Sugar, Spice and a pinch of Fantasy

Chapter 36

---------- Chapter 36 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Haden’s POV – With his friends) 

“Oh, what’s this? Haden Carter joining us? Hmm, well I’ll be! The world must be spinning in reverse,” Ethan teases as I walk up to his table.

“Funny, Ethan, real funny,” I murmur, mock jabbing him in the arm.

“Okay, let’s be serious here. I have two questions. One; where are Alex and Matt? Aren’t the three of you inseperable? Second; I wanna know why you’re here with us, rather than that gaggle of high school kids you left with,” Jeremy announces, ordering me a drink.

“Before I answer your questions, when did that happen?” I demand gesturing to Chantelle sitting cosily on Kevin’s lap, sucking each other’s faces off.

“You know them. We told them they liked each other. They didn’t believe us. So two beers later, here we are!” Ethan responds, smirking. “Now, to the Jeremy’s questions.”

“Okay. Alex and Matt ditched me to go catch a movie earlier in the night. We don’t always hang out together. The two of them are closer anyway. As to the high school kids...well, it started getting a little uncomfortable. So I ditched them, and here I am!” I intone, taking a swig of my whiskey.

“Let me guess, the girls wanted you?” Jeremy asks, chuckling.

“Dude, I think even the two dudes would have wanted him,” Ethan adds. “The only person who would have been normal would probably have been his sister!”

And he’s right. Quite possibly, the only person at that table who didn’t want to either hook up with me or beat me up because the girls wanted to hook up with me, would have been Jess. How insanely depressing!

               “She’s not my sister,” I announce glumly, downing another swig.

               “Thank God for that. She looked extremely pretty tonight. I would have asked her to dance if I knew her. She should come join us at our table some time. She seems to cool to be wasting her time with high school boys,” Ethan murmurs softly.

               “Wait a second! Haden...I watched you dance with her earlier on. I donno, call me crazy, but...do you happen to like her?” Jeremy asks, shocking me a little. He wasn’t even quiet. Chantelle and Kevin pull apart, leaning in to listen to us.

               “Funny,” I mutter, getting up to order another drink.

               “Slow down cowboy!” Ethan warns. “You’re pretty bright red. Shall we take that as a yes?”

               “Can we drop it?” I insist softly.

               “Dude, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about! She isn’t your sister. You’re her guardian. You’ve basically grown up around her, right? Falling for her would be the normal thing to do. Besides, if we’re being honest, she’s quite the looker too,” Jeremy consoles, laying his hand on my shoulder.

               “But come on! You guys know how weird it sounds. And I told her,” I admit quietly. “I think it just freaked her out more than anything.”

               “Well, give her some time,” Ethan advices. “And hey, if it doesn’t work out with you, I’ll be nice to her!” he teases.

               “Yeah, sure. And what makes you think she’d ever think twice about you?” I shoot back, grinning.

               “Well, I get that you probably won’t have noticed this but, I’m kind of a stud,” he announces confidently.