CHAPTER SIX: Movie Night
I don't know how I managed to forget that I made Mitch a promise, but somehow I did. I only remembered when I heard a knock on our door around 9:35. I opened the door to find Connor bouncing up and down in the hallway.
"Hey, Connor! Come on in," I said. I held the door open and he walked in just far enough for me to shut it behind him. Belle got up off the couch and made eye contact with me. I shook my head slightly, telling her that we were still using our internet names. As nice as Connor was, he might accidentally let our real names slip and neither of us could afford to be stalked.
"Hey Connor!" she said. She struck up a conversation with him about the movie. I went into the bedroom to look for the movie. I finally found it under Belle's sweatshirt on the small dresser and headed back into the living space.
"Yeah, we actually just watched the first one last night," she said as I passed through the door.
"You're sure you don't mind giving it up then?" he asked hesitantly.
"Nah, it's fine," I say, holding out the DVD. He doesn't take it.
"Would you guys maybe want to watch it with us?" he offers. He starts bouncing again. I don't want to refuse him, but I also don't want to make Mitch uncomfortable. I know I would hate spending almost three hours with someone who is constantly fangirling (or fanboy-ing, as the case may be) over me. I mean, awkward much?
Problem is, I really want to say yes.
"Are you sure Mitch wouldn't mind?" I ask. I can feel my nervousness coming back.
"I can text him to make sure, but it'll probably be fine," he replies. He pulls out his phone and types out a quick message. I try not to sound too eager when I reply.
"Alright then, sure," I say. His phone buzzes. He says that it's from Mitch, and that he said okay. I know that you should quit while you're ahead, but I can't resist saying one more thing.
"Do you wanna just stay here? I mean, the three of us are already here, and we have snacks and stuff," I offer. I cross my fingers mentally, hoping that I didn't just screw up majorly.
See, it's funny because my Minecraft name is TheMajorOne and I said majorly and―
Anyway. Moving on.
He grins widely. "Sounds awesome!" he says. He pulls out his phone again. "I'll tell Mitch."
"Coolness," I reply. I go over to the kitchen cabinet and pull out the pretzels and stuff. Belle starts up the conversation again and I smile to myself. She got lucky in the social skills area. She and my mom both can just naturally converse with anyone they meet. Apparently, this particular trait skipped over me because I am super quiet and awkward when I first meet people.
Connor's phone buzzes, jolting me back to reality. He says that Mitch will be down in a few minutes and that he's bringing more snacks.
I prepare to spend several hours subduing awkwardness and accidentally eating my feelings. I just hope they don't mind people talking during movies. I can't not (double negative alert!) comment on whatever movies I'm watching, whether to comment on the lack of adherence to science or to spout random facts about the time period or something stupid like that.
Unfortunately, suppressing my natural tendencies isn't exactly my strong suit.
I start to worry more, inching my way out of 'broken smolder' into 'articulation' on the panic scale. Just then, there's a knock at the door, and I'm out of time to think.
I guess I'll make like Nike and just do it.
I open the door.
-oO0Oo-
MITCH'S POV
My phone buzzed about five minutes after Connor left the room. This is the only night I set aside for Connor, so if it's business-related I'm gonna be kinda annoyed. I do love my brother, no matter how much I'm a douchebag to him. Luckily, though, it's from Connor.
Hey do u mind if the girls watch the movie with us?
I replied no. I looked around our room. If they were gonna come over, I need to clean up. The room was kind of a complete mess. I got up off the couch and start collecting the clothes from their various place around the outer room. Just as I'm leaning behind the TV, my phone buzzed again. I came up a little too quickly and smacked my head on the edge of the TV. Rubbing the spot, I opened up another text from Connor.
They said we can just watch it in their room cause the three of us are already here and they have snacks and stuff. Is that ok?
I texted him back, saying that it's fine and I'll bring some more snacks down. I grabbed a few cereal boxes from our little hoard and head out the door, making sure to grab both room keys. I padded down the hall in my socks and pressed the button for the fifth floor when I got into the elevator. I found their door, number 5102, and knocked. Jenna opened it with a smile.
"Hey dood! Come on in!" she said, stepping back so I can step through the entryway. I smiled and said hi to Grace as I walked over to set the cereal boxes on the table with the rest of the snacks. The movie is already in the player and the previews are going. I hear the microwave beep and Jenna pulls out a bag of popcorn.
"You guys are stacked," I say, surveying everything. There are pretzels, poptarts, fresh popcorn, and an entire gallon of chocolate milk. The girls smile, and the four of us plop on the couch. Grace is on the left end, with Connor sandwiched between her and Jenna. I'm on the right end. It's not a large couch, and Jenna flinches slightly when our hips touch. She reaches over to the table and hits play on the remote, and the movie starts playing.
After a short while, Jenna relaxes. Eventually, almost the entire lengths of our thighs end up touching. She doesn't seem as nervous as when we met earlier, and keeps up an intermittent stream of funny little comments or interesting facts about the movie. About an hour in, she blurts out something totally random that takes everyone, including Grace, by surprise.
"My real name is Lily," she says. "I changed it so that I wouldn't get stalked. Sorry I didn't say anything before, but it just occurred to me now that I hadn't told you yet and stuff, so… surprise I guess." I took a second to process it.
