CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
ANTHONY’S POV

“C’mon. We haven’t hung out in a while. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m sorry, but I already have plans that day.”

Anderson groaned and rolled his eyes in frustration. He was trying and failing, woefully might I add, to try to convince me to not attend the Winter formal and just hang out with him instead since the next day was going to be my birthday. I would have loved to do nothing more than play video games the eve of my birthday, but I already told Blake I was going to the dance and I was not going to cancel on him.

I don't know what it was, but there was something going on between us for sure. Blake was sweeter to me, a lot nicer and his insults were playful and teasing as always, but this time around, I didn’t feel like retaliating with a mean comeback. He was always hanging around me and, the best part of it all, he was handsy! A day wouldn’t go by without him touching me, and oh! His touches were amazing!

“You don't even like school dances!” he whined. “Remember senior prom? How you stayed back making mugs instead of dancing? Remember how fun that was for you?”

“You’re the one who’s always telling me to get out of my shell,” I said as I emptied the contents of my bag into my locker. It was the end of the school day and I was getting ready to go and meet Blake.

“Not like this. I meant go see a movie or get a boyfriend. You haven’t even told me anything about the whole Michael Tema relationship. What’s going on with you two lately? Is he the reason you want to go to the dance? The basketball team will eat you alive, you know that, right?”

Luckily for me, Blake walked up to us in that moment so I didn’t have to answer him. His smile was so big and bright and his eyes looked at me with such intense seductiveness that I blushed like a little girl meeting her celebrity crush for the first time.

“You ready?” he asked me. I couldn’t even speak so I just nodded enthusiastically.

Blake draped his arm over my shoulder like he’d been doing since that night. For the first time ever, I was glad he was taller than me.

“What’s got you smiling like that? Are you really that happy that you got a friend like me?”

“I’m just thinking about the tux I’m going to wear to the dance.” He stopped us briefly to appraise me, a smile slowly forming on his lips.

“And here I was thinking I’d have to kidnap you to make sure you attended this thing. Question: what do you wanna do on your birthday?”

I hadn’t really thought about it. In the previous years, my mom would try to make it a small event with family and friends. In the three years that we were not speaking to each other, Blake only attended my party once which was what made my parents decide not to invite him the subsequent years. I was pretty sure it was going to be amazing with him by my side this year.

“I don't really know. Karaoke maybe? Or we could just hang out in your room and just...” Blake’s mischievous, teasing smile appeared on his face again and it had me melting. Whenever he looked at me like that, I just couldn’t think functionally for the next few minutes. “Hang out or...whatever.”

“You wanna hang out in my bedroom on your birthday? I don't know, Pearce, I’m getting a hint of dark intentions in that suggestion.”

My face brightened instantly as it always did when Blake teased me like that. “There’s no...” My sentence was cut short when we arrived at Blake’s car and my little sister was standing there with her arms crossed, glaring daggers at the state in which Blake and I were in.

“I-I thought you had cheerleading practice today.” I felt the loss of his arm around me greatly. Blake approached Crystal with gentleness and calmness like he was approaching a wounded animal.

“So? You were going to ditch me if I did? Why aren’t you at basketball practice anyways?” That question was directed at me, but I didn’t bother to grace her with an answer.

“I was going to come back for you. I really was.” Her boyfriend smiled at her and it annoyed me how handsome he looked then while looking at her and how utterly unmoved she was about his expression. She had no idea how lucky she was!

“Whatever,” she muttered and yanked open the passenger car door. “You have a car, Anthony. Do well to utilize it and don't turn my boyfriend into your chauffeur!”

The car ride home was silent and intense. The air was thick with unspoken angry words and thoughts. I sat in the back staring at the back of my sister’s head. Despite the fact that the selfish part of me was mad at her, I couldn’t help but feel guilty and remorseful. She did nothing wrong. She was right to react that way especially with how I felt towards her boyfriend. If I were she, I’d never even let Blake see my shadow. I was a horrible brother for wanting her boyfriend, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Okay, that was a lie. There was a lot I could do like stay away from him and not let him touch me like he did, but I had grown weak and unable to fight my reaction towards his advances anymore, so I decided to settle for being the villain.

“Just the guys I wanted to see,” my mom exclaimed the moment we stepped over the threshold. She was smiling in a manner that suggested she had news for us, but we weren’t going to like it.

“Blake, honey, your mom called. She said she’ll be back next week.”

I could sense him go stiff beside me. I don't think anyone else noticed how he inhaled sharply after what my mom said or how his chest expanded and contracted irregularly. His eyes widened in fear and shock and he started fumbling with the hem of his sweater. But no one else noticed it because of how quickly he switched back to being just regular Blake who didn’t react that way to unexpected news, and I wouldn’t have too if I hadn’t been paying rapt attention to him.

“Oh really? My mother still exists? I thought she might have evaporated or something why with her disappearing all of a sudden and not even bothering to call me and tell me where she was going and how long she’d be gone for. Good to know her service works in whatever dimension she is in.”

