1961 // louis dimucci

Chapter 5

"Noooo," Louis says, "We're not just going to stand here."

"Then stop standing there and come in!" I exclaim.

"What is this? A hen party?" Johnny struts in and sits beside Steph, who immediately jumps up and moves away from him.

"Hey Goose," Rhonda says, grabbing his hand and standing on her tiptoes to kiss him.

"Hey Ritter," He grins and they start to make out.

"Gross," I push Goose's back and they stumble around, landing on the bed.

"What's this?" Davey grabs Sharon's clipboard.

She grabs it out of his hands, "Nothing!" 

Louis sneaks up behind her and pulls it out from her grip, "What is this? Costumes? For what?"

"The June Moon Talent Show," Paulette says, staring at Johnny.

"Well, we're doing the talent show, too!" Davey says, "And we're going to win!" 

"Hah! You guys's only talent is smoking and chewing gum at the same time," Steph laughs, "What makes you think you can win the talent show?"

"Yeah? And what's your talent going to be?" Louis says.

"We are singing an ORIGINAL song," Sharon boasts.

"We can sing original songs, too!" Johnny shouts.

"Yeah, right. You guys can't even write an essay," I retort. And they can't. They haven't written an paper in their entire lives.

"Neither have you," Louis adds.

"Well... Sharon has, and she's in charge of this."

"Guys! Let's just calm down," Rhonda exclaims, "Let's play a game or something. How about Seven Minutes in Heaven?" 

"Oooh!" Paulette squeals, "I love that game!"

"Of course you do," I say and Louis laughs.

"Okay, everyone, sit in a circle. Goose, hand me that empty bottle on my nightstand." 

She places the bottle in the middle of the circle. 

"Okay, who's going first?" She smiles. No one raises their hand.

"Alright... I guess I will," She spins the bottle and it lands on Goose, "Oooh!" She giggles and claps her hands.

"Aw yeaaaaah," Goose stands up and pulls her into the closet, which is probably filled with clothes. How are they supposed to spend their seven minutes in heaven when heaven is cluttered with sweaters and skirts?

I glance at the clock; 9:12. We'll get them out at 9:19.

We wait in silence for the longest seven minutes of my life.

"Alright! Time's up!" Paulette runs to the closet and yanks it open.

No surprise, Goose has his hands up Rhonda's shirt and her hands are running through his curly hair.

"Okay, you two," She pulls them apart and guides them back to the circle.

"Okay, Goose," Rhonda says, panting, "You spin first."

It lands on Louis.

He spins it to see who his partner will be.

I bet he'll get Sharon and she'll just sit in the closet with her arms and legs crossed.

It spins and spins and spins and it lands on... me.

"Oooooh!" Everyone shouts. I look over at Sharon and she looks mad. I try to give her a smile saying that it wasn't my fault, but she just gave me an icy glare.

Louis stands up and holds out his hand, and I take it and follow him to the closet.

He shuts the door.

"Seven minutes, huh?" I say, nervously, leaning back against some of Rhonda's tops. I don't want to do anything with him, especially because he's dating Sharon.

"Mhm..." He says.

"Let's don't and say we did," I conclude.

"How about let's do and say we don't?" He asks, inching closer.

"Are you trying to get in my pants or something? Because you've got Sharon for that," I back away.

"You know she'd never let me anywhere near her pants," He laughs.

"True..." I say.

"Look, you don't have to kiss me if you don't want to. I just thought since we were playing a game, you wouldn't care," He says, trying to close the gap between us again.

"I don't care about kissing you, I care about Sharon," I try to explain.

"Yeah, I care about Sharon, too, but she knows it's just a game," He says.

"Didn't look like it..." I trail off. It definitely didn't look like it.

"Okay, okay, fine," He says, "We can just stand here for the next five minutes."

"Okay," I cross my arms and try to look everywhere but at him. It works for about a minute, but then I get bored.

"Louis?"

"Yeah?"

"It's just a game, right?" I lean up and and go to kiss him but at the last moment, I turn away.

"What?!" He exclaims.

"Sorry, not feeling it," I smirk and go for the door handle but he grabs my waist and pulls me backwards.

"Don't play games, Chloe," He whispers in my ear, and I start to get all tingly inside. 

No, snap out of it, Chloe. He's dating Sharon, and I refuse to do this to her.

I wiggle out of his grip and grab the door handle, getting out of there as fast as I possibly can. Was he really trying to get with me? Or did he really believe that it was just a game?

"How'd it go?" Rhonda whispers in my ear.

"Tell you later," I whisper back.