This Is Bonkers

I woke up with a yawn. Checking the time on the nearby clock, I saw it was eleven am. Carefully, I detangled myself from a partially asleep Mitchell. He made a small noise of displeasure.
"I'll be right back." I said as he looked at me through squinty eyes. "You should probably wake up anyway, and those two." I pointed a thumb behind me.
I sat on the floor beside Mitch's bed as he sat up and stretched. Grabbing my toothbrush, hair brush, and makeup bag, I headed for the bathroom.
I placed my stuff on the counter and closed the bathroom door. Grimacing at my appearance, I began to fix myself up. I'd fallen asleep with my makeup on, so I scrubbed it off as best I could with soap and water. Considering I couldnt get it all off and didnt want to sit here scrubbing for half an hour, I redid my makeup; simple warm tones with thickly winged liner and big lashes.
I brushed out my hair, disliking its flatter look and deciding I'd probably shower later. But for now I just mussed it up with my hands, making it a bit messier and more voluminous.
Finally, I brushed my teeth. I usually brushed them in the morning, and definitely wanted to today since we'd all forgotten to last night.
Grabbing my stuff, I headed back into the boys bedroom to see everyone awake. They all had bedhead, and Jade's makeup was smudged and her false eyelashes were falling off.
"And I thought I looked bad." I joked, placing my stuff back into my Hello Kitty bag.
"Well look who woke up first." Sam laughed, attempting to fix his messy hair. "Well, how about the rest of us fix ourselves up and we have a lovely breakfast in our pajamas?"
"Breakfast? Sam it's 11:10." I laughed. "But I'm not objecting as long as you're cooking."
"Is it really?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and looking at the clock. "Ouch. Of course I'm cooking, pancakes good?"
"Like British pancakes? I'd love you forever." I laughed, sitting on the edge of Mitch's bed.
Mitch slid a leg on either side of me and wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.
"You'll love me forever anyway." he said, standing up. "Now I gotta make myself look less shitty. Back soon."
"I knew last time I hung out with you that you two'd get together." Jade smiled, peeling one of her falsies off.
"I heard you say we'd be cute together. And I knew you were talking about something when I left the room then came back and you all hushed!" I laughed.
"We are cute together." Mitch said sleepily.
"Jade an' I are cuter." Sam said, re-entering the room looking a little fresher.
"That was fast." I said, glancing at the clock.
"I'm a guy, doesnt take me as long." he said, sitting on his bed.
"My turn? I gotta scrub my whole face." Jade said, standing and leaving the room.
"What say you an' I go an' start the crepes?" I asked Sam.
"Pancakes." he corrected. "And sure, if Mitch'll let go of you."
"Go, I'll be out there before long." Mitch said, pulling his arms away from my waist.
"Alright," I said, standing up and walking to Sam. "Let's go, Samuel."
He stood and followed me into the kitchen. I laughed at how I was leading the way in his house.
"Looks like the parents are out, Ellie too." he said, noticing the house's emptiness.
"Yeah, looks that way. Are we making these from scratch?" I asked, grabbing myself a can of cola from the nearby fridge.
"Yep, no other way. Grab me one too?" he asked, beginning to pull ingredients out the cupboards.
I stopped the closing fridge door with my hand and pulled out another can, placing it on the counter near where Sam was placing the ingredients.
"So you're making 'breakfast'," I said, using airquotes and sitting on a bar stool. "Guess I'm a bad hostess cuz I was just gunna order pizza for dinner later." I laughed.
"I'm sure we'll all appreciate pizza, I'm just cooking cuz I'm poor." Sam joked, grabbing a bowl to mix everything in.
I opened my can of cola with a satisfying click-fizz. Watching as Sam mixed all the ingredients, I sipped my drink.
"You know the recipe by heart?"
"Used to make 'em all the time for Ellie when she was younger. I make 'em pretty often for myself an' Mitch now."
