569Seeing Eye to Eye
Chapter XIV: Like Like
iiillliii
"Bentley is coming to my house?" asked Chaise, his gaze shifting back and forth between nanna and myself. "Why?"
"I invited him, that's why." Nanna answered, taking a drag from her cigarette. I tried in vain to restrain myself from stomping over to her and snatching away the cancer stick that was currently in her mouth. There was no point though, even if I did take it away she would just scoff and light up another one. She was leaning against the fridge, her right leg comfortably perched on the step stool in front of her. My grandmother looked like a wannabe gangster, someone who could give Al Capone a run for his money.
Chaise meanwhile had his hands resting on his hips; his eyebrows furrowed making them look almost like a mono-brow. I had never seen him look so frustrated before, especially at my grandmother. Chaise was usually the one to side with nanna about everything no matter how absurd she usually was, which was most of the time.
"Why did you invite him?" Matt's tone was more of curiosity than that of accusation, unlike Chaise's. Needless to say he looked much more calmer than Chaise.
"Isn't it obvious?" she questioned, rolling her eyes, "Dylan like-likes him offcourse."
I stopped peeling the potatoes and snapped my head up; I did this so fast I was positive my neck had cracked.
"What?" I croaked. I started getting extremely scared when Chaise and Matt swivelled their penetrating gaze towards me. Chaise looked like a constipated chipmunk about to explode, his face was becoming a dangerous red as every second passed by, his eyes were shooting poisonous daggers at me. Matt however looked genuinely amused and curious.
"You - "
"Like-like that bastard!?" Matt was cut off by Chaise's loud accusation.
I momentarily froze, unable to say anything. How could my grandmother do this to me? Why did she always have to wheedle my name into everything? I shook my head, maybe a little too much because Chaise didn't look entirely convinced. "No!" I exclaimed getting up from my seat, "I don't like-like him!"
All three of them raised their eyebrows at me.
"What? I don't!"
"Your nose twitched." Matt coolly pointed out.
By god did everyone know about my goddamn nose? When were they going to share this little secret with me? No wonder people could catch me whenever I lied. I thought I was just a bad actor, but in actual fact my own nose was betraying me all along.
"Who cares about my bloody nose? Look I do not like-like Vance Bentley. I - "
"Oh look Jase, Dillweed like-likes someone!" I mentally groaned. All I needed now was for the younger twins to partake in the scene. The two menaces made their way into the kitchen, looking utterly disgusting covered in dirt and sweat. Travis smiled that menacing smile that he and his counterpart usually saved for me.
"Dylan and Vince…sitting in a tree… k-i-s-s-i-n-g - " Travis started.
"First comes luuurrve… then comes - "
"Cut it out you two!" I snapped before Jason could finish the song, "By the way Travis, his name is Vance not Vince."
"OH! So you mind if I say his name wrong…" I slapped Travis's head, and felt satisfied when he omitted a loud OW!
"Hunny," nanna interrupted, stubbing the cigarette into the nearby ashtray, "in the future before you make fun of someone, get your facts right. Now sing it with me boys!"
I looked at them horrified when Jason and Travis along with my grandmother started singing the rhyme very loudly: "Dylan and Vance sitting in a tree - "
"Guys…" I whined, "Stop it!" all I needed to do now was stomp around and throw a tantrum. I truly looked pathetic.
"Stop!" Matt clearly exclaimed, quietening everyone down. "Now Dylan, do you or do you not… like-like Vance Bentley?"
"I do not."
"She's lying!" Chaise vehemently exclaimed, but he immediately shut up when Matt gave him a threatening glare. "I still don't want that bastard in this house ok?"
"Well too bad, I invited his whole family." Nanna answered crossing her arms over her chest protectively.
"You invited his whole family?" Chaise questioned, now looking rather sick.
"Yes, his whole family."
"Ugh!" he exclaimed loudly, "Well all I can hope now is that he doesn't come."
"Well, your hope has just been burnt!" nanna gleefully exclaimed, "I called his family myself. Now he has no choice but to come!"
"Oh just great! Just freaking great!" Chaise threw up his hands in the air, almost as if he was fed up. With the look that he was currently giving my grandmother, I could guarantee that the latter was definitely true.
"It gets better!" nanna clapped her heads, now looking extremely like a small schoolgirl, "I invited Conan as well!"
"Conan's coming?" Jason yelled.
"Awesome!" Travis finished. The duo gave each other a high-five and ran out the kitchen, no doubt to see if they could get dirtier than they already were.
