Unfamiliar Ceilings

I’m almost certain that I was having a nice dream; it involved some gorgeous beach I’d never seen in my life, and Ryan was there with me, incidentally reminding me that I hadn’t called him since my second day here. My dream was rudely interrupted when my phone buzzed angrily on my bedside table.

I crept one hand out of the sheets and searched around sluggishly for it, my eyes still shut with no intention of opening. I blindly fumbled and managed to push the “answer” button, and then held my phone to my ear, mumbling a very croaky greeting. I could hear somebody making noises, which normally would’ve made sense if I was awake properly. I only heard a couple of words.

“What?” I mumbled, cracking both my eyes open and trying to focus my mind on the noise coming from my phone.

“I said, are you coming today?” Then I remembered. It was Johnny, and I said I’d think about going out with him and some of his friends today. I groaned, aiming for subtly and missing. I disguised it with a huge yawn and sat up in my bed, pushing my hair back out of my face.

“Sorry, Johnny, you woke me up,” I sighed. “I’m still all dopey.”

I heard him laugh. “It’s okay, are you coming then or what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said slowly, slumping back onto my pillows and hitting my head on the wall. Johnny told me to hang on for a minute and I heard the phone crackle slightly; I assumed he’d put his hand over the speaker. I heard voices on the other end of the phone, but I was still too tired to make out what they were saying. I waited, as I had been instructed to do, then I heard someone demanding the phone off of Johnny. Clearly the hand wasn’t enough.

“Yeah, Leila?” It was Dean. “You’re coming out.”

It was a statement, not a suggestion. “And who are you to be telling me that? Don’t I decide?”

“Oh hell no,” he chuckled. “You get no choice sweetheart, be ready in about an hour. Or else we’ll drag you out of the fucking house in whatever state of dress – or lack of – you’re in.”

“Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

“I have no choice?”

“Nice that we’ve reached the same wave length isn’t it?” he laughed. “See you in an hour, Boozy.”

I didn’t have a chance to think up a barely decent retaliation, other than “shut up”, because he’d hung up the phone on me and all I heard was a dial tone. I scowled and looked out of the window – I hadn’t drawn the curtains the night before. I stretched my arms up over my head and kicked off my sheets, already mentally putting together a suitable outfit on my way to the shower.

*****

“Morning, Leila,” Mark said, smiling up at me briefly from behind his newspaper while he sat on one of the stools pulled up to the island in the kitchen. It was a Friday afternoon, in my third week here. The clock on the wall stated that it was 11.40am; forty minutes after Johnny called me. Why hadn’t I taken the full hour? Because I was dressed so simply, in my pale blue Topshop vest and a pair of dark, stonewashed skinny jeans, finished off with a pair of plain black flat shoes. I’d just straightened my hair through and brushed some of my over-grown fringe into place; I’d more than likely end up running my hand through it and moving it out of my eyes or something.

“Going out after all?” Mark asked, this time keeping his nose buried in the newspaper.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Dean’s kidnapping me if I don’t.”

“Mm? Well, if you aren’t home by midnight, I’m calling the police on that character,” Mark chuckled, ruffling the pages of his newspapers. Neither of us said anything else. I lounged back against a countertop and plucked up an apple from the fruit bowl behind me, nibbling at the skin before taking a bite from it.

Moments later there was a knock at the door. I sighed and said my goodbye to Mark, before exiting the kitchen and walking along the hallway. I unchained the front door and opened it, revealing the two eager looking brothers from next door.

“See? Told you she’d get dressed,” Johnny laughed, slapping Dean’s back. I raised my eyebrows, looking from Johnny to Dean.

Dean just smirked. “I was just hoping you’d be in those shorts again.”

I gave him a cold look and stepped out into the now afternoon heat, feeling the air; heavy, humid and dry. Johnny was wearing a pair of long khaki shorts with a plain white shirt, while Dean was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans with the legs rolled up and a black shirt displaying a slogan I could hardly read in white letters and a bag on his back.

“Ready?” Johnny asked, looking at me expectantly.

“Yeah,” I smiled, beginning to walk alongside him while Dean took the other side. I hadn’t thought to ask where we’d be going or who we’d be meeting up with – like I’d know anyway – but that relieved the sense of unease just a little bit. I was still nervous. Just because I didn’t do well meeting new people. Obviously except for Johnny and Dean.

