Chapter Eleven:

My parents and I arrived at the Dubois' place at exactly seven-ten in the evening. We were dressed formally, just like in church this morning but in different attires. My teeth chattered from the cold and I danced on the front porch to keep myself warm as we wait for someone to open the door.

I held the book that Dani wanted to borrow and stared at it seeing as it looked a bit old. I've read it a few times already, and I swear that somewhere in that book had wrinkled pages due to my tears falling from a dramatic scene.

"It's so cold!" I complained as I grabbed my mom's arm and pulled her closer to me. "I can't feel my legs."

The windchill hit my face and the impact made it sting a little bit. Finally, someone opened the door, and Dani's grandma welcomed us into their home. She's a surprisingly tall woman with a full head of white hair that's cut short just below her ears.

"Come on in, coats hang over there." Then she shook hands with my parents, and pulled my mom for a hug. They talked for a bit, and then my mom introduced me.

"Yes, yes, I've met your daughter in church this morning. A friend of Danielle's?"

"Yes ma'am." I replied, nodding my head.

Then we made our way inside, where a great hall with marbled floors shone like never before, a chandelier placed on the middle of the ceiling and looking bright and elegant, then the people who attended reminds me of a British movie. I was in awe. Their house is beautifully designed, as if it's made for a movie.

I stepped further inside, and immediately saw Natasha with her parents who happened to talk to Dani's grandfather. As if she felt my presence, she turned her head and saw me, giving me a small smile as she excused herself and approached me.

"Mave." My best friend Natasha greeted, her black dress looking very pretty on her and her blonde hair loose hanging around her shoulders.

Suddenly, what Dennis told me about cutting her off of my life was reminded, and I got so terrified that I instinctively pulled her for a hug.

"Hi." I said, wrapping my arms around her hips and kept tears from falling. "Hi, Nat."

"Oh Mave, can we talk?" Her voice soft and low in a comforting way.

"We can, and we will." I said, now pulling back and holding her hand.

And so we did.

Natasha talked about how she doesn't want to break up with Tom, and that she's happy with him. But then she brought up that she knows that I dislike Tom, and that she hoped that I can be civil around him. She also brought up that I should accept the fact that she's dating Tom now, because it hurts her that I don't support her in a way.

Then I talked about Dennis, and how her relationship with Tom deeply hurt him, and the betrayal that has been done. Natasha then said that she was truly sorry, and that she couldn't do anything about it anymore. She tried hard to get along with Dennis, but it seems as though that Dennis has been ignoring her.

It made me feel a little bad because our friendship squad is again, falling apart. But then it made me wonder why Dennis would all of a sudden be angry when he told me that he's 'over it' a few days ago.

I'm over it. He had said. I frowned, now having suspicions that Dennis isn't telling me everything. I respect that he wants to keep stuff all to himself but he's acting weird again.

"I hope you understand." Nat said, now sighing and looking so sad. "I don't want to fight."

"I don't either." I told her. "We'll sort this out, don't worry."

Then Dani appeared and nudged my side. She looked amazing with her simple light green dress and she seems to be holding a plate of sliced watermelons. Again, her blonde hair looked amazing, and I got a bit jealous because she had better hair than me. I spent two hours to get the classy french-braid-bun look, and hers looked effortless. She even had better skin than me, and I noticed that she didn't have any make up on, at all. Just... ugh, I hate how she looked good all the time. Without even trying!

"You guys want some?" Dani asked, taking a slice and biting into it. I took a slice and said,

"I like your dress." Because I really do.

"Awe, thanks." She said, "I like yours too."

"Have you seen Dennis around?" I asked both Dani and Natasha, but both of them shook their heads.

"I saw her cute little sister, Samantha though, and she's with her parents. But no sign of Dennis anywhere." Dani added, chomping on another slice of watermelon.

"God, I just hope Tom and him didn't see each other yet." Said Nat. "I swear to god, I will get so mad if one of them start a fight this evening."

"Thomas is here already?" I asked. Now looking around.

"Yeah, he said he'll be back. He went to the washroom."

Dani seemed to find something funny and started to laugh. I looked at her and she just contained her laughter and cleared her throat.

"Don't mind me, I just remembered something funny." She said, a mischievious smirk on her lips.

I looked at her in confusion, and Natasha masked my expression as we both wondered what's going on in Dani's head.