"Why did you invite Conan for?" I shot at her the second the boys left.
"Because he's fun!" nanna answered nonchalantly as she busied herself with the potatoes, which I had ignored thus far.
"So how many people are exactly attending this dinner?" Matt questioned, staring at nanna amusedly.
"Well… there's Vance Bentley, his parents, his sister, Conan, your father - "
"So six people including us and the twins?"
"Twelve people?" I asked my tone raising a notch.
"No, there's one more person." Nanna answered, looking up from her peeling.
"Who?"
"You'll just have to wait and see."
Oh joy.
"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!" I ran around my room trying to find a stupid top, which I knew was stashed here somewhere.
"Why do you sound like the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland?" asked Jason sniggering when I bumped my head against the nightstand table.
"Because I do." I muffled, aha, there it is! I stared at it then cringed; the top had lace on it.
"Ew, that's ugly!" Travis voiced my thoughts. I looked at the duo; they were comfortably perched on my unmade bed looking through my photo album. Dressed in their best Sunday Church outfit, the two boys contrasted vividly against the mess that was currently my room.
"Shut up you two! Don't you have - "
"Travis and Jason, come down here right now!" my grandmother's voice rang through the house, startling the three of us.
I smiled cruelly as they both grimaced in disappointment, "Off you go!" I ushered, relieved that they were finally leaving me in peace.
Grudgingly they left my room. I wasn't the only one who was running around trying to prepare for the dinner that was supposed to take place in – I looked at my watch – ten minutes. My grandmother was frantically scampering around the house trying to get everything organized, all the while bossing the boys in helping her clean the place up. They were of course retaliating, the last thing they wanted to do was stash the many visible alcohol bottles variously situated around the house. They were from nanna's "poker" nights. I wished them luck in finding a suitable area to hide them in. They scowled at me in return.
I quickly grabbed my towel and ran to the bathroom, which was situated at the end of the small corridor. Before I could make a safe exit my grandmother poked her head in the opening.
"You still haven't dressed?" she shouted, "Where have you been? Get dressed!" she barked without giving me a chance to explain.
Rolling my eyes, I skidded into the bathroom. Once my body was enveloped in the warm droplets of water, I smiled contentedly. I loved my hot showers; they were so relaxing. I voluntarily closed my eyes as my thoughts drifted to the previous happenings that had taken place during the day. Anna-Lea came to my mind. I had secretly gone to her house, and stayed for a couple of hours. Considering it was Saturday, my father still had to go to work, hence leaving me free to do whatever I wanted, without being asked too many unnecessary questions.
I didn't tell anyone where I was going. I felt like there was no point in explaining anything to anyone. Those three hours that I spent with Anna-Lea and Rani was almost like a dream. I spent time talking to Rani about my mother all the while playing with Anna-Lea. In the time I was spending with them, time flew by rather quickly. Hence why I was here, running around trying to fit everything in before the bane of my existence walked through my front door to mock me.
Ok, maybe I was exaggerating about Vance being the "bane of my existence", however I definitely wasn't exaggerating about the mocking part.
I sighed loudly when I realised that it was time to leave the comfort of the warm water. My sigh fell to deaf ears. I grabbed the towel from the stand, and quickly dried myself down.
I bit my lip when I realised that I hadn't brought anything in with me except for the towel. Shit! My room was at the other end of the corridor, which meant I had to run to my room in order to get dressed. Great! Just needed to add to my dilemmas. I wrapped the towel around my body and opened the bathroom door and stepped out. I quickly scurried into my room, and emersed myself in the process of finding a suitable bra to wear.
Why couldn't you find something when you really needed it?
Fed up at my failed attempts, I did the only thing that I thought suitable: "Nanna! Where the hell is my bra?"
I waited for a few seconds. No one answered.
"Nanna!" I shrilled once again; I stepped out of my room and ran to the entrance of the corridor, "Where are my bras? I can't - " I stopped in mid sentence.
Oh God.
Why are you so cruel to me?
I was standing in front of the Bentley family, clothed in nothing but a towel, whilst screaming for my bra.
I completely froze up.
Oh how I hated Vance Bentley's smirk!
"Eek!"
Did I just squeak?
I wanted to move, in fact I wanted to bolt right back into my room and hide myself under my bed and never come out again. Alas, my feet failed me. Mr and Mrs Bentley looked rather uncomfortable, Marika looked amused and Vance… well he smirked. He was mocking me, as usual.
