Chapters On A Page

I didn't calm down for several more minutes even though I was efficient in making the others believe I was perfectly fine. I was angry and appalled that Zack had been so careless with his words in such a quick moment. It was an accident, I was well aware of this, but I couldn't get passed that something was almost blurted out that I never really wanted mentioned again in my lifetime. I did eventually come to my senses though, letting the stiffness leave my shoulders and the smile on my face become real as my fury faded and I grew comfortable with them again. Zack had run up the stairs and into my room first so that he could get to my laptop to be the one to pick whatever music we listened to. He was still seated in the rolling chair that usually sat in front of my desk, but he was wheeling it all around my room, showcasing that his energy was bursting at the seams. Nic had pushed into the bathroom when we had come upstairs, but was now seated on my bed, resting with her back against the headboard with a couple pillows behind her. Obviously feeling a little out of place when the rest of us always hung out in my room together -new or old- Alex had planted himself on my low dresser, sitting on the lowest space in front of the large mirror. To wait out the time until I had to wash my hair out, I settled onto the window seat, pulling my feet up and pressing my back against one of the windows.

Zack had the speakers connected to and setting on either side of my computer working at almost full force, but somehow a conversation still bloomed over the music. I mostly listened since I had spent a lot of the time that they were speaking clenching my teeth and biting my tongue behind my upturned lips. I drummed my fingers against the edge of the bench though when I wasn't so on edge myself, and easily passed the time that sat in the way of me getting to see the final product of my hair. I kept glaring at the clock though, and couldn't keep myself from jumping up when I noticed time was up.

Without excusing myself from the conversation that I wasn't even a part of, my feet found the hardwood and I crossed the room to pass through the bathroom door. Slowly and carefully, I began pulling the foil from where it was secured to my head and off the tips of my hair, feeling my head grow lighter with every discarded piece I threw to the counter. I made a point not to glance in the mirror as I did this and immediately turned to pace to the bathtub, sinking to my knees as I turned the water on. I could hear Nic out in my room, squealing in excitement after seeing me walk passed the open door, but I tried to ignore her so I wouldn't be tempted to hop up and look. Once the water was warm enough, I flipped my hair into the tub and ducked my head under the water, instantly seeing the water wash the excess of the colors together. I followed the routine both my mother and Nic had drilled into my brain over the years and squeezed as much water as was possible from my hair when I was finished. I pulled the towel from my shoulders and wrapped it around my wet hair, sitting up again when it was in place.

"Well, let's have a look!" Nic yelled to me, somehow knowing the exact moment I was standing up again. Due to the sound of the water gushing out of the faucet and over my head, I hadn't been able to hear that they had shut the music off. But now that I didn't have one sound dominating my ears, everything seemed entirely too quiet. I almost didn't want to peek around the door to look out at her where I knew she hadn't moved from the bed. "Aw, dry it! I want to see," she whined when I pushed the door against the bathroom wall and stood in the threshold.

"I think it can wait," I responded honestly, feeling way too lazy to want to blow dry and ultimately style my hair. I paused a moment before I started into my room again, crouching down to unroll my pants and then continuing through the doorway as soon as I straightened up. "We can all wait a little longer," I assured, falling onto the edge of the bed with her legs behind me. "What happened to the music?" I questioned, looking to the boys. When I saw them though, I realized that Alex had taken over and was kneeling in front of my desk to find something to listen to.

My question turned into one that no longer needed an answer after it left my lips, but Zack scoffed and pointed his thumb sarcastically at his friend. "Dude thinks he can find something better than I can," he told me, pressing his lips together and shaking his head almost minutely. He pushed off the dresser which his feet had been propped up on and rolled the whole way across the room to the window seat. This was probably meant to show how angry he was at getting pushed out of the DJ position, but he looked more elated to be traveling on a chair than anything.

"I can't get passed how it sounds like the both of you are shit talking my music taste," I admitted, moving my shoulders in circles self-consciously. Nic backed me up with a defiant yeah, but simply as a cover while she attempted to yank the towel off my head. Swiftly, I turned around and smacked her hand away and tucked the end of the towel back underneath the rest of it.

"Quite the contrary," Alex countered before I was fully turned toward him again. "It's a lot like mine. Largely eclectic," he declared, satisfied as he looked away from the screen and smiled at me. With his eyes still connected with mine, he double clicked on the track pad. Right away, a Britney Spears song that I figured no one but my friends would know I loved began to play through the speakers and his smile turned into what I suspected he wanted to be an evil smirk.

I shook my head and was just short of running my hands over my face, if only to hide from the look he was giving me. "Of course, out of everything, you choose to call me out on Britney Spears," I stated, my tone indicating that I was slightly disappointed in his choice after looking through everything that could be considered embarrassing. I wasn't ashamed of any of the music I listened to, because if I liked it, then there was no reason to feel guilty about it. He had clearly had the intention of making me hang my head in shame over my music taste that I had defended just before he had hit play.

