A/N: JOE IS MINE! growls and claws Okay fine he's not, but cut me some slack and stop reminding me. I don't own anything but this plot and my imagination and maybe some twisted sense of humor D
It was a boring ay for Krisha—very typical. She has been staring at the screen of her Macbook for a while now, while tapping on her jelly wristrest. She has been playing all sorts of flash games all afternoon and has read over a dozen of stories and articles over the net and she was left with nothing else to do. She leaned her head back and her eyes landed on the wall clock across her bed. Half past five, she still had a long day to go; around eleven hours more of being awake.
Letting out a sigh, she shut her Macbook and pushed it to the side of her bed. She leaned on the headboard and searched for the remote; she remembered throwing it on her bed earlier that day so it must be there. She found it a few minutes later entangled among her untidy layers of sheets and comforters.
She turned the television on and scanned through the channel. She first checked what was on National Geographic. It was an episode of Worlds Apart which she has already seen a number of times. She viewed MTV next, but she did not like the genre they were playing. She did this for a while, shifting channels every after less than a minute. There was nothing on that she liked so she settled to wait for the next movie on Star movies. It was The Grudge. She groaned; she easily gets freaked out with horror movies but she knew she was bored so maybe that was something that would keep her at the edge of her seat.
She pulled her covers all the way up to her chest while clutching the remote on her left hand. She thought that if in case it gets too creepy, she would just turn it to another channel right away. Every now and then, Krisha would gasp or turn away from the television just so she would not get too scared. The way the haunting woman moved was sending chills through her body. It was the scene where the woman was crawling down the stairs, bones clanking upon every movement and all, Krisha's face was slightly scrunched up and her eyebrows furrowed. She was trying to concentrate so she could fight the feeling of being scared off. She clutched on her covers, trying not to take her eyes off the television while wishing that she had not watched the movie at all.
Nothing can erase the damage done. I have seen ten liars love, seen two lovers lie, seen youth, blinded, smiling.
AFI came singing Over Exposure. Krisha almost jumped at the sudden sound, and trust me it's songs like these that you would not really appreciate hearing while being freaked out. She was disoriented for a moment, it took a bit before she realized someone was calling her. Then, she silently felt thankful that she changed her ring tone to Over Exposure because it was a lot less scary than Cradle of filth's gothic music (which was her ring tone a few days ago).
"Hello?" came Joe's voice.
Krisha was still trying to put her heart rate back to normal because it felt like it skipped a few beats, "You've got great timing."
"What?" he sounded a bit confused.
"Nothing. What do you want?" he said, sounding a bit too stern.
"Bad time then?" she smirked.
"Nope, you just almost gave me a heart attack." she replied.
He chuckled, "I didn't know I could affect anyone that much."
She groaned at his retort, "I'm guessing you're bored."
"Nah-uh. It's impossible to get bored when talking to you. You're fun" he said.
"Fun? I know, I can be a clown like that." She said sarcastically.
"You know what I mean."
"I do?"
"Uh-huh."
"Whatever."
"So what are you doing?" he initiated to start a conversation.
She sighed, she was getting lost with the movie's story because it was difficult to converse and watch at the same time, "Just trying to watch something on TV."
"That explains it."
"Explains what?"
"Why you're not throwing fireballs and spit fires of mockery at me right now. You're preoccupied." He said with a smirk.
It took her a while to reply. She heard him but she was still immersed in the movie, "Uh-huh." she finally replied mechanically.
She was quiet, except for a few sharp breaths, gasps and groans. There was one time that he thought he heard her stifle a scream. "What are you watching anyways?" he asked, curious why she was having such reactions.
"The grudge." she answered with a few seconds delay.
"Oh." he said, not really knowing what to say next, "Hey, I just call you later if you're bu-"
She cut him off just before he could finish his sentence, "Have you seen it? C'mon let's watch it together. It kinda makes it a little less scary when I know someone else is watching."
He lit up at her suggestion. It was probably the longest thing she ever said to him, and the best part was that it was not some retort or any attempt to shove him off. He actually found it endearing.
"Oh, okay." He said, then quickly jumping off the couch to look for the remote. 'Where the Fuck is it?' he was tossing everything around, desperately looking for it but the very chaotic state of his room was making it impossible as of that moment.
"It's not that you have too. Only if you wanted to." she added after not hearing from him for a bit.
Giving up, he sat in front of the television and pressed the power button. "No, I want to. What channel is it?" he answered quickly so she would not get the idea that he was just being pushed into the idea.
"Starmovies. Hurry, it's getting freakier!" she said, adding a laugh, figuring that she must have sounded really weird, "You suck though, 'cuz it's almost over."
"I suck? I do not! Well, maybe I would if you'd ask nicely." he smirked.
She had to think for a while if she have understood what he said, "You are nasty."
"Nah-uh. It's all in your head." he chuckled.
It was already in the part where the haunting woman showed its face with the terrifying look. And just then Kyla jumped into Krisha's face out of no where, "A-ha! Who are you talking to?"
