CHAPTER THIRTEEN: After Finals
"WHOO! I'M DONE! TIME TO MAKE CELEBRATION AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF WORTH!" I shouted as Lizzie and I walked into our apartment. I tossed my bag on the floor next to our dining table.
"Hey, what's your wifi password?" a new voice says. I look up to see someone in our kitchen that I hadn't noticed when I came in.
"MITCH?!"
"Yeah. Hi," he says, smiling.
"Who let you in here?" I ask.
"I did, about five minutes before I picked you up," Lizzie says from the entryway.
"Oh," I say. "The password's on the bottom of the router, which is over there," I say, gesturing vaguely in its direction. He says thanks and goes over to it.
"So, what brings you here?" I ask, trying to be casual.
"Oh, I was just driving down to Pennsylvania and I thought I'd stop by," he says, stopping his typing briefly to direct a smile at me. I smile back and raise my eyebrow.
"Just stop by, huh?" I say. I picture North America in my head, and Michigan is completely out of the way. A dopey smile spreads across my face as I realize he did this just to see me. He finishes typing and comes over to me, wrapping me in a hug. I have to consciously restrain myself from burying my face into his warm torso.
"Yeah. I thought that as long as I'm driving down, I might as well make a power move out of it," he says. He releases me.
"Oh, of course. Silly me."
"Besides, Lizzie said I could stay here for a few days."
"Oh, she did, did she?" I say, shooting her a look. She doesn't look sorry one bit.
"Is that not okay?" he asks.
"Are you kidding? Of course it's fine. In fact, you're very welcome to join in on our post-finals tradition if you want," I offer. Every year after finals, Lizzie and I dress up in the dorkiest sweats we own, eat nothing but ramen noodles, and watch terrible sci-fi movies all night.
"Tradition, you say?" he asks, and I explain it. He starts nodding as soon as I mention the sweats.
"You had me at ramen," he says, shooting a smile at both of us.
"Great. I'll start the noodles if you guys wanna get changed," I say.
"Oh, we're doing this now?" he says.
"Hells yeah!" I reply.
"Don't you think 3:30 in the afternoon is a little early for ramen?" he says.
"Blasphemy," I say. "There's no such thing as a bad time for ramen. Bathroom's at the end of the hall, by the way. You're not allowed to participate unless you are in sweats."
"Okay, J," he says. He grabs some clothes out of a duffel on our couch and walks down the hall. I watch him go, my eyes drifting down his retreating figure. I snap out of it once I realize what I'm doing. No, Lily, he's your FRIEND. No checking out of the ass.
I go over to the island and get out the large pan, fill it with water, set it on the stove to boil. I dig three identical packages of ramen out of the cupboard and toss them next to the range. Mitch comes out of the bathroom and sticks his old clothes in his duffel.
"I see Lizzie warned you about the tradition," I say. He's wearing pajama pants covered with Batman symbols and the same yellow and gray hoodie he was wearing when we met at Minecon.
"Actually, she didn't, and I'm a little offended that you find these dorky."
"Watch the water, sassypants," I tell him. I go into my room to find my ugliest sweats.
Fortunately, they match. They're even my mom's old college sweats, which is conveniently the same college I now attend. I come back out to the laughs of both Lizzie and Mitch. I strike a pose, giggling like a little kid.
I guess I forgot to mention that my sweatshirt and pants are the exact same orange color. Separate, they're not so bad (except the pants, which are clearly from the eighties and… yeah), but they're a terrifying combo. Lizzie, who's perched on the counter along with Mitch, claims that it never gets old, even though she's seen them five times now. Her dorky sweats are not nearly as bad. They're just dark green and full of holes.
"Laugh all you want, but this is how I get all the bitches," I say, twirling and posing again. I walk over to the water (which is now boiling) and put in the noodles. Mitch smacks my butt with a towel and I turn around, fake offended.
"I'm sorry," he says.
"No you're not."
"It's the pants."