"What a good big brother." I laughed, despite being honest.
"Hope I look a bit better now. I looked a right mess!" Jade said, walking into the kitchen completely fresh faced.
"Wow you're beautiful." I said as she sat on the stool beside me. "Sam I'm jealous."
"So you're jealous of me because I'm dating Jade?" he asked as I nodded. "I think you're supposed to be jealous of her for having such an amazing boyfriend."
"Nice try." I laughed as he winked.
"What time'll we head to my place then?" I asked, watching Sam pour the batter into the pan.
"Probably not long after our brunch." Mitch walked in, fresh faced with his glasses on.
"Are the boys at Danceworks today?" I asked. "We should stop by. I wanna tumble, and we can teach Jade some moves."
"Yeah, they'll be there. I dont have a problem with stopping by a few hours." Sam said, carefully flipping a pancake. "Jade though?"
"No, it's fine. I'd love to learn some moves from Diversity. I must warn you though, I can dance pretty well." Jade laughed.
"How about we drive to my house, drop off our stuff then walk to Danceworks?" I asked. "Wait, we can't. You two aren't public."
"Well, that's not fully true. We're not announcing anything, but we're letting people find out on their own. We can walk to Danceworks from yours." Sam said.
"Really? That's exciting!" I smiled. "My place is only like, ten minutes walking distance from the studio."
"Alright, after brunch then." Sam said, placing a bunch of pancakes on a plate.
He got us each a plate and put out the different things we might like on our pancakes. I went with lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar.
Brunch was over pretty quickly and we all filed back into the boys room. While they packed, I changed into a more typical dance outfit and had Jade do the same.
I changed into a loose purple midriff with a scoop neck and made sure to wear a yellow bando underneath, since my shirt would be flying everywhere. I wore a simple pair of black joggers to match with my little spandex shorts underneath. I hadn't brought my Nike's, but I could get them when we stopped by my house. I completed the look with Sam's red hat.
Luckily, Jade had brought similar clothes. She decided to wear a casual t-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts. She even had some trainers with her.
We drove to my house and I welcomed Jade into it. We placed our bags in the living room where we'd probably end up sleeping and headed back outside to walk to Danceworks.
I sped in the doors first, the others not far behind.
"Afternoon boys!" I called before making a face.
All nine boys were huddled around something, that was unusual to see.
"Hannah and Mitch! Have you seen this?" Ashley asked, dispersing from the huddle with something in his hand.
He handed me what he was holding and Mitch stepped beside me to see what it was. It was a magazine. On the cover there was a small photo of Mitch and I from the other day, my face blocked by Sam's hat, and Mitch's purposely blotted out. The picture was accompanied by the words "Does this Diversity hottie have a girlfriend? Find out Page 23!"
"What is this?" I laughed. "Seems you and Jade aren't the only ones who have to watch for paparazzi." I said as Sam looked over my shoulder.
"There's more, turn to page 23." Ashley said.
I did as he said and was welcome with more photos of us. For some reason, every photo of me had Sam's hat blocking my face. There was even a photo of when we'd kissed and I'd placed the hat in front of our faces. There was a title that said: "Mystery Girl in Diversity member's life?"
"Read it out loud." Ash said.
"Recently, Diversity hottie Mitchell Craske (15) has been spotted with a mystery girl. Does Mitch have a secret girlfriend? And who is this girl? We have no idea! Do you know? Tell us via Twitter. We'll update when we know more." I read aloud.
"You're famous, Haz." Sam laughed.
"Apparently." I laughed along. "Didn't know we were magazine article worthy. We'll have to see how this pans out."
"Tch, let's tumble, yeah?" Mitch asked, pulling me towards the tumbling mat.
Not knowing what to do with the magazine, I shoved it at Sam who took it and threw it by the wall. Once we stopped by the mat I took off my shoes, joggers, and Sam's hat.
