| 9 |

❝ Are you google? Because you have everything I'm looking for. ❞

"CAN YOU DRIVE me somewhere?" Charlie questioned Hazel, her head cocked and a hand on her hip.

Hazel was on the couch, her feet propped on the coffee table as she watched Netflix. With a groan, she turned her head to face Charlie. "I need more details."

"Er..." Charlie blushed. "I'm going to a sleepover."

Hazel crinkled her eyebrows together. "With who? You don't have any friends."

"Gee, thanks."

She rolled her eyes. "No, but seriously. Who?"

"Well, um, there's Malcolm, Shane, and then, you know, Theodore."

"You're going to a sleepover with all guys?" Hazel asked with her eyes nearly popping out of her head. "That's not a good idea, Charlie. Three guys. A sleepover. That's gotta be doomed for trouble."

"No! They're all nice, and they'd never..." she mumbled, ducking her head. "Try anything..."

Hazel raised an eyebrow, shutting off the TV. "Fine, but when we get there, I'm going to have a little chat with them."

Charlotte's eyes widened. Oh no. She was going to, like, murder them. She couldn't murder them. They were the only people that kind of liked her. They deserved to live.

"O-okay," she mumbled, heading upstairs to get herself packed for the sleepover.

Except... What do you pack for a sleepover?

After contemplating this statement deeply, she finally plucked up the courage to text Shane.

Charlotte: er, sorry to bother you, but what should i bring?

Charlotte: to teddy's [she backspaced that before she sent it]

Charlotte: to theodore's

Charlotte: also, what's his address...?

She frantically paced around her room until she heard a ding, signaling a new message. She leapt onto her fluffy bed and snatched her phone to see it.

Shane: wow, so many questions

Ding.

Shane: just bring normal stuff, like a sleeping bag, movies, pillows, pajamas, etc.

Ding.

Shane: and 53 stonefield road

Charlotte let out a deep breath and replied, her fingers flying across her phone screen.

Charlotte: thanks, i'll be there. 7, right? also, beware, my sister is going to 'chat' with you guys

Shane: yeah, 7. why am i bewaring???

Charlotte: you'll understand. i have to go pack, see ya

Shutting off her phone, she tossed it onto her bed again and bent over, grabbing her pajamas that she had thrown on the ground. The pajamas consisting of a pair of fuzzy black and white polka dot pants and a black spaghetti string top.

Charlotte then collected her blue sleeping bag and shoved her pajamas and a pillow inside it, throwing it over her shoulder.

Now, movies...

Charlotte had no horror movies. She checked her closet, her shelves, her desk, under her bed (where she kept a stash of food when in need of some chocolate), but she had nothing.

Hazel had migrated up to her bedroom and was listening to something with earbuds in, Charlie could see, since she was slowly entering the premise, Hazel bobbing her head slightly and mouthing the words. Probably All Time Low. Hazel's obsession with them was terrifying. And Panic! At The Disco. Something about 'closing a goddamn door' always set her off.

When she noticed Charlie walk in, she paused her music and took out her earbuds. "What," she said in a monotone voice.

"Do you have any good horror movies? Or movies in general?"

Hazel rolled her eyes and started to get up. "Obviously."

She headed for the shelving unit beside her closet in the back of the room and pointed to rows of movies. "Help yourself. Just don't damage them one single bit or you can say goodbye to... Hmm, your Mockingjay Pin."

She had gotten a Mockingjay Pin for her birthday one year and always tried to keep it close to her. "You wouldn't dare."

"You know I would," Hazel said, throwing her rainbow hair into a bun. "Hurry up, it's already 6:40 and I can't be late to April's."

"Fine, fine."

Hazel had a lot of damn movies.

There were romance movies, rom-coms, action movies, horror, comedy, dramatic movies, musicals, and everything else you could basically imagine.

Charlie ended up shoving a shitload of movies into her sleeping bag, choosing the Quiet Ones, a horror movie that seemed good (because Sam Claflin was on the cover), the Avengers, because HELL YEAH, Iron Man and Captain America and Thor and the Hulk and just she had a lot of feels when it came to Marvel movies, and Big Hero 6, because she freaking loved that movie and was so glad Hazel had it, there was no denying it. She was so into it she cried. She cried during that movie. And she will force those three boys to watch it with her and cry along.

