a heated make out session just a couple of minutes later and before I now it, I’m lying on my back on my bed and Mason’s hovering over me, peppering my neck with kisses.

Oh man, that Brianne Blossom girl is so lucky if she literally gets to kiss Mason whenever she wants. Well, not whenever she wants, I guess, but whenever the script calls for it. I know that Maybe You is a romantic comedy and he’s the leading guy and Brianne’s the leading girl so I’m sure they kiss a lot in there.

Then for some reason, there’s a sequel to it that’s also a romantic comedy so I’m sure they got to kiss a lot during the filming of the movie. I wish I could say that I knew what Maybe You and its sequel are about, but like I said, before Mason came to town, I didn’t keep up with his life—  I mean, I still don’t, but we do talk, so yeah  I know a little bit about his work and all that good stuff.

When I feel Mason’s tongue on my neck, running over the places he just kissed, I let out a small moan and pull him closer to me, giggling unintentionally. When the sound of the front door opening downstairs reaches us, we immediately pull our lips away from each other’s. Mason swears under his breath before climbing off of me and pulling his shoes back on.

He’s been over for a little while now, once I got home after driving myself from school, I called him and he came over, so he’d taken his shoes off. He’s just so weird that they’re not even like, normal tennis shoes. They’re these really expensive looking shoes that look like they cost more than my house three times over.

“Is there like a back door or something that I can go out of?” Mason wonders, running his fingers through his crazy hair.

“Erm, yeah, but you’d have to go in through the kitchen. Just go down the hall and go down the backstairs and there’s a door down there at the end of the hall that you can go through. It leads out through the backyard and then just go through the fence.” I quickly inform him, hearing my mother’s footsteps downstairs. Well, I don’t really hear them, but I do hear her talking to Caleb and he’s downstairs, but her voice sounds like it’s getting closer and closer.

“Okay and I didn’t drive, so I’ll just call Rock or something,” Mason tells me, kissing my lips lightly before creeping out of my bedroom and down the hall, following my directions. “I’ll call you later though,” He informs me, poking his head back into the room.

“If I still have the house phone, then I’ll answer,” I giggle, motioning with my hand for him to go.

Mason chuckles quietly before ducking back out of my bedroom and hurrying down the hallway. I mean, it’s not that my mother would be mad if there was a guy in my room as long as we weren’t like, doing the dirty or anything but he’s Mason Carter and she’s seen a lot of his movies, I think, so she’d either be really star struck or really mad at me for having company over when I already know that I’m in trouble. I figure I shouldn’t risk it, so that’s why he needed to leave.

“Aria, come downstairs, please!” My mother calls up the stairs, but her voice isn’t all mean and stuff, which is a little weird.

“Coming!” I call back, running my fingers through my hair before walking out of my room. When I step outside of the door, I nearly trip over a mess of black and white, but I manage to catch myself. “Tabby!” I exclaim happily, reaching down and scooping my adorable kitten up in my arms.

Tabby is really like, my favorite thing in the whole wide world. She’s just such a lovely pet. I didn’t know that she was gonna be coming home so soon, but I’m really glad that she is, because I mean, Tabby and I are like, best friends and I’ve missed her. Tabby contracted a really, really terrible urinary tract infection so she had to go to the vet for treatment about a week ago and I was really worried that she was gonna miss Christmas, but thankfully she isn’t.

I really do love my kitten, so this is kinda a big deal for me. I’m continue walking down the hallway to the stairs, about to go down and face my mother, but I stop short once I pass Caleb’s bedroom and I hear what sounds like Wyatt making little baby noises or something. I know he’s weird, but I’m sure he’s not that weird. Unless he’s high or something because Wyatt is super weird when he’s high. Downstairs, I hear the door open again and my father come in, greeting my mother warmly, so I think that if I just avoid going down there for a few minutes, she won’t claw my face off. My dad gets really upset with her whenever she yells at me and Caleb, so she doesn’t as much when he’s around. I just wanna see what Wyatt’s doing though because I can hear him talking through the closed door in a baby voice.

I push open Caleb’s door and close it behind me before turning around and seeing Wyatt sitting on the floor, holding an adorable blonde baby dressed in a pink onesie and a cute little matching headband bow thing. There’s also a little boy sitting beside him and the baby, but the little boy is playing around on Wyatt’s phone.

“Macy let you bring your kids here?” I ask incredulously, stroking Tabby’s fur.

“Yeah,” He confirms with a smile, looking up at me. “It took about three days to convince her and she told me that if either of them came back with even one hair out of place, she’d cut my penis off and force feed it to me, so, yeah, there’s that,” Wyatt laughs.

“Well, that’s…graphic,” I chuckle, putting Tabby down on the carpeted floor. “Can I hold her? Please?” I ask, eyeing the baby girl.

“Sure, but she just ate, so don’t like, bounce her or anything,” Wyatt says, standing up with Henley and holding her out to me.