"Dylan!" my grandmother gasped, she looked like she was truly horrified, "Puppy…" wait she wasn't horrified, she was stifling her laughter, "Your bras are in the fresh basket of laundry along side your undies."
Oh my God. Could she embarrass me any more?
My cheeks reddened and my eyes became wide. The tendrils of my hair were dripping wet, which added to the cold chill that was running down my warm neck. I attempted to hide behind my wet hair whilst mumbling incoherently.
"Let's go Dilly!" Conan exclaimed, popping up next to me from nowhere. I hadn't even seen that he had come in; I was too preoccupied in looking at the tiled floor in utter shame and embarrassment. He had a pink towel in his hand.
"Let's get you dressed before you catch a clod!" he brandished the towel over my head and started vigorously drying my hair. I didn't know if I was more annoyed at the fact that he was tugging my hair, or relieved that he hid my face from the unadulterated humiliation I was currently displaying.
Conan whilst rubbing my head, pushed me towards my room. Once we were inside, I heard him close the door.
"What just happened? Tell me it didn't happen!" I breathed out.
Conan tossed the towel he used to dry my hair on my bed and smiled.
"Well, you were naked, with only a Winnie the Pooh towel covering your body, whilst managing to look like the girl from The Ring." He nonchalantly replied.
"Great!" I threw my hands in the air, "It's not like I don't embarrass myself enough in front of Vance Bentley!"
Conan raised his eyebrow.
"Every time I'm around him, something always has to happen!" I continued, "I mean, I don't get it, I'm never like that in front of anyone else – "
"I think it's kinda cute…"
"Wha – how? You think drenched like a rat in front of him is cute? You think confronting him with Piggly Winks written on my arse is cute? Stop laughing! Oh let's not forget the fact that he caught me in his bedroom, snooping around and on top of that he knows that sometimes I still wear training bras!"
I whacked his shoulder, "Stop laughing! It's not funny!"
"Yes - " laugh, laugh, laugh, " - it - " gasping for air, "is!" rolling on the floor.
I kicked him out of my room.
AN: Sorry for the long wait. Thanks for all the encouraging reviews that you guys give me, it keeps me going! Thanks to all these people:
FiNd MuH WaY ; Reira ; alquastear ; gleez ; bohtea ; what-climbed-up-your-arse ; Lindsey ; Alyssa Pires ; crazy ; Death Princess ; MagicalShade ; simple-teen ; sheilz ; MolestAPeanut ; The Idiot Savant ; ABBEY ; Juniper Nights ; livingdead2010 ; becca ; witta ; yanny ; live-and-die ; Carbon Slash ; Mei1105 ; Terry S ; justcallmebubba ; Whispering Romance ; Budgiebird ; FamousOneLiners ; SkateForLife ; Iced-Faerie ;The Silver Panther ; Abby ; TaurusGirl7 ; lilxseeker ; No Life ; eyeofahuntress ; blue umbrella ; Salt and Vinegar Pringles ; Ashley ; rock 'n' roll junkie ; dancingintheshadows ; Angel302 ; manda rose ; A Dark Rose ; Dirty Secret ; cutelilcherrypie ; Sylvia Marri ; Silent Author ; aphroditeeyes ; ddz008 ; depth ; dangerous ; Tenshistar ; Lavender L. C ; jyu3 ; writerofdreams ; Garnet-earth-Princess ; unthinkable ; Avitaris ; -lover ; Cloudie ; Rosett Viccrilli ; Happy4u2 ; BlackFieryPhoenix86 ; Mirei ; fairy pwincess ; heyy :) ; DitzyPixie ; euphorix ; Lady Katerina ; Hammielurv ; Miami-Lu ; alyce ; Rayne-san ;Tainted Petal ; please ; IMAGRADU01 ; justagree ; anne1822 ; special.
Thankyou once again!
Did Toni sleep with Jed?
No, she didn't. They haven't kissed yet either.
How come lots...well a few girls have names that are 'typically' male or that kinda came off of a male name? Like Dylan, Toni and Jordana?
Well, the reasonI used the name Dylan was because my little brother's (who is three) name is Dillon. And this might sound corny but, my brother is like my good luck charm, hence why Dylan is Dylan! Whereas Toni,I don't know,I didn't see her character with any other name. She just popped up as Toni in my mind. I guess you could say it was JK Rowling thing. Jordana... well I don't know, love the name soI just needed a reason to use it!
Where is story held, using the words like mate, bloody, and something else...anyway sound like Australia?
Definetly Australia! I'm not an aussie myself, I live in Aus so hence it has had a huge influence on this story!