"This is the guy that's been listening to Beyonce constantly for the past six months," Zack revealed with a devilish smile. "I don't think he can determine what's embarrassing anymore," he claimed, catching on that I wasn't the least bit chagrined about his friend's attempt.

"Oh, really now?" Nic teased, now intrigued by the conversation and not joining in only to see if she could distract me and get my hair free. "And here I thought you would listen to nothing but punk and pop punk bands," she divulged, shrugging as she sat up a little straighter, pulling away from the pillows.

Alex shrugged right back in reply. "You can't have pop punk without pop, now can you?" he wondered with an eyebrow raised, not fishing for an answer because he knew he was right.

She nodded, impressed, in agreement. I don't think she was expecting to see that maybe he could be insightful about something people overlooked all the time. "Secrets are lots of fun, don't you think?" she inquired, meeting both of the boys' eyes before leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees that she had pulled toward herself and her chin on my shoulder. I knew what she was getting at, but I had no plans to shut her up quickly before she got any of it out. I had been cryptic when I revealed the person I liked earlier in front of Alex, but I wasn't afraid for the secret to be shared. "Speaking of secrets, I know Val has one. She's got a little crush," she spit out, hoping to get it to the boys faster than I could yell at her.

Alex and Zack perked up automatically, the former turning away from the computer again to face us looking alert and the latter rolling closer to us in the rolling chair. "And who would this crush be on? Someone not as bad as Andrew, I hope," my cousin asked, mock mumbling the last part in hopes that it wouldn't piss me off as much as if he had said it in a normal volume.

"Oh please," I jokingly sneered, my eyes rolling for what felt like the millionth time today and a chortle slipping passed my lips. "We all know that you were still friends with Andrew until he moved to Colorado last summer," I accused, trying to hold my laughs in. Everyone always assumed that I would be angry at my cousin for still being friends with my ex-boyfriend after we broke up, but I never found any point in it. "Anyway!" I exclaimed to get myself back on track after the dam burst and I broke into light giggles. "You don't know the person I like now, and I really have to thank God for that," I said, nodding a few times and laughing once more when I could hear Nic start up because she agreed wholeheartedly. Both of the boys were uninterested now that they thought that neither of them had ever met Dominic. For some reason I couldn't explain, it looked like Alex's face had completely fallen and he now appeared somber. I shrugged it off though because I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was about or even if I was seeing it right. "No more sharing secrets now. Whatever discussion we're having needs to be a little more active than this."

Zack cleared his throat, more than likely to continue the very subject I had just forbidden, but Alex launched up from his seat on the dresser. "Actually, I have to go," he announced, and hurriedly took the few steps to the door. He pulled it open and was already out in the hall before he turned around, focusing on Zack. "You can get home, right?" he made sure to ask, but he barely even waited for Zack to nod before he faced forward and headed down the hall toward the stairs.

My eyebrows pulled together in confusion and I turned to Nic who had sat back, pointlessly looking to her for an answer to why he had left in such a hurry. We both quickly realized though that neither of us would be able to give an explanation, and we simultaneously turned our faces to Zack. As one of Alex's best friends, surely my cousin would know what had just caused him to basically storm out of my room. I was honestly surprised we hadn't heard his car peel out of the driveway by now. But before Nic or I could get a question out to sum up what had just happened, Lilah stepped through the doorway.

"What the hell is his problem?" she questioned, glaring toward where Alex had just disappeared. At least it was confirmed for me that he had been acting strangely and I wasn't just blowing his actions out of proportion. If it was bad enough for my sister who had her own major crush on him to get annoyed, then it wasn't something I was making up. "He like knocked me out of the way to get downstairs and slammed the front door when he left," she told us, coming into the room the whole way. She had something in her hand and when she set it on top of my TV, I saw that it was the movie she had been watching with Kaylee. "I think I would normally overlook this, but it was just a little uncalled for," she declared, her hands on her hips to accentuate her point.

"I think Lisa called him last night," Zack answered at last, actually able to now that there wasn't someone else talking. "He probably had too much time to dwell on it while he was sitting there. He gets like that sometimes when they're apart for this long, or when he knows that they aren't going to see each other," he explained, shrugging because it really was no big deal. Obviously, Alex got over the anguish he apparently felt when he wasn't with his girlfriend. He had already admitted to me that he cheated on her, so I was sure he had no problem finding company when they weren't together. And he wasn't always miserable, displayed today before we had all spoken of secrets and crushes, and all of the other times I had seen him this summer. I was also relieved to have his mood during the car ride on the last day of school explained to me after entirely too long of me not wanting to bring it up. "He'll get over it in a few hours. Maybe he'll come back over. We'll all go out and do something. ...If you ever decide to get dressed, that is," he chuckled, pointing his gaze right at me.

