Chapter 7

“Christy. Christy. Christy.” Riley nagged, pulling on her shirt sleeve, as I sat back eating popcorn.

“What do you want Riles?” She replied, yanking her sleeve from his death grip.

“I just wanted to say you make killer popcorn,” He glanced at me. “That Maverly is eating all of!” He said, snatching the bowl from me.

A scream erupted from Christy’s surround sound system causing us to flinch.

“Who just died?” Christy demanded, looking at the screen. She muttered a curse. “Riley, you just made me miss a good 2 minutes of it!” She said, grabbing the remote off of the floor.

My phone started vibrating on the purple couch we were sitting on as I grabbed it, wiping my greasy hands on my napkin. I caught it just in time. Who else calls me other than my Mother? You got that right! Nobody.

“Honey, a boy named Cyrus is calling the house, should I give him your number or is he a creep?” My mother asked, most likely grinning at the attention from Cyrus. I never was a looker, I’ve had a boyfriend and it didn’t end well, as you know. But I never caught the interest of guys, maybe one or two but never groups of guys asking me out every day.

“I guess.” I replied, stupidly, not wanting to tell her ‘no’ because then she’ll just ask why. Then she’ll explain to him with a 2 hour long conversation and maybe she’ll slip a few details about how I wet the bed until age 11.

“Okay then.” She said, hanging up. I glanced at my phone and then placed it into my pocket.

A few minutes later it buzzed, telling me about a new text message- that I wasn’t planning to answer, until it buzzed again. I ignored it until it buzzed a third time, causing me to roll my eyes and yank it out of my pocket.

Riley eyed me for a minute, probably thinking of who could be texting me when I’m hanging with my only friends aside from Lucas. My phone started ringing and I picked it up, walking towards the corner of the room where I could hear well.

“Hello, we need to talk,” Cyrus spoke. “Are you ignoring me?”

“I’m guessing yes. You guess correctly.” I snorted, hanging up the phone.

“Time to get ready!” Christy said, grinning widely as she stood in front of her closet, taking me by surprise at her swift movements. Riley groaned, stepping into the hallway.

“Do we have to go?” My and Riley asked in unison, glancing at each other. That was weird.

“Of course you do! My mother won’t let me go if you guys don’t.” She said, frowning. Riley and I rolled our eyes, frowning slightly as well. We had to attend her date with Warren as a group date, and Riley was too stupid to invite a girl and I just sat around waiting until today, hoping Warner would just have a friend tag along. But I guess not.

“How about a blue dress?” She asked, ripping out a light blue frilly dress. Our wardrobes were complete opposites; she was light and girlie while mine was darker and skater-like. But I can’t skate to save my life.

“That’s nice.” Riley said, glancing at his phone. He was doing the thing that most guys do- agree with you so you’ll be happy and they can leave quicker.

“You didn’t even look!” She stated, crossing her arms. Riley muttered something along the lines of ‘yeah whatever’ before returning to his game of Fruit Ninja.

“I like the black one.” I butted in. Although Christy and I were best friends, she rarely took my advice on clothes because she knew that if I ended up helping her get dressed up, she’ll look like she walked out of a dark realm.

“Yeah, whatever.” She replied, using Riley’s overused words. I scowled.

“Then chose your own outfit for all I care.” I retorted while receiving a text message. I laughed at it.

‘You’re terrible at ignoring people, just so you know.’ Riley and Christy looked at each other before going back to whatever they were doing prior to my interruption.

I replied with something along the lines of ‘What do you want?’ It was just a bit more colorful… and rude.

‘Hmm… since the offer is on the table, I want a lot of things. ;)’ He replied, making me laugh again. Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.

“Okay, who are you texting?” Riley asked, dropping his phone onto his lap as he glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. I thought quickly under their pressuring gazes.

“My telephone provider!” I replied, placing my phone into my pocket, ignoring the repeated vibration from cell phone.