He dropped his bag angrily by the closet and marched passed my mom into the kitchen. Crystal followed him like a little puppy, eager to be the balm that’ll soothe his sore.

“Blake, don't be like that. She told me she tried calling you but your line was unreachable.”

He scoffed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay. But that’s a lie. Good to know that her lying doesn’t just end at the court house.” Crystal rubbed his arm gently. She looked like a mother trying to calm her baby down by swaddling him and petting him softly. I hated that I couldn’t do the same without making anyone uncomfortable.

“Look, your mom has something to deal with right now. She’s really sorry that she couldn’t talk to you, but she will right before the dance. She’s excited to see your pictures and so am I.”

The talk of the dance did manage to ease his soul a bit. He glanced at me and I saw the telltale signs of a smile appear at the corners of his lips.

“Speaking of excitement.” The change in her tone to over chirpy and agile made me believe what I suspected earlier was true. She was about to deliver news that we wouldn’t like one bit.

“Stella wanted to pay a fortune for some people from CarlenePaints to paint over Crystal’s walls, but I wouldn’t let that happen, especially not after she pulled that stunt with the chandelier and surround sound system in the ceiling. So, I officially fired her from making further adjustments to the redecoration/remodelling and now, you both are in charge of painting. Tada!”

I was glad Blake and I had the same views of painting an entire bedroom wall. We both gave my mother looks that said “Not a chance in hell!”

“What about my wallpaper?” Crys queried. “I already picked it out with Stella.”

“The wallpaper will only cover a portion of the walls. You need to paint the remaining sides. I’m not hiring a painter when I have two fully grown adult men here who can do the work for free.”

“Technically, I’m not an adult yet since my birthday isn’t till next week.” My mom gave me a deadpan look.

“Bonnie, I love you and I really, really like Crys.” He winked at her and she blushed. “But ain’t no way I’m painting a bedroom wall. Someone once told me I didn’t have a single artistic bone in my body and right now, I believe he was not wrong about that.” It was my turn to receive his stomach-flipping wink.

Blake walked around my mother and went to the living room. He went about the place like it was his own house. I liked that he felt that comfortable around us. It made me happy.

“If you don't, you’re not getting dinner.” That right there was a woman who won the Mother of The Year cup when I was in middle school during a school event.

“Starving us, eh?” I said and sank down beside Blake on the couch. I handed him the can of soda and chips that I brought for us to snack on. Crystal just stood by my mother’s side watching the whole thing with contempt. I couldn’t tell if she was mad because we didn’t want to paint her room or because I was hanging with her boyfriend while all she could do was stand there and seethe silently.

“That’s okay. I can just order in for us. We’d be staying over at my place anyways.”

I don't think I’ve ever seen my mom give Blake the look before.

When Bonnie Pearce was angry at you, she’d squint her eyes so thin you’d think they weren’t there to begin with, and her lips will be parted slightly in utter disbelief before she bites down on her lower lip as she thought of ways to murder you without going to jail. Her hands were on her waist this time around which just meant he was done for.

“Blake Lindell, you are going to go upstairs and paint Crys’ room and you are going to do it with her not-an-adult-yet older brother and you are not going to complain about it and here’s why: Budapest.”

I expected more context after that country name drop but that was it. Crys and I looked at each other, the first time we were putting aside our differences since the night my dad yelled at me for coming home late on a date with Michael, and were actually relating to our confusion as siblings. None of us seemed to understand what she meant by that, well none except Blake.

His smug smile had vanished and it was replaced with the trembling lips of a teenager. His eyes were dead serious and frightened and he shook his head ever so slightly. To see no colour on the face of Blake Lindell was a very rare occurrence. I needed to know what this was about.

“What? What’s Budapest?” I asked.

“Are you talking about the country?” my sister asked. My mother seemed to be enjoying the hold she had on him. She smiled sinisterly and walked up to him. “I have pictures too. Moms talk to each other, you know. Who’s ready to go down memory lane with a photo album, huh?”

“No!” Blake screeched. He was up on his feet with lightning speed, the colour back on his face and it looked like it wanted to compensate for being absent for a few seconds. “That wouldn’t be necessary at all, Bonnie. Besides, Tony and I have a room to paint. C’mon man.”

“Why? What’s Budapest?”

I had to admit, I was enjoying this little thing. I’ve never had leverage over Blake before, and it was cool to see him react this way to a simple threat that was made by my mother. I wondered what happened there. I was sure it was something extremely embarrassing for him to act this way especially since he didn’t get embarrassed easily. This was a guy who once walked from the boys’ bathroom to the football pitch naked when he got a voice mail from his mother saying that she’d found his stash of Playboy Magazine and was coming to school to get him. I was on the football field watching practice and he ran all the way there to tell me.

“C’mon Pearce. No time for questions. Let’s see if being in close proximity with you this time around can bring forth my artistic bone.”

Yeah, I did not interpret it the way he meant to say it. And with the look he gave me afterwards, I’m guessing neither did he.

Staying in a room with Blake shirtless and covered in paint and sweat? What could possibly go wrong?