Right now I'm stuck working on this story on WordPad. How fun! No spell check or word count...-moans-
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Engaging Nightmare
Chapter 12
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Ferb's POV
It was around ten o'clock when Carmen and I pulled up to my driveway. I had gotten comfortable with holding onto her waist, and had both arms wrapped around her delicate waist as we pulled into it and she parked just beside Dad's car.
The mini-bike screeched softly as it stopped and she slammed the gear shift up into park, making a loud 'clunk'! I then let go of her waist and stumbled onto the pavement, trying my best to get used to walking again.
"So," she began as she pulled off her helmet. I did the same and handed it to her. "Think you'll be able to ride in a car the same way again?"
I ran my hand through my hair and laughed a bit more forcefully than I would have liked. "Well, it'll be difficult."
She brushed a strand of hair from her face and smiled, showing off every one of her perfect, white teeth. A look of realization suddenly washed over her face.
"Oh! I should probably do this before I forget."
My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as she pulled a napkin (which she had showed in her pocket back at the restaurant) out. It was folded neatly in a square with a phone number scribbled on the top. She handed it to me and chirped, "It might make things easier if you text and call me on my real number."
I read and memorized it for a few seconds. "Another one, huh?"
"Yeah, I don't normally give out my own phone number. You know, there's an awful lot of weirdo's out there..." she explained with a shrug.
I nodded and pocketed the napkin. "Thanks again, for dinner." As she stared at me, I nervously shuffled my foot against the ground. It made a scrapping noise and I was sure it was ruining my shoes. "Are you sure you don't need me to pay?"
It didn't really make a difference if she wanted me to or not. Only about ten dollars wasn't going to cover a forty dollar meal...
"I'm sure. Just think of it as a gift from Daddy." Carmen beamed as she placed her hands behind her back. Her pose reminded me of the way Isabella used to flirt with Phineas when we were younger.
"Well, it's late. I'm sure your parents don't want you to stand around outside all night, huh?" I shrugged as she anxiously traced her fingers up the leather seat of the bike and up to the handlebars. Her nails looked like they would snap in half just from the slightest pressure on them.
"My dad'll probably be mad if I'm not home, too." She stopped abruptly and looked at me in a way I'd never seen before. Her eyes were partly closed and head cocked to the left. "I really....really had fun tonight, Ferb."
I smiled, "Me, too."
Then, surprising me, she quickly closed the two feet between us. Before I could even think her toes were a near inch away from mine, the smell of sweet vanilla wafting through the air around me. Her perfume was intoxicating enough, but then, she closed her eyes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Her lips lingered there for a few seconds, then pulled away.
It felt wet, but amazing!
Carmen's face didn't show any emotion, despite joy, as she looked me hard in the face. Something on my face must have been amusing, because she looked like she would crack up after she got a good look at it.
"Wh-what!?" I stuttered as she let out several loud chuckles.
"Your!--" she had to take a breath. "Your face is all red!" She covered her mouth and pointed at my cheeks. It didn't help my blushing when she pointed it out; it just became a deeper shade of pink.
I lowered my head where she couldn't see it, only for her to place a hand under my chin and lift it back up. "You're adorable, though."
I didn't have any chance to reply. She placed a simple kiss on my lips, and I was forced to close my eyes and enjoy the muffled giggles I could still hear coming from her.
My hands were sweaty, making me resist the urge to hold onto her back the best I could. I kept them to my side, wishing I didn't look like such an idiot. Inside me was a strange mixture of emotions: excitement because of my first real kiss, fear that I might be a bad kisser to her, bliss in the knowledge that of everyone she could have, it was me, and worry from the fact that a light was on. I prayed everyone in the house was asleep and not betting if I was going to pass out or not...
It lasted about as long as the one before that, but when she stopped kissing me I could hear the quiet 'smack' noise of flesh pulling apart. This time, when she stepped back, her face was a slight shade of red. I could barely make it out in the darkness.
"Heh..." she brought her fingertips to her mouth, fixing the smudged lipstick that only existed in her mind. "I never noticed it, but we're about the same height."