"Perri too?" I asked as Mitch bounced on the mat.
"Sure."
"Pel!" I called. "C'mere."
I jumped onto the mat and did a back tuck while waiting for Perri who hurried to the mat.
"Better not try anything I dont tell you to today." Mitch said, standing on the edge of the mat.
"Ease up." I laughed. "Are you saying I'm not good enough to try anything harder?"
"Well, no--"
"I'm not even doing anything tough." I laughed, watching Perri do an intricate set. "You two are here doing full twists and those weird back flips you like, run and do. I'm just doing handsprings and back tucks."
"Alright, alright. But make sure it fits on the mat, don't need you falling off again." Mitch said.
"I've only fallen once."
"Ah, twice." Mitch corrected. "You fell a long time ago and I was walking over to the mat and just happened to catch you before you hit the floor."
"Oh right, I remember. Well, if it's too big for the mat I'll do it on the floor."
"You tell him." Pel laughed.
"Don't encourage her." he said, despite smiling.
"But I'm good at tumbling, look." I insisted, running to the front of the mat and doing a double back handspring with an added back tuck. "Ta-daa!" I sang as I landed solidly.
"Yeah, yeah. You're alright." Mitch winked.
"Can you teach me something new? I know you guys can do layout-ish things, when you flip with straight legs. Teach me?"
"They're a little more like layout step outs," Mitch said, surprising me with his vocabulary. "And they're kind of advanced."
"You have to be able to jump really high and kinda..." Perri thought, "Hover."
Sighing, I surveyed the studio. My eyes landed on Sam teaching Jade a tutting routine, and a slight pang of jealousy hit me. I shook it off, knowing I was friends with both of them and very happy for their relationship.
"Maybe I could be thrown about the room, or jump off a stack of people like they do with Perri." I mused.
"We probably weigh about the same, they probably could throw you around." Perri laughed.
"Yeah, cuz you're damn skinny." I laughed.
"It's all muscle."
"Sure." I said, stretching the single syllable. "I always thought it looked fun to be thrown around."
"It is kinda fun. A bit nerve-wracking the first few times though."
"Hey, Mitch is younger than you, and used to be smaller. How come they never threw him around?"
"Because my hair looks so much better." Perri laughed.
"Hey Mitch, I'm thirsty and I didn't bring a drink. Think we could stop by the nearby corner store?" I asked.
"Yeah, but you may want to put your trousers back on." He said, hopping off the mat and slipping into his shoes.
"Yeah. I'll put on Sam's hat too, and wear it all low, just in case there are paparazzi. I think we should play around with this whole mystery girl thing." I laughed, putting my trousers back on.
I shoved my feet into my shoes and put Sam's hat on, the brim a little lower than usual.
"Do you even have any money on you?" Mitch asked.
"No." I blinked. "But Sam does."
I ran over to Sam and Jade, interrupting them in the middle of a routine.
"Sam, we're headed to the corner store but we haven't got any money. We'll get you whatever you want and I'll pay you back!" I said, hitting him with my puppypout.
"Stop using that face when it's not necessary, Haz. I've no problem lending my best friend money. Especially since she's gunna go get me some chocolate."
"Fatty." I laughed, taking the bills he handed me. "Anything for the lady?"
"I'm fine, thankyou though." Jade replied.
"Alright, we're out then. Back soon!" I called as I followed Mitch out the door.
Once we were outside we remembered which direction we were going and headed off on our way.
"Do you suppose you could give me a piggyback?" I asked randomly.
"Why?"
"Cuz I like piggybags, and we can have some fun if there are any random magazine photographers around." I laughed. "But you might not be able to cuz we're like, the same height and it makes it kinda hard."
"I'm taller than you. Get on my back." he said, stopping and hunching over.
Shrugging, I carefully hopped onto his back. Keeping a hand on his shoulder as he started walking, I raised a fist in the air and quietly yelled "For Narnia!"
