Chapter 15 - He's Being Such A Baby      

“Hey there.” Reese says as I reach him. He’s standing at the front of the movie theater, leaning against the promotional poster for that Bruce Willis movie, A Good Way to Die Hard or something like that. “I thought you got lost on your way or something.”

“Hi Reese.” I reply.

When Mikey and I got back to my house, Drew, Tanner and Walker were all still there watching that Taken movie. They kinda forced me and Mikey to watch it with them, and after that I decided that I didn’t care what Bradley said or thought. So I went upstairs, got dressed and came here to the movie theater like I told Reese I would. I mean, I did seriously doubt it, while Bradley was yelling his opinions at me or whatever, but as you can see, I stopped doubting it.

“How are you?” He wonders, leading me towards the ticket buying booth.

“I’m good.” I tell him. I’m not that great, actually, but I’m about 98.9% sure he doesn’t wanna here about my problems. “How are you?”

“Better now that you’re here; I thought you wouldn’t show.” Reece tells me as we move up in the line.

“Why wouldn’t I come?”

“I’m aware how much your friend doesn’t like me, I just thought he’d make you change your mind or something.”

“Bradley? Bradley’s a stupid jerk.” I reply. “He tried to talk me out of coming, but that didn’t work.”

“Obviously.” He retorts, chuckling. Soon enough, we reach the front of the line. “What do you wanna see?” Reese asks me.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter.” I tell him. “I kinda wanna see Safe Haven though.”

“That Nicholas Spencer thing?”

“It’s Sparks. Nicholas Sparks.” I correct him.

“Whatever, either way, I don’t wanna see it. How about Zero Dark Thirty?”

“Isn’t that about Osama Bin Laden?”

“Yeah, I think so. Why?”

I shrug, “I don’t really wanna see that.”

He sighs, “Well then what should we see? I’m not watching Safe Haven with you. It’s for little bitches.”

“Can we see Warm Bodies?” I wonder, looking up at the show times, ignoring his totally untrue remark.

“I guess so.” He says grumpily, retrieving his wallet from his pocket when the lady tells him that it’ll be fifteen dollars. Why are the movies so damn expensive now-a-days? No wonder everyone is using those illegal movie watching sites. I see Reese hand the lady a five dollar bill, two ones and two quarters. Seven fifty. Guess we’re doing the half-way thing. I reach down into my pocket, and pull out a wadded up mess of dollars. Flattening them out, I see that I have just enough money. Eight ones. I give them to Reese, who hands them to the lady behind the counter. She gives us our tickets and we head inside.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out, walking along with Reese as he goes to the food stand. I see that it’s a call from the notorious Bradley. I don’t know why he’s calling me - I’m pretty sure he’s aware that I’m still mad at him. But knowing Bradley the oh so well way that I do, I know he’s probably calling just to see if I really came out with Reese. I decline the call, and put it in my pocket. Hopefully by my declining his call and sending him to voicemail, he’ll get the picture.

“You want something?” Reese wonders.

I shake my head, “I’m fine, thanks.” I don’t have any more money on me, and I’m not sure he’d buy me anything, so I’m playing it safe and saying no. I’m not really hungry or anything anyway.

“Okay,” He replies, holding his large bucket of popcorn. “I got this though, you know, if you want some.”

I force out a small laugh, “Great, thanks.”

“Sure, now come on. We already missed like ten minutes of the movie.”

“They’re just previews.” I mumble, but walk behind him as he’s already walking towards the theater.

When Reese and I get to the theater, I notice that it’s not very full. That’s pretty surprising because I hear this movie is really good. Reese starts climbing the stairs towards the top, and despite my hesitance, I follow him. He goes up to the very back row, literally the last one, and turns to look at me.

“This okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” I assure him, sitting down in one of the comfy chairs as he sits beside me.

Pretty much throughout the entire movie- all ninety-seven minutes of it- Reese keeps doing stupid things, trying to get me to do things with him. And I think you know what I mean. All up here in the very back of the theater. He’ll like tap my shoulder or rub his fingers up my thigh or something. And it’s kinda annoying, seeing as how I actually want to watch this movie. It’s really good so far, but if Reese keeps bothering me, I’m gonna leave. Don’t know how I’m gonna get home, but I’m gonna just leave.

