Morana Barnes: Murderous Love

28. May Barnes

A/N: Here's a little filler chapter. The story may progressively start to move at a semi-fast pace after this chapter.

*****

October 27th, 2022 1:37 pm

Chill Day:

I was sitting on the couch with popcorn in my lap as I laid back against Jace. Staring at the screen intensely I put my popcorn-filled hand to my mouth. I put them in my mouth and chewed carefully. We were watching a scary movie and while it was light outside, I didn't want to risk getting jump-scared and choking.

I swallowed and just as I placed my hand back in the bowl my body tensed as the loud music came to a hard stop replaced with sirens. Nothing even happened and I still got scared. I felt Jace chuckle at my reaction and rolled my eyes. This is why I watched scary movies during the day and not at night. I'll be too paranoid to go to sleep.

Today is supposed to be something of a chill day. Just sitting at my house with Jace accompanying me, watching movies, playing board games, and whatever else at home things we can do. We've been watching movies since 11 this morning and I was honestly tired of sitting around but the movies have just been so good.

I placed the bowl of popcorn on my coffee table and went back to watching the movie. This was one of the more graphic scary movies and it made my stomach churn. Jace picked it. He was something of a horror movie fanatic while I preferred comedy movies and maybe a little bit of romance like 'To all the boys I've loved before' or revisiting 'Twilight' every month for some odd reason.

"Why did you insist we watch this one? You know how much I hate these kinds of movies," my body jolted as the killer popped up on screen running, chasing after the main character with a knife. I cringed inwardly.

"I had to sit through all your movies. Plus, this isn't that bad,"

"It gets worse? There are worse horror movies than this?"

"Have you seen Terrifier?"

"No, and I don't plan to,"

"Well, that's worse." he laughed. I shook my head and went back to watching the movie. I couldn't wait till this was over. After we'll play a board game or maybe some card games. We can make a bet of some sort and see who wins.

It'll be better than watching some guy kill a bunch of people for no reason. The movie went on for another thirty minutes and surprisingly for once, the main character and all their friends died. That's not how these things usually work but you can't be too surprised considering there are seven more movies. I got off the couch and stretched my legs and back.

"Now, let's play a game,"

"Let's play a card game this time. You know how to play spades?"

"I'm the master at spades," I smiled. "Unless I'm playing Morana. I swear she cheats because there's just no way she can win every time,"

"It's possible,"

"No, I don't think so. Something's gotta give eventually."

We played a couple of rounds of spades. Jace and I were even on wins. We played speed and Jace had me beat. There was no way I could move that fast to put a card down. This was another game Morana beat me at. I blamed her cop-like reflexes.

We played 'I Declare War', 'peaknuckle', and others before bringing out 'Uno'. This is where things get serious. So far we've been back and forth between having Uno and not getting it. I had five cards in my hands and Jace had four.

It was my turn and I was deciding on whether or not to change the color by placing down the same number card or playing her plus four. He might have a plus-four. I decided to take the safe route and place a green 7 on top of the yellow one.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jace sighed as he started picking up cards from the deck. I smiled in victory and waited patiently for him to grab a green card. So he didn't have a plus four. He finally did after picking up twenty cards. "I'm convinced you cheated. I'll shuffle the deck next round,"

"Go for it. I don't the outcome will be any different," I said as I placed another green card down.

"Yeah, we'll see." The game went on a little longer after Jace kept putting down plus twos and changing the color. I currently had one card in my hand, my plus four, and I had to hide the smile that wanted to appear on my face. It didn't matter what Jace put down. I was gonna win.

I watched carefully as he placed down a plus-four and giggled in victory. I placed my plus-four on top of his and he sighed. He set all his cards down and shook his head.

"It's okay," I said as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I kissed his cheek and continued to smile at him as he looked at me. "You beat me a few times in all the other games."

"That is true. Especially in peaknuckle. Have you ever played that game before?"

"Yes, with Morana. I never beat her either,"

"I'm not surprised," he laughed. I playfully pushed his shoulder as I detached myself from him and stood up.

"Come on, let's go for a walk. My legs need it from all this sitting around." I said, helping him stand up. We grabbed our shoes and put them on. Jace tossed me my keys and we headed out the door to enjoy a late afternoon stroll.