"What?" He laughed.
"I dont know, it's just something you say." I smiled, slumping down and wrapping my arms around Mitch's neck loosely.
We made it to the store quickly, grabbing a bottle of water for me and a chocolate bar for Sam. This time it was my turn to make him look unhealthy by comparison.
We ran the whole way back for no real reason and I had burst through the studio doors.
"Here's your change and your chocolate." I said, handing Sam both.
He reached up from where he was sitting against the mirror to retrieve them from me.
"This is kinda our spot, hmm?" I asked, sitting on his left.
"Yeah, sorta. Good spot to watch the others dance and/or make complete fools of themselves." he said, watching Jade practice a simple routine with Ashley.
"Whens the last time you got to wear your own hat?" I brought up, sipping my water.
"I dont know," he laughed. "You've had it a long time. But I think it looks better on you anyway."
I fought off the small blush that hit my face. Even if Sam was my best friend --and had been for some time-- and even if I had a boyfriend, Sam could always make me blush. It usually wasn't even when he was being naturally flirty, it was times like this where he'd say something completely honest and random. He caught me off guard.
"Well thanks, but it looks pretty good on you too." I said, taking it off my head and placing it on his. "I want it back though."
"I've a feeling I'm never getting this hat back for keeps." He laughed, adjusting the lopsided hat.
"We'll see." I smiled. "Hey, what time is it?"
"Where's your phone?"
"Left it at home."
He pulled his iPhone out his hoodie pocket and clicked the top button, same as I always did.
"'Bout one." he said.
"Is it only? Was there a time change I was unaware of or something?"
"Nope,"
"Well. Wonder how long we'll stick around."
"Ash an' them will be here late as usual. We could stick around until the time you usually leave, but thats ages from now. We can leave whenever. After all, your house is only ten minutes away."
"You're going to Hannahs?" Ike asked, always the one to hear things and make something out of it.
"Well, I spent the night at their place last night, Jade too. So tonight they get to stay my place, Jade included. It's cuz Mary and Rick are out of town and I dont want to be lonely." I answered.
"Oh, your 'parents' are out of town and your boyfriend's staying over, I see." he joked.
"Shh you." I laughed.
Ike walked back off to do whatever he'd been doing before.
"Since Jade's learning with Ashley, how about you do some tutting with me? I haven't practiced that routine Mitch taught me at all today."
"Can we tut from sitting?" Sam asked.
"Lazy ass." I laughed. "No, we can't."
"Hmph."
I stood up and looked down at him.
"Up." I commanded.
He stood up beside me and put his arms into the first position for this routine.
"Half speed?"
"Can we do like, three-quarter speed?" I asked, setting up for the routine.
"Sure." he laughed. "On my count then. Five, six, seven, eight."
He kept count through the routine, keeping me on beat. I managed the speed and would hopefully be able to do full speed before long.
Hands met my hips at the same time as "Boo" was said into my ear, making me jump slightly.
"Mitch." I whined. "You sneak up on me too often."
"That tutting routine's looking good." He said, ignoring my complaint.
"Well thanks. I think we should go back to my place soon though, it's getting a bit boring here. Plus Mary will undoubtedly call me tonight since I said I'd be at the house and my phone's at the house so."
"Yeah? Sounds good to me. Looks like Jade's getting a bit tired too." Mitch said, observing Jade make her way through a house routine.
"She's pretty good." I said.
"Well she had to dance on X-Factor right? And she has to dance for other performances." Sam said.
"I haven't done much house. I've basically only done it when my wrist was broken." I said, staring at Mitch in case he tried to say something about how it was his fault.
"Yeah? Who with?" Mitch asked.
"Perri, but I'm not even sure if I'd remember it now." I frowned.
"We teach you type routines too much." Mitch said. "You're usually using only your arms or only your legs, we'll have to teach you something with both. Some new-style, maybe. We've got plenty we can teach you. It'll increase the difficulty, which you're due for."
