19 Days to Valentine’s Day

“WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!” Dylan shouted into my ear.

“Holy crap!” I cried out. I jumped in surprise and fell off the sofa. I landed on the floor with a thud and I groaned out in pain.

“AHAHA!” Dylan guffawed.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Jason asked when he walked into the living room. He saw me on the floor rubbing the back of my head and he quickly ran over to me, “Are you okay?” he asked sounding genuinely concerned.

“I’m fine. I just had the crap scared out of me,” I explained, glaring daggers at Dylan and pushed myself up.

Jason scowled at Dylan who scowled back, “You were meant to wake her up, not make her go deaf and give her another concussion.” Jason spat.

Here we go again.

Dylan opened his mouth to say something back but I cut him off.

 “I’m fine.” I said and grabbed Jason sleeve and tugged him towards the door. “Now let’s just eat breakfast. I’m hungry.”

Jason hesitated to follow me into the kitchen and glared at Dylan one more time before putting his hand on the small of my back to lead me out of the room.

“Butthead, retard -” I heard Dylan swearing under his breath as he trudged behind us. I craned my neck around for a second to frown at him but he only rolled his eyes, pointed at Jason and stuck his middle finger up.

How childish. But it’s Dylan so it was kind of expected.

“Hey, you’re up.” Emma glanced over at me and turned back towards the stove.

“Sit down, we got this.” Aaron pulled a chair out and gestured for me to sit down.

“Erm...okay?” I sat down. “Am I dreaming? This is a dream, isn’t it?”

Jason laughed at me and sat down on the chair next to mine, “No, this isn’t a dream. Emma and Aaron are making us breakfast and has even set out the table.”

“Then this is some kind of parallel universe.” I said.

“Nope.” Dylan replied, setting a stack of pancakes in front of me before walking around the table to sit opposite me.

“What a crazy morning,” I chuckled. “Something is definitely wrong.”

Emma laughed loudly, making all three of turn our heads to see what was going on. She was still stood over the stove obviously laughing at something Aaron had said. I know because he was smirking and she lightly bumped him with her hip.

“Care to tell us what’s so funny?” Dylan asked Aaron who was still smirking.

“Nah, dude. Never mind.” Aaron replied, smiling.

“You can’t do that! Tell us!” Dylan exclaimed but Aaron didn’t reply.

“Emma? Care to share?” I asked her.

She shook her head violently while biting down on her lip to suppress her laughter. “Nuh-uh.” She mumbled.

“Come on! I’m your best friend!” I reasoned.

Emma shook her head again before grabbing the rest of the stack of pancakes and sat down next to Dylan. Aaron sat down moments later at the head of the table. Everything was quiet for a few minutes while everyone ate.

I decided to break the silence, “So...” I began and they all looked up from their plates. “Dylan and Jason are cousins. How about that,” I said awkwardly.

“Yeah, that was a surprise.” Emma chirped up.

Aaron nodded slightly with his mouth full of pancake. Dylan’s face was blank and Jason just didn’t say anything.

I looked at Emma and she shrugged. “I mean who would’ve guessed, right?”  I said. I was looking at Jason to Dylan and back again just to check that they didn’t have similar features or anything that would’ve given me a clue that they were related.

“And you hate each other! What’s up with that?” Emma asked and drank her orange juice.

“Nothing. We just don’t get along.” Dylan answered, sounding bored.

Jason kept quiet.

“It’s a guy thing.” Aaron explained. Dylan quickly turned to him and glared.

“Oh.” I mumbled. Guy thing?

“So, you’ve never gotten along? Like ever? Or is that just recently?” Emma probed and took another piece of pancake into her mouth.

“Dunno.” Dylan replied plainly.

“Okay.” I Emma met my gaze and lifted her eyebrows upwards. I shook my head and shrugged. I don’t think they we were going to find out anything, so I just gave up. Emma, however, didn’t.

“Jason, what do you think about all of this?” Emma directed at him.

“Hmm?” he looked up.

“You heard. What’d you think?” she asked.  “Was it just recently or not?” Emma was waiting impatiently for an answer.

Dylan scowled at Jason and Aaron sat quietly in his chair. I could already feel the tension between the two but I don’t know what was causing it.

“Not really.” Jason shrugged. “Maybe since,” he paused for a moment. “Last summer?” he finished and looked at Dylan but he wasn’t scowling at Jason anymore. He had his head down.

Interesting.

“What happened last summer?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, what happened that made you hate each other so much?” Emma leaned in across the table and rested her head on her hands.

“It doesn’t matter.” Dylan hissed.

“Oh, but I think it does.” Emma replied.

Aaron stood up, “I’m going to...erm...wash my hands. It’s sticky. I got syrup all over my fingers.” He turned towards the door.

“The sink is over there,” I pointed in the opposite direction.

“I think I’ll go wash my hands in the bathroom instead.”

“But the sink is right over there. Why go all the way upstairs?” Emma questioned, her eyes narrowing.

“Soap. I...erm...the soap in the bathroom is better.” Then he scuttled out of the room and I heard his footsteps as he went upstairs.

“Okay then...” I trailed off, raising my eyebrows at Emma.