I had one earphone of my iPod in my ear, the volume down low while Dean chased Johnny up the street because he hit him around the head with his phone. It made me laugh a little bit too much, but I think it was just the way Dean runs. His arms and legs kind of fly out at odd angles and go all over the place while he’s running.

“You’re an arse,” Dean grumbled, after Johnny had run back to me and stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders, using me as a shield. Dean walked on my left side, furthest from the road and Johnny let go of me to walk the other side.

“We should be there soon,” Johnny said, bouncing around while he walked. I suppose I’ll be meeting the more hyperactive side of Johnny today. I still didn’t ask about where we were going.

“Mind if I take a look?” Dean asked, motioning his hand to my iPod. I shrugged my shoulders and took the earphone out, handing it over.

Around ten minutes later, we came to a pair of ornate gates, opening wide into a park. There were huge fields of grass, with a single concrete path running from the gate to the point where I couldn’t see it anymore. A little way in, I could see a monument straight ahead with people sitting on and around it.

“Here we are,” Johnny smiled, making me link my arm with his as he lead the way over to the group of people. There were trills of laughter and a couple of the group were messing around, throwing huge piles of ripped up grass at the others. There were shouts of greeting to Johnny and Dean as we walked to the monument. A girl with short, dark purple hair glared at me a little bit when I walked over.

Johnny sat on the highest step possible, while I sat on the one just below him with Dean beside me, his head bent over my iPod, scanning through my artists.

“Right,” Johnny said his voice slightly loud. “Everyone, this is Leila.”

A couple of people shot me smiles or nodded at me politely. Johnny started introducing me to everybody and I knew I’d have a hard time of remembering all the names and matching them to the right faces. He pointed out a girl named Robyn, who was pretty in a plain way with wavy brown hair; Jordan, who had hair blonder than Johnny’s and a slight tan; Kendra-Leigh, who had long, flowing black hair; and Anna. She was small, with a pixie nose and hair to match, except that it was dyed bright pink. She had smiled and leaned across to shake my hand.

“Course, you already know Jake,” Johnny said, pointing to Jake who nodded at me and smiled. “That’s Jenna.”

Jenna was the girl with the dark purple hair, sitting with her shoulders against Jake’s knees. She gave me a little, insincere smile and went back to talking to Robyn. Johnny then struck up a conversation with Jordan and I glanced at Dean, who was sifting through his bag for something, my iPod still clutched in his hand. Seconds later he brought out a pair of battery operated speakers and plugged my iPod in, causing it to start playing Bullet In The Head by Rage Against The Machine. He gave me a look of approval and set the speakers down between his feet.

I hadn’t realised that Anna had scooted over and sat on the opposite side to me.

“Hi, I’m Anna,” she smiled.

“Leila.” I returned her smile. She asked me where I came from, because she couldn’t remember where my accent was from. After that we started talking for a while. Eventually, I joined in with the group conversations – with help from Jake and Anna – and ended up talking about books with Jordan. Jenna and her blonde friend had hardly glanced at me since my introduction and Robyn seemed to constantly be in a world of her own.

“When are we fucking going?” Kendra complained. “Jay’s obviously not showing up.”

I heard Dean laugh beside me and mutter something like, “thank God, let’s go.”

****

As it turned out, the monument in the park was just the meeting point for everyone. So, once everyone – minus Jay – was there, Dean stood up and hauled me after him, before running ahead to catch up to Jake and Jenna near the front of the group. I stayed with Johnny, feeling a little bit more comfortable now that I couldn’t feel Jenna glaring fiery holes into the back of my head.

“You alright?” Johnny smiled.

“Yeah, I’m great.” I laughed. “Where are we going anyway?”

I looked at him and he looked a little bit nervous. He said, “Well, don’t kill me. We’re going into the woods part of the park.”

“Why would I kill you for that?” I asked, confused.

“You wouldn’t,” he laughed. “I only found out before, but all the others are planning on getting stoned. I mean, you’re just anti-drug and stuff, so I thought you’d flip.”

I rolled my eyes and linked my arm with his. “Shut up, I’m not an old woman.”

