School of Marvel

Pizza Hut (3,000 words)

"So..." Kameron drew out the word a little, as she sat on my bed. I was reading a book in my chair with a blanket over my lap after school. Kameron had entered about five minutes ago and chatted about her day for a bit, then silence had fallen and I had resumed my book. Until now. "Have you decided between vanilla and cookies and cream?"

I groaned, slapping my book onto my lap. "I think you've ruined me from eating ice cream ever again." My sister just looked at me expectantly. "No, I haven't picked because I'm not going to pick. If either of those guys, or ice cream flavors, or whatever they are, want to date me, they'll have to ask me first. I refuse to harbor a crush if the man knows nothing about it."

"That's why you have to pick one and tell him, silly."

"Uh, no. If anything, he is going to tell me. I am not going to be the one to ask him out on a date. That has to be the other way around."

"Oh, so you want me to tell him to ask you."

"No! Don't you dare!"

"Well...."

"Kameron!"

"Fine. I won't. For now." I rolled my eyes and opened my book again, trying to communicate silently that I wanted this conversation to end. I knew that Kameron understood me, but she just chose not to listen. "You didn't tell me which one you liked better."

I huffed, looked over at her. "What if I don't like either?"

She laid on the bed and rolled so she was stared at me upside-down. "Of course you do! You like how kind Steve is, but you're also intrigued by Loki."

"How do you know that those aren't you own feelings talking?" I retorted, raising one eyebrow. "Maybe you're in love with one of them and you're disguising it by tell me that I'm in love with one of them."

"You've read too many books," she wrinkled her nose at me and rolled right-side-up again. "I don't like either of them, but I know you do. Call it a sister's intuition."

"I call it a sister's desperation," I snorted. "You just want me to have a boyfriend so you can make fun of us and ruin our dates."

She shrugged. "I mean, those aren't bad reasons...."

I shook my head at her. "Why don't we reverse this? Tell me about your crush. If you think I have two, that means you have at least one. Thor?"

Kameron giggled. "Mm-hmm. He's so handsome I can't even stand it! And strong! And he has an accent!" She had the same love for accents that I did, but really, what girl didn't?

"Oh dear," I leaned one arm on the armrest of my chair. "I can't believe you have a crush already. I didn't have one when I was your age." It was true. That sort of thing had always captivated my friends but held little interest for me. I figured I would wait until my parents actually let me have a boyfriend to have a crush. And then I got to that age and no one caught my eye, so I stayed single. "I think he likes you too. He hangs out with you a lot, and I see him watching you too."

"You should get to know him better! He's going to need sister approval if he's going to stick around." She winked at me. We had always said that a guy would have to go through one of us to get to the other. Of course my parents also had to approve him. And my favorite cousin. It wouldn't hurt if all my other siblings liked him as well.

"I'll try anyway," I said, picking up my book again.

**********

I hadn't told Kameron about Loki and his friends yet. I didn't know why. Why did I care that she viewed him with contempt? I was beginning to.