Faithless

Chapter 5

I arrived at Hannah's house in a dizzying blur. She greeted me at the door with that fake smile that she always gave me and I followed her inside. As I hung up my coat on the rack, I realized how I'd never actually been in her house before. It was structured the same way that mine was, but with more family photos on the walls and more lush decorations. Her family had already started decorating for Christmas as well.

"You're the last to get here," Hannah said. "My sisters are spending the weekend at their friend's house and my brother went out of town with my parents. So we don't need to worry about anyone getting in the way." She was dressed in a loose Sleater-Kinney t-shirt and slim fit blue jeans. Her blonde hair was tied up behind her head, and that day's makeup took on more of a minimalist look.

Hannah gestured for me to follow her. "Everyone's in the living room." I walked behind Hannah as she led me into the living room, where Nancy, Lucas, and Darren were gathered sitting on the couches in front of the television, playing some old western rerun. "Jay's here," Hannah said as we walked in.

Lucas looked up and smiled at me, with a little wave. His long black hair was tied low behind his head and he wore some gray college hoodie with black sweatpants. His skin was light brown, like Avery's, and his face was pockmarked with acne scars, covering a good portion of his cheeks. He was native american, his family the only native one in a town of mostly white people, so at the very least we could relate to feeling like outcasts. But he never liked talking about it, so it wasn't like it even mattered all that much. From what I could tell, at least Nancy genuinely liked him. They were sitting next to one another on the couch when I walked in, and Nancy definitely didn't hide her glare.

Nancy was wearing a short gray pleated skirt with striped black and purple leggings. Her shirt was some cartoon I didn't recognize, colored in pastel pink. The bow in her hair was dark purple today, matching her leggings. She was leaning on Lucas's shoulder, but still bothered to turn her head just to glare at me.

Darren sat in a lush chair on the far side of the couch, wearing a black Metallica shirt and dark blue jeans, a canned soda in his hand. He shared the same look Nancy had on her face, his eyes tracking me as I sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table.

Hannah stood in the doorway. "So since we're all here, should we order some pizza or something? I've got some more pop in the kitchen, if you're interested in that too."

"I could go for some pizza," Lucas said.

"What kind of movies do you have?" Darren asked, taking another slow sip of his soda. "Wanna get a good idea of what we'll be watching today."

Hannah picked up the landline phone off the receiver. "You can go and look in the basement. What kind of pizza do you guys want?"

"Pepperoni," Nancy piped up quickly.

Lucas raised his hand slowly. "Mind ordering cheese?"

"I'll take sausage," Darren said as he stood up.

Hannah looked at me. "Do you have a preference?"

I shook my head. "Whatever you guys get is fine."

She shrugged and dialed the number of the local pizza place. Darren headed out of the room, and the sound of the basement door in the hall opening and closing followed behind him. I leaned forward and flicked through the channels on the television mindlessly, uninterested in anything that was on.

"Wait, stop! Go back!" Nancy suddenly said.

I turned a couple channels back to one that was playing a rerun of Wuthering Heights. I narrowed my eyes at the television and then looked back at Nancy. "Seriously?"