"I have the book, by the way." I said, now giving her the hard bound copy and smiled sheepishly. "It's a bit old and battered, um, I read it a lot and cried on it a lot, so it's very precious to me."

Dani laughed.

"Your favourite book?" She asked, taking the book and flipping through it.

"Nah. I don't have a favourite book." I told her. "But I really like that one a lot... the plot twist was very surprising, and- You know what, you just have to read it. I don't want to give away spoilers."

"You guys are total nerds." Natasha said, chuckling at us.

"Do you want to come with me to my room? We could hang out there for a while." Dani suggested, as she point her thumb to the stair case. "It's better than just standing here, and besides I have snacks in there too."

"I want to, but I have to wait for Tom to come back." Said Natasha, now looking around. "You two go on ahead, I'll stay here and wait."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." Nat nodded.

I followed Dani up the staircase, and admired the paintings on the wall. We walked at the very end of the hallway with high ceilings, and saw a purple door that looked a bit odd with the other doors.

"I painted mine purple, just to be different." She said, before I asked.

When we entered the room, I smiled a bit because it's messy, and I really didn't expect that at all. There were a few clothes on the floor, a few candy wrappers, and her queen sized bed isn't made up, while her desk at the corner consists of her opened binder and papers from school. She has posters around her room too which were from movies, and bands that I've never even heard of.

Twinkle lights were attached to the head of her bed, that stretched to another wall where Polaroid pictures were hanging. But what caught my attention was a wide, multi-coloured book shelf that stood beside her study desk. It's almost rainbow-like, and it's filled with books, almost over flowing.

"You weren't kidding about your love for reading." I said, as I approached her book shelf.

"Why would I kid about that?" She asked as she sat on her bed and flipped through my book.

"I don't know. It just seems odd that you love books more than I do." I said, looking through her shelf and smiling at her collection of Harry Potter.

"It's not a competition." She said, now watching me as I took out a book by James Patterson.

"It's not." I nodded. "But honestly, your entire existence is a threat."

"Excuse me?" Dani said, her head cocked to the side, her eyes narrowed in surprise.

Shit. I said that out loud. I sighed inwardly, and called myself stupid for blurting out everything that's in my mind. I should probably learn how to keep my mouth shut.

"I... I, uh. I feel like I have to do better than you. I don't know why, I don't freakin' know when it started, but... Somehow, when you came out of nowhere, I realized that-"

"You realized that I'm a threat? A threat to what?" Dani asked, now standing up. The book in her hand, and still giving me the look of curiosity.

"I don't know." I told her honestly. "I feel like I have to prove something, you know?"

"For what? For me to like you?" She asked.

I nodded my head. I frowned on the ground and rubbed the back of my neck.

"As you can see, I don't have many friends, and I just thought that if I do better than you then maybe you'll like me, and would want to be friends with me-"

"Maverick, you are not making any sense." She said, now laughing. "You don't have to prove anything. I'm not complicated, I would gladly be your friend."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes, really." She said, grinning now. "Am I that scary that you have to prove something for me to notice you?" She asked, and giving me a look of amusement.

"Yeah." I admitted.

"You're very self-centered to think that you should do better than me." She said, as she crossed her arms. "What if I'm naturally better than you?" A hint of challenge is in her tone.

"Then I just have to prove you wrong." I said, also crossing my arms.

"Then I should prove you wrong too." She said, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, it's on." I said, now chuckling at our ridiculous arrangement.

Dani shook her head in disbelief and approached me by her book shelf.

"So which one are you going to borrow?" She asked, now eyeing the book in my hand. "Sunday's at Tiffany's?"

I nodded.

"It looked interesting." I said, "Didn't know that James Patterson wrote romance novels."

Dani smirked. "You're missing out." She said.

"Well I guess I gotta read this one then." I told her.

We hung out in her room for a while, just reading and eating potato chips that she hoards in her closet. I sat on the floor with my legs crossed and leaned my head on her bed as I flip page by page on the book. Dani was sitting on her bed, also reading the book and munching on the the ketchup flavoured chips.

After a while, I heard Dani sighed and put the book down.

"Oh my god, it's just the beggining and I'm almost in the verge of tears." She said.

I let out a soft giggle and looked up at her.