"Ohk." I said, excited to learn more.
"Starting tomorrow, or whenever you're here next. Your choice whether we're here tomorrow or not."
"I think it's a collective choice." I laughed. "I can't just say we're coming to the studio if you dont want to."
"Sure you can." He laughed. "What say we do a little bit more tumbling before we go?"
"Yeah, for sure. Oh, Sam. Get off your lazy butt and do something." I laughed, walking backwards to the tumbling mat.
"I'm not sitting, if you haven't noticed. But I'll go dance if it'll make her highness happy." Sam shot back, grinning.
Laughing loudly, I turned around to avoid running into anyone and jogged the way to the mat where Mitch and Pel were doing combos. Once there, I slipped out of my shoes and joggers and hopped onto the mat.
"Hey Pel." I said as he landed a back tuck.
"Hey, Mitch tells me you guys are leaving soon."
"Yeah, so we're getting in this last little bit of tumbling." I said, hopping into a short combo of round-off, back handspring, back tuck.
"You're getting really good. But if you'll excuse me, I've got to go talk to Ash a sec." he said, hopping off the mat.
I shrugged and jumped into a back handspring, adding another and finishing with a back tuck.
"Woo, I'm a little close to the end of the mat." I said, looking behind me.
"You've got to check the distance before tumbling." Mitch sighed.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Hey, Hannah." I turned to see Ashley beckoning me over. "C'mere a sec."
Making a puzzled face, I walked over to him and Terry.
"Lay down on your back."
Raising an eyebrow, I did as he said. Ashley grabbed my wrists and held my arms up above my head. Terry grabbed my feet and they lifted me up.
"You ready?" Ashley asked.
I glanced at who he was speaking to as it all began to sink in. Jordan, Warren, and Ike were standing in a line a few meters away, facing Ashley and Terry.
"Oh my god no." I said as they began to swing me.
They let go of me and, with a shriek, I was thrown across the studio in a spiral. I heard Jade take a small gasp, sitting down against the mirror. Jordan, Warren, and Ike did as they were supposed to and caught me, gently letting me down.
"Whose idea was this?" I asked, the boys all laughing. "Perri. It was you, wasn't it?"
"Well, you did say you wondered what it was like to be thrown around." He piped up.
Sighing, I walked back over to Ash and Tel.
"That was actually fun though, think you could do the one where you throw Pel like, ten feet up?" I asked, looking way up at Ashley's insane height.
"I think we probably could. You're easy to throw, about the same weight as Pel. We need everyone else for that though. Alright, we're throwing her high, everyone in position to catch her."
The three boys who'd already caught me shifted so they were no longer facing Ashley and instead facing the tumbling mat. The other guys all joined, some facing the opposite direction.
Ashley and Terry bent really low, putting their hands down.
"Alright, you've got to step into our hands, one foot in Tel's hands, one in mine. Put your hands on our shoulders to steady yourself and we'll throw you about ten feet. When you're coming back down, try to sorta lay in the air so when they catch you you're on your back." Ashley explained. "Nervous?"
"A little, but I've seen you do it with Perri and I trust you all." I said, preparing to step into their hands.
Taking a breath, I placed my hands lightly on each of their shoulders. I put my right foot into Terry's hand first, still shoeless but wearing socks. My left foot found Ashley's hands and I was instantly being thrown, a small noise escaping my mouth.
I went mostly up, but back enough that I'd make it to the boys ready to catch me. I must've made it at least ten feet before I was on my way down. Remembering what Ashley'd said, I tilted myself back into a laying position. I came down fast and soon I landed in a bunch of arms.
"Div." Sam said, right beside my face and helping support me.
I stuck out my tongue at him as they let me down.
"That's actually kind of like cheerleading." I realized. "Flyers do stuff like that, but they actually fly higher and do tricks in the air."
"Have you done cheer?" Ashley asked.