When the movie ends and the credits begin to roll, I’m probably the first one out of my seat, thankful to have an escape from Reese’s wondering hands. Making-out heavily and touching are two completely different things. One of them actually being something I don’t mind doing. Kissing, that is. Not touching. People begin to file out of the theater and Reese takes his sweet time getting up. When he does though, we leave the theater, walking out to the corridor.

“Don’t you think that was a good movie?” I ask him.

He shrugs, “It was okay. I was kinda focused on something else though.”

"I noticed.”

Reese says something, but it’s under his breath, so I don’t quite catch it. We walk out of the theater and he leads me across the lot to where his car is. “I am taking you home right?”

“Uh, yeah, that’d be nice.” I reply, going over to the passenger side.  

Reese unlocks the doors with his little beeper and I climb in, clicking my seatbelt in place, and closing the door behind me. Reese gets into the driver’s seat, slamming his door with a bit more force than necessary and out of my peripheral vision I can see him staring at me. He doesn’t put his seatbelt on or start the car or anything, he just sits there. Laughing lightly, I look over at him, amused by his staring, “Will you quit staring at me, you creep?”

He chuckles, and starts his car, pulling straight out of the parking spot, not even looking around for cars or anything. We ride down the street towards my house- I still never learned how he knew where I lived- in silence. Comfortable? No, not really. But not awkward either, I guess. About twenty-five minutes or so later, Reese pulls up to my house, parking on the street. He doesn’t actually go in the driveway - a sign that he’s not staying or coming in or anything. I unbuckle my seatbelt and look over at him briefly.

“Well, I had a nice time tonight.” It wasn’t really anything special, but it was fun, I guess.

“So did I.” He replies, nodding indifferently.

"So, I’ll see you Monday?” I say “At school, I mean.” I add.

"Yup, see you then.” Reese retorts.

I turn, placing my hand on the handle, about to open the door, when I all of a sudden feel Reese’s hand on my wrist, stopping me. Whirling back around, I nearly collide with his lips which are about half a centimeter from mine. He pushes forward, pressing his lips to mine. Reese’s other hand, the one not securely holding my wrist, goes to the small of my back, forcefully pulling me towards Reese even more. Reese kisses me roughly - I guess that’s his thing or something, because he always does it - and not even fifteen seconds into the kiss, his tongue leaves his mouth and he’s prodding my lips with it.

“And once he gets that, it’s over.”

Bradley’s stupid voice invades my brain, sending in all of his intrusive opinions of Reese and me that he told me about earlier today. I decide to ignore the voice in my head, and open my mouth to Reese. Apparently he likes that, because a low growl escapes his throat, and his hand digs deeper into my back, smashing my body into his. Like literally, we’re pressed right against each other. Reese’s tongue is rough against mine, but it’s a nice kiss, I suppose. I guess I’m just feeling a little down. I just wanna go upstairs and go to sleep. I’m so ready for this very shitty day to be over. I immediately start to internally panic when I feel Reese’s hand slip underneath my t-shirt. He slyly slides it up, probably thinking I don’t notice or something. When I feel his hand sliding over my rib cage, and near my chest, I pull away from him, shaking my head.

“Um, we can’t do that, Reese.” I say, shakily, trying to regain my breath. Why, oh, why is he such a good kisser?

“Yeah we can, what are you talking about?” He retorts, once again putting his lips on mine.

“We really can’t,” I tell him, pulling away from him after kissing him for a few seconds.

“Why not?” Reese groans heavily.

“Because we just can’t.” I look out of the window, and see my mom’s car in the driveway, “See? My mom’s here.”

“In the house.” He mumbles under his breath. “Then let’s just go to my house. No one’s there.” He assures me kissing my collarbone.

Struggling against my stupid teenage hormones, I force myself to shake my head. “I’m really tired, sorry.”

He sighs, before scooting back over to his side of the car, “Yeah, okay.”

And now he’s probably mad at me. “My birthday is in a few days,” I blurt. “And I think my friends may be putting something together. You can come, you know, if you want to.” I say, looking over at him

“Uh, whens your birthday?”

“The sixteenth.”

“That’s a Saturday, isn’t it?”

