Charlie and Matteusz returned home with blueberries, coffee beans, and snacks for the newly planned movie night. They quickly explained how Ram had called them and that the group was planning to meet up around eight o'clock as Quill mixed blueberries into the mix. "Have you picked a movie yet?" She asked…
Matteusz shook his head. "I believe they were going to choose one."
The batter was poured. "Do you five need adult supervision, or can I stay in my room, away from the… angst and… hormones?"
"If you want to join us, you may. We won't force you to leave." Charlie offered.
The three fell into a comfortable silence, waiting for the blueberry pancakes to be done, and nibbling on some of the plain ones. As Quill stacked up the finished pancakes, one by one, Matteusz and Charlie placed them on their plates and ate them quickly. Matteusz ate three pancakes and Charlie couldn't finish his third. Quill ate her way through two and finally put her plate down in the sink. The two boys followed suit.
"Is this how domestic life is every day?" Quill asked. Charlie shrugged and Matteusz nodded. "It's calming. Boring, yes. But very relaxing." She conceded.
"Is how my life was… before. But with more arguments." A shadow crossed Matteusz' face as he spoke. Charlie grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the stairs.
"Quill, would you mind doing the dishes?" The shorter boy asked.
"Oh yes, leave it to the pregnant woman! It's not like I'm about to pop or anything!" She exclaimed. Seeing the look on his face made her expression and voice soften, "It's no problem."
When the two blonde boys had climbed the stairs, Matteusz turned around and kissed Charlie. "I love you." He whispered. The boys stumbled to the bed as Charlie unbuttoned his shirt, reluctant to break the kiss.
A few hours later, the two heard footsteps on the stairs. They had been lying together, talking about nonsensical things. They sat up straight as three bodies appeared.
"Dudes!" Tanya exclaimed.
"I'll be downstairs!" Ram declared, turned around, and followed his own direction.
April just giggled. The boyfriends blushed and Charlie pulled his half of the blanket up higher. Matteusz just leaned back on his hands. Tanya followed Ram.
"Be downstairs in five minutes, or we will come back," April ordered before accompanying their two friends. The blondes made eye contact, gave each other a quick peck of a kiss and both stumbled out of bed and hopped around the room, getting ready.
They got dressed the same way they did earlier that morning and walked down the stairs, Matteusz zipping up his jeans while Charlie finished buttoning his shirt. When they had fully descended into the living room, the awaiting crowd rolled their eyes or blushed.
"I guess we shouldn't have come early then," Ram said.
"They were up there for about 10 hours. They missed lunch. And Matteusz usually makes dinner." Quill said.
As if on cue, Charlie's stomach growled and Matteusz' responded. Tanya rolled her eyes. "We can all make dinner now, if you'd like."
The five friends gathered in the kitchen and April looked up some recipes on her phone. "We could make chicken or something." She offered.
"We would have to go out and get the meat." Charlie discouraged.
Ram was looking in the freezer. He pulled out a bag of frozen, ready-made pierogis. "We could do something with these."
"I'm in." Tanya said. April agreed, and Charlie shrugged.
"As long as I'm not cooking." Quill voiced from her reclined position on the couch.
They all looked at Matteusz. "Those are potato and cheese. We can make with butter and chives." Charlie raised an eyebrow and the other three looked at him questionably. He shrugged. "Tastes good."
"Okay then, Polish boy. Tell us what to do." Ram requested jokingly.
"Really?" He asked incredulously. Everyone nodded. "Okay. Tanya, boil water on the stove. April and Ram, the garden out back has chives. Do you know what they look like?"
"No."
"I do," April said cheerfully.
"And Charlie, just…" He trailed off.
"I know, I can't cook," Charlie admitted. "I'll make sure Quill doesn't kill anyone." The kitchen burst into life as Tanya found a pot and filled it with water. April and Ram left with a pair of scissors, and Matteusz brought out a cutting board. The meal was made, and the pierogis adorned with buttered and cut chives, and the six ate.
"Did you settle on a movie?" Quill asked.
"April came up with one." Tanya mentioned.