“I wouldn’t throw your baby,” I assure him, taking baby Henley in my arms and beaming down at her. “Hi Henley!” I exclaim.

I just love babies so much. I mean, really. They’re just so cute and little and worry-free and just perfect little angels. You know, aside from all of the crying they do and the popping and one hour naps, but that’s all irrelevant because Henley is just so stinking cute. It’s a good thing that Wyatt never tried to deny her as his daughter because he definitely would have lost that fight.

I mean, they look just alike. She has his nose and all of his facial features really, from his lips to his cheekbones. Not that I like…check Wyatt out or anything like that, but yeah, they look a lot alike. The only thing that’s different is that she has blonde hair and Wyatt’s hair is brown.

I’ve seen Henley and Sammy’s mother—  Macy—  once or twice though and I know that she’s blonde so that makes sense. The little boy—  Sammy, is his name—  also looks a lot like Wyatt though, but maybe more of Macy. He’s pretty much the exact opposite of his sister, because he has brown hair like Wyatt and Macy’s facial features.

“She’s adorable,” I honestly say, kissing her little forehead just because I can’t resist.

“I know, right? I mean, she is my kid, so, you know,” Wyatt teases. “Sammy, come here,” He says, getting his son’s attention.

“You’re just…something else, Wyatt,” I laugh lightly, cradling Henley and letting her wrap her little hand around my finger. I mean, she’s only like, seven weeks old so there’s not much that she can do, really, but she’s adorable nonetheless.

“Sammy, this is Aria. She’s…kinda my friend, I guess. Anyway, say ‘hi’ to her,” Wyatt tells Sammy.

“Hi Aria,” Sammy peeps shyly, holding onto Wyatt’s pant leg.

“Hi Sammy,” I laugh at his adorableness and then hand Henley back to Wyatt because she looks like she’s gonna cry and I don’t wanna be the one holding her if she starts doing that. “So, how long is Macy letting you keep them for?” I wonder curiously.

“She said I have to bring them back tomorrow, so only a day,” Wyatt informs me with a small sigh. “But this is progress, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I confirm with a nod. “I’m proud of you, Wyatt, you know for trying to be a good dad. Even though you’re really terrible and annoying and stupid and arro— ”

“You’re corrupting my children,” Wyatt tells me jokingly, placing his free hand over my mouth.

I lick his palm and nearly gag when I place the taste as onions. I guess he cut an onion earlier or something and I can’t imagine why but I do know that I hate onions more than anything else in the world. “My point is, you’re a really good person, even if other people can’t see that,” I tell him honestly, looking down at Henley, whose eyes are fluttering closed, which must means she’s going to sleep now. See? This is why babies are awesome. They can just sleep whenever they so choose.

“Thanks Aria,” Wyatt says with a small smile. “That’s surprisingly nice of you.”

“What? I’m a nice person!” I remind him.

“Yes, of course you are.” He sarcastically says.

“Okay, you know what? Shut up.” I shoot back.

“I only speak the truth,” Wyatt shrugs, crossing the room and putting a sleeping Henley in her car seat which is on the bed.

“Yeah, okay sure. Anyway though, I’m going downstairs now and if you don’t hear me coming back up these stairs in ten minutes, assume that my mother has murdered me,” I tell him seriously. “And call the police.”

“O…kay then,” Wyatt says slowly, wrinkling his forehead in confusion. “I’ll…be sure to do that.” With a thankful nod, I walk out of the room, closing the door quietly behind me so I don’t wake Henley up since she just went to sleep and then I head downstairs, dreading whatever stupid punishment it is that I’m about to receive.

Author's Note: Hey guys, so since I've started school again-- ugh-- I've realized that I'm gonna have to change the updating schedule for this story. I sent out a mass message, but I know that some people only read from their phones or whatever, so you probably didn't get that message, so I'll just put it here: 

Bonjour lovelies,

As most of you know, I started school on Monday (ugh) and it's like seriously killing me. I'm not even joking. I've had so much homework in these past three days that it's enough to make me want to cry. So, that being said, I'm thinking that Like Crazy's updates are gonna be cut from Wednesdays and Saturdays to just Saturdays, because since it's not summer vacation anymore, it's not like I can just sit at home all day and write. No, I have to go to school for like, seven hours, which makes things a bit difficult. So, yeah, I'm still gonna be doing it, but the updates are gonna be on SATURDAYS from now until I can get like, more time to write, I guess. I'd rather not change it but it's either like, write or pass the 10th grade, so, you know. I was tempted to do the same with Give Me Love, but I won't, if it can be avoided. Basically Give Me Love is still Mondays and Thursdays and Like Crazy will be on Saturdays.

Okay, yeah, that's all I needed to say. -- Millie ♡

So, yeah, that's all it said, but I just wanted those of you who didn't get to see it to be able to see it. So I'll see you guys on Saturday! P.S., this is just a few minutes late, I know that, but yeah. Also, the picture off to the side is Wyatt! Don't forget to comment and vote, please! <3