Now that she heard those thoughts, she realized she was practically setting up this sleepover to fail.

When she was finally finished packing, she got up and knocked on Hazel's bedroom door, and they were off, in Hazel's rickety, rusty little beetle that was a slick black color. May not look fierce, but don't judge the book by its cover.

Charlie told Hazel the address, fifty-three Stonefield Road, and they were off, clunking and clinking down the bumpy roads to Teddy's for a sleepover. A sleepover with three guys. A three-guy sleepover plus one girl. That girl was her.

Oh man, she felt the hyperventilating going on.

She squeezed the edge of the passenger seat's cushion and recited the names of her favorite actors in her mind to keep it from spontaneously combusting over the fact that she was staying the night! With three boys! All of whom that are very, very, very hot!

Nat Wolff. She breathed out.

Emma Watson. Inhale.

Jennifer Lawrence. Just one night.

Sam Claflin. Only three guys.

Chris Pratt. Exhale.

Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix was her spirit animal). It's just a sleepover.

Andrew Garfield. They were all her friends.

Emma Stone. This should be fun.

Ansel Elgort. Very. Very fun.

Aubrey Plaza. Deep breaths.

Shailene Woodley. Theo James. Cara Delevingne. Logan Lerman. She was totally fine. She wasn't freaking out.

Josh Hutcherson. Tom Felton. Benedict Cumberbatch. Tom Hiddleston. Dylan O'Brien. She was gripping the seats of her sister's car like her life depended on it.

"Charlie, breathe," Hazel's cool voice shocked her out of her daze of actors and refreshed her back into reality. Her rapid breathing pace that is very un-normal slowed to regular. "Breathe."

"Thanks, Hazel," she whispered quietly, squeezing her fingernails tightly against her palms.

She couldn't believe she was about to have a panic attack over that. Charlie just needed to take a deep breath, and everything would be fine.

A couple minutes later, Hazel's puny car pulled into the Higgins' driveway, and Charlie noticed that both Malcolm and Shane's cars were in the driveway as well. But Teddy's mother's car wasn't. She must be at work, Charlotte supposed.

Gathering her sleeping bag that was filled with sleepover supplies, she began to trudge to the door. When she heard the car door slam behind her, she whipped her head back to see Hazel following her.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

Hazel rolled her lip ring into her mouth. "What does it look like? I told you I was going to chat with them."

Oh shoot, Charlie had forgotten about that.

Chuckling nervously, she bounded up the steps. "Haha, no, er, you're good, no need to converse with them, haha."

"Yes I do, Charlie. Knock or ring the bell."

Charlotte sighed and raised a first to the oak door, tapping her knuckles on it.

The thing about Hazel was that she was terrifying. Straight out, right to the point, she scared the hell out of people. Her black lipstick was on point, her lip piercing and nose piercing shined on her pale face. Her dark eyes were hooded with black eyeshadow, her daily appearance, and her dark brown hair had rainbow tips that contradicted with both her personality and her facial accessories.

She could take anyone down in a fight, and could easily smack-talk someone into tears. She was the Queen Badass of the family. Queen Badass of the school.

And, to be frank, that honestly frightened Charlie. She could easily scare the crap out of all three boys, and she'd definitely make Teddy piss himself. Oh lord, this was not going to go well. Oh, the stress. The stress was real.

Teddy swung open the door, and Charlotte's anxiety immediately disappeared. His midnight-colored hair was ruffled, almost like bed head hair. It was messily fringed over his exhilarating, enchanting blue eyes, a couple strands of hair resting over his black, wide-framed, square glasses that were perched on his curved up nose.

"Hey," she started with. His eyes were wide as he stared at Hazel over Charlie's shoulder. He gaped at Hazel with an open mouth, his eyes darting from sister to sister, as if to say, how the hell do you know her.

"Hey, Theodore, is that Cha-" Shane's voice abruptly stopped mid-word when he noticed Hazel in the doorway.

Teddy elbowed him in the gut, but it didn't stop Shane from saying, "Holy shit."

"Where's the other lame-o in this sleepover," Hazel's dulcet voice sounded from behind her.

"Damn," Shane whispered. "She's who you were warning me about, isn't she?"

