this is the start | gilinsky

Chapter Fourteen

    "You never answered my question..." Sammy reminds me after shoving a brownie in his mouth. I swat his hand away from the pan and push him with my hips. I wish he'd stayed in the family room with the rest of the guys while I was in the kitchen.

    "Those aren't for right now!" I state dramatically. My heart is beating a little faster due to Sammy bringing up his text.

    "Then when are they for?" He scrunches his face.

    "For dessert."

    "We're staying for dinner?" He seems surprised.

    "If you want to..." I drift. Before Sammy and Johnson got to my house, Gilinsky had asked if he could stay for dinner. Naturally I said yes.

    "I don't know if I can." His voice grows cold. I raise my eyebrows. Why is he being like this?

    "Is something wrong?"

    "You won't answer me." Sammy's agitated and it's actually kinda funny to see him so flustered.

   "Who said I had an answer?" I'm about to walk away from him but he holds onto my wrist in desperation.

    "It's a yes or no kinda question, Marley."

    "Why do you care so much?" I wish he would shut up.

    Sam frowns, "I don't."

    "Then drop it." I declaim, shrugging out of his grasp.

    "Is everything okay in there?" I hear Dad ask. I force a smile on my face.

    "Yeah, Dad, we're coming out right now." I shoot Sammy a glare before entering the family room.

   "Those brownies smell delicious, I can't wait to have some." Gilinsky gloats. My jaw clenches as I feel Sammy tense beside me. He doesn't say a word.

   "So, what do you kids have planned for the day?" Dad is stretched out on the couch with Violet laying across his chest. I'm surprised he's not struggling to breathe.

    "I'm not really sure..." Johnson looks to us for answers.

    "I hear there might be another party at Nate's." Sam speaks up. I swallow hard. Nate's?

    "I don't know about that.." I intrude.

    Everyone but Dad laughs and he looks around with a confused look on his face. "What's wrong with Nate's, Marley?"

   "Nothing is wrong with Nate's, he just has a little thing for Mar and it makes her fidget." Sam provokes. I smack him on the back of the head and he pushes me away with his elbow. "Don't hit me!" He laughs, "You know it's true."

    "Whatever, you guys have fun - I'll be home." I say.

    "In your dre-"

    "Please don't finish that sentence." I say, interrupting Gilinsky. Sammy chuckles.

    "Well I'm not borrowing Mal's clothes again, they're too small on me." I admit with a blush. It's weird telling the guys that I'm bigger than Mallory, even though it's kind of obvious.

   "Yeah, we noticed." Sammy winks. Dad clears his throat and I might as well run and hide. "Just kidding..." Sam adds with a straight face.

   "You can just go in what you're wearing now." Johnson tells me. I curl my lips. I don't know which is worse, going to Nate's party in the outfit I'm currently wearing, or what I wore last time.

 "Yeah, don't even worry about that, Marley..." Gilinsky says, "You'll look great either way." How many times can a girl blush in five minutes?

   "Thanks..." I say awkwardly. "You guys have fun down here, I'll be in my room." Before anyone can protest, I'm already running up the stairs.

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    "Dammit." I mutter. Half-asleep, I grab my phone out of my pocket and try to focus my eyes on the screen. Every time I lay on this bed I end up falling asleep, even when I don't want to. I feel like I've been sleeping half the time I've been here. Maybe it's just my jet lag. Althought that would be pretty silly considering Omaha is only like an hour behind New York.

    I quickly press the button to pick up the call before it disappears and in my groggy voice I say, "Hello?"

    "Were you sleeping?" I hear Mallory laughing. The phone causes it to sound staticky.

    "Yeah..." I admit sheepishly. I take the phone away from my ear and quickly check the time. 4:08pm. I raise my eyebrows. I sleep so much this can't be good for my health.

    "Are you coming to Nate's party? It starts at nine." Mallory's voice brings me back to the phone.

    "Um, yeah I guess."

    "Do you not wanna go?" Mallory wonders aloud.

    "No, that's not it...I just don't know what I'm gonna wear."

   "You can always borrow something from my closet." When I don't answer right away she adds, "Something more casual than what I had you wear last time...you looked really good in that v-neck when we were at Gilinsky's house..."

   "It didn't look weird on me?" I bite my lip as I entertain the idea that maybe Mallory is right. I should wear something like that to the party.

    "Weird? You looked sexy!" Mallory assures me.

   "I don't know if that's the look I'm going for," I laugh, "I guess I can try it out for tonight."

    Mallory squeals into the phone. "Great! I'll come over at like seven-thirty then?"

    I nod my head as if she can see me but then tell her yes when I remember she can't.

    "Awesome, talk to you in a bit!" With that she hangs up the phone and I am once again left alone with my thoughts.

    "Marley! Are you sleeping again?" Dad calls from downstairs.

    "No!" I yell back, he didn't have to know that I was sleeping before. 

    "Come down here please and hang with us!" I laugh at Dad using the word "hang". I wonder to myself why Gilinsky, Johnson, and Sammy are still even here. Couldn't they just go hang out at one of the Jack's house, or even Sammy's place?

    "Okay!" I tell him, getting out of bed.

    When I walk into the family room I see that Violet is sleeping on Gilinsky's lap and all of their eyes are focused on the TV. They're watching sports - of course. I find an empty seat next to Sammy and lean against his shoulder. He flinches a little and smiles at me before looking back at the screen. These boys are really something else. Turning to look back at Sammy I think about what Mallory said last night - I do consider him my best friend. I hope he wouldn't mind that. 

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Hope you guys liked the chapter! It's the last one I'm posting for the day because I have practice tomorrow and I have to wake up early. So chapter fifteen will be up sometime tomorrow! thanks for reading and if you have any suggestions or advice be sure to share them with me, also don't forget to vote if you'd like to, much love- gilinskyshigh