No Denying You're the Habit I Can't Quit

"What do you mean, your leaving for the weekend?" I asked my mother, Lisa, as she put away the cleaned dinner dishes.
"Me and Phillip (step-dad) are leaving for the weekend and coming back Monday afternoon."
"Yeah, but I mean, why?"
"Does it really matter?" My mother was annoyed by all my questions.

Just then, Phillip walked in. Probably to get something to eat, just after we had eaten dinner. "What are you arguing about with you're mother now?"
"We weren't even arguing." I said, pushing my choppy bangs to the side of my forehead.
"Well with that additute, I think you were."
"Whatever." I said, and walked out of the kitchen and made my way into my room, at the end of the hallway.
And my family wonders why I can't stand my step-dad. Yeah, I think they'd like to see the real Phillip. He's a jerk. He's constintly criticizing me about everything.

Like, the clothes I wear. The color I dye my hair, the music I listen to, the friends I hang out with. Oh yeah, and he's always making fun of Shaant. You want to know why? He think's Shaant is gay. What the hell? He think's that if a guy hangs out with a girl all the time, and they're not together or anything, that they're gay. But whatever. Phillips a jerk. I don't know why my mom had married him. She was better off with my dad.

****

(The next night, Saturday)

So, my parents have been gone all day, and will be gone until Monday night.
Me and Michelle decided to invite over Shaant, Andrew, and Jepha. And yeah, we did invite Jeff, but he had family plans.
We all sat in the big living room, wathching movies and pigging out on junk food.

"Dude! I'm telling you, there's nothing on!" Andrew complained as he flipped through the charter movie channels.
"Okay, whatever. Watch this then." Shaant shook his head, laughing.
"You guys, what's wrong with it anyways? I like Brokeback Mountain." I tried to act serious, even though I was.
Andrew and Shaant bursted out into laughter. I rolled my eyes.
It was quiet for a couple of minutes, until Jepha complained about wanted more popcorn, so I decided to go into the kitchen and help her make a couple more bags, make that three. We all know how Andrew is.

"So," Jepha started, "Is Shaant staying the night tonight?"
I looked over at her quickly. "Jepha, be quiet."
"What?" she laughed. "He can't hear me."
"Why does it matter anyways? I mean he's stayed the night here before."
"I don't know. I was just wondering." Jepha reached into the refrigerator and grabbed herself a dr. pepper. "And anyways, since when do you feel all awkward around him, he's your best friend."
"I'm not awkward around him. I just don't want him to hear us talking about him right now." I poured all three bags of popcorn in a huge bowl.
"Sorry." Jepha said.
"It's okay. I'm not mad or anything." I smiled.

Jepha and I made our way back into the living room, where we found Shaant on the floor, and Andrew and Michelle bacically laying on eachother.
I placed the popcorn on the coffee table, and watched everyone grab a handful.
I grabbed a pillow from the couch, and placed myself down by Shaant on the floor infront of the T.V. as Jepha sat on the recliner.
"Are you guys seriously going to watch this?" I asked them.
"Yeah, I think they are." Michelle said. "Let's watch something else."
"Well then you look for something." Andrew handed her the remote.

As Michelle focused on what to watch, I could see Shaant starring at me from the corner of my eyes.
I turned and faced him. "Hi." I smiled.
"Hey." he smiled back. "Are you having fun?"
"Uhm...No." I said, confused. "You're weird." I looked back at the T.V.
"You're mean to me."
"How am I mean to you?" I looked back at him.
"You just are. Because you hate me."
"Shut up, Shaant. I don't hate you."
"So you love me?"
As soon as he said that, my heart dropped. "You're right, I hate you." I smiled.

*****

I woke up in the middle of the night in the living room. We must of all fallen asleep from watching 'Joe Dirt'. You have no idea how many times I have seen that movie.
It was still dark in the living room. As soon as I noticed my head was resting on Shaant's leg, I immediatly removed it away from it. I got up and tried to see what time it was on the clock in the living room. I have a habit of doing that. Everytime I wake up in the middle of the night, I always see what time it is.
The clock said that it was 6:40 a.m. That means the sun will be coming up soon. I walked over to Shaant, and whispered in his ear, "Wake up."

(Shaant's POV)

"Wake up!" Shaant heard a quiet whisper in his ear. Still, he didn't wake.
He felt a little shake now. "Shaant!"
Shaant opened his eyes. "Stephanie?"
"Yessssss. Come with me." Stephanie said.
"It's dark."
"I know. Let's go watch the sun rise."
Shaant sat up. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. Why else would I be waking you? Come onnnnn." She grabbed his arm.

They walked down the hallway together, and out the front door. It was still sort of dark outside, but you could tell the sun was rising. The morning crisp smell filled the air, it wasn't exactly cold outside, but it wasn't exactly warm either. It felt cool, and damp.

"Why are we doing this?" Shaant asked.
"Because, I haven't watched the sun rise in a long time." Stephanie smiled at him. "And don't complain."
Shaant smiled at her. They each sat on the front porch steps, watching the sky, and waiting for the sun to rise.
"Well at least when the sun comes up, can we go back to sleep?" Shaant joked.
"Shut up." Stephanie laughed, and gave him a little push.

Shaant loved being around Stephanie. She made him feel happy. She was his best friend. No matter how weird his guy friends thought it was.
He watched as she starred up at the sky. He could care less about watching the sun come up. He couldn't keep his eyes off her.

As soon as Stephanie caught him starring at her, all he could do is smile. "Ahhhh, Stephanie." he put his arm around her. "You're my best friend."
She laughed. "You're mine, too."