“Pin her down.” Christy demanded as she leapt towards me like a tree frog as Riley pinned my arms and legs down by my sitting on me. He held my arms to my sides tightly while Christy dug her petite hand into my pocket. She took out my iPhone glaring at me.

“Code?” She enquired, glaring at the four digit pin number. I laughed loudly.

“YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE!” I shouted, shaking my head wildly.

“I don’t think you realize the position you’re in.” My so called best friend said, placing my phone into her pocket as she wriggled her fingers deviously.

“Don’t you dare tickle me; I will kick you in the face.” I threatened as Riley sat further onto my legs.

“What is the code? This is the last time I’m asking.” She said, crossing her arms.

“YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME!” I shouted again, staring at the ceiling lifelessly. I felt Christy’s fingers attacking my sides, causing me to erupt into laughter and squirm like a worm. I was breathing heavily and laughing when she stopped.

“Now, will you tell me the code?” She asked, threatening me with more tickling. I shook my head.

“I won’t give up easily.” I said, catching my breath. My breathing was still heavy but I managed to breath at a normal pace.

“Are you texting one of those girls on the commercials? The one where they are half naked and telling you to text them for a fun time?” Riley asked, smirking as I shook my head at him, laughing lightly.

“I hate to do this to you.” She said, placing my phone down once more as she began tickling me again. I was laughing recklessly as she pulled back once more, asking again as I shook my head. We repeated this about 5 times until she threatened me with ice cold water, and I told her my pin number as she glanced at the texts and the person sending me the messages. Her jaw dropped as Riley asked her who it was.

“You text Cyrus Angelo?” She asked, her jaw dragging against the floor. I nodded, shrugging, well attempting to shrug.

“Yeah… it’s no biggie.” I said, getting up now that Riley was scrolling through my messages freely. I heard the buttons being clicked as he had a mischievous grin on his face. I heard the vibration of the phone on the glass of Christy’s side table as he quickly picked it up, grinning widely now.

“I guess I can leave now. Have fun on your double date… Christy, Maverly.” He said, walking out before tossing my phone on the farthest surface possible for me to reach. When I finally did, I heard his car engine revving to life as I unlocked my phone.

‘This is Maverly’s friend, Riley, and I wanted to know if you’d double date with her and Christy. I don’t want to go with them to be a chaperon and COD and Madden are calling me, I am about to prestige and its double XP weekend, can’t miss that.’  Riley, the idiot, sent and Cyrus, the bigger idiot, replied with

‘Sure, okay. Where? When? Riley told him that it was at 7 at the Triton Diner on Pyth Street. I cried inwardly, smacking myself at being stupid enough to save him as a contact so soon.

‘Sorry, wrong number. I meant to text someone else.’ I replied nervously, hoping that he’d believe it.

‘Too bad, I’m going.’ He replied, making me cringe and want to place my head in a bucket, and then repeatedly smash it into a window.

‘No you aren’t.’ I sent, anger filling me.

‘Aww, now it’s Maverly who has her phone, isn’t it?’ I rolled my eyes.

‘Yeah, and you’re not going, I already have someone to fill in.’ I sent, lying like a rug, as my mother would say.

‘Yeah, I know: Me. Now stop lying to me and go get yourself pretty, though you can never match up to this beauty- you at least need to be presentable. ;).’ He sent, making me grit my teeth and drop my phone onto the couch.

“You’re going with Cyrus?” Christy asked, dumbfounded.

“I guess I am.” I said, still gritting my teeth.

"You are the only girl I know that is angry at the fact you’re going on a date with Cyrus Angelo.” Christy said, watching me in the mirror as I ran my fingers through my hair once.

“Look, it’s not a date. It’s just a get together between two… acquaintances.” I replied, biting my cheek whilst thinking of a word that suited whatever me and Cyrus had going on.

“Whatever, does he think of it as a ‘get together with acquaintances’?” She mocked me. I shrugged carelessly. Do I look like Edward Cullen?  

“What are you going to wear?” She said, pressing a finger to her bottom lip. I shrugged again, not really caring. It’s only Cyrus.