"It's called Bend It Like Beckham. It's about two girls, here, let me see…" She rummaged in her bag for the DVD and pulled out its case. "'Football-mad Jess is 18, smart, beautiful and can bend a ball better than any boy she knows. She's got her heart set on playing for a top women's football team, but there's one problem: her strict parents want her to settle down with a nice Indian boy and learn how to cook! Flying in the face of her parents' disapproval, Jess and her best mate Jules made a name for themselves in the beautiful game, but then love rears its head for them both in the form of their fit (in more ways than one) coach Joe. Jess has a tough choice – her best friend or a gorgeous bloke. What's a girl to do? Bend It Like Beckham is a hilarious comedy about friendship, family, and football that will have you cheering from the sidelines!'"
Quill raised her eyebrows.
"It's a chick flick." Ram said simply.
"What's that?" Charlie asked.
"You'll find out soon." Tanya said mysteriously.
"So, what kind of snacks did you two buy?" April changed the subject.
The group huddled around the snacks Charlie and Matteusz had bought. Two bags of un-popped popcorn kernels, Twizzlers, and American Kit Kats were left for the friends to pass around, while April grabbed some gummy bears and Swedish fish. Ram took a chocolate bar and skittles, while Matteusz grabbed the other gummy bears and some cookie dough bites. Tanya nicked the Sour Patch Kids and M&M's and left Charlie with Junior Mints and Mike & Ike's. Quill rolled her eyes and took the bar of dark chocolate.
"Go set up the movie and couch. I'll pour some drinks." Quill ordered. "Who wants what?" She opened the fridge. In response to the questioning glances, she explained. "While the lovebirds were in their nest, I ran out and got drinks. I figured they wouldn't be smart enough to think of them. Which they weren't."
Looking at their three options, cola, seltzer, and root beer, Ram and Charlie opted for the former, Matteusz the latter, and the two girls went for the seltzer.
"Spare blankets are upstairs. I'll get them." Matteusz said.
"I'll help!" April offered, and the two went upstairs. "Matteusz…" April started as soon as they reached the second floor. "Yes?" The blonde replied.
"Does Quill just not care about the two of you?"
He stopped walking and looked over at her. "She cares." He said simply and continued heading to the closet.
"How do you know? She seems to be, well, indifferent."
"My father showed here this morning."
She gasped. "Oh, Matteusz, I'm sorry, we didn't-"
"Is okay now. Quill and Charlie took care of it. And me." He shrugged. "They're my family now."
"I know what it's like to have a messed-up family. And an awful dad." April told him as he handed her two large blankets from out of the closet. Grabbing two more himself, Matteusz led the way downstairs.
"Ah! Blankets, at last." Charlie said, smiling at his boyfriend.
Quill shrugged, "It's not my fault I don't how to fix the air conditioning. It mainly changes itself."
"It'll be better, curling up in a blanket than sweating our butts off." Tanya agreed.
The six settled in, putting snacks in arms' reach, alongside drinks on coasters (Quill insisted). Ram, April, and Tanya settled into the couch, Charlie and Matteusz snuggled on the shag carpet, and Quill claimed her chair. April held up the remote, hit 'play,' and the film started.
Throughout the opening scenes, April put her head on Ram's shoulder, and the two cuddled further into the embrace. Tanya curled up in the corner of the couch in a comfortable position.
Quill just crossed one leg over the other. While the five teens watched Jess meet Jules then Joe and go through family and football related struggles, their physics teacher focused more on them. She noted Tanya would glance at the two couples every so often, and that when April shifted ever-so-slightly, Ram would kiss the top of her head.
But mainly, she watched the two blonde boys holding in laughter. She was glad the dark hid how many times she rolled her eyes at the two of them. Watching over her coffee, she wondered how they did it. All five of them. They'd been through hell; each one.
Ram lost a girlfriend and almost lost April. Then she was Corakinus, everyone remembers that. He lost his father and half his leg, watched his coach drawn into a tear in space and time, and told his girlfriend he loved her-and she said she didn't love him back. The Quill wouldn't care, but stuff of that caliber hurts humans (on the inside) and humans of this age group seem to be more fragile when it comes to that kind of thing.