"No, but I probably could now with everything I've been taught." I laughed.
As the boys disbanded, I headed over to Sam, Mitch, and Jade.
"Well, what a fun way to end our studio time. Home?" I asked.
"It's only like, half past one. But we might as well." Sam said, checking his phone.
I ran over to the mat and pulled on my joggers and trainers before running back to our group.
"We're out!" I announced. "See you whenever."
Many goodbyes met our ears as we slipped into the entrance room, grabbing some sweets and walking out the front door.
"Alright, so if we're staying the night at my place," I said, grabbing Sam's hat and placing it on my head. "We're having a proper sleepover. So prepare to be really fat tomorrow, cuz we're gunna eat like we haven't in a month."
The three laughed.
"I'm serious." I said, despite laughing too.
"We'll have to go back to the corner store once we stop by my house. We'll grab some money and buy some crisps and sweets. I've got like, unlimited cola at home, but we can buy some other drinks too. Mary and Rick left me a lot of money. And we'll have pizza for dinner, since I can't cook and a real sleepover always needs pizza."
"You can cook, Haz. You're just lazy." Sam said.
"Have you seen me cook?"
"No, but I've seen you bake. And when we baked you were telling me not to doubt your cooking skills."
"Why do you remember everything I've ever said?" I laughed, opening my front door.
"So I can hold it against you later." Sam winked.
Rolling my eyes, I headed right towards the stairs.
"Money's in my room, one second."
I ran up the stairs, grabbing the money and my phone off my night stand, I also grabbed a hoodie so I'd have pockets. On my way back down I slipped into my hoodie, placing my phone and money into my right pocket.
I opened the door when I hit the front mat, looking back at the three in my kitchen.
"Coming?"
We walked back to the corner store Mitch and I had been to earlier and bought just about everything. We bought a large assortment of sweets, biscuits, and crisps, everything in the largest size it came. We'd bought more than what was typically served at a birthday party.
"Wow, we're fat." I laughed, placing one of our bags on the counter when we reached my house.
"Yeah, pretty much." Sam said, placing another one beside it.
Mitch put the last one beside it. Three bags of crisps and sweets, plus a pizza later.
"Alright, I know this is a little weird. But I'm gunna take a shower real quick, cuz I feel disgusting. If any of you feel the same, you're welcome to shower after. I'm just used to showering everyday, so." I said, slipping out of my shoes. "You guys are all welcome to anything in the house though, make yourself at home."
I headed up the stairs, grabbing some clothes and a towel. I closed and locked the bathroom door. I took a ten minute shower before hopping out. I wrapped my towel tight around my body and plugged in my blowdryer. Wanting to dry quickly, I flipped my head over and finger combed it while running the hot air over it all evenly.
I flipped my hair back, noticing the volume in it from hanging it upside down. I grabbed my brush and smoothed it down a little, content to leave it natural.
Dry now, I started putting my outfit on. Once in my under clothes, I pulled on a pair of black denim shorts, short enough for the white pockets to stick out the bottom. I also pulled on one of my new favourite shirts. It was a grey scoop-neck, long-sleeve tee with thin white stripes, and my favourite part, a white lace back. Some people wore bandos underneath shirts like these, to hide the backs of their bra, but I didnt care.
I didnt put on any makeup except my thick wing liner and mascara before heading into my room to get rid of my dirty laundry and headed downstairs.
"Back, did you miss me?" I asked, walking into the living room where they'd all slouched into their seats, watching some random program on the telly.
"Not really." Sam joked.
"I did." Mitch said, putting his hands low on my waist and pulling me into his lap in Rick's easychair.
"What time is it?" I asked. "Two, two ten?" I guessed.
Absentmindedly, Mitch traced the lace patterns on my back, making me shiver.
"Where's your phone?" Sam asked again.
"On the counter next to your hat." I said a little sheepishly.
