Playing Knock-Knock on Hardwood

"Why do I have to do it?" Charlie grumbles as she watches her father remove the store bought cookies from their original container and arrange them onto a porcelain plate.

"Because your brothers are nowhere to be found," Mr Whitmen hums.

"Bullshit," she mumbles under her breath.

Once the plate is stacked, he puts it into the microwave and starts the timer. Then he twirls around and rests both of his hands on the kitchen island with a bold smile etched into his face. "Besides, nothing says welcome to the neighborhood better than a fresh batch of homemade cookies." The irony is beyond Charlie's control and she rolls her eyes. She makes a note to strangle each one of her brothers later for indirectly volunteering her to be the messenger.

"But you didn't bake them, dad," she reminds curtly.

The man laughs and sends her a dismissive wave. "They don't have to know that." The microwave beeps and Mr Whitmen pulls the plate out and sets it on the counter. He waits twenty seconds for the ceramic to cool before he shoves it towards his daughter. "Now run along." Begrudgingly, Charlie snatches the plate up and drags herself to the door. "And don't forget to smile!" he commands just as she slams the carved slab of painted wood shut.

It's fifteen past ten which, in her opinion, is far too early to be up and about on a weekend. Charlie stares at the house located on the other side of the street and then peers down at her pajamas. It's not her fault she's exhausted and doesn't want to change her clothes. Plus delivering cookies to the guy who makes her blood pressure rise isn't exactly what Charlie pictured her Saturday morning to look like.

She rings the bell and hears barking which she assumes is coming from Maxwell. Moments later, the door swings open and a woman in her late fifties appears in a pink apron decorated with cupcakes. "Hello, darling. Are you from across the street? I saw you the other day talking to my grandson," she questions eagerly.

Charlie sends her a closed-mouth smile, recalling her father's order. "I am. My dad asked me to give you these." She holds out the so-called homemade gift and waits for it to be taken so that she could leave. To her dismay, the elder doesn't accept them.

The woman's eyes sparkle in delight instead as she clasps her hands together. "Oh my. Are these raisin and oatmeal cookies? They're Ethan's favorite. Why don't you come in? I just finished making breakfast."

Charlie doesn't even get the opportunity to reject the invitation because the woman has already disappeared from sight. With the plate of cookies still in her possession, she steps inside and closes the door behind her. Maxwell, who is at the top of the staircase, leaps down and eagerly attacks her. "Whoa there, boy. Calm down," she chuckles as she ventures into the kitchen.

"He must like you a lot," Ethan's grandmother coos as she weaves through the area.

"Excuse me?" Charlie chokes, nearly dropping the plate.

"The dog," she states. "He usually doesn't like strangers but he seems perfectly fine with you."

"Oh I see." Charlie eases up and puts the cookies down on the counter. "Well, I should probably get going. It was really nice meeting you, Mrs..."

"Call me Layna. My husband died years ago," she urges.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear," Charlie replies.

Registering that she might have spoiled the mood, Layna quickly redeems herself with a smile. She hits the girl lightly on the arm and laughs. "You don't need to be sorry. He was a smoker. He knew what he was getting himself into. Anyways, why don't you stay and have breakfast with us? I whipped up plenty of food to go around." Charlie glances at the table with the intention to politely decline until the saliva starts to pool in her mouth.

Plenty would be an understatement. Laid out in front of her are two stacks of pancakes, a plate of bacon piled high up into the sky, scrambled and sunny-side eggs, fresh fruits, sausage links and French toast! She couldn't even remember the last time she had an edible home-cooked meal this grand.

The offer is tempting and Charlie is on the brink of saying yes until she recalls who she would be eating with. Her appetite dissipates and she regains her senses. "It's quite all right. I don't want to infringe." Somebody call the doctor. Charlie Whitmen is turning down free food! What has the world come to?

"Don't be silly. We'd love it if you stayed," the elder gushes. Layna might love it but as for Ethan... Charlie's pretty sure he'd be against it. Suddenly the girl's stomach growls ferociously and she mentally face-palms herself. The stomach wants what the stomach wants. She could always ignore his existence.