I wanted to laugh or throw out a simple 'yeah', but I was speechless. I stood there, mouth sealed together and palms nearly dripping, still wishing I didn't look like such an idiot.
"I'll talk to you later, then?" She quickly grabbed her helmet and placed it on her head as I nodded, still mute.
"Alright, well, sleep tight." With a smile, she sprang back on her bike and kicked it into gear. It sputtered smoke from the back and made a loud grinding noise. Before speeding off, Carmen turned and flashed me a soft smile.
Just in time, I managed to pull myself together and practically yell, "Bye!"
Her smile grew, showing off her teeth again, and she revved the engine. I stepped back as the scooter zipped down the driveway and waved good-bye. Her hair flowed all around her face as she waved back, until she disappeared down the street.
Finally, after standing and staring for what felt like forever, I turned and headed for the door.
It didn't dawn on me until them that I didn't have my keeps with me. Though, luckily when I grabbed the doorknob it wasn't locked. That proved that someone was awake inside waiting from me. All I hoped was that it wasn't Mom; I wanted to savor the memory of my first kiss a little longer, and seeing her would make it rather awkward.
I stepped inside and kicked off my tennis shoes, too tired to pick them up. I'd take the heat from my parents in the morning...
When I walked into the living room, a noticed the reading lamp next to the couch was on. Nobody was sitting on the couch or the recliner. Only Perry, sleeping in his dog basket we'd both him nearly three years ago. It was falling apart, but still served its purpose nicely.
Perry snored and didn't even open up his eyes to look at me as I crouched down and stroked his back softly. His snoring sounded like the strange chirping noise he always made, only softer.
Before leaving the room, I turned off the light and headed upstairs to get ready for bed. Even though anyone else would probably be up for another hour or so, I was exhausted! I couldn't wait to flop down in bed, as long as Phineas didn't quiz me.
The hope, however, didn't last too long. Our bedroom door was closed shut, and light flooded into the dark hallway from under the door. It was obvious that Phineas was the one who left the door unlocked, light on downstairs, and probably spying the entire time on my private moment on the driveway.
I sighed and opened up the door, preparing myself for him to pop up before me the second I walked in.
Instead, he was lying on his bed. He hadn't even heard me come in; his headphone buds were stuck in his ears and his eyes were glued to the silver Nintendo DS in his hands. I could have ran in screaming and he wouldn't have noticed me, which was probably as much of a bad thing as good.
It wasn't until I was at my bedside dresser digging out my pajamas that he finally noticed me there. His excruciatingly loud music stopped and I heard the bed creak.
"Finally you're home!" he moaned in a slightly irritated tone. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a pair of black, wrinkled sweat pants as he continued his complaining. "I thought you'd be home at nine. If I'd know you'd be late I wouldn't have waited up!"
"Stop complaining..." I managed to find a decent shirt in the bottom of the drawer and threw it on the bed. "Why were you up waiting anyway?"
He shrugged, then laid back down. When his head hit the pillow, it made a loud thump as if underneath were a sheet of metal. "I wanted to make sure you didn't get ripped off."
"What?" It came out far more annoyed than I intended.
"Ripped off. Make sure you got some action on your first date..." Phineas explained, too casually for my taste.
I folded my arms and leaned against the side of the bed, glaring at him. "And what makes you think anything like that happened?"
He looked at me like I was an idiot, then the corners of his mouth pulled up into a disturbing smile. "Because I don't remember you wearing lipstick."
My face paled as he pointed to his own lips. Quickly I smothered my wrist against my mouth and saw it covered in red. "Gee, thanks for telling me." I remarked sarcastically.
He laughed as I headed out of the room.
"So I'm guessing she had a good time judging from all that stuff on your face!" he yelled as I was in the hall. I had to lean back in the doorway and shush him so not to wake up Mom and Dad. After he hit puberty, regards for others was one of Phineas' worst characteristics.
He grimaced and picked up his game again as I dashed to the bathroom.
--
That Saturday morning was outrageously hectic. Mom and Candace woke up at nearly six in the morning to look for wedding dresses, even though it was far too early. I was sure Dad had to go work; that was something he did on Saturday mornings every now and them. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't come home until around in the afternoon.
Phineas had told me the night before, just before I fell asleep, how Candace and Jeremy had come back an hour after I left with Carmen. Of course the two of them were in Candace's old room. I figured that out when I walked by and saw the door wide open and covers scattered. Apparently Mom and Dad weren't too concerned about what they would be doing together in that room.
I could hear Candace and Mom bickering downstairs when they headed out to the gown stores, and couldn't fall back to sleep afterwards. The only thing I could do was get up and start the day or stare upward and count the tiles on the ceiling…again…423.
My feet echoed down the wooden stairs at seven. Practically the entire house was empty: Phineas was still asleep, and I assumed Jeremy went with his fiancé. I was shocked to find him lying on the couch with Perry in his lap. His hair was longer than I'd remembered it, coming down just past his ears, and he had definitely grown into his face better. It was much longer now than when he was sixteen.
Like always, he was dressed in a casual wear: a striped green sweater and khaki pants. Even though I made more noise than usual getting downstairs that morning (yawning and groaning, that is), so it was interesting that he hardly took his nose out of the book he was reading.
I slowly stalked next to the side of the couch and sat on the armrest. He was still majorly clueless.
He tilted the book at an angle where I could see the cover. It was a solid black paperback with a picture of white flower that looked like it had been dipped in blood. Inside, I sighed.
"Umm...aren't you a little too old to be reading the Twilight series?"
Jeremy didn't even flinch. Obviously, he saw me coming but couldn't commit to looking away from the pages. "No. No, I don't think so..." he remarked quickly. His eyes only drifted from the text a few seconds before returning. "Besides these aren't mine."
I could see that the back was ripped halfway to the middle. Only Dad's copy of New Moon had that, made by Phineas almost a week after he had bought it. It was hilarious and terrifying all at once to watch him desperately try and fix it.
"You got it from Dad's study?"
Jeremy nodded slowly. "He'll be gone all day; he won't notice." He licked his finger and turned a page. I was glad I didn't read the books, that was a disgusting habit. "Besides, I can't put it down! It's not the best book I've ever read, but I need to know what goes on next with Jacob."
Deep-brown eyes darted from left to right quickly across the pages. Jeremy was a very fast reader.
"So I'm guessing you support team Jacob." I mused. It must have been obvious, because he cackled softly.
"Aren't you? I mean, Edward seems sort of hypocritical to me. Why did he leave Bella to protect her when he knew she was going to have her heart broken so badly?" He was sitting up on the couch now. Perry looked very disturbed but soon feel back to a sound sleep.
"Sorry, but I'm not really into vampire and....werewolf books. I only know most about it because Dad goes on and on about them."
"Ah," The couch squeaked as he swung his legs over the edge of it and placed his feet flat on the floor. "Well, who do you think she should be with?"
I held back the urge to laugh. "Honestly, I think it should be Jasper."
His brow rose in confusion. "What?"
"That's just my opinion. From what I'm told I just think he deserves better than Alice."
"Wow, your Dad must talk about the series a lot." The book was snapped shut and placed on the coffee table in front of him. With a yawn, he stretched his arms high over his head and showed of him off-white teeth. "Wanna go outside and shoot some hoops?"
I opened my mouth to say something, but was too late. He jumped from the couch and headed to the stair closet to get a basketball. The ball was about ten feet in the back of the closet and would have probably taken a few minutes to find. Surprisingly, it only took Jeremy about thirty seconds. That only proved how much time he spent at our house back in his adolescent days.
He bounced the ball a few times. "Come on, you need the exercise." With a flick of his wrists, he sent the ball sailing to me, which I managed to catch only just before it would have smacked me in the face.
"That's funny, most people tell me the opposite."
With a shrug he started for the door; I was right behind him.