"Go get it, I think you got a text just before coming down anyway."
"Alright, alright." I said, slipping out of Mitch's embrace and standing up.
"Oh, I love your shirt." Jade said as I walked back to the kitchen.
"Thankyou." I smiled.
Reaching the counter, I placed Sam's hat on my head before grabbing my phone and our bags of junkfood. Walking back over to them, I put everything onto the short table between the easychair and loveseat. I sat back in Mitch's lap and turned my phone on, seeing a text from Mary.
"You at home?" it said.
"Yep, we were at the studio earlier and now we're back home. We bought a bunch of junk food and we're having pizza for dinner." I texted back, answering the questions she'd probably ask before she got the chance.
As I switched to playing Temple Run, Mitch wrapped his arms around my waist and put his chin on my shoulder, seemingly a favourite position of his.
"This kinda brings back memories, as lame as that sounds." I laughed. "Temple Run's the reason I even met you guys."
"Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten. I feel like I've known you forever." Sam laughed, watching me play.
"Yeah, I beat your highscore on Temple Run and then I tweeted it to you and you randomly invited me to the studio." I slid my finger up the phone, jumping over a tree root.
"Well I think that was a pretty good random decision, wouldnt you agree?"
"No, I hate you guys." I joked. "But you need to beat my score, so I can beat yours again."
"That hardly seems fair." Sam laughed, opening a bag of mini Reese cups.
"Life's not fair." I laughed, the guy on Temple Run running into a tree. "Chocolate." I said, reaching over the table and into the bag Sam was holding.
"Say please." Sam joked.
"Hey, Mitch. You don't like chocolate, do you?" I asked, settling back into a comfortable position.
"Not really."
"You're so weird." I laughed. "Let's turn on the music channel, yeah?" I grabbed the remote off the table and typed in the appropriate channel number.
"I need a drink." Sam said, standing up from the couch.
"Bring me one too?" I asked.
He raised an eyebrow at me.
"I brought everything else over." I pointed out.
"Can of cola?" he asked and I nodded. "Anyone else?"
Jade and Mitch both nodded and Sam ended up bringing four cans of coca-cola over.
"So what're we doing?" Sam asked.
"Classic sleepover stuff. We can play some board games, or Apples to Apples, my favourite. Usually makeovers happen at sleepovers, but I'm not sure how willing you two are."
"Not happening." Sam laughed.
"I'd rather not." Mitch said, kissing my cheek.
"Alright then." I laughed. "We've got plenty of boardgames and card games, and we could always play any regular card game like Go Fish. Or something more British and posh like chess."
"Chess isn't a card game, you div."
"Technically I didn't say it was." I laughed. "And I've got an Xbox with four controllers and some multiplayer games. Oh, and Netflix if we want to watch a movie."
"You're hooked up." Sam said.
"I'm a bit spoiled since Rick and Mary don't have children of their own." I agreed. "We could play Blackjack, but it's not the same without a pot."
"We can play without a pot, I'll still beat you though." Sam said.
He and I were forever competitive, one of those best friends things. I was pretty competitive anyway, so the fact that Sam was too always made things interesting. Like mini golf.
"I'll get the cards then, everyone on the floor." I said, standing up.
I walked to the closet in the hallway where we kept our boardgames, cardgames, and the like. I grabbed a deck of cards and found my way back to the living room. Jade and Sam were beside eachother, and Mitch was across from Jade. This ended up making the boys diagonal from eachother, and Jade and I diagonal from eachother.
"Alright, everyone knows the rules of Blackjack?" I asked, sitting down and taking the cards out the box.
"I think I know." Jade said, a little unsure.
