falling [total drama island]

chapter eight

Oh my God.

How did I end up with Cody Anderson having dinner with my family?

Let's see, my parents got home early from their business trip due to a factory flooding because of extreme rainfall in Muskoka (pretty weird for summer) and my siblings all thought I was gay, which then led to Mom adopting him into the family and almost forcing him to stay for dinner.  

"Are you gay?" Dahlia asks. My siblings and I were ushered into the living room while our parents talked and unpacked. Evan and Abi had started on a competitive game of Monopoly with Ethan and Tash while Evie sat cross legged in front of them watching intently. Priya was upstairs unpacking. Cody was completely unfazed as he sat in a corner with his AirPods in and chuckling at his phone while scrolling on TikTok.

"Dahlia," I say with the deepest stare. "You can't just ask people that." Dahlia stared back without blinking just as intently and rolls her eyes before saying, "Who's Cody, then?"

"He's my friend from university. Can I not have friends without people assuming we're gay?" I reiterate. "And plus, how do you even know about gay people? When I was eleven I didn't know anything about society."

"It's a new world," Dahlia says. "And you can have friends, I never said you couldn't. It's just that Evan has a boyfriend, Abi does too and so does Tash. You're basically next."

"Me? Why not Priya or something? And does it have to be a boy? What if I actually like girls, Dahlia."

"I don't think a man has come within ten meters of Priya without getting punched. I feel like she's a bit nasty sometimes, but that's okay!" Dahlia says. She then looks away and stares intently at a painting of a fruit bowl (how convenient) before saying, "I saw you blushing at a male model once."

"You what?" Abi looks up and smirks. Her lip curls up at the side devilishly and she looks at me with pure evil glittering in her eyes. 

"Whatever you heard was not true," I say loudly. "I was indeed not-"

"Keep denying the gay allegations, Noah," Evan says, not bothering to look up. He's looking for Chicago in the deck of cards in the red plastic container. "You'll find out one day you were lying the entire time. Found it," he says with a victorious grin as he holds up the card. 

"But I'm not lying," I mutter. "Sure, I think some guys are hot, and I would definitely fuck them, but I think I'll end up marrying a girl."

"Don't swear in front of the kids," Priya says as she walks down the stairs. She's changed into her ratty pyjamas with elephants on them. She should buy new ones, they're getting too small, but she refuses. 

"Honestly, whatever," Natalia says with an eye roll. She then looks up and beams at me. She definitely has some stupid idea to terrorize either me or the rest of us. What I didn't expect was for her to look at the guest. Then she leans close to Cody's ear and yells, "CODY!"

Cody is out of his daydream in a jolt. He quickly rips an AirPod out of his ear. "What was that for?" 

"That's how I address people," she says. "Sorry if I accidentally gave you hearing problems. Anyway, can I ask you a question if it's not too personal?"

"Do you think the Katniss and Peeta ship would be Peenis?" Ethan randomly chirps. 

"Yes," Evie says cluelessly.

"I mean, sure," Cody continues. "Shoot."

"Are you gay?" Tash lolls. She flips over so she's lying on her back and rolling her eyes back to stare at him. Cody is downright astonished, I can read it in his face. God, why do my siblings have to be like this? 

Cody doesn't say anything for a bit, and then Tash says, "I'm not hitting on you, by the way. Asking for a friend. Or," she says, "specifically for my brother."

"Which one?" Evie asks. "Noah?" Tash nods joyfully.

"Natalia." I can feel my face going bright red. It does that sometimes, and it's not even intentional. I don't like Cody that way, but whenever anyone uses trashy pick up lines on me it makes me incredibly flustered. 

"I guess?" he says. "I mean, I never really thought about it. I just like people because of the way they are, not because of their gender. But I guess I prefer men?" He looks around and reads the room. Absolutely everyone is staring at him like he called us a slur.

"See?" Tash jumps up and throws her arms in the air.  She kicks over all the Monopoly shit in the box and Abi, Evan and Ethan all groan. "I am successful in securing you a boyfriend," she proceeds.

"Oh come on," I say. "He's probably just pressured into saying he's gay by you. Thanks a lot for making the guest uncomfortable, you do this every single goddamn time." Tash's stupid grin did not leave her face though, so I turn to Cody and tell him, "You can leave whenever you want, by the way."

"Stop being a mood killer, Noah," Tash says before Cody can reply. "I'm just trying to have some fun."

Before I could make a sarcastic remark, my parents walked in and handed us some menus to order food. We decided on Chinese takeout that night because Abi kept complaining about her breakouts. We got a large portion of stir fried noodles and some pork and chive dumplings. Dahlia requested an entire box of fortune cookies, and we also bought additional side dishes.

"You are a weirdo," Evie says with an angry finger jab at me. I throw my hands up. "What did I do this time?"

"I don't know," she says, "but you are a weird person, Nono."

The Nono jokes started almost immediately. "Don't touch me, that's my Nono spot!" Abi exclaims. These have been happening since Evie was three and couldn't pronounce 'Noah', so she just said 'Nono'. It stuck, maybe as a habit, or maybe because Evie liked that name. It's funny, if I'm being real, but sometimes gets me into a bit of a pissy mood and I was already in a shithole with the gay allegations.

"Nono spot." Priya snorts. She's got the TV on and is watching Friendship is Magic with Evie. She's obsessed with giving Evie the childhood she got when she was younger, so instead of CocoMelon and fucking brainrot, Evie gets the good shit. Our family lived in Australia for a while when I was really little, so most of the shows we watch are nostalgic Australian shows from channel twenty two. 

"Nono?" Cody says quietly. He looks at me. In the lighting his eyes are very teal and shimmery, like a magic potion. I roll my eyes. "It's a bit of an inside joke. Evie couldn't pronounce Noah when she was three and one day Abi found 'Nono' a funny name and here we are." I grumbled that entire sentence out.

"That's actually a really cute nickname," Cody says. He looks at me and says, "They could never make me hate you, Nono."

"Shut up," I whine. 

After a while, I work up the courage to say, "I'm so sorry for the way my siblings have been behaving recently. They have absolutely no filter and seem to be obsessed with the idea of me and you being a couple."

"Ah, that's alright," Cody says. "I'm not completely new to the shipping wars. In third grade people shipped me and this girl called Sierra and she was downright obsessed. Because of her, I had to move states."

"That sounds like shit, I'm sorry that happened." I glare at the happy-go-lucky Pinkie Pie bouncing around on the TV screen. "I'll make sure that doesn't happen with me, I guess."

"You don't seem like the type of person to be obsessed, really," Cody says. "You seem like the type of person who isn't aware they're a celebrity."

"Me? A celebrity?" I let out a laugh. "You're fucking with me." 

"You do!" Cody grins. "You'd be a really good writer. You give off writer energy."

"How did you know I write?" I genuinely ask. I write...quite a lot. And read. I could write forever, if it came to that conclusion. 

"You just look like you do." Cody could read me like a book. Nobody else could do that. I wonder why?

a/n

lowkey such a pointless chapter but seriously the plot thickens from now on