The music playing from Dean’s speakers could still be heard – I used that as my guide through the trees, even though Johnny was right there next to me, and no doubt knew where he was going. It was a short walk, before we came to a little enclosure with logs placed in a circle surrounding a charred pile of wood. Everybody was sat either on the forest floor or one of the logs when Johnny and I came through the trees. He released my arm almost straight away and hurried over to nab the seat beside Anna.

I laughed and shook my head, going to sit opposite them beside the only other person I’d known for longer than an hour; Dean. He was holding a small piece of paper with both hands while Jake hunched over it, tearing something up and putting it into the paper. I felt stupid when I didn’t realise straight away that they were rolling a spliff. That process continued for a couple more minutes and I looked around the group, feeling a little bit of that discomfort creep back up on me.

I noticed Jake standing up and passing out the freshly rolled spliffs, before sitting back down next to Dean while he lit up the first one Jake had rolled up. Before long there was a sickening, sweet stench all around the enclosure. Jenna, her friend and Kendra-Leigh were swigging from a clear bottle across the circle from where I sat on the log beside Dean, leaning back on my hands. The smell started to get pungent, and it did start making me feel really sick.

It must’ve shown, because Dean said, “Hey, you feeling okay?”

I just nodded and tried not to breathe through my nose. My mouth was unusually wet and I felt like I had to spit to make it go away. He quickly passed the leftover of the spliff he’d been smoking back to Jake and grabbed my arm gently with one hand and his bag with the other.

“I need a piss,” he announced. “Leila’s coming with.”

Everyone laughed and consented to it. Johnny was busy across the circle talked animatedly with Anna who had another spliff in her hand. Dean didn’t let go of my elbow until we were away from the enclosure. It was either because he thought I was going to fall, or because he knew he was going to. He didn’t seem too out of it; he was walking a little unsteadily and he tripped over some uprooted trees every now and again.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He just shrugged. “Thought you’d like to take a walk.”

I smiled slightly. “Thanks.”

If I’d just met Dean, I’d think he was an okay person. He didn’t seem like the same boy he had this morning or the day before. He was being, well...nice.

Unfortunately, he managed to ruin that for himself. “So, you’re alone in the woods with a very, very good looking young man. What do you want to do?”

I rolled my eyes at his smirk and instantly put more distance between us as we walked. I said, “I don’t see anything remotely good looking.” Lie.

“’Course you do,” he laughed and stopped walking.

“Nope,” I said and stopped to look up at him. I didn’t realise how much taller than me he actually was.

“Deny it all you want.” He smirked. “You’re ticklish.”

“So?”

“So, I’ll tickle you ‘til you admit that you think I’m good looking.”

“You wouldn’t da-“ But he did dare. I couldn’t finish my sentence before he started attacking my ribcage. I was giggling like a little girl and spluttering, squirming around to try and get away. I managed to get away from his hands and ran towards a tree nearby, using that as my shield. I hid behind it for a couple of seconds before peering around the sides. I couldn’t see Dean anywhere, and it was far too quiet.

“Dean?” I said quietly, still looking around. I felt something brush against my back and I froze a bit. Dean grabbed my arm and pulled me around to face him, trapping me between him and the tree.

“Don’t,” I laughed. He shook his head and touched both his hands lightly to my ribs.

“Not ‘til you admit it Leila,” he smirked again. Doesn’t he get tired of doing that? He twitched his fingers again, making me squirm, but not quite laugh. “You want me to tickle you again?”

I just shook my head and he said, “Okay, admit it then.”

“Fine,” I rolled my eyes. “I think you’re good looking. And quite conceited.”

“I already knew both of those,” he laughed. “Nice to know what you think of me.”

My back was still against the bark of the tree and Dean’s hands were still on my waist. Dean was staring me at, it was that game again. His thumb was stroking my hipbone.

Okay, serious déjà vu, I know.

It wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me when I saw him inching closer. I didn’t let go of his gaze until he was just centimetres away from me; I just looked down. The next thing I felt was his lips on mine, followed by his hands going around to my back and pulling me up against him. My arms automatically went up around his neck loosely. I’d never been kissed like that; it felt like my knees would give out at any second, it felt like I couldn’t even think and that much was obvious because if I was still capable of rational thought, I never would’ve gotten involved with Dean Owens.

He broke away first. “We should get back.”

I wanted to protest, but promptly kept my mouth closed and allowed him to tow me back towards the enclosure by my hand. Who knew that little, tiny event could be the beginning of my undoing.