Keep Up

Chapter Two

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."
"Can you be quiet?" I asked Dean as I pinched his ear even harder, dragging him down the hall.
"You're about to rip my ear off," Dean complained soberly. "It hurts."
I ignored him and pushed him into The Shield's locker room.
Roman laughed as Dean fell onto the couch. "What's so funny?" Dean mumbled, his voice muffled by the cushion.
"I heard you 'ow'ing all the way down the hall," Roman chuckled.
"You don't understand," Dean said, sitting up. "I almost had only one ear."
Roman started laughing but I quickly walked over and pinched one of his ears too.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow! What's this for?"
"For letting him drink before work," I scolded, pinching harder. He clenched his teeth. "I didn't know he was drinking," he forced out before pushing my hand away. "He must have done it once I left." I placed my hands on my hips as he nursed his now red ear. "I'm not lying," he mumbled.
I rolled my eyes and plopped down beside Dean on the couch. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple. "You really need to relax," he told me.
"Whatever," I muttered as my phone rang in my back pocket. I pulled it out and pressed it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, Chelsea," Mrs. Good chirped. "How's it going?"
"Good," I answered cautiously. Mrs. Good's mood swings level have kicked up a notch. More often than not she goes from happily gossiping with me about the women in her Lamaze class to crying and blubbering incoherently to telling me off about saying something I clearly hadn't because she wouldn't let me get a word in, all within the time span of 3 minutes tops.
"That's good," she said. "Just wanted to call before the show."
I nodded. "That's cool."
"Do you think I could talk to Jonathan for a little bit?" she asked timidly.
I glanced over at Dean who was bobbing his head to a beat that played only in his mind, drumming his fingers on the armrest. He caught me staring and raised his eyebrows at me. "Uh, sure."
"What?" Dean mouthed.
"Your mom," I replied, nudging the phone in his direction.
"No!" he whispered. "Keep talking to her."
"Dean, if you don't take this phone," I growled.
He kept pushing it away as I offered it. Next thing you know, I jumped on him, pinning one of his cheeks to the couch cushion and forcefully slapping the phone to his ear. He huffed.
"Hello?.....Hi.....Nothing much, just getting ready.....Yeah, really busy at the moment.....Maybe I can call you after the show.....Mom, stop, why are you crying?.....Wait, hold on, why are you yelling?.....I did not say that!.....You know what, I need to go.....Alright, bye." He pressed the end call button with his cheek and huffed. "Now get off of me."
Roman laughed. "You got tackled by a 96 pounder, dude."
"Shut up," Dean snapped as he sat up. "Thanks for the help. She was trying to break my neck."
"Was not," I argued. "But you have to stop avoiding your mom's calls."
"Can you just cut me some slack?" Dean asked. "I'm just now really warming up to her. Now you want me to take her calls, too? Besides, I don't wanna be talking to her when she's like that."
I shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt," I stated, ignoring that last comment. "And she is your mom." Dean glared at me. "Sorry, not playing that card."
He sighed and laid his head on the back of the couch. "Where's Seth?"
"Haven't seen him at all since I left the  room," Roman replied. "Keeping himself hidden...smart man."

"Hey, Chelsea, wait up!"
I rolled my eyes. "What do you want Orton?" I questioned tersely as he caught up with me.
"Nothing," he replied casually with a nonchalant shrug thought I knew he was nervous by the way his eyes kept darting all over the place. "Just wanted to give you something."
He pulled out a iPhone 6 Plus wallet case with the Eiffel Tower on the front and Love splayed over it.
"What's this for?" I asked in boredom as I looked at my nails.
He shrugged again. "Just for being a good friend," he answered. "And I heard that Dean just got you the Plus Saturday so I wanted this case to be your first."
I pushed it away. "Stop, Randy. It's pathetic. No matter how many gifts you give me, I'm not going to forget what happened back in April."
His shoulders slumped and his arms hung loosely at his sides. "I said I was sorry," he mumbled.
"'Sorry' doesn't change anything," I told him. "It's just a word."
As I left him standing in the middle of the hallway, I saw a flash of brown/blonde duck around a corner.
"Seth?" I called out, walking faster. "Seth?"
I walked up to the hallway that I saw the mysterious person walk down, but that corridor was empty. "Seth?" I called out again, my voice ricocheting off the walls. I shrugged and continued down the hall to catering.