"I can hear you, dumbass," Hazel piped up in her deadly monotone voice.

Malcolm's face appeared in the doorway, approaching with a mouth wide open.

Hazel sidled up beside Charlie and faced her. "So these are the guys you're chilling with?"

Charlotte heard Teddy gulp.

"Y-yeah, yeah. This is Shane, and Malcolm, and T-Theodore. Guys, th-this is Hazel, my sister."

Hazel pushed Charlie slightly out of the way and sized up Teddy, the only one who hadn't been smart enough to back up. "So, Theodore, is it?"

He nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose a little further.

Hazel took a step closer to him [Teddy quickly stumbling back], her chest almost touching his, and narrowed her eyes. Her voice was soft, but a hiss so terrifying that it scared even Charlie. "If one of you do something to Charlie... You're dead."

Charlotte was horrified. Her face was red and blushed. "Hazel!"

Hazel became even more serious somehow and dropped her voice a notch, as if thinking Charlie couldn't hear her. "But seriously, please take care of her. She's never had a sleepover, and she almost had a pani-"

"Hazel," she shrieked in a whisper. "I'm fine, just leave already."

She had been embarrassed enough, God.

Teddy stumbled back and Shane snickered at his dumfounded expression. Hazel gave him a glare and he quickly shut up.

"See you, Char. Text me if anything..." She glared at the three boys. "Happens."

Trotting down the stairs, Hazel waved her middle finger in the air, making Charlie cringe. As she crawled into her small Volkswagen beetle she yelled out, "Later, loser!" before driving off, leaving Charlie all alone.

"Goddamn," Shane muttered. "She's your sister?"

Charlie nodded with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders. "She's different."

"I can see that," Malcolm replied, grabbing Charlotte's things and gesturing for her to come inside.

Once again, she found herself in Teddy's home. The place smelled just like him, the weird, homey scent that was his. Just like how Malcolm had his own homey scent, and how Shane had his. It was refreshing and soothing, the smell of one of those yankee candles combined with other things, like the soft scent of coffee and maybe laundry detergent, but all the good smells wrapped up into one.

Teddy and Shane led the way into the basement, while Malcolm stood beside Charlie, holding her bag. "So, what exactly do you do on sleepovers?"

"Well," he started. "Depends, really. What d'you wanna do?"

"I brought some movies, but..."

"Awesome," Malcolm grinned. "We can have a movie night!"

"Cool," she smiled back shyly.

They made their way into the basement together and Malcolm dropped her sleeping bag beside the giant couch that lay in the middle of the room.

"We have decided on a movie night!" Malcolm declared, waving his arms around.

"Sweet, I'll get the popcorn," Shane stated, walking up the stairs and disappearing.

Charlotte began setting up her sleeping bag on the floor, and took the movies out of it. Teddy was sitting on the couch and Malcolm flopped onto it beside him. "What movies do you have?" Malcolm asked.

"I brought, um, the Avengers, Big Hero 6, and the Quiet Ones."

She noticed Teddy was dead silent, and that worried the hell out of her. Sure, he was a shy kid, and barely talked to her at the beginning, but he was now comfortable with her now. At least, she thought. "Teddy, which one do you want to watch first?"

She didn't realize she called him Teddy in front of his cousin. She didn't notice how Teddy's mouth curved up into a slight smile. She wasn't aware of Malcolm's small frown when she said that.

"What about the Avengers?" he mumbled, shoving his glasses up his nose some more.

"Okay," she said softly, tilting her head and smiling.

"I'll put it in," Malcolm said, grabbing the disc.

Shane came down the stairs with a big bowl of buttery popcorn and everyone cozied themselves in. She slid into her sleeping bag, Malcolm took the couch, Shane leaning up against it, and Teddy took the loveseat.

The movie started, immediately throwing away all of the nerves she had about this sleepover. She laughed at Tony Stark's comments. She dreamily sighed at Tom Hiddleston. Actually, she dreamily sighed most of the movie, because dang, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth and just...

It was around nine thirty at night when the movie ended, and Theodore popped in Big Hero 6. She and Teddy moved onto the couch to watch it, because it was much more comfortable than her sleeping bag, and Teddy claimed he felt lonely in the loveseat all by himself.