"AHHH!" Krisha screamed sounding much like a girl for the very first time since her and Joestarted talking. She was breathing heavily, "Kyla, you scared the shit out of me!"
"Obviously. Well get off the phone and go down for dinner." Kyla ordered.
Krisha looked at her sister skeptically, they rarely ever have dinners together since their mom would always be out until very late. And if ever she and Kyla would decide to eat together, it would be upstairs in her room. "Come down for dinner? Why?" Krisha asked as if it were the most unbelievable thing on Earth.
"Because Jake came over for dinner." Kyla answered as if that explained everything, then skipped her way out leaving an annoyed Krisha.
"Umm…hello? What was that screaming all about?" Joe's voice made Krisha snap out. For a moment she had forgotten that she was still on her phone with him.
"Nothing, just my sister. Plus the scene freaked me out." she said.
"So, you need to get off for dinner?" he asked politely.
She smirked, "Eavesdropping much?"
He chuckled. He likes it when she uses that tone. "Maybe." he said.
"Ha-ha." she said flatly, "And yeah, I guess I have to end the call."
"Can you call me when you're done?" he asked, hoping she'd say yes but just as prepared for a no.
"Nope." She said simply.
"Ah, typical. So I guess I'll just have to call you every ten minutes." he said flirtatiously.
"Then I guess we'll ust have to see if I pick up." He said, faking a yawn.
"No fair! You should pick up." he protested.
"We'll see. Gotta go Joe." She said simply, "Hey, it rhymed!"
He laughed at her heartily. "I'll talk to you in 10…9…" he said as if counting down.
"Whatever. Talk to you whenever." With that, she finally hung up on him.
--------------------
Krisha practically dragged herself to the dining table. She would like to think that her mom knew well enough how she felt towards the whole thing with Jake, so she could not quite understand just why they had to have him over for dinner. She was on top of the flight of the stairs and she saw everyone at the dining table. They have rarely ever used that since—well, ever since their parents got divorced; unless it was a special occasion. Krisha frowned.
Her mother gave her a look that said she has to behave and act nice. It was not easy doing that with Jake around. It was not even easy to stand being in the same room with some guy who is trying to wind their mother's heart. Krisha gave Jake a quick look. What did he want? Why does he have the nerve to go over for dinner? Krisha looked away and sat at the far end of the table. She was a seat away from her sister, to whim she sat nearest to. She knew that if she tried to sit any closer to any of them, she might just blow up.
Everything was set up. It looked like the not so average dinner, like there was something special going on. Krisha had a mental checklist rolled out of her head. It was not her birthday, not Kyla's and definitely not her mom's. It was not any holiday. What was she missing out on?
Krisha picked on her food all through out dinner. I she were any less respectful, she would have walked out of there as soon as she took her seat. Everyone was doe and Krisha was getting ready to be excused from the rest of the little gathering and she was relieved to feel her phone vibrate against her pants (the third time during dinner). Now she has an excuse to leave the table.
Just when she was motioning to get up, her mom cleared her throat. "Girls, I know you're both wondering why we're having this dinner tonight. And well I—actually Jake and I have some news for you two." Their mother paused, taking this time to look and smile at Jake.
Right there and then, Krisha knew and feared what her mom was going to say net. She swallowed as a lump formed in her throat.
"Jake and I are now engaged to be married." Her mother continued happily, "Where not yet sure when the wedding will be but we're thinking around December."
Both of her daughters fell silent, neither one wanted to react. It was Kyla who gained her voice first, "Well, congratulations Mom. It will be great." she said with enthusiasm. Krisha however, wanted to think that her sister probably was just faking it. She has to be.
Krisha swallowed hard, "Well if you're happy… Now I have to excuse myself." She did not have to wait for anyone's permission. She just went straight to her room and plopped on her bed. Her phone vibrated for the fourth time since dinner. It was Joe. Krisha thought twice before finally deciding to pick it up.
"You took too long." he whined.
She smirked, "You know, impatience can be an anti-seductive trait."
He chuckled, "Oh psh. You know you love it."
"Ha-ha." she made sure there was an adequate space between the two syllables to emphasize the sarcasm in her voice, "So what happened to the movie?" she asked, successfully hiding the spitefulness ini her voice from the little announcement from downstairs.
"Well I got really confused with it, actually. Going from flashbacks to different present scenes was too much for me," he paused with a smirk, scratching his head, "it was, you know…It ended in a freaky way."
"I'll remind myself never to ask you to tell me a story ever again." she laughed.
"At least I tried." he whined, "So how about another movie?"
She did not really care, anything that would take her mind off her mom's engagement would be great. "Okay, but pick a good movie, and don't be wrong." The last phrase sounded a lot like a threat which only made Joe laugh even more.
A/N: Hey hey! So, I'm thinking about ending this fic about four to five chapters from now. But I need your insights. If I end it after 4-5 chapters I'm planning to have a sequel. But I want to know if you'd rather that I add about 10 chapters more, then not have the sequel anymore? Love love 3 Hope to hear from you guys:)