“C’mon.” She said, dragging me to her closet as she thumbed through the endless collection of dresses.

“I’m not wearing a dress, I’m wearing jeans. And if you don’t like that, then you can forget about your date.” I demanded crossing my arms.

She glanced at me and sighed, moving to the ‘jeans’ part of her closet. She came back with four pairs of jeans. I looked at two and immediately took them out of the selection, they were both light blue and one had rips- which technically had no material, and the other one was so thin that I’d freeze.

The next one was dark blue and had white decorations on the back pockets, giving it an innocent look- which I somewhat liked. The next was black with silver decorations on the back pockets, which I liked even more. I grabbed the black jeans and tossed them on the bed while shoving the other ones back at Christy who glared at me and then sighed.

“I knew you’d choose black.” She said, grabbing the jeans and walking back to her closet and hanging them up.

“Now do you want a long sleeve shirt?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded my head, looking at her large selection of clothes.

She walked back a few minutes later with a gray long sleeved shirt, a red one, a purple one, and an orange one.

I kicked away the orange and purple ones, cringing. I grabbed the gray one that matched the silver on the back of the jeans and hugged it, smiling. Christy gave me a light smile mixed with a weird look as she walked back to her closet to hang them up.

She walked back with something behind her back. She tossed it at me and I felt the soft material under my fingers, I held it out, examining it. I shrieked, grinning.

“A vest,” I exclaimed. It reminded me of the vest I’d bought with Lucas. “I love vests!” I said, smiling.

“Go change.” She said, grinning as well and lightly chuckling. I did as told, not because she told me to, because I simply wanted to.

“You look great.” I said to Christy who was now walking into her room from the hallway bathroom, since I occupied hers. It was true what I said. She did look great. She had a pair of white jeans on with a purple tank top.

“Uh… Christy, what are we going to wear on our feet?” I asked, looking at my socked feet. I wiggled my toes before I crossed them under myself.

“Don’t worry,” She said, examining my outfit and walking over to her closet. She returned with leather, black heels that looked like I’d break my neck if I even tried walking in them. Heck, I broke my legs just looking at them. “Try them on.” She said, smiling.

I took off my socks, slowly. I wriggled my toes and started walking over to the heels that were about 2 feet away from me. I placed my feet into them, securing the back quickly. I held onto Christy’s shoulders as I began walking around in the heels. Surprisingly, it was easy to walk.

“You look amazing, plus 2 and half inches taller!” She said, smiling widely at me. I smiled back, glancing at our size different. I could see clear over her 5’3’’ figure. She walked to her closet, coming back with a pair of heels as well, but these were purple and around 3 inches tall, still giving me a slight height advantage.

“Let’s go.” Christy said, it was 6:45 when we finished with makeup and hair. She curled her naturally pin straight hair and straightened my usually wild curly hair. She even applied a smoky eye with gray outlining to my eyes, bringing out the green specks in my hazel eyes, and I put on lip balm that gave the effect of lip gloss while making your lips softer.

We sat in the car for a minute before placing a CD into the CD player. Ed Sheeran blasted through the car as we drove singing loudly. We arrived at the diner about 5 minutes early and I texted Cyrus.

‘I’m at the restaurant.’  A few minutes later I got a response.

'You shouldn’t text someone who’s driving. What if I crashed into an old lady? Then I’d have to pay for repairs to my car?’ I scowled.

‘How was I supposed to know you were driving?’ I retorted. How was I supposed to know the idiot was behind a wheel?

‘You could wreck my car while doing this.’ He replied. I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

‘You could also kill people. You’re the one replying.’ I sent, my eye twitching in annoyance.

‘You’re replying as well, and I’ll be there in 5.’ He sent as I shut my phone, gritting my teeth- annoyed.

“Is he coming?” Christy asked, smiling. I nodded, rolling my eyes.

“He wouldn’t miss a moment to torture me, y’know?” I replied, blinking at her. Christy looked taken back by my irritation.