Shane sat in front of them on the ground still, since the couch wasn't big enough.

Teddy had grumbled that the movie was for kids in elementary school and they should be watching something like the Luigi horror movie or whatever it was called. Or maybe it was called Ouija. That would make more sense then Luigi.

But she could tell they secretly enjoyed it.

[she even heard sniffles coming from Shane during certain parts]

[that's okay, because her loud sobs covered up the sound of his tears]

The movie ended after a couple tears being shed and Shane put the Quiet Ones in.

Charlotte should have known bringing a horror movie would have been a bad idea.

Shane had continuously gotten up to make more popcorn throughout all of the movies. Malcolm, Teddy and her were sharing a fuzzy blanket that was draped on top of them.

The movie started.

Based on a true story flashed on the screen. Charlie gripped the blanket harder.

This was not a good idea.

•|•|•

Her eyes were glued to the large flatscreen TV.

She sat in the middle of the couch, Teddy to her right and Malcolm to her left.

It was a little ways into the movie and Charlie could swear she peed her pants. Now she remembered how she didn't watch horror movies for this reason, she's be so scared and unable to move for three days in terror.

Malcolm and Teddy had scooted closer to her sometime in the middle of the movie, and she could feel both of their body heat radiating onto her. The rough material of her jeans rubbed against Teddy's leg accidentally and she sucked in a breath.

Then something all of a sudden went black on the screen, scaring the bejesus out of her, making her shriek slightly. Her hand darted out and squeezed the closest thing, which happened to be Theodore Freaking Higgins's hand. In the dark, she could faintly make out the two shapes intertwined, her small, thin fingers wrapped around his pale, slender-fingered hand. Her face was beat red and she could swear she saw a faint pink blush on his cheeks, even in the dark. They were both frozen.

Finally Charlie comprehended the fact that she was squeezing the crap out of his hand in fear and went to let go, her palms all sweaty and gross, when he squeezed her hand back. She nearly fainted right then and there, her heart jolting and her blood pumping. His hand was sweaty as well, but it didn't matter to her. He was holding her hand. Oh goodness. Holy shoot.

She felt tingles running up her arm and she nearly passed out. She completely forgot she was watching a horror movie. She completely forgot Sam Claflin was on the screen because Theodore Orion Higgins was holding her hand.

•|•|•

It was nearly the end of the movie, and Teddy's head was rested on her lap and Malcolm's head was perched on her shoulder.

Her fingers were subconsciously stroking Teddy's hair, her fingers brushing through the silky black strands. His hair was thick, and softer than she expected. Charlie wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not.

Shane was dead asleep, sprawled out on the floor.

Malcolm was lightly snoring on her shoulder, and she was almost positive she felt drool.

She was warm in the fuzzy blanket, and she felt surprisingly comfortable, even in the awkward position.

Charlotte tried staying up, she tried paying attention to the amazing British accent of Sam Claflin, but she couldn't do it. The soft snores coming from Malcolm and the steady breathing from Teddy eventually lulled her to sleep, leaving them in a tangled mess of limbs and blankets on the couch.

a/n

i really like this chapter idk why. thoughts?

[[this chap's dedi is to @callthecops for the amazeballs cover. ty so much]]

so hazel is my spirit animal along with all the actors named. the actor on the side is aubrey plaza, who i believe is going to play hazel because she is so badass and awesome and fits hazel's personality and plays april ludgate on parks and rec and i'm having a giant kick with that show. just imagine her with rainbow hair and piercings and stuff. i love her so much i've started a side story on her,backseat serenade. on my profile if you wanna check it out ;)

i have been super stressed and haven't been writing so much. i don't know why, i'm just... euurghh. i'm going to be using charlie's technique with the naming of celebrities to calm down

bUT HE HELD HER HAND. #TEDLIE FOR LIFE AMIRIGHT

so my friend and i have made a shakespeare play and it's a spinoff to the skit on snl with 'mmm watcha say' if you haven't seen it look it up its my life. it also includes horrible singing by yours truly. when it's finished i may post the link on here xD

GOALS:

1.2k reads
80 votes
130 comments

[because i'm hoping this chapter was good enough for that many comments/votes/reads, even though it's a high goal xD]