“Anyway, whatever. Back to the original question. What happened?” Emma asked again. She really wasn’t going to let this go.

“It’s a long story.” Jason answered.

“We have time.” I said shrugging slightly.

“I mean, it’s too long of a story to tell. You’ll get bored.” He shoved a pancake in his mouth. Dylan was still not answering and didn’t even make a sound or even shift in his chair.

“Give us the short version.” Emma urged.

“It’s really none of your business.” Dylan said bitterly. “And you girls have to go out somewhere.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you some other time.” Jason assured. “But he’s right.”

“Okay.” I relented. “Right about what? Where are we going?” I asked.

“You’re going shopping with Emma and get ready for the party I’m taking you to.” Dylan stated, already getting out of his chair.

“You mean, we are taking her to.” Jason corrected and Dylan's jaw tightened as he scowled.

I looked at Emma questioningly.

“Yeah, hurry up slowpoke.” She teased and put her plate in the dishwasher.

“But, I don’t like shopping with Emma.” I whined. “She makes me carry all her bags.”

“Quit complaining and just hurry up.” She rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to." I said stubbornly and crossed my arms. "I'm not going."

"Yes, you are." Dylan and Jason said simultaneously.

"What they said." Then Emma walked over to me and pushed me off my chair.

*** *** *** *** ***

“Avery, come on!” Emma stopped walking and put her hand on her hip.

I walked slowly towards her, “But I’m tired! My feet are killing me. We’ve been walking around from one shop to another for,” I glanced at my wrist to check the time. “Four hours!” I exclaimed.

“Avery.” She looked at me mockingly. “Avery, darling.” She spoke softly. “Unless you are wearing heels, like mine,” she pointed to her feet. “Get a move on!”

“Ugh.” I groaned. “Can we just take a break?” I looked at her pleadingly.

She smiled, “Of course not. You still need to find shoes to go with your new dress! Then you have to go get your nails done and get something done about that,” she gestured to my head, “That situation.”

“What situation?”

“Your hair, it looks...how do I put this nicely?” she paused and thought for a second. “Dull and lifeless.”

I gaped at her and narrowed my eyes. “It’s hair. Technically, it is dead.”

“That doesn’t mean that it should look like it.” She frowned and dragged me towards another shop.

“You’re going to be the death of me, you know that right?” I said as I fought to keep pce with her.

“Yeah, yeah.”

*** *** *** *** ***

“Hey, Kristin!” Emma greeted a tall brunette who seemed vaguely familiar.

“Emma!” The girl walked over to us and gave Emma a big hug while I stood there awkwardly. “What bring you here, bestie?”

Did she just call my best friend, bestie? Oh hell no. Emma is my best friend, I rambled internally. And come on, bestie? That sounds so lame.

I was rambling blasphemous words in my head but on the outside, I was smiling. Or at least that’s what I think I’m doing...

“Just helping out my best friend.” Emma replied and gestured to me.

“Hi.” I smiled sheepishly.

“So you two have met before, but if you’ve forgotten, Avery this is Kristin.” Emma told me but I still don’t remember who she is.

 “Hey,” Kristin smiled widely.

“So, here’s the thing.”Emma started. “I need you to fix her hair up and everything. We have a party to go to. You think you can handle that?”

“Yeah, sure.” Kristin glanced at me and looked at my hair before nodding. “We definitely have quite a bit of work to do.”

My hair isn’t that horrible! I wanted to scream. But instead I settled for a quiet, “Yeah...” as my answer.

“Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me,” Kristin chuckled and led me to one of the red chairs.

I hesitated for a second, “You’re in good hands.” Emma assured me. I nodded and sat down. I began to fiddle with my fingers while Emma grabbed a magazine and pulled up a chair just behind me.

“Grace, Meg and Catherine! Get over here!” Kristin shouted and three girls came running towards us. All four of them huddled together and I heard low mutterings and whispers but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Every now and again, they would glance at me and nod which worried me.

“Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do.” Kristin announced. Emma’s eyes shot up from the magazine that she was reading and crossed her arms across her chest.

“What’d you got?” Emma asked.

“I’m thinking, we’re going to give your friend here a full make-over. We’ll add layers to her hair, give it volume. Add some highlights and you know, the works.” Kristin said confidently.

“What do you mean by the works?” I asked worriedly.

“Relax, Avery. They’re not going to shave you hair off or anything like that.” Emma joked. “Just sit back and relax, okay?”

I sighed in defeat, “Okay.”

Kristin smiled, “Grace you’re in charge of her nails, Meg help me out with the highlights and the styling. Catherine get the make-up.” She ordered. All three girls nodded and hurriedly followed their orders.

“Let’s get rid of the mirror and make her make-over a surprise.” Emma suggested.

“Sure.” Kristin replied.

Did my hair and face look so ugly that I needed a make-over? I didn’t think I looked that awful but jeeze! Apparently, I stand corrected.

“You’re going to love this.” Kristin guaranteed.

“Uh-huh.” I said anxiously.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

{Unedited}

Thanks for reading!

Vote and Comment. :)

Anyone have any ideas what happened with Jason and Dylan that made them hate each other?