“Oh… Warner will be here any minute.” Christy said, examining the parking lot. A large red truck pulled in and the blonde boy stepped out of his car, grinning wildly at Christy. She smiled back and began walking towards him.

I wanted to gag and vomit all over the cement that I was standing on. They hugged for a few minutes before pulling away and he obviously complimented her by the blush arriving on her face.

“Jealous?” A voice broke out from behind me making me jump and let out a stream of vicious insults.

“I knew I could make you scream.” Cyrus winked as I pushed his shoulder. Was he always perverted?

“No, I’m not jealous.” I answered, scowling. Cyrus shrugged, leaning casually against the brick wall- waiting for the ‘soon to be’ couple to approach us.

“I sure don’t think that your boyfriend Riley would be too happy if he knew who I was and what I looked like.” Cyrus announced. I burst out laughing, holding my stomach as I hunched over in the dark light. The idea of Riley and I being in a relationship made me want to fall to the ground in rip breaking laughter.

"I know I can’t see you well, but you look nice. And you look taller.” Cyrus said, sounding serious as I straightened up and looked over at him.

“Thanks?” I stated more of a question than a reply. A compliment from him was about as rare as meeting your favorite celebrity in your own closet.

“You’re welcome.” He said, leaning causally against the wall again.

“C’mon!” Warner spoke. It’s Warner, not Warren. I repeated in my head. We all followed him into the restaurant, Christy at his side.

Once we were inside the light of the restaurant, I felt eyes on me. I looked at Cyrus, who was looking at my outfit. I snapped my fingers in his face, drawing his attention to my face.

“What?” He asked, staring into my eyes. His eyes wandered to my hair as his hand slowly reached out to touch the light curls.

“Your hair is nice.” He said, twirling a piece of my hair in his hands while his eyes stared into mine. The greenish-blue color of his eyes engulfed me, swirling around and making my mind spin. I heard a cough and I yanked my hair away to see Christy standing with an eyebrow raised.

“Uh… we’re going to the table.” She said, pointing to the table. I began following her as I heard footsteps behind me.

“So what is everyone ordering tonight?” The waiter asked. He looked about 17 and was overall cute. He wasn’t too skinny but he wasn’t crazy buff, which is just right. His black hair shaded his brown eyes, slightly and his wide, bright smile made you smile as well. It was just contagious. He blew hair out of his face with his breath as he pouted his bottom lip, creating a gush of air to blow his air away from his eye.

“I’ll take the spaghetti and meatballs.” I piped in and Christy seconded that option.

“I’ll take the lamb chops.” Warner added and in a cold voice, Cyrus asked for spaghetti without meatballs, muttering something about not wanting some man cutting up balls of meat and putting it into his food.

“And drinks?” The waiter asked, staring directly at me the whole time everyone at our table ordered. I ordered coke along with Warner and Cyrus, and Christy took a Pepsi. The waiter, whose name tag read ‘Percy’, smiled one last smile at me which I returned, before walking to the kitchen. I couldn’t help but notice Cyrus’s cold stare towards his retreating figure.

When the waiter finally came back, ending all small talk, he handed me my food first with a napkin, unlike the other people at the table. When he walked away, I picked up the napkin to see his number on it. I smiled lightly, rolling my eyes at his tacky move.

The straw flung out of Cyrus’s drink, landing in a Coca Cola puddle on the plain white table.

“Would you mind?” He said, ripping the napkin out of my hand and wiping the spilled drink. Christy gasped and Warner chuckled at his not so subtle jealousy. I had my eyebrow raised at the sudden anger that he had against the waiter.

“Sure you can use my napkin to wipe up the soda, Cyrus.” I said sarcastically. He grunted before he began eating. I swirled the spaghetti onto my fork, stabbing a meatball before shoving the fork into my mouth. About 5 minutes into the meal, Cyrus ran out of soda and smiled harshly.  

“Would you look at that? I ran out of soda, let’s see if Pu-.” He began.