I nod, “Yeah, so I think maybe them and my family are doing something.”

“Oh, okay, well yeah, I guess I can try to make it.”

“Alright, well, bye.” I say, getting out of his car, this time, he doesn’t stop me, for which I’m thankful.

As soon as both of my feet are out of Reese’s car and on the concrete of the sidewalk, he speeds away. I walk through the grass, too tired to properly walk to the front door. I look over at Bradley’s house and see that all the lights are out, save for one, and that’s Bradley’s bedroom light. Well, I mean, the porch light is on, but that doesn’t count, because it’s outside. I pull my phone from my pocket, seeing that it’s now 9:56. It doesn’t surprise me that Bradley’s still up though, he usually stays up pretty late. I only know that because usually I stay up pretty late and talk to him. But for obvious reasons, I’m not talking to him tonight.

I walk up to the front door, pull my keys from my pocket and unlock the front door. I go in, closing the door quietly behind me. I’m not trying to sneak in or anything; my curfew isn’t until 1:30. I don’t know why my mother gave me such a late curfew, it’s not like I actually ever go anywhere. And if I do, I always come home way before 1:30 in the morning. I trudge up the stairs, laughing to myself as I walk through the living room and see Walker, Mikey, Tanner and Drew all spread out on the couch. The TV is even still on. Some other movie that I’ve never seen is what’s playing now. I decide to leave it on, and continue up the stairs.

When I reach my room, I collapse on the bed, kicking my shoes off and climbing into my bed. I’m really not extremely exhausted, just tired of being awake. I feel Poncho pad across the bed, and then he lies on my pillow, resting his little head next to mine. He’s so adorable. Bradley hasn’t asked for him yet, and since he claims that he doesn’t like him, Poncho will probably stay with us for a while, or he’ll just run out of the front door and back to the Edwards’ house when he’s ready.

-------

I lift my head up from my desk as the bell rings, signaling the end of second block. Finally. I’m starving. I stand up from my desk, collecting my bag along with my binder and books and walk out of the room with Walker and Tanner. Computer Apps is such a stupid class. God I hate ‘B’ days. And ‘A’ days. I hate every day at school, actually. Too much work, not enough sleep tie. Today’s Monday, and obviously, I’m at school. Yesterday, wasn’t very eventful. When I woke up Sunday morning, the boys were all bitching about how they wanted iHop - they’ve honestly got an unhealthy obsession with it - so the five us went to iHop and ate. Then we went back to my house, but only Drew and Tanner stayed. Walker said his parents wanted him to actually come home, since he’d been at my house since Friday night, so he had to leave and Mikey had to go to his new job. He actually got one, yes, which is good. Because now I’m gonna bum off of him for money.

Bradley didn’t talk to me at all yesterday, and I didn’t talk to him, so we’re still fighting. It was only a bit awkward, because we were leaving the house at the exact same time this morning. I rode with Drew who drove Tanner and me, and Bradley was of course driving his car. He, Drew and Tanner all exchanged greetings, but I kinda just ignored him, and he in turn did the same. Not that I even care, but whatever.

“What, didn’t get much sleep last night?” Tanner asks me as I walk between him and Walker down the crowded hallways.

“No, I did. I’m just tired still. If that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t.” Walker retorts, grinning goofily.

He’s doing better, I guess. I told him what Alison said and he called her sometime after that. He went to the backyard and even from my room up on the second floor, I could hear him shouting at her. I don’t know if he still wants to get back together with her, because when I asked him about it, he told me he didn’t wanna talk about it, and I dropped it.

“I’m just sleepy.” I tell them truthfully. “And I need to go to my locker, so I’ll just catch up with you guys in the cafeteria.”

“Don’t want us to wait on you?” Tanner offers.

I shake my head, getting irritated at the guy in front of us walking slower than an elderly snail covered in about twelve layers of molasses. “That’s okay.”