--
Jeremy dribbled the ball up the driveway and skillfully slammed it dead center in the net. He was in great shape. I hadn't tried yet, but I knew that Hell would freeze over before I could ever make a basket.
The ball rolled a few feet and I stopped it with my foot. The old basketball net was terribly worn. Honestly, the only reason we even had one was because Phineas begged for days so he could work out. Dad had gone out and bought one, my brother used it a handful of times every week, and it was dismissed.
It wasn't that bad looking, seeing as it was four or five years old. The only weathering I could detect was the rotting of the wood around the edges, the chain net beginning to rust terribly, and paint crumbling off and falling to the ground when the backboard was hit too hard. Overall though, it still held its purpose. I picked up the incredibly dirt stained ball and began to dribble it. Soon I got cocky and dribbled though my legs and got into position to shoot.
Jeremy gave me an impressed look. "You're pretty good, why don't you try out for a team?"
For a second I stared at him awkwardly, then gave him a crooked grin. I held the ball in front of my face, aimed, then launched the ball towards the net.
Unfortunately, my upper body strength wasn't like it used to be when I was ten. The ball sailed about three feet into the air, missed the basket by a mile, and bounced on the ground until it hit the garage door.
"That's why." I told him with a pathetic sigh.
With a shrug he picked up the ball and began spinning it on his finger, like I didn't feel inferior enough.
"So I heard you had a date last night." Jeremy mused. I could feel my face heat up, and looked away.
"Er…yeah. That's right." I scratched the back of my head as he continued to spin the ball.
"Well," he shot me a look that made me a little nervous, "What's her name?" The ball fell from his fingertip and tumbled away. I could hear him barely mutter an 'Oh, damn!' as he fumbled to pick it up.
"She's just a girl who goes to my school. Carman Alexander." I shrugged. "I've known her for a while."
The sun moved out from behind a cloud and now shone brightly in my face. I rose my hand to cover my eyes. Jeremy had the ball again and had it back on his finger. He jerked his head and a lock of messy, dirty blond hair leapt from his face. "Is she pretty?"
I felt like sighing. "Yes, very." He didn't catch an ounce of my annoyance.
"Awesome." It almost fell of its balance a second time, but he tilted his finger just in time to catch it. "You need a girlfriend. A kid your age should be worrying less about school and having fun."
I didn't expect him to pass the ball to me. It bounced once and headed straight for my chest as I opened my arms to catch it. The impact made me grunt softly. "I want to get into a good college, so I need to stay focused on my grades."
He must have thought I was a nerd, because he laughed a little too hard. "You don't have to always worry about them though. Go out and have more fun on the weekends. Go hang out with your friends from school, you know?"
I wanted to tell him so badly that all the people from my school were horrible. But that wasn't the honest truth. Hardly any of them knew anything about me, and vice versa. All I knew about most of them was that they spent a lot of time on the weekends partying. Sometimes I wondered why I was even in that school, but the scholarships would help me remember.
"I just don't feel too social around those people." I tossed the ball as hard as I could to him, yet he still had to walk a few feet to pick it up. "We're just too different."
"But you're dating one of them aren't you? Carmen, right?"
My hands found their way to my pocket and I sighed. "Yeah, but…she's just different. She's nice."
I could hear him make a strange noise, like he was thinking something over. He tossed the ball in the air and the chains rattled angrily as he made another basket. It was a good thing we weren't playing an actual game.
We shot a few more baskets and began a game of H.O.R.S.E, when Phineas opened the door and walked onto the porch. He was still wearing his worn looking pajamas and house shoes, but at least his hair was combed neatly. There was something in his hand; I couldn't tell until he held it high in the air to get our attention.
"Hey, Ferb!" he yelped, causing Jeremy to turn his attention to him as well. "Phone call!"
I shrugged at Jeremy and walked towards the porch. When a few feet from him, I noticed it was my cell phone is his hand. He handed it too me and mouthed the words 'your girlfriend' with a smug expression. My face went from confused to annoyed in an instant, though inside I was more than anxious to take the call right there in front of him. He lazily walked back towards the stairs as I flopped down onto Dad's chair in the living room.