“Percy.” I corrected, earning a glare from him and another slightly audible laugh from Warner.

“Percy, can get me some more soda. I’ll be right back.” He excused himself as he walked over with his cup to Percy, the waiter.

Percy’s eyes widened as he was working the cash register. I didn’t hear what Cyrus said, but Percy’s eyes told me that it was frightening. Percy raced to the kitchen, with Cyrus’s cup in his hand, before coming back with it filled to the brim and handing it to Cyrus, avoiding eye contact. Cyrus returned with a smug smile on his face.

“What did you do?” I asked, looking back to where Percy was. He caught my gaze before jerking his head down the paper resting in front of him.

“Nothing; I just got some Pepsi.” He spoke innocently while grinning. I glared at him, while he returned it with a bright smile.

“So… how long have you guys been dating?” Warner piped in. I choked on my spaghetti.

“11 months.” Cyrus replied, grinning at me. Warner nodded, not seeming surprised.

“No, we haven’t! We aren’t even dating! I was forced to come here by her!” I replied, kicking Cyrus under the table as I pointed to Christy.

Cyrus reached under the table and grabbed his shin, wincing.

“You sure do act like a couple.” Warner instigated. I gave him a look before replying.

“Arguing and fighting make us look like a couple? What kind of couples do you know?” I asked. Warner nodded, grinning.

“My parents.” He said, shrugging. I felt my heart wrench. My parents used to argue often but my mother always cowered back. My father held some type of intimidation over her. Christy gave me a reassuring smile.

“Good to know.” I replied, gritting my teeth as I continued eating. We all ate in silence, finishing a good 30 minutes later.

“Will you guys be having anything for dessert?” A new waiter asked, a grown man this time.

“I’ll have a vanilla cupcake, please.” I replied, quickly. Restaurants rarely have red velvet, which I would have ordered definitely. That’s the one thing that hasn’t changed about my childhood.

“I’ll take a slice strawberry cheesecake.” Warner replied, placing his fork onto his plate.

“Chocolate cake with brownie chunks.” Christy said, her mouth visibly watering.

“Red velvet cupcake.” Cyrus replied, last. His words caught my attention and this seemed to amuse Cyrus.

“You guys have red velvet cupcakes?” I asked, my eyes darting to the waiter.

“We just gave the last one to this gentleman. I’m sure he’d sacrifice it for you.” He said, smiling at Cyrus. Cyrus snorted and shrugged while leaning back, with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. The waiter proceeded to walk back to the kitchen.

“I’ll trade with you.” I said, speaking about the cupcakes. It’s amazing what I’d do for a red velvet cupcake. It held good memories of my father and me.

            “No.” Cyrus said, raising and dropping his eyebrows, as if challenging me to continue this banter.

            “C’mon.” I pleaded puckering out my lower lip. His eyes glazed over my face before he scrunched up his nose and shook his head. This action was adorable but I was standing my ground. I wanted that cupcake.

            “Nah… I love red velvet, the frosting is amazing.” He said, smirking.

            “Yeah I know, it’s the best part. But c’mon… please.” I bargained, entreatingly. Cyrus looked at the approaching waiter who handed me my vanilla cupcake, which was huge. He handed Cyrus his, which was the same size. Warner had received a large slice of strawberry cheesecake and it looked gross. Christy was already devouring her chocolate cake which looked amazing, might I add.

            “Please.” I said as he began raising the cupcake to his mouth with a smirk on his lips. I frowned as he licked the frosting. He sighed in delight as he tasted the delicious frosting.

            “This is so good.” He said, smiling as I frowned, my lower lip protruding away from my mouth.

            “You didn’t even bite it yet.” I countered, crossing my arms.

            “I don’t want anymore.” He said, placing it on his plate. My eyes widened as he pushed the plate to the middle of the table. I went to reach for it, nearly dolphin diving for the cupcake.

            “Uh-uh-uh.” He said, shaking his head, he retracted the plate and smirked.