We part ways, as I turn to go down the corridor towards my locker and the boys continue towards the cafeteria. The hall where my locker is located is - thankfully - way less crowded than the main hallway. I find my locker, and spin the dial, pulling it open. I toss my stuff in, and then swing it closed. I nearly yelp when out of my peripheral I see Bradley standing so close to me. But then I remember that his locker is one away from mine. There’s my locker, some girl’s locker and then his. He’s got a bunch of wadded up papers in his hand, plucking them from his locker. He looks over at me, and I take notice of how…not normal he looks. His brown hair is messy on his head, as if he got out of bed and came to school. I mean, he doesn’t do it or anything, he just runs his fingers through it a couple of times and it looks fine. And his bright blue eyes are tired and weary. He opens his mouth to say something, but I quickly look away, readjusting my bag on my shoulder, and walk down the hallway as fast as I can without actually running.

I go into the cafeteria, and sit down at my regular table in between Drew and Mikey. “I got you pizza.” Mikey tells me, pushing the tray towards me. “At least…I think it’s pizza.”

I wrinkle my forehead and chuckle lightly, “That’s reassuring. Thanks though.”

“So are you and Bradley still fighting?” Drew asks me, biting down into his cheeseburger.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just saw him though. He was at his locker.”

“Did you two talk?”

"No we didn’t talk; I think he was about to say something, but I left.”

“Now why’d you do that? You know you wanna make up with him.” Tanner says, cocking an eyebrow.

“Because I’m stubborn, that’s why.” I tell him, putting my feet up in his lap. He’s sitting across from me at the table, and has a comfortable lap, so I mean, why not? And I mean that in the cleanest, purest way possibly. “But I don’t wanna talk about him anymore, I wanna talk about something else.”

“Like?”

“Tattoos.” I say, looking down at mine, and tracing my index finger over it. “I think I want another one.”

“You’re just becoming a little tattoo addict, aren’t you?” Walker asks teasingly.

“They’re so pretty though. Like, don’t you guys just love mine?” I say, flashing my inked wrist. They all nod in agreement, stuffing their faces with the disgusting cafeteria food. “I don’t know what I want though.”

“Is your mom gonna let you get one?” Mikey asks.

I shrug, “I don’t know. I mean, I’ll be eighteen in six days, and I can get one without her.”

“That’s true; so what do you want?”

I shrug, “I dunno. I don’t want a stupid meaningless one though. Something like, ‘just believe’.” I tell them.

"That’d be nice,” Drew replies, pulling his phone out of his pocket as it pings. He reads the screen and then says, “Bradley’s not coming.”

“Why not?” Mikey wonders, reaching over to my tray and taking some fries off.

“Hell if I know.”

“He’s being such a baby, he just doesn’t wanna come because I’m here.” I say, rolling my eyes, and picking up my drink.

“I don’t think that’s why. He’s not even mad at you.” Walker tells me.

“How do you know?”

“He’s still our friend, we talk to him.”

“And he said he’s not mad at me?”

“Not in so many words.”

“So what did he say?”

“That, Miss Barker, is classified information.” Walker retorts, smiling.

“You’re a jerk.” I murmur, crossing my arms. I mean, I’m not actually mad, but still.

“I love you too.”

I roll my eyes, looking down at my tray at the little container of jello on it. I see that I don’t have a spoon and groan. “Man, I don’t have a spoon. I’ll be right back.” I tell them, standing up.

“Uh, I’ll get it.” Drew says, standing up quickly.

“Gosh Drew, I’m already standing up. I’ll go.”

“No really, I’ll do it.”

"You’re so weird, what are you doing?”

“Just trying to be polite.” He assures me

“Mhmm. Thanks, I’ve got it though. Do any of you want anything back?”

They all say that they don’t, and I step over the bench of the table, and turn around, heading towards the silverware table. I nearly stop in my tracks when Reese catches my eye from across the cafeteria. He doesn’t see me, I don’t think he does anyway. Of course he doesn’t see me. He’s too busy swallowing the girl he’s holding on to as if his life depends on it. Okay, so not literally, but they’re kissing pretty heavily. I’m guessing that Drew saw them and didn’t want me to see them, which is why he offered to get my spoon for my jello. I don’t care though. Why would I? He can kiss whoever he wants. Why should I care? I don’t care. Okay, maybe I do care. Just a little. 

Author's Note: Aw, how sad. Anyways, I posted a new story under my Upcoming Stories, so you guys should check out and let me know if you like it. And while you're there you should check out the rest of the summaries for the stories. Hope you liked this chapter, comment, vote, all that good stuff. (: