A Little bit of Shade

S I X

I wake up in Jacks bed, yet he was gone. I look over and see Daniel still asleep. I go to the bathroom and find shaving cream. I put a bunch in Daniels hand then tickle his nose. When he slaps his nose and the cream goes everywhere, he jolts up. "What the hell!?" He yells. I burst out laughing.

"Oh you little.." he jumps up and chases me. I jump onto and over Jack's bed. As I get to Daniels, I go to jump up but I'm tackled to the bed. He flips me over then rubs his cream filled face all over my face. I laugh while yelling stop.

"What are you doing?" Jack asks, standing by the door. He was all sweaty and had headphones hanging from his muscle shirt.

"Look what she did!" Daniel points to his face, letting go of my one wrist. I reach up and smear it in more while laughing. He grabs my wrist again and pushes it back down. I smile up at him.

"Um, okay... I'm gonna take a shower now" Jack walks to the bathroom. As the door closes, Daniel rubs his face on me again, causing me to continue laughing.

•••

Once Jack was out of the shower and Daniel went to wash the cream out of his sheets, everything was calm. "Where were you anyways? I wanted to cream you not him" I say. Jack dries his hair with a towel.

"It sure looked like you wanted to cream him" he winks. I roll my eyes and throw a pillow at him. "I was out for a run, yes I run now, and I stopped to get coffee. I met a girl" he blushes. "Oh my god! Tell me who is she? Is she nice?
Pretty? Fun to be with? Did you get her number? How old-" he cuts me off. "Slow down. Her name is Gabbie. She's younger, not too young, and she's really pretty, funny, smart, and amazing. I got her number before we both left" he hangs his towel from the bathroom door and lays beside me on his bed. "I'm happy for you" I smile. "Thanks"

"When can I meet her?" I ask. "Oh no," he laughs. "We just met. You can't meet her for a long time" he continues. I huff. "What's so wrong with me?" I ask. He looks at me shocked. "Don't act like you don't know!" He laughs. I nudge him and laugh too.

(I lost over 600 words so I have to rewrite this part. I love life omg)

"I have to go to work" I whine. "Have fun with that" he goes on his phone. I grab all my stuff and head downstairs to the front door. As I tie my shoes, Zach walks in. "Where are you going?" He asks.

"Some people have jobs" I grab my keys. "Hey! Our band is our job" he defends. "Oh yeah, because singing into a microphone while teen girls pine over you is a job" I scoff. "Ok true" he agrees. "You coming back here after? We're having a tournament of video games and probably ping pong" he asks. "Yeah, sure" I smile. "I have to go now or imma be late" "bye" I walk out and drive to the store.

The drive was short. I walked in and went straight to the back room, waving to Amelia on my way by. I ditch my stuff in a locker and walk back out to where Amelia sat. "You're early" she says. I look at my phone. "Only by 10 minuets" I say. "You can go if you want, I'll take over" I smile. She smiles back, grabs some books and puts them away. "Thanks Kylie" she leaves through the back.

I sit down and continue stamping some of the books she was working on. Amelia has worked here for a long time. She has kids waiting for her at home, so I like to come earlier to let her get home. Today I wasn't super early.

"Excuse me" my thoughts are interrupted by a soft, quiet voice. I look up. "I'm looking for all the books in this series and I can't seem to find the fourth" she holds up the second book. "Sometimes people who loose or destroy the one book buy it to replace it. I can look in the back for you" I answer. She smiles. "Thank you"

I go to the back room. It was filled with shelves with boxes of books on them. I go straight to the box that holds series. I pull out the fourth book and go back out to the table. The young girl was looking through the book, smiling.

She was very pretty, probably only a year or two younger than me. Her curly, long hair hung over her slim frame perfectly.

"Here you are" I smile, handing her the book. "Thank you so much" she smiles and walks back to where she was previously looking at books. There were a few other people here. It was rare to have more than five customers at a time.

I took a year off of school to work for a while, leading to me being here. My school is in Seattle, Washington, which means I won't be able to live near the guys anymore. I'm dreading going away, but this school will start up my writing career.

My thoughts are again interrupted. The girl sets a stack of books in front of me. I scan each one through. "Your total is $36.30" she hands me two twenties. I give her change back while a receipt prints. "Would you like your receipt?" I ask. She shakes her head no. "Thank you" she takes her books and leaves. The door dings when it opens. I crumpled up the receipt and throw it into the garbage can beside me.

•••

"I'm back!" I yell as I walk in the house. I left my stuff in my car and set my keys on the small table beside the door. "Come in here" Jonah yells back. I walk into the living room. All the guys were on the couches around the tv.

"Zach and Corbyn are in sudden death" Jonah explains. You could tell it was intense. Jack and Daniel were yelling for them to "kick him!" "Hit him with the bolt!" All I could do was laugh.

"Is this super smash bros?" I ask. "Yeah, you've played?" Jonah asks. "I grew up playing this game, I love it!" I sit down and watch the guys play. Eventually Zach lost. Corbyn starts dancing around the room while Zach is curled up in a small ball on the floor. "Haha you suck" I laugh. Zach bursts up looking at me. "I would like to see you do better" he says, smugly. "Wanna bet?" I ask. "Yeah I do, ten bucks you can't beat Corbyn, one on one" he sticks his hand out. I shake it. "Deal"

Corbyn and I set up the game details. We each get one life, play on the basic plain, and no weapons are set. I pick Kirby as my character and all the guys, except Jonah, laugh at me. I just smirk.

The game starts, both of our damage percents are at 0. I go straight at him, sliding down and knocking him off of his feet, resulting in 20% damage.

•••

"Kirby, the winner!" I read the screen. Corbyn cries out. "How the hell..." Zach said in complete shock. "Well like I explained to Jonah, I grew up playing this game with my three guy cousins. Them being competitive little shits, I had to learn quickly how to play. After a few years I started beating them. Now I'm here" I smile. Jonah laughs. Zach hands me ten dollars. "Thank you for your business" I take the bill. "Whose next?" I ask.

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I skipped explaining the game because tbh it's boring. I made it simple for people who don't know the game or other games.

Thanks for reading <3

- Ann