I was confused once more for a second, but then I recalled in an instant and looked down at myself only to see the pajamas I had been wearing since I had gotten home from work the previous evening. I hadn't planned on getting out of them today because I hadn't planned on doing anything more than sitting outside, reading and enjoying the day and doing my hair. But now that he mentioned it, I figured it wouldn't be such a bad thing if I got dressed in clothes I hadn't slept in and went to do something more exciting with my cousin, his friends, and my own. With a sigh that I hoped sounded painstaking, I pushed myself off the bed and made my way back into the bathroom. Nic followed, and I knew it was because she was sick of waiting to see how my hair had turned out, especially since she was the one to remove the towel from my head. Since it was still wet, it wasn't very appealing yet, but I was still already in love with it. The tips of my naturally blonde hair were all consumed by mint green, teal, bright blue, soft orange, and baby pink. I had initially thought that maybe we were going overboard, but everything blended together perfectly for it to turn out fantastically.

I was quick to comb my part back into it and brush it out, and Nic insisted on blowdrying it for me. With it dry, it fell in its usual soft waves but was brightened so much more thanks to all of the color in it now. We both swooned over it for a few minutes while I turned every which way to look at it in the mirror, but eventually slipped out to my room again. Nic joined Lilah on the bed with Kaylee -who had come upstairs when she realized she would be sitting in the living room alone for quite a while- and I padded to the closet to get something to wear. I hated to spend so much time on simply picking out an outfit, which was how I mostly ended up in jeans and t-shirts, both of questionable taste at times because I often didn't care. But I had told myself that I wanted to make the most of the rest of my summer and I wanted to dress in something a bit more complex than my basic, overly-casual attire. When I emerged from the bathroom for what I hoped would be the final time until I went to bed, I had on denim shorts and a thin plaid shirt that I rolled the sleeves up on.

"I'm ready to go cut down some trees!" I proclaimed joyfully, showing off my very lumberjack-like choice of outfit. I threw my pajamas toward the corner in front of my closet, knowing I would get back into them the moment we got home, and went to sit with the others. "Have we come up with something to turn this into a fun-filled day?" I inquired as I lowered myself onto the window seat, my gaze going from Zack next to me and Nic on the bed with my sisters.

"I want to come," Kaylee piped up almost indignantly, and she stood up to cross the couple of feet to sit with me. She pushed her way under one of my arms and leaned against my side, peeking up at me through her fair eyelashes. "You bring Lilah with you sometimes. Why can't I come?" she asked me, sounding hurt but trying to overpower it with a convincing air.

I snorted softly, mostly because no one could deny that my youngest sister was adorable even when she was attempting to act older by wanting to hang out with a bunch of teenagers. "You are more than welcome to come along. I can't promise anything too exciting. But… I bet if you asked Zack, he'd give you a piggyback ride downstairs," I informed her, smiling widely down at her to encourage her to ask him.

She didn't fail to pick up on what I was implying and she sat up from her relaxed position, grinning sweetly at our cousin. "Please," she begged, dragging it out in her singsong voice that defined her innocence. Zack didn't even hesitate or put up a fight. He stood from the seat he had occupied the entire time we had been up here and crouched enough to allow her to climb up onto his back, hooking his arms through her legs on either side of him when he straightened out again. "Can we go to the park?" she wondered as Zack led the rest of us out of the room.

I had already flipped my phone open so I could text Gwen while Nic got ahold of Murph. I looked up from the small screen to see Kay's back bouncing with every step Zack took before he rounded the railing that encased the stairs to head down them. "Of course! I couldn't think of any better place," I answered, beginning in the few seconds that she could see my face again to let her know I was sincere. She let out several giggles as Zack bounced down each step especially for her and she squealed in delight when I told her we could do what she had proposed.

I slipped a pair of shoes on when I reached the door while Nic went to grab her keys but Kaylee refused to get down from Zack's back, wanting to milk the ride for all it was worth until the very moment she had to get into the car. Not paying much attention, I opened the door so we could head out the moment Nic came back from the kitchen. I was searching through my purse to make sure I had a camera with me so I wasn't quite sure why I heard Lilah's breath catch in her throat and stutter back to a start with a cough. I lifted my head, intending to look at her to see what was wrong with her but I saw someone else from the corner of my eye. I turned my head completely and found Alex standing in front of me. I hadn't really noticed anything outside of my line of vision, but he certainly couldn't have been there a moment ago. Perhaps he had been sitting on the steps or even the porch swing out of sight.

"I don't know where you guys are headed, but do you mind if I come along? I guess I was thinking of something I have to do tomorrow when I left," he said, averting his eyes a few times and giving me the impression that maybe he was lying. He was hopeful when he looked at me again though and when he focused on Zack standing behind me.

I probably would never know if he really was lying or not, or why in the world he would feel the need to if he was. But I was honestly glad that he had come back -or hadn't even left, if my speculation was was correct. I smiled at him and nodded without putting a second thought into it. "Of course," I responded, stepping out onto the porch with him and knowing the others would follow. "I hope you like the park."