April had almost been killed by Quill's own weapon, and then wound up sharing a heart with a member of the race that had committed genocide over a dozen times, and the king, no less! She worked through her father being a psycho who was cowardly enough to mentally abuse her and attempted to get back in her life. She died, asked for it, no less, and then came back as the aforementioned king.
Tanya lost her mother, her father came back in the form of that god-awful Lankin and tried to kill her. Corakinus attempted to kill her brothers, almost succeeded, and then her best friend died (why did they all love April so much?). Now she's left out while the other four are in relationships, and yet, three years younger than the others, she's the only one who fully understands Quill's classes.
Charles may be a spoiled prince, but he had lost everyone and everything he'd ever known. While she's been angry and mean, he's kept it together, balled up inside. He'd kept her as a slave, but then cared for her after she tried to kill him. He went through hell after using the Cabinet of Souls and killing his friend, and then when Mr. whatever-his-face-was showed up on their doorstep this morning, the boy had been on the verge of… well, she didn't know what. Something bad.
And Matteusz. The poor Pole (she'd looked it up, it was country east of here) had been through hell most of his life. Only his grandmother accepted he liked boys, something Quill just didn't understand. At least no girl would have to carry around all the dead weight he forced her to when she eventually got pregnant. And his father showing up this morning. The boy had frozen and then snapped into action. He'd been, well, scary. She hated to admit it, but she was glad she wasn't on the other end of his temper. Then he'd been… dead, was the only word she could think of. It was like Matteusz died, and there was only this blonde-haired, blue-eyed, body, just sleepwalking about.
Quill thought about that as she looked at the couple. Matteusz unbuttoned the first button on the prince's shirt and Charlie slapped lightly at his hand. How had he changed from emotionally dead to this sexual teenager? Seriously, they had been upstairs for hours, and she had sent up their friends, assuming they were done. Apparently not, from the way the three had come downstairs awkwardly. Another button undone, another eye roll. At least they don't sit next to each other in class, she thought. That would be atrocious.
The sport the movie kept going on about looks simple enough. Ram had been explaining some of the football moves to April throughout the movie so far, and Tanya had been laughing at some of the family scenes. The two boys on the floor, however, had progressed a further two buttons and a blushing prince. They were out of the other three's main lines of vision, so no one noticed when the fifth button was undone and the taller of the two pulled the shirt away from Charlie's shoulder and started kissing the boy's neck and collar bone.
Quill watched as the boy's head moved further down the other's chest, and rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time. She reached for a popcorn kernel, and (with pin-point accuracy, she must say) threw it at the back of Matteusz' head. He pulled away and rubbed the back of his head. The other three paid the lovers no attention and looked at her. She shrugged and went back to sipping her coffee, watching the attractive Joe talk to Jess' parents about not knowing Jess was lying to them.
While Joe was talking about Germany, Charlie spoke. "He's really attractive."
"We agree on one thing, Charles." Quill acknowledged.
"I see where you're coming from," April added.
"Maybe if he wasn't so… stereotypically white." Tanya contributed.
"He's decent." Matteusz said, defensively.
"Yeah, he's okay." Ram chimed in.
"Oh! Ram, he's got nothing on you, of course. He is good looking, but he's not my type!" April proclaimed. "You are perfect. All I could ever want." She whispered, but everyone heard. Quill rolled her eyes, Tanya aw-ed, and the other couple just smiled.
"You too, Matteusz. I wouldn't pick him over you. You're perfect in every way." He looked his boyfriend up and down. April choked on her seltzer and rushed to put the glass down. Ram patted her back gently while refusing to look at the pair on the floor, choosing instead that the ceiling was more interesting. Tanya giggled, and if anyone thought Quill had rolled her eyes enough, the blonde didn't agree.
"After that," April said, clearing her throat, "I vote we take a ten-minute break." Nodded and vocal agreements came from the other four, and a, "Whatever," from Quill.