On the other line, I could hear the quiet sound of pop music and the television. "Hello?" I answered.
"Hey, cutie!" My face instantly went to a bright smile as I heard my favorite bubbly voice. "How've you been?"
"Better now." I gushed. She giggled at my response and I instantly heard the television turn off along with the music.
"Well, I just missed the sound of your voice, so I thought I'd call you."
Compared to the way she talked, my words sounded rehearsed. She sounded so cool and comfortable on the other line. It was a relief that I wasn't as shy as I was the first time she talked to me in the mall.
"So, I was wondering," I was forced to direct my full attention to her after hearing that voice. "Do you have any plans tomorrow?"
"You have another date in mind?" After it came out of my mouth, I wanted to kick myself. I was making myself sound like a dork. Even though I'd gotten more comfortable with her, I couldn't shake that gene. But, apparently, she didn't think so.
"I guess you could say that. Just wondering if you'd like to come hang out at my place for a little while." she asked as I imagined her twisting a straightened strand of her around her thin, painted finger.
My heart skipped a few beats. The last thing I'd thought of, ever, was going to Carmen's house. It hadn't ever crossed my mind to meet her father, see the room where she sleeps at night, the television she watched, and the floors she walked on.
Well, maybe a few times…
"That sounds great." My voice come out more enthused than I'd liked it to, but she only snickered sweetly. "I'd love too!"
"Cool. I can't wait to give you the tour." There was a short silence on both ends of the line; almost awkward. I heard the sound of the television again. She must have turned it back on. From the noises of guns and screaming, it must have been a horror or war movie.
Finally, she spoke up before I had to. "Oh, and could you bring your little brother?"
I was greatly surprised by this. She spat it out like it was something she asked all the time. "What fo--I mean, why?"
"I'd just like to meet him. You talked about him so much last night, it'd be nice to meet him in person."
I cleared my throat as the screaming continued on the screen. "But, don't you think he'd…" my voice trailed off. It was difficult to find the proper words without sound too obvious of what was on my mind. "Don't you think he would get in the way?"
"Hmm…" she thought. The screaming finally stopped and I heard rap music take its place. "Does he like video games?"
I rolled my eyes. There were two game stations sitting on the entertainment center that only Phineas ever played: an Xbox 360 and an old Gamecube. Not to mention the DS that never left his room. "He's an addict, actually."
I could practically feel her smile. "Then he'll be out of our hair for a while."
I went into the kitchen and grabbed a pen and piece of paper on the counter. As she told me the address to her house, I scribbled it down as quick as I could. The address wasn't too far from our house. Probably only about a fifteen minute drive.
"Right, got it." The pen fell from my hand and rolled onto the floor, but it didn't bother me a bit. "What time should we be there?"
"Doesn't matter to me. I guess before the afternoon if you can."
I nodded. "Alright. I'll see you then."
In a cheery voice, she responded, "Bye, sweetie." nearly making me melt and drop the phone to the floor. Before that could happen though, I hung it up and held onto the kitchen counter to try and slow my racing heart down. For a few moments I stared into space (or more precisely the chandelier on the ceiling) until I heard footsteps leaving carpet and stepping onto tile floor. When I looked to the doorway, I saw Phineas standing there with a curious look. He had finally gotten dressed in a pair of greenish-brown jeans and blue Abercrombie T-shirt.
"So, what'd she want?"
I pushed myself off the counter with my hands and started towards the front door. "We're going to Carmen's house tomorrow."
Phineas let out something of a gasp and whine. "We?" he questioned. "I thought she only wanted you with her!?" He pointed to me accusingly once he said 'you'.
"Well, she wants to meet you. Try and sound a little more excited."
The last thing I heard him say as I pulled open the door and headed back to Jeremy was Phineas asking if she had a swimming pool.
--TO BE CONTINUED-----
I think I shall forever dedicate my life to hating WordPad. And coffee, even though I'm not allowed to have it anymore.
Also, kudos to my new beta reader Roy42!
Read and review, please. Remember the kittens!