11.
“No way in hell! Get out!” I cried, while trying to push the door close at Alex’s face.
“Are you out of your mind? You can’t kick me out of my own room!” he snapped, from the other side, applying pressure to push open the door fully.
“I can- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-” I screamed, when he grabbed my hand through the gap and yanked me to the side, then, kicked open the door.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t sleep in here! I already called dibs on the bed earlier,” I reminded him, pulling my hand back and rushing to lie in the middle of the bed. I spread my arms and legs to cover the whole bed, not that it actually helped…because the bed was too huge for my body. At times like this, I wished that I was king-sized.
“Trust me, I am not even a tiny bit interested to sleep in here, with you,” Alex said, crossing his arms over his chest, “but, you and I both know that there’s no other option.”
Oh, right. All other rooms in his house were occupied. Our friends decided to stay the night because; it was well past midnight by the time all the drama was over. Everyone told their parents that they were having a sleepover at Alex’s house, and, to my utter surprise, the parents were totally cool with it. The perks of having trustworthy friends, I guess. Or maybe, because, it was Sunday tomorrow.
So, the two guest rooms were taken by Ashton, Cameron and Hailey, Millie respectively. Blake and Dylan were in Alex’s brother’s room (the brother whom I had yet to meet) and Julia and Jackie goo goo were in the living room (no one was going to take Alex’s parents’ room, of course)
And, yes, Jackie goo goo! Everyone concluded that it would be too harsh to send her home after dropping the ‘girlfriend’ bomb on her. Well, a bomb, whose explosion was, bore by me too.
My initial instinct was to kill the butthead Dylan but, unfortunately, Millie stopped me and signaled for me to play into the lie. I played my part by neither accepting it nor denying it. Alex didn’t say anything, as expected.
Jackie goo goo was in deep trauma. Blake whispered to me that it was all melodrama and her witch mode would go on, in the morning. He also told me that if I denied being Alex’s girlfriend, then, Jackie’s super witch mode would go on and that too on Alex.
Did Blake really think that I was born yesterday? Or, that I couldn’t handle teensy tiny Jackie goo goo?
But, then, I thought of Alex. Maybe, he could not handle Jackie goo goo. So, for once I decided to help him out by keeping my mouth shut.
But, Alex took my act of kindness for granted. There was no way, I would let him sleep in my territory, I mean, my bed-well, technically, his bed. But, whatever!
“Go and sleep with Jackie goo goo, I don’t care,” I told him, hugging the life out of the pillow.
He first raised an eyebrow at me, then, his lips slowly tugged at corners and he smirked.
Alexander, the great smirked! The boy who I thought was incapable of any form of smile, actually smirked!
And damn, if it was not a sexy smirk!
“Why would I go and sleep with my ex when I could sleep beside my ‘girlfriend’?” he asked, cheekily.
Damn him! Because of what he said, heat was rushing to my cheeks, and that never happened to me, like ever! How dare he try to make me blush?
I cleared my throat, “Look, buddy-”
“Buddy?” he cut me off.
“Hotti-” I paused when I realized what I was going to say, then, I glared at him, “look, budd-”
“Buddy?” he repeated, cutting me off again.
“Hot-buddy” I corrected myself in time again, before I could call him ‘hottie’
“Yes, that’s it!” he exclaimed, “My ears missed those words, crispy.”
What the- wait…what?! Crispy?
“Um, you got my name wrong, it’s Kris,” I told him.
He shook his head, “Crispy for me. It’s better than the fake one you use,”
I sat up on the bed angrily, “Well, then, it’s Alexander for me! Better than um…your entire existence!”
Alex gave me a blank look, “If you are done coming up with lame comebacks, can I sleep already?”
I rolled my eyes, “That’s what I am telling you for so long. Go, shoo. I have to sleep too.”
He didn’t budge from his position, staring intently at me.
Man, the look he was giving me, spelled it all: If you keep this up, I am going to toss you out of the window.
“You know what, you can sleep here,” I told him after much thought, “on the carpet.”
He shook his head, blowing out a deep breath and marched towards the bed, without missing a beat. My yelp died half in my throat, when he pushed and shoved me to one side of the bed and without another word, lied down on the other side, turning his back to me.
I was left half lying, half sitting, gaping at the back of his head. Then, without even turning around, he reached out, grabbed the blanket and snatched it all to himself. And, as if this was not enough, he raised his hand and flipped me the bird.
I just sat there, blinking, gasping and glaring daggers at the back of his head. But did he care? Of course, not.
At last when all my attempts at shoving him down into the carpet, snatching the blanket or irritating him in any other way failed (well, because he was already asleep and as still and solid as a rock), I built a pillow wall between us, and lied down on my own side, staring at the ceiling.
There was no way I could fall asleep. Too many demons haunted me in my dreams every night and Alex was sure to get a hint if I did or said something stupid, subconsciously, in my sleep.
I sighed. Just thinking about nightmares brought back dreadful memories. Memories that compelled me to run, hide and change my whole identity; because of which I was far away from the only person I loved in this whole world: Sean, my brother.
I suppressed the hot tears that burned my eyes, and covered my mouth, to keep in the sniffle which was threatening to arise from my throat.
Oh God! Why did I have to think about those things! Because of that, I was about to break my long record of not crying!
Kris noodles Mendes never cried! Never!
I projected my thoughts towards other things, like the amazing people I met in Bellwood, then, there was Stella, then, Jackie goo goo, and of course, Alexander, the great…
I tried not to think too much about that rare beautiful smirk I got to see on him today. But, boy, it was hard. I smiled like a goof to myself, just thinking about the broody guy smirking.
Slowly, after lots of thinking and reminiscing, keeping my heavy eyelids open became hard too and after a lot of struggle, I gave up, letting myself fall into the lap of sleep.
My fingers shook as I pinned the gun’s nozzle to the forhead of the monster in front of me.
The monster laughed at my face, “You won’t do it. I know you.”
“D-don’t!” I cried, “I-I’ll sh-shoot.”
“Oh, really? Well, proceed then,” the monster leered.
My heart was pinching horribly. I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers against the trigger.
“Crispy! Wake up!”
I opened my eyes gasping, when my shoulders were shook wildly by someone and my mind was pulled back to reality by that voice.
My eyes landed on two electric blue ones, which were gazing back at me anxiously.
“Whom did you kill, crispy?” Alex asked, hoarsely.