It All Began With A Song [Editing]

Chapter 7: I'm Going To Live On Mars

The door bell rings shortly after I begin eating my sugar cookies. I quickly shove the remainder into my starving mouth and call out to my mom, who's in the living room reading her book (today's her day off). Bits of the cookies come out of my mouth when I attempt to say "Mom! I got it!" with a failure. Promptly, I manage to run out of the kitchen without tripping myself, but I stop midway when I hear the most dreaded words.

"Oh, you must be Chase! Come on in!" My mom's sing-song voice echoes straight to the living room, where Makenna and I are at.

My goal is just to get my racket and leave right away before my mom and Makenna say or do anything that's embarrassing, but I know that my wish isn't going to happen any time soon. My mom, according to how she treats the previous visitors in our house, will most likely lead him into the kitchen and let him try some of the cookies she made earlier. As if to prove my theory, I hear footsteps thumping toward us. "And here is our living room," my mom announces proudly as she raises the palm of her hand, acting as a tour guide.

Mom, you need to know that acting like a tour guide isn't going to help you sound professional. Plus, the room is in a horrible mess!

Chase studies some of the pictures that is taped on the walls, the fire crackling in the hearth of the fireplace, and finally at me, "Hello sugar cane."

"Hey," I reply back simply, just wanting to get this over with so we can go ahead and practice tennis.

Please please please don't say anything that's embarrassing.

"Oh! Let me go get the cookies!" My mom scurries away to the kitchen, possibly for the freshly baked cookies.

Makenna, who's once sitting on the couch, skips excitedly to Chase, "Pizza man, you remember me?" She then places two hands on her hips and glances up at him, beaming.

Once again, like last time, he crouches down and grins cheekily at her, no longer being the annoying cocky boy, "Sure I do, Olaf." He smooths the top of her messy brown locks.

My sister giggles at her new nickname and turns her head to look at me, "Nat! I'm just like Olaf because I like warm hugs too!"

"Chase, we're going to be la -- "

I'm interrupted by my mom when she enters the living room once again, a Ziploc bag filled with various flavors of cookies, "Chase, here are some cookies that I made!" Chase gets up as she hands them carefully to him. Then, she walks closer to him and whispers something to him; he chuckles and answers something back. I narrow my eyes suspiciously.

Why do I have a bad feeling they're talking about me?

Oh yea, because they are.

"Thanks Mrs. Ryals." Then, to me, he finally declares what I've wanted to hear ages ago, "We better get going before someone smacks me with her racket."

I quickly grab my tennis racket from the couch, proving to him that I will do that if we don't go. Before we can leave though, Chase takes off his backward New York Yankees cap and hands it to Makenna. "Here, you can have it," he smiles and then adds, "Olaf."

Her mouth forms into another grin as she exclaims happily, "Thank you, pizza guy! I got another cap, Momma!"

"Yes, I see. Thank you Chase, but you didn't have to do that." She beams at him, and I can already tell that she's going to tell me all the good things about him right after I come back.

Oh, how I look forward for that moment.

He simply shrugs and states, "It's okay."

Oh, I see what he's doing. Getting everyone to like him.

"Mom, we better go before before it rains. Remember what the weather man said," I urge before Chase can continue to use his charm on my mom.

"Oh, yea. Have fun! And don't forget to eat your cookies, Chase!" She raises her hand and waves us a good-bye.

While heading out to the door, Chase drapes his arm casually around me. "So, sugar cane, how was your day so far?"

I duck down, walk ahead with my body still ducked, stand back up again, and finally open the front door so we can go outside. Immediately, I feel better now that his arms aren't around my shoulders.

"Please don't touch me. It's rude, and like I said two weeks ago, personal bubbles still exist," I request as I peer up. The sun is hanging high up in the Saturday clear blue sky. It's hard to imagine that within a few hours, it will be raining, but then again, you never know; weather man lies all the time. I shiver slightly even though it's only a little after noontime, which normally means that it's the hottest part of the day.

"So your plan is to be cruel to me today? Huh sugar cane? Not cool you know. I am teaching you today, so you should be thanking me." He reaches into the pockets of his shorts (I still can't see how he can wear shorts when it's literally forty degrees Fahrenheit today.) to get his keys for the car. The car's lights blink twice to remind us that the door is unlocked.

I get in the front passenger seat, surprised that the black leather seats aren't as messy as I thought it's going to be. Breathing in the plastic smell of the car, I answer back when he is sitting in the car, "Yes, as you can tell. If it wasn't for the tennis practicing, I wouldn't even want to be in the same place with you."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, sugar cane, but we technically are living in the same planet. So you can't escape your worst nightmare, which apparently is me." He places the bag of cookies carefully in the back of the car, lips in an upside crescent moon. Proud of his smart remark, he inserts the key in the hole, and the the car ride officially begins.

"Watch me. I'm going to live on Mars."

With that, I get out of my phone in my back pocket and plug my earphones in my ear, songs blasting in my eardrums.

I'll be honest; it's actually pretty entertaining watching Chase talk while his eyes are trained on the road. Obviously, he doesn't know that I am no longer listening to his comments because he continues, moving his jaw like an alligator.

Open and close, open and close.

That makes the ride to the park utterly quiet. Well, for Chase, not me, for I am listening to a song. Occasionally, I'd glance at him for a second before returning my attention to the road ahead. After a while, he's still talking -- that's for sure; I don't know whether he's pretending, or that he really doesn't know that I am no longer listening to him. All I know is that his eyes remain glued to what's ahead the whole time.

When we arrive at the park to practice, my question is answered by his astonished expression. His raised eyebrows and mouth, slightly agape, quickly change upside down into a minor frown. With my earphones now out of my ears, he questions, eyebrows furrowed a little in frustration, "So you didn't hear a single word that I was saying?" He pauses, waiting.

My response is a laugh escaping out of my mouth. This causes him to raise his eyebrows again, "What's so funny?"

Well, one is how ignorant you are of not noticing that I wasn't listening. Two is that this time, you're the one that's frowning and confused, not me.

However, I can't say that out loud, so I say, "Nothing, it's just that... Never mind, I'm not telling you."

Without warning, he smirks playfully and doesn't hesitate to lean in, our faces just merely inches apart. I can already see that there're freckles hiding in his face. Eyes piercing into mine, he whispers softly, "You know, even with the bad throwing during gym and the flying rackets during try-outs, I probably still wouldn't have noticed you if you weren't singing at the park that night."

Song: "I Gatta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas

A/N: Cliffhanger, ahaha. ;) Hope y'all liked the chapter! Thanks so so so much for the 2K reads! Vote and comment maybe? :D