Lola & Alex [Slow updates]

Chapter 26: "Complicated."

"Tell me again, why are everyone having a sleepover at my place without my say in it?"

Charlotte looked at me sheepishly, an embarrassed smile on her face. We both had blankets and pillows in our arms, making our way down towards the small basement which mom and dad had made into a mini game room.

Where now my nemesis and Harry were sitting.

"Mom told me you were lonely and she got an idea for a sleepover so I dragged them as well." She playfully glared at me, "You should've told me Lola."

I winced and stopped her with a hand at her elbow before the staircase, "I'm sorry, Char. I just didn't want to burden you even more after the whole scandal and shit."

Her face softened and she tried to hug me despite the fluffy blankets between us, "I love you. You can talk to me about anything okay? I'll gladly help you but only if you don't keep things from me next time."

I smiled at her, the sudden urge to cry in her arms washing over me but instead I said, "I love you too."

"If you are done confessing your love for each other, we'd very much like those the blankets now!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes at Harry's voice from downstairs, "No, we're going to let your ass freeze down there!"

"You love my ass, bird!"

We resumed walking although quite slowly and I frowned at her, "Bird?"

She again rolled her eyes, "British slang for 'girl'."

I snorted and she said tightly, "He's so annoying."

"But you like him that's why you brought him tonight," With a wink towards her, I left her spluttering behind me.

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"This is so cool, mate." Harry looked at the arcade machine dad bought two years ago with awe, before his eyes went to the big screen in front of the couch and the projector hanging from the roof above it.

The floor was carpeted unlike the rest of the house with one shelf on a wall consisting of columns. Various kind of board games, PS4 and 5 and books were kept there. On the other side of the room was a table with a vinyl player on it, that wall filled with vinyl records. The ceiling had normal lights as well as neon lights for aesthetic and the wall along the door to enter had a huge customized LED light saying 'Gaming room'.

Once Harry's ogling was done, he returned and sat on the rug before the couch. For a minute, there was a pause of awkward silence between the four of us no one knowing what to do or say. I looked at Alexander Graham Bell from the corner of my eye who sat with his back leaned against the couch on the rug and was busy on his mobile, having spoken no word since he had come.

Harry clapped his hands at last and looked between me and Alexie, "Okay, I can't take this anymore. I need to know now are you two together or what?"

My mouth opened, the word 'hate' on the tip of my tongue but something tugged in me and the word slipped back inside. Our gazes met before Alex finally spoke, "It's complicated."

Harry frowned at Charlotte, questions in his eyes but she simple shrugged. He sighed, "I want to do a Halloween bash and invite people from our school."

"But October just started a week ago," I said.

He said in a dreamy tone, "Yeah, but I want it to be the biggest party of our last year in high school."

"But you'll need tons of help for that," Charlotte said.

Harry raised his eyebrows, "Are you hinting that you want to help me?"

Her cheeks became scarlet, "No!"

He wiggled his eyebrows at her before saying to me, "Do you have uno?"

I nodded towards the shelf, "It should be in one of the columns."

"Be right back!" He jumped up, going to search for the cards meanwhile Char shook her head, "C'est un imbécile tellement ennuyeux." He's such an annoying goof.

I smiled at her devilishly, "Pourtant vous l'aimez," Yet you like him.

She gaped at me. Just then, Harry returned with uno and settled back where he sat previously, smirking at Charlotte, "You know, you can talk about me in English too."

Her eyes widened, "How do you know I was talking about you?"

He shuffled the cards, starting to distribute them and surprisingly Alexie sat upright too for the game, "Oh, I didn't. I guessed but you just confirmed my suspicions."

And that led to another banter between them, making the atmosphere slightly more tolerable between all of us.

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I had been tossing and turning for a while now, feeling restless and uneasy for no reason. Meanwhile, Charlotte was sleeping peacefully beside me on my bed and the other two persons were given the guest room across mine to sleep in.

We had played uno, made popcorn to eat while watching movies later on and played scrabble before everyone got tired and we retired at one in the morning to our rooms.

I tossed one more time and switched on my mobile to see it was almost two a.m. Realizing mom and dad hadn't returned yet, I finally got up and slowly made my way downstairs towards the kitchen so as to not disturb anyone while they slept.

A sigh escaped me when I turned on the light and opened the fridge to see if I still had any ice-cream left. Fortunately, I did so I took it out and shut the freezer's door.

A gasp of surprise left my mouth when I whirled and saw Alexander Graham Bell's figure standing in the dark hallway.

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