"I guess I can stay," she declares, giving in to her wants.

Layna claps and bounces up and down on the balls of her feet. "Splendid. Would you mind waking Ethan up for me? His room is at the end of the hall. If you have to resort to using force that's alright with me. He's a heavy sleeper." So much for pretending like he's invisible.

As though Maxwell knows, he guides Charlie to his owner's room. The door is ajar and she doesn't bother knocking. If he's a heavy sleeper like his grandma says he is, she'd get no response so knocking would be pointless. Pushing the door open, she enters the confined space. To her surprise it's rather plain. She expected posters of half-naked girls everywhere but the walls are empty. After examining his choice in décor, she looks around and discovers a Playboy magazine on his desk. There it is. So he is a normal guy after all.

She grabs the magazine, rolls it up and halts a foot or so away from his bed. Ethan is tangled in his sheets and the only artifact of clothing he has on are his boxers. Charlie isn't fascinated by his naked chest though. Growing up with Ian she has gotten accustomed to this kind of stuff. Next, she pokes him with the provocative book but he doesn't move.

Layna did allow her to use violence. She prepares to thwack him on the head when Maxwell jumps onto the bed and starts licking Ethan's face. Shockingly enough the boy wakes up in attempt to shoo the dog away. His vision is hazy as he sits up. He rubs his eyes with the back of his hand and then notices a pair of legs that definitely doesn't belong to his grandma.

Reality slams into him and he reaches for his blanket to conceal himself. "What are you doing in my room?" he shouts, flabbergasted.

Charlie blinks at him and tosses the Playboy magazine onto his bed. "Layna says it's time to eat."

Ethan furiously yanks the magazine and hides it as well. "What is wrong with you? Don't you know you're invading my privacy? Get out!" His face is scalding hot and Charlie snickers at his behavior.

"Chill out, dude. It's nothing I haven't seen a hundred times before. I'm used to it. Come on, Maxwell. Moron-dozo, here has a problem he needs to fix." When she is gone, Ethan pulls the sheets up and groans at what he usually considers his pride and joy standing tall and proud despite the situation.

Charlie is hastily shoveling spoonful after spoonful of what she defines as heaven into her mouth, not afraid to reveal her beastly side. She eats as though she is in the comfort of her own home and doesn't care if she looks like a total slob. Food is food. Layna doesn't seem to mind the girl's lack of graciousness either.

In fact, seeing the young girl stuffing her face gives Layna immense pleasure. Charlie seems to be enjoying herself and having her leave with a full stomach would make the woman more than happy. She always likes feeding people. It fulfills her self-satisfaction.

At the moment Layna is talking about how friendly everyone in the area is and Charlie sends her an occasional nod every now and then to reassure her that she's still listening. Ethan finally joins them, this time fully clothed. His expression is one that brims on the border of extremely annoyed and severely infuriated. His intense gaze is fixated on Charlie and nothing else as he occupies the chair across from her.

"You came just in time. Any longer and Charlie here would have cleared the entire table out." His grandmother's sweet voice tames his burning rage and Ethan's stone-cold countenance vanquishes.

"Morning, Miss Layna," he greets, tearing his eyes away from their guest. "How did you sleep last night?"

"Like a baby!" she croons. She begins to place various items onto his plate and once she is done, he makes sure to thank her.

"What's she doing here?" He tries to make his voice sound placid and luckily for him Layna doesn't take notice of the veins jutting out down the side of his neck.

"She brought your favorite cookies over," Layna explains, jerking her head to the desserts lounging on the countertop. "Anyways, I have to return Pepper's tray. I'll be right back; you two kids get to know each other better while I'm gone."

The door closes and Ethan drops his fork onto his plate which creates a loud clank. Charlie doesn't look up from her food and carries on. Irritated, he leans back and kicks the foot of her chair. The action captures her attention and she lifts her head up. "Get out of my house," he sniggers.

"I will once I'm done," she snarls.