            “What?” I asked, pouting. So close…

            “You owe me something.” He said, twirling the plate in his hands.  

            “What?” I repeated, my eyes fixed on the cupcake.

            “I don’t know yet. You just need to agree that you’ll do something for me if I give you this cupcake.” He offered.

            “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now give me the cupcake.” I demanded, motioning with my hands towards the cupcake.

            “You have to promise you’ll give me 3 favors for this cupcake.” He said, hovering the cupcake inches from my face.

            “Three?!” I asked, breaking my gaze at the cupcake to look at him. He held the cupcake closer to my face.

            “Okay, I promise I’ll do you 3 favors for this cupcake.” I spoke, reaching for the cupcake.

            “Okay.” He said, placing it in front of me as I shoved the vanilla one towards him. I began eating the cupcake, not caring that his mouth had actually come in contact with the darned thing. Memories flooded back to me as I encountered the taste. I went into a trance when I ate the cupcake. And boy, it was the best cupcake I’d ever eaten.

            “Here’s your bill.” The waiter said, placing two separate bills on the table. I reached for it but Cyrus snatched ours and Warner’s as well, examining it and placing a hundred dollar bill into the little booklet.

            “Let’s go.” Cyrus said, standing up. I’m guessing he didn’t want anyone to realize that he’d just committed an act of kindness.

             “Wait, I didn’t pay yet.” Warner said, reaching for his wallet.

             “I paid for both of us, it’s the least I could do.” Cyrus said, kicking the carpet beneath his feet shyly. Aww! I rubbed my stomach, grinning happily about the Red Velvet cupcake.

            “Dude, that’s a 35 dollar tip.” Warner said, closing the bill.

            “It doesn’t matter, the money is there.” Cyrus said, starting to exit the restaurant.

            “Thank you.” I announced, falling in step beside him.

            “For what?” Cyrus teased, a playful smirk appearing onto his face.

            “You know, for coming to this… um, dinner with… me; and uh… giving me your red velvet cupcake… plus, um, paying for me. It was… nice.” I stuttered stupidly. Maybe I misjudged this boy.

            “No…um…problem.” Cyrus mocked; cause me to hit him in the shoulder. Or maybe I judged this idiot just right.

            “Did you just hit Cyrus Daniel Angelo?” He said, faking a dumbfounded expression.

            “Yeah, I hit Cyrus Dirty Dan Angelo.” I replied, raising my eyebrow. I felt a stupid smile rising to my mouth but I tried my best to fight it, failing in the end.

            “You know what I’m going to do?” He asked, taking a step forward flirtatiously. I took a step back, shaking my head. Christy cleared her throat, saving me. I smiled at her, my savior.

            “I’ve got to…uh… get home.” Christy stated. I waved at Cyrus before starting to step beside Christy.

            “No you don’t.” Cyrus said, reaching for my arm. “I want to use one of my favors.” He said.

            “Now?” I asked, shocked. I didn’t expect him to use the favors! I just agreed because I was under the trance of the magical cupcake.

“Now.” He stated, smirking. Christy stood there, grinning stupidly at me. She must think I like this imbecile.

“Well?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and placing my hands on my hips.

 “There’s a party at one of my friend’s houses… come with me,” He said, shrugging. I shook my head. “I’m not taking ‘No’ for an answer, sweetie.” He said, grinning.

“Just go. I’ll call your mom and tell her you’ll be home late. Have fun… not too much fun though.” Christy winked, walking over to Warner and hugging him. She’s just like the mother in Mean Girls!

 “Let’s go.” He said, walking over to his car. I followed him, unhappily. His car was nice and I felt a sudden comfort as I sat in the vehicle.

“I’ve never been to a high school party.” I said, biting my lip nervously as we pulled up to the loud house. All comfort I had was gone and I wanted to sink into the seats of his car.

“There’s a first time for everything.” He said winking. I swallowed nervously.

 “Let’s go.” He said, grinning at me, causing me to calm down almost instantly. Who was Cyrus really? And why was he making me feel this way?