"We'll go over them anyway. So the dealer starts by handing everyone two cards, face down. Look at your cards, but try to keep them private. The numbers on the cards get added together, face cards are worth ten and the player can choose whether their ace is one or eleven. The object is to get as close to twenty one as you can. We'll go clockwise and if your cards together are under twenty one you can say 'hit' and you'll get another card, face up. If you go over twenty one, say 'bust' and turn your cards face up, you've lost. If you've under twenty one, but you dont want to risk adding more, say 'stand'. If you reach twenty one, say 'blackjack' and turn your cards face up. The first person to twenty one, or the one closet without go over, would get the pot." I explained, shuffling the cards while speaking. "Understand?"
"Yeah, I think I've got it." Jade said.
"I'll help you for the first while, if you need it." Sam said.
"If you're helping her, I'm dealing." I said. "Just to be sure."
Done shuffling, I put two cards face down in front of each player in a clockwise order. Checking my own, I had a queen and a six. That made sixteen, if I got a five I'd have twenty one. But Sam went first.
"Sam?" I asked.
He checked his cards again before answering me.
"Hit me."
Nodding, I placed a card face up beside his other two. It was a three of diamonds. He smiled.
"Nice poker face." I laughed. "Jade?"
"Uhm, hit." She said, glancing at her cards.
I slid a card off the top of the deck. Flipping it over, I saw it was a jack. As I placed it on top of her other cards, she groaned.
"Bust." She said, flipping her cards. She had a queen, a two of clubs, and the jack I'd just given her made twenty two.
"Next time." I smiled. "Mitch?"
"Hit."
I gave him the next card, a three of hearts.
"Blackjack." He smirked, flipping his cards. He had a king, an eight of spades, and the three I'd just given him.
"Not fair." I laughed. "I didn't even get to my third card."
"Not my fault." He laughed.
"Sam's dealing this time." I said, handing him all the cards and standing to grab my drink from the table.
I sat back down as Sam was shuffling intricately. He looked like a professional Blackjack dealer as he dealt our cards.
"Can we go counter-clockwise this time?" I asked, looking at my cards. Jack and a seven. I needed a four.
"Sure, hit?" he asked.
I nodded and he placed a five of spades face up beside my other cards.
"Seriously?" I whined. "Bust." I frowned, flipping my cards face up.
"Guess going counter-clockwise didnt work in your favour, hm?" Sam laughed.
"Shh."
We played a few more rounds of Blackjack, and despite my bad luck in the beginning, I ended up tieing Sam. It was about three o'clock now.
"What time are we gunna want pizza?" I asked, eating some sweets.
"I dunno, four?" Sam suggested.
"We've got so much food I dont think it matters when we order it." Jade laughed.
"Well, I'm kinda hungry. So if I order it now and we stop eating until it gets here, I think we'll be hungry enough to eat it." I laughed. "I'm ordering online though, I hate calling people."
I walked over to the dining room table where I'd put my laptop a few nights ago and sat down. I opened my laptop and waited for it to turn itself on then typed Dominoes Pizza into the search bar.
"A cheese pizza, a pepperoni pizza, and two cheesie breads. We're gunna have to go to Danceworks tomorrow just to work this all off." I laughed, completing the order form and clicking the finish button.
"Holy shit." Sam laughed. "I'm gunna weigh a whole extra stone tomorrow."
"That's why we'll stop by Danceworks to get rid of it." I laughed. "Hey, should we play some dubstep? I've got a pretty good playlist here."
"Yeah, the hit list channel only plays the same twenty songs anyway." Jade said.
"Turn the telly off for me, then?" I asked.
Jade grabbed the remote and pressed the red button at the top, the telly turning off with a click.
I went into my iTunes and went to my dubstep playlist, letting it play from top to bottom.
"Ayy, Slats Slats Slats. You've got good taste in dubstep." Sam said.
"Why thankyou, Samuel." I laughed.
We hung out and did stupid things for the rest of the day, entertaining ourselves with simple pleasures. We ate like we were starving. Soon we were building a bed on the living room floor made of a lot of blankets and pillows. We'd changed into comfy clothes and lounged around, watching a movie, then fell asleep.