Ethan cringes at the sight and crosses his arm against his chest. "Didn't you learn that you should never talk with your mouth full? It's rude," he condemns.

"Is it?" Charlie fakes a gasp and holds a hand over her gaping lips. After, she scoffs. She takes another bite of the fluffy eggs and speaks, "Why don't you tell someone who cares. Leave me alone. I want to eat in peace."

Ethan's face contorts in disgust as his jaw clenches. "Well I wanted to sleep in peace, but I guess neither one of us can get what we want. Don't think you can win me over with those cookies either. Don't you know the sweetest thing in the world is revenge?" he announces with that stupid and arrogant smirk of his.

Charlie chugs down her glass of orange juice and slams the empty cup onto the table once she finishes. "Why would I want to kiss your ass? I only brought them over because my dad told me to. If it was up to me, I would have given you an open jar of fire ants."

"Fire ants?" he repeats, clearly unimpressed. "What an amateur."

"Amateur?" Charlie balks, offended. "I'll have you know that despite their size those little guys can pack a mean bite."

"I know what they're capable of but have you tried using ticks?" There is a sadistic twinkle in his eyes as he leans forward and waits for her response.

He's more ballsy than she expected. "I'm not trying to give anyone Lyme disease," she replies.

"That's what the medication is for," he states indifferently.

His apathetic attitude astounds Charlie and she squints her eyes at him. "You can't be serious. Even I'm not that cruel."

"Like I said, I return the favor, only ten times worse." So he might be exaggerating but scaring her would be the highlight of his day.

Unfortunately for him, Charlie is just as casual about the conversation as he is. "I'm sure I'll be all right." The doorbell chimes through the house and ricochets off of the walls. Neither one of them make the effort to answer it though. "Aren't you going to get that?" Charlie questions as she plucks a slice of bacon and swallows it in one go.

"No. Why should I?"

"Because it's your house?"

"I guess you're right." Standing up, he saunters over to the door and opens it. "Who are you?" he inquiries as he stares at the stranger.

"I'm a few houses down. My name's Hayden."

"Cool. Are those for us?" Ethan gestures to the plate of brownies and Hayden nods. "Thanks." He takes the gift and just as he is about to shut the door, Charlie stops him.

"Tell Layna I said thanks for breakfast. I have to go now. The game is about to start." She doesn't recognize Hayden until he speaks to her.

"Charlie? What are you doing here? You're never up this early on a Saturday." It's safe to say that the brown-eyed fellow is amazed to find her there at this hour.

"Don't remind me, Knight. My dad made me bring cookies over," she growls with a frown on her face. "At least I got a free meal."

Of course he should have known that Charlie would never be awake at this time out of her own free will. He chuckles which leads his eyes to crinkle "Same. My mom told me to bring brownies over."

"I see. Well, you two have fun then. I'm off." She walks down the steps and he chases after her.

"I'll walk you home," Hayden offers.

Charlie quirks her eyebrow at him. "I'm good. It's literally less than thirty feet away."

"But I want to say hi to Charles," he announces.

And there it is, folks. This is the reason why she shouldn't have bothered sticking around and listening to him. Misunderstandings are never fun to deal with. Now she has to make herself as clear as the waters in the Caribbean Islands. "Knight, what happened Thursday was a one-time thing. Just because I listened to your problems, doesn't mean we're friends again." It takes a moment for his brain to absorb and comprehend her words.

His chest tightens but he holds his head up high. "Oh... I see. Sorry. I'll get going now," Hayden whispers with a crestfallen expression. She doesn't feel like she did anything wrong. All she did was state the truth. Growing up, her father always emphasized how important honesty was. Even if it might hurt, the pain would eventually go away. That's what Charlie believes.

Ethan sneaks up behind her and places his lips next to her ear, his voice filled with mockery. "Ouch. Even I'm not that harsh."

"He'll get over it," Charlie assures as she watches Hayden trudge down the sidewalk. At least that's what she's hoping for.

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Author's Thoughts: I don't know what I'm doing D: also I'm sorry for the spam! I was going back and separating the super long chapters!