Give Me Envy, Give Me Malice, Give Me Your Attention

A few hours after the randomness that had occurred in Spencer's room, we were all out in the backyard, talking. The group consisted of me, Spencer, Yume, Ryan, Brendon, Sam, Brent, and Kayla. We all were basically catching up to speed on our lives and such. At about 7:45 pm, Sam and Brendon disappeared and reappeared on the dance floor. This triggered a breaking up of our group as everyone took off to do other things.

"Well, that's great," Yume remarked, skipping back into the house with me and Spencer following. We walked into the living room, where Danny and his friends were playing video games.

"Soul Caliber 2! Let me play!" Yume and Spencer yelled, leaping over the couch to wrestle for the controllers. Danny and his friends put up a fight and succeeded. Yume and Spencer retreated to the couch, glaring at them.

"I'm going to get that controller!" Yume yelled, pointing at Danny.

"How did you not get it from him now? They're all thirteen..." I started, but was cut off by Yume and Spencer glaring at me.

"How about we just sit down and wait for your turns?" I insisted, sitting on the end of the couch myself. Spencer and Yume sat down, Spencer grumbling about something under his breath.

"Hey Spence, why the angry face?"

Through the door that lead to the kitchen walked in a guy that I didn't recognize. He held a bag of Cheetos and a gallon of soda.

"Jake!" Spencer greeted the guy, although not bothering to get up.

"Who wants some Cheetos?" the guy named Jake asked, setting the bottle onto the coffee table and holding the bag in the air.

"Heck Yes!" Sam proclaimed, randomly running in and over to him, snatching the bag out of his hands.

"Thanks Jake!" she yelled as she ran back to Brendon, who was still standing on the dance floor, looking slightly dumbstruck.

"Who's Jake?" I asked Yume, as I sank deeper into the very fluffy couch.

"He's Spencer's friend," Yume said, scooting next to me so that Jake could sit down.

"How come I haven't met him before? Where's he been in the few days you guys have dragged me around? "

"Oh, well, he just came back from his vacation in Mexico. He came home last night," Yume explained with her eyes still stuck on the TV as Danny played. When his character suddenly died, Yume jumped up, grabbed the controller from him and sat on the ground.

"BWAHAHAHA! Mine!" she cried, starting a new game. While Yume entertained herself with that, I began to study Jake as he poured himself a cup of soda and continued his conversation with Spencer. He was pretty cute, but I was trying to convince myself that I couldn't fall for every guy I reacquainted myself with or met... well, saw. He was pretty tall, with reddish brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, and freckles across his nose and cheeks. As I was looking him over, he looked up to see me staring at him.

"Uh, hi," I smiled, trying to act natural and not blush. Jake shot Spencer a questioning look, who shrugged as I continued.

"I'm Adrienne, Adrie for short. I'm Spencer's cousin." I stuck my hand out for him to shake. I felt kind of retarded as he looked at my hand for a few seconds, than at me.

"Hi, I'm Jake," he responded, smiling and taking my hand. I smiled back, but didn't respond. After a while, he turned back to the TV. Yume squealed as she murderously killed Danny's friend Tyler's character.

"Heck yes! I am the master!" she cried, jumping up and down.

"She's insane," I commented, as everyone watched Yume run wild.

"Yeah, she is," Jake replied, turning his attention towards me. We sat there awkwardly for a while, not able to continue the conversation.

"So... I heard you just got back from Mexico," I began, searching for a topic.

"Yeah, it was pretty awesome," Jake suddenly perked up. "Come with me and I'll show you what I brought back."

He got up and waited as I slowly rose. I was kind of apprehensive. I had just met him and he was already leading me off to dark, private, possibly isolated places. I pushed the stupid thought out of my head as I followed him to Spencer's bedroom. I wanted to start cracking up again as I remembered the earlier events that had occurred in here, but stopped myself. Instead, I patiently sat on the bed as he began digging around in Spencer's closet, just as Spencer had done earlier, and brought out a box of fireworks. I looked at them warily, trying to keep calm.

"Put those away," I tried to keep my voice clear of the fear I had inside. As I stared at them longer, fear began to get the best of me. Jake stepped closer towards me.

"You're not scared of fireworks, are you?"

He was smirking, showing that he didn't believe me, which I did not appreciate at all. I nodded, turning away and trying to stay calm. I didn't want to become hysterical in front of Jake, even though he was turning out to be a jerk. I heard him rustle through Spencer's closet again, signaling that he had put the box away.

"I told you!" Spencer popped into the room. "You owe me 20 bucks!"

"What!?"

I turned on Spencer, my fury chasing away my previous fear. Spencer ran out and I went after him, jumping over his messy bed. Instead, my foot got caught in the rolled up covers, and I felt myself falling to the floor. This day was turning out great...

"Are you okay?"

I looked up to see Ryan peering down at me, while laughter echoed in from the hallway.

"I'm fine," I lied, actually hoping a black hole would come and suck me in. I dusted myself off, trying not to look at anyone directly. I could feel myself blushing furiously. The embarrassment from that face plant was not going away anytime soon.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am. I seriously thought Spencer was kidding when he said his cousin had a fireworks phobia," Jake came up behind me and started babbling.

"It's fine," I assured him, still staring at the ground.

"I didn't mean to scare you or anything... Seriously... Let me make it up to you somehow." Jake smiled at me once more, although this time it seemed different.

"Let's go back to the party, shall we?" Ryan interrupted, giving Jake a dirty look and putting his arm around me. I was completely confused as to what was happening. Maybe that fall gave me a concussion? I felt Ryan's soft palm and calloused fingertips enclose my bare shoulder. He steered me out of the bedroom and down the hall.

"Are you really okay?" Ryan whispered in my ear as we neared the living room.

"I'm fine," I replied, feeling like I was a broken record. I was also wondering why Ryan was being so protective. I've never really been all that close to him, so why was he acting like an older brother?

I looked up him, half-smiling. We stared into each others eyes for a while, until I looked away. I'm so confused. Last time I saw him, he told me I was only a friend, now he's being all overprotective...

"Would you like to play?" Ryan broke my train of thought, gesturing towards the now empty couch and game system.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked, amazed that no one was in the living room anymore. I heard the door close, signaling that everyone, except us, was outside.

"I think they might be doing fireworks right now..." Ryan said, peering out a window. I turned back to the TV, suddenly turning pale.

"A game sounds nice," I gulped, moving towards the couch. Ryan had just turned on the TV when a loud explosion came from outside. I screamed and ran into the basement. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, my heart racing.

***

At that same moment that Adrienne ran away, the front door opened, to reveal Danny and his friends grinning.

"Did Adrienne like the firework we lit in her honor?" Danny asked.

"I'm sure she did," Ryan answered sarcastically. "It sent her screaming into the basement."
Danny, Joseph and Tyler high-fived each other, then looked back at Ryan.

"Are you okay?" Danny started, stepping into the house.

"Yeah, you seem pretty irritated," Tyler finished, closing the front door.

"Maybe you should be asking Adrienne if she's fine," Ryan answered, starting towards the basement, with Danny and co. tagging along.

"Adrienne, are you okay?" Ryan asked, yelling through the closed door.

"Aww... is wittle Adrie scared?" Danny teased.

"The wittle baby's scared," Joseph mocked in a girlish voice.

"Guys, seriously. Just leave her alone," Ryan warned, giving them a stern look.

"Okay, fine. We'll leave you alone with your girlfriend," they jeered, turning and heading back out the front door.

"What did they just call me?" Ryan turned to see that Adrienne had opened the basement door a bit, just as the front door closed.

"They called you my girlfriend," Ryan responded, looking down into her eyes.