It made complete sense. To be honest, I probably should have done the same thing. I've had bad enough experiences with crazy fangirls in the past that I sometimes wished I'd done a Seto and kept my name and appearance private. Come to think of it, I remembered Grace saying a different name when I first met her. I think it started with a B. As if on cue, Grace pipes up.
"My name is Isabelle," she says. "Please call me Belle though. I try to avoid Isabelle unless I'm in major trouble." I smile and nod. It might take a while to straighten out the names, but I'm just glad they can trust us enough to use their real names. Connor looks a little hurt, but he gets over it soon enough and we all go back to watching the movie.
Just when the couch is starting to feel cramped, Jenna – well, Lily, I guess – leans forward to grab another glass of chocolate milk. I take the opportunity to stretch and annoy my brother. I reach out and flick him just once before Lily settles back down.
Shit. My arm is still out. It's resting across the back of the couch just above Jenna's – CRAP, Lily's – head. I realize it's gonna get uncomfortable quickly.
"Oops, sorry," she says. She leans forward just enough for me to move my arm back down to where it was. Instead I plop it across her shoulders. Kinda weird, but my arms needed to be stretched out. Somehow, I didn't think Lily would mind. I still ask, though. She shakes her head and smiles.
"It's fine. It's only awkward if you make it awkward, right?" She turns her attention back to the movie, but I can feel how tense she is. I decide to just let it go and focus back on the movie. Eventually, she relaxes, even leaning into me slightly. I can tell she's holding back, and I'm grateful. I realize that if this were anyone else, she'd be all over me like white on rice.
By the end of the movie about 45 minutes later, her head is on my shoulder and my arm is curved around her, holding her in place. Connor is nodding off on Grace's – no, Belle's – shoulder, while she is dozing with her head supported by his. Lily (YES! FINALLY GOT IT!) gets up and takes out the movie. She puts it back in the drawer and then plops onto the floor, leaving the drawer open.
"I'd say let's put in another one, but half our audience seems to have lost consciousness," she says. I smile as I get and walk over to the other side of the drawer and sit down. I look into their stash, and pull out one I've never seen but always wanted to.
"How about Sherlock Holmes?" I ask. She nods.
"I'm down if you are. Belle never wants to watch that one anyway, so I guess it's a good thing she's passed out," she replies. I look over at the sleeping teens.
"Should we cover them up?" I ask. She nods, and disappears into the bedroom. I pop in the movie and sit back on the couch, careful not to jostle the siblings. Lily comes back in with two big red comforters piled in her arms. She lays one across them and sits back down, covering our laps up with the other. I drape my arm back around her and settle in for another two hours.
When the movie ends, it's getting close to three in the morning. Lily is asleep on my shoulder, her breathing deep and even. I take the opportunity to study her face.
Her brown hair is pulled up into a ponytail, and the heavy red glasses that she put on halfway through the last movie are balanced almost at the tip of her nose. She looks so peaceful that I don't want to move her.
Almost like I thought out loud, she wakes up. I quickly look away, pretending to study the comforter. She reaches out to the table and fumbles for the remote, shutting off the TV without ejecting the DVD. We get up and stretch, then turn to our sibling situation. She reaches out and pulls Belle into a standing hug before hoisting her up on her hips and carrying her into the bedroom. I rouse Connor in the meantime, not even attempting to pick him up. He's not as light as he used to be, and there is no way I'm carrying him all the way up to our room. Lily comes back out just he stands up.
"Thanks for coming, guys," she says, rubbing her eyes. We say goodbye and head out. She says she'll see us later as she shuts the door behind us.
When we finally get back and in bed, I realize that I just spent a night with a fangirl.
And she was normal. Ish.
My last thought before I fall asleep is that I wouldn't mind spending a lot more time with Jenna.
I mean, Lily.
I was doing so well with the name thing.
A/N TIME! YEAH BUDDY! : Hey doods! QD here. I just wanted to say thank guys so much for reading! We're past a thousand views, which is crazy awesome. I hope you guys are enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I apologize for any grammar errors. This chapter was almost twice as long as normal, so YAY! Anyway, here are the facts for this chapter:
The social skills thing is totally true. My sister is popular and so was my mom, but I'm kind of a nerd. I mean, look at me, I'm writing fanfiction about a Minecraft YouTuber.
I tend to flinch away from physical contact if I'm nervous. Otherwise, I'm a very huggy person. INTERNET HUGS TO YOU ALL!
My glasses are thick, like Coke-bottle thick, with heavy red frames. They tend to slide down my face, so I'm constantly pushing them up.
I talk all the time during movies. I only fall asleep during them if I've seen them before and it's really late at night.
I think that about covers it, so now here's the fictions:
They're not going to be romantic right away. I know, I know, this is a BajanXLily fic technically, but I'm building up to something amazing that will come later. And when I say later, I mean like in-twenty-chapters later. [insert evil author smile]
I think that's everything! If you have any questions, send me a message or leave a review and I'll try to answer it. Speaking of which, thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorite, etc. I love you beautiful individuals! You guys are what keep me going, so don't stop! I will see you sexay doods later! Much luv!
-Quiet Defiance
If you see this comment #cantstopwontstop