"Suuuure it was."
"It was."
"Shut up," I say, punching him lightly on the arm.
I'm really glad he's here.
-oO0Oo-
*MITCH'S POV*
I don't even try to hide when she crashes through the door.
"WHOO! I'M DONE! TIME TO MAKE CELEBRATION AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF WORTH!" she shouts, not noticing me in the kitchen. She tosses her bag on the floor and I decide to speak up.
"Hey, what's your wifi password?" I ask, keeping a straight face. She finally notices me, her eyes widening. I smile at her expression.
"MITCH?!" she says disbelievingly. I smile again.
"Yeah. Hi."
"Who let you in here?"
"I did, about five minutes before I picked you up," Lizzie says from her position by the door. Lily calms down and tells me where the wifi password is. She asks me why I'm here and I say just for making power moves. I can tell she saw through it, but I can tell by the smile that takes over her features that she doesn't care. I finish entering the password and wrap her in a hug. I'm not gonna lie, it feels nice to have her in my arms. Not as nice as it'll feel to hold Ashley, though.
She invites me to join in their tradition, and I accept. She starts cooking while I go to change. When I come back out, I see her suppressing a smile. I guess my superhero pants are a little dorky.
"I see Lizzie warned you about the tradition," she says teasingly.
"Actually, she didn't, and I'm a little offended that you find these dorky," I reply.
"Watch the water, sassypants," she says, and goes down the hall to her room. My eyes drift down her retreating figure. I quickly turn back to the water once I realize what I was doing. No, Mitch, do not check the booty. She's like your sister, and incest is gross.
Lizzie comes out a moment later, and we hop on the counter and make small talk until Lily emerges in all her glory.
OH MY GOD, MY EYES! THEY BURN! I start laughing, not even noticing that the water is boiling. She gives us a sassy remark and puts the noodles in. I grab a towel off a drawer handle and smack her butt with it. She turns around, pretending to be mad. I blame her pants, but it's clear she doesn't believe me. She turns back to the noodles and stirs them a few times before going over to her bag. She pulls out some DVDs and spreads them across the table.
"What's first?" I ask. Lizzie and Lily share a look before Lily snatches one up and they both shout the title. I can tell that this is part of the tradition.
"BIG-ASS SPIDER!"
"Seriously?" I ask. That's gotta be one of the stupidest titles I've ever heard.
"Absolutely," Lizzie says with a straight face.
"One hundred percent," Lily says with no trace of a smile.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" I reply.
"The ramen," Lizzie says.
"Oh. Right."
"Which is done," Lily says. She brings the pot over to the sink and drains some water while Lizzie grabs some bowls from a cabinet. They get everything ready, hand a bowl to me, and the three of us head over to the couch. Lizzie plops down on the left, Lily in the middle, and I move my duffel to the floor so I can sit on the right.
I wonder briefly what will happen, because the last time I watched a movie with Lily she ended up falling asleep on me.
Guess only time will tell.
A/N TIME! HOLLA! : Hey doods! QD here with an update for ya, because you beautiful individuals are my favorite people. You guys have put this story over 4500 views (4561, to be exact), which is a crazy number. That's like 4.5 times the size of my school. WHOA. Anyways, here are the facts!
-I do own matching orange college sweats that used to be my mom's.
-Big-Ass Spider is a real movie that I've watched. It's really not that bad, actually.
-Ramen is delicious.
And then the fictions:
-I will once again reiterate: I AM PROBABLY DEFINITELY MISREPRESENTING MITCH.
I think that's it for now! I will be posting the poems, but not as one-shots. Instead, they're going to be different chapters in a story called Lily's Nightmares. Keep up the reviewing, favoriting, etc. because it makes me happy in my heart. As always, I love you beautiful individuals. Much luv and internet hugs!
-Quiet Defiance
PS- Mitch if you're reading this and have gotten this far, well first thank you and secondly I'm sorry that I'm just basically fangirling hysterically and being a semi-stalker.