"Keep reading," I told her. "You'll be crying like a baby after the-"

"No spoilers!" She exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, geez." I chuckled as I shut myself up.

"Anyways, we better get back downstairs. My grandparents are doing the cake thing soon."

"What cake thing?" I asked.

"I get to blow candles on a cake and make a wish." She said, rolling her eye and getting off of her bed.

"Wait a second, what?" I grabbed Dani's arm and spun her around. "It's your birthday?"

"Yep."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" I was practically yelling. "Is that why your grandparents threw a party? Because it's your birthday? But you said it's more of a welcoming thing!"

"It is." She said. "Why are you yelling at me?"

"I could've bought you a present!" I yelled again, narrowing my eyes at her in dissapointment. "Awe man, now I feel bad."

"Is consider this book as a present." She said, as she hold my book up.

"Yeah, but you're just borrowing that."

"I don't mind."

"What is wrong with you? You should be asking for presents!" I was practically shaking her shoulders. "You only get to celebrate your birthday once a year!"

"Oh my god, Mave calm down!" She said, now also holding on to my shoulders and laughing at my actions. "It's okay."

"You little shit, I feel really bad for not knowing." I shook my head at her.

Dani snickered.

"I didn't let you know. It's not your fault."

"I want to give you a present." I insisted, now sighing and staring at her.

"A kiss would do." She said.

My jaw dropped. My face burned without my permission, and I noticed how close she was all of a sudden. My mouth opened and closed like a fish, not knowing what to say, then just like that... Dani burst out laughing, and pointed at my face like it was the funniest thing ever. I pushed her face away and shook my head in disbelief.

"You asshole." I said.

"Your face... You looked-" Her laugh was so hard that she couldn't breathe.

"You are so rude!" I told her. "I hate you!"

"It's just a joke!" She said, wiping the tears on her eyes. "Oh gawd, that's hilarious."

"So you're saying that kissing me is a joke?" I asked, lifting my chin up challengingly.

That seemed to shut her up.

"Uh, no." She said, her face a bit flushed from laughing. "I didn't say that."

"Good. I should be treated with respect." I said, waving a finger at her as if she'd been a bad child.

With pure amusement in her eyes, she just said,

"Indeed."

Dani and I walked back to the hallway, towards the great hall where the party is being held, and on the way downstairs, a loud thump was heard in a closet near the stair case. I jumped at the sound, and stared at Dani who seemed surprised.

"What was that?" I whispered, alarmed.

"I don't know." She whispered back.

We stared at the closet, and saw shadows of movement from the floor of the closet. I blinked, and said,

"Dani, there's people inside the closet."

Dani covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing. I looked at her in confusion and shook her arm.

"What are they doing in there?" I whispered.

Then I heard a moan, and that pretty much answered my question.

"Who do you think it is?" I asked in bewilderment.

"I don't know."

"Should we just leave them alone?" I asked.

"Hell no, it's rude that they're doing it in my grandparents' house. I'm going to knock."

"Dani, don't!"

But it was too late, Dani knocked on the closet and said,

"Excuse me, but I don't think you should be doing that in there." She said loudly, as she knocked a few more times.

The shuffling inside the closet stopped, and Dani knocked again. I hid behind Dani because this situation is too awkward for me to handle.

"Hello?" Dani called out, still knocking.

There were sharp whispers now, and Dani rolled her eyes in impatience as she flew the closet door open, revealing the two people that I knew far too well.

With their dress shirts undone, their hair tousled, and hickeys on their neck, Dennis and Thomas stared back at us with narrowed eyes as if they were deers caught in headlights.

"Holy shit..." Muttered Dani, as we gawked at them from outside the closet.

Thomas looked down and quickly dressed himself up and bolted out of our way. He moved so quickly that he accidentally bumped my shoulder.

"S-sorry." He quickly apologized before sprinting down the stair case.

"Tom, Tom wait!" Dennis called out to him, but he was already gone.

Dennis ran his hand through his hair and sighs. He looked as if he was about to cry.

"I messed up Mave..." He said, as he stared at me. "I really messed up this time."

All I could do was nod, because I didn't really know what to say.

A/N:

DUN DUN DUN! I updated again. Yay me! Happy Valentine's day people! I can't wait for it to be over so all the chocolates will be on sale. Now that's worth celebrating. Am I right, or am I right?

Unedited.