Kerosene Hearts

ii.

September
Anderson Residence
Zelda

"You shouldn't have let her get her hands on the console," I heard Christian complained, even though I was in the living room and he was in the kitchen. "Now all our egos are at stake."

I smiled at that.

"Not mine," Jeremy said, so cheerful I could picture his grin in my mind. "I'm not playing, and I'm betting on her."

Paris beside me, who also heard the conversation, snorted. "One day," he said in a playfully warning tone. "One day, you will regret not rooting for your best friend."

"I'm looking forward to that," Jeremy said, amused, and oddly serious.

Paris sighed defeatedly when he was, well, defeated. "You don't think that day will ever come, do you?"

"I don't high hopes for that so far," Jeremy admitted without missing a beat.

Paris grumbled under his breath and pulled out five dollars from his wallet, when he lost yet another round of Call of Duty against me.

"I think I'm stopping now," I said, standing up to stretch. I took his money and left the game console in that spot. "I still have work to do. I was actually just here for food." But then my crush asked me if I wanna play, and I just couldn't resist.

Pathetic, I knew. It had hardly been one month, and I was already more attracted to the boy who had shown me kindness since day one than I should. It didn't seem like he returned my feelings, though.

"But that was only two rounds," Christian whined. "Paris hasn't even started cursing yet."

"Fuck you."

The corner of my lips twitched. Jeremy, on the other hand, gave me a full blown grin when he met my gaze.

I couldn't help but smile. I didn't let our exchange continue, though, not wanting to let to crush run even deeper. I just grabbed the stash of snacks I kept in a box and went upstairs, giving them all a wave as I went.

The three boys- actually, two- were still talking rather loudly when I reached my room. Jeremy was probably still part of the conversation. He just didn't usually speak as loudly. Christian and Paris, though...

I quietly closed the door behind me and locked it, enjoying the peace and little alone time my room could offer. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy their company. It was just slightly overwhelming at times. Besides, I did have work I'd have to focus on.

I phoned the owner of a nearby pub.

"Zelda, hey, what's up?" Tony greeted me.

"Can we meet some time tomorrow?" I asked him while clearing my desk. "I wanna talk a bit more about the mural before school takes up all my time."

"Sure thing," he agreed immediately. "What's a good time for you?"

"What's a good time for you?"

He laughed. "Girl, I work at the pub. I would say six in the morning is a pretty damn good time to talk, but I'm not gonna do that to you. You can choose."

"Actually," I said thoughtfully, pulling out my laptop so I could work while I talk. "I can do six. I'd be up earlier than that, anyway."

He was silent for a moment, and then- "For real?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I run in the morning. If you don't mind me being sweaty, I can run there," I said with amusement, even though I wasn't entirely joking. "But if you do mind, I can still make it at six."

"You're fucking crazy, girl," he declared, then laughed. "I like it. Yeah, run here. We have a shower at the back of the pub if you want to use it."

I blinked, not quite believing my luck. "Amazing. Six tomorrow then?"

"Six tomorrow. See you then."

"Yeah, see you then. Bye."

After I ended my phone call with Tony, I pulled my attention back to the piece of homework laying in front of me. The essay was due the following Friday, and I decided to get a head start on it so I could spend more time on the mural for Tony. He was willing to pay big bucks for that. I ain't messing that up.

I put on some music to block any possible noise coming from downstairs and started working, not stopping until it was almost seven. I was half way through the essay then, and I got a bit stuck, so I decided to take a break and have dinner first. It was quiet downstairs- they had probably stopped gaming.

I quietly made me way to the kitchen. Jeremy, Paris and Christian were in the middle of a conversation when I walked in. I made as little noise as possible to not disturb them, but they all stopped talking abruptly anyway. I briefly glanced at them, only to find them staring at me.

"What?" I asked, sounding rather defensive, before I could stop myself.

Christian shrugged a bit too casually. "Just talking about about sleeping arrangements."

To hell with that. They were talking about me. I could tell.

I struggled internally for a moment, not sure whether to call out on their crappy lie, but decided against it. People talk behind other people's back all the time. Everybody does that, and it isn't always bad. I could care less about what they were saying about me. Besides, I didn't want to pry.

"Okay," I said, turning back to the fridge. I was going to cook up something warm to eat for dinner, but I guessed now was not a good time. I grabbed a spoon and the mug of leftover salad I made earlier before turning to leave.

I'd just sleep earlier to not feel hungry.