The Boy's of Westbrook

~Brave~ Chapter III

Chapter III

What Eric didn't think about before blindly accepting Rubio's offer to go along with this, was that Damien would be present. Now Eric's nerves were shot to hell. He did his best to hide that fact when he met back with a confused wondering-where-he'd-been Veronica in the downstairs living room.

They settled on watching a movie after Eric broke the news that she too was invited.

"They never invite us anywhere." Veronica's wide eyes met Eric's. "It's like we were never cool enough. I think they tolerate us only because we're family."

Eric blew a raspberry in reply.

Veronica pulled out her laptop. They both watched Sucker Punch pausing only once to get dinner. It was barbecued wings or pork chops with mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, plain applesauce and a wide variety of fizzy drinks. They both went with the pork chops because barbecue sauce was too messy and Veronica didn't want to accidentally get her laptop dirty. They had to carry two plates because one plate was already too stuffed. Eric caught a glimpse of Damien before he was whisked away by Veronica. They had to carry their pop cans in their pockets and went down the steps carefully.

The pop cans were cold, so they hurried.

They were downstairs about to continue their movie when Damien surprised Eric once more by bluntly asking, "Do you hate me?"

Veronica had half a pork chop in her mouth so she looked hilarious when she looked, up her eyes wide. Eric responded slower, he didn't want to dump his soda on the carpet by accident. They were in the middle of having a carpet picnic during the movie. Eric's favorite fighting scene that involved guns and robots was currently playing.

He could feel Damien still standing there and when Eric turned, he was standing by the staircase. One foot on one of the steps, one hand on the doorframe. Like he swung himself in that way. The look on his face was serious.

Veronica said things with a full mouth that sounded like <Who are you talking to?> and <Where did you come from?>

Veronica had a lot of catching up to.

Damien had only eyes for Eric, his expression only getting grimmer.

"No." Eric responded after swallowing. He was considering in turning back to pause the movie because he was missing all the best parts.

"Then why do I always get the feeling you can't stand being in the same room with me?"

Eric snorted. Then gave a head jerk in Veronica's direction implying that he was being rude.

Damien suddenly remembered his manners and stepped into the room. "Oh sorry. Hi I'm Damien, I came here with Horowitz because we're neighbors and here I am spending the weekend with you all. I'm also your cousin's classmate. Class of 2015 woo." He didn't seem all that excited with the 'woo' part.

Veronica's mouth was still full so all she did was nod like she was following every word he said. Though, clearly lost. Had Eric been in her place he wouldn't have known what was going on either.

Right now, he felt like this was turning into a soap opera.

"Eric can we have a little chat for a moment?" Damien didn't take his eyes off of Veronica until the last bit. His tone was a tad too touchy for Eric's taste. Eric wasn't one for being ordered to do anything.

For goodness sake, they were acting like a married couple already!

Eric had to smush that last thought away to keep himself from deluding into any more ridiculous fantasies. So instead of complying he said, "I'm watching a really good movie." But Eric still wanted to be cordial, even though he still felt a little crushed from earlier. "You can bring your food down here and join us if you want."