Hearts on a Page ~ Enemies to Lovers

Chapter 5: The Night Before

"So, all in all, your whole get to know Oliver experience was a fail?" Callie asked before grabbing a handful of popcorn and shoving it in her face. She then proceeded to lay down, placing her head in my lap and allowing me to braid her gold hair.

"Right when I thought we were making progress, I said the wrong thing and it's like we were right back to where we started," I responded, a bit of sadness in my voice. "Only worse."

It was a Friday night and we were hanging out in Callie's basement. I decided to catch everyone up on the gist of what happened the previous evening, leaving out the personal things that were shared. Oliver and I might not be the best of friends, but that didn't mean I was going to share his secrets with the world. 

Brayden and Callie started throwing popcorn at one another, and I stayed quiet, just playing with Callie's hair. Lydia noticed my silence, and gave me a smile before turning to Brayden.

"Babe," she said, getting her boyfriend's attention and making him pause from his popcorn duel with Callie. "Didn't you have something to tell them about Halloween"

"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, Lyd," she mouthed sorry after he said that. "But cat's out of the bag now. I got us a Shaggy for tomorrow night!"

"Really?" I said, shocked.

"Yeah, I ran into a... friend of mine at Bennett's on Tuesday and I was asking him if he had any plans for Halloween. He said he didn't and I told him I was having you guys over and that he should come. I told him that he could be Shaggy, only if he wanted, and he said it was simple enough that he'd do it."

Something was up. Something strange. Brayden paused and looked to Callie for reassurance before he said the word "friend," but then kept going as if nothing happened. Before I had the chance to address the moment they just shared, Lydia spoke.

"Isn't this just great? Now we have the full Scooby Gang and possibly a new friend!" Lydia was very excited, which made me excited as well.

"Well, I have to say, this made my night! Now, when we take pictures, we'll have everyone and it'll look great," I replied, matching Lydia's enthusiasm.

"Well what if your friend doesn't like taking pictures," Callie said, once again putting an emphasis on the word friend and looking at Brayden with her blue eyes. But it was ignored, yet again.

"Well, we'll just make him," said Lydia, giggling.

"Doesn't matter, I just can't wait for tomorrow night!" Brayden said, moving on from the subject of the mysterious friend that he had invited. "7:00 everybody?"

"I work until 7, but I'm wearing my costume to my shift so I'll only be a little bit late. Speaking of which, Lydia, can you pick me up on the way?" I ask.

"Of course," she responds with a smile.

I smile back, before I notice Callie and Brayden giving one another a look.

"Okay, so what are we watching tonight?" Brayden asks, once again moving the conversation forward. "I say we put on a random movie and not even think about it, because we'll just end up talking over it anyway."

"Fair enough," Callie responds, sitting up to take the remote from his hands. She puts on "The Bee Movie" and we all giggle at the choice, but don't object.

My head falls to Callie's shoulder and the others start laughing as Brayden perfectly recites the opening monologue. I laugh for a bit as well, but all I can think of is that my friends are keeping something from me and I don't like it.