Serenity Falls

Chapter 46

Hey guys! I'm not completely happy with this chapter, I don't think it fits in with the story very well but... I think it makes up for the character torture of the last few chapters! Anyway, let me know what you think :)

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"Are we actually going to start on this assignment or are you going to just keep staring at me like that?"

Chelsie grinned at her best friend, who snapped out of his daydream at the sound of her voice, pushing his glasses up his nose and trying to stop his cheeks from turning a pink shade. The whole time she had been over at his place, he had been acting strangely, and she couldn’t put her finger on why.

But she pushed those thoughts out of her head when she fell back to reality – where they had a paired assignment due for tomorrow that they hadn’t even started.

"We can do the assignment," answered Fred, clearing his throat, in a way that could’ve been interpreted as nervous. "So, what have we got to do?"

"Would help if you wrote it down." Chelsie rolled her eyes playfully and chucked her sheet of notes in his direction. She watched him scan the words written down from behind his thick-rimmed glasses.

"So where do we start?"

"Come on, I thought you were the nerdy one," she joked, hopping off the bed and stepping closer to Fred, who was sitting on the chair at his desk. "Shove off, then, and let me sit down."

"Uh, no way," he responded with a smile, folding his arms. "This is my seat. Get your own."

"You want me to push you off?"

Fred glanced at her, studying her expression to see how serious she was. "You wouldn’t do that."

"Wouldn’t I?" Chelsie challenged, with a grin. She paused for a moment, as if thinking. "No, I wouldn’t. But I can sit on you." Flashing a smile, she launched herself backwards until she was sitting directly on Fred’s lap.

"Oof," he gasped in surprise, as he felt the weight of Chelsie’s body crushing his legs. "I’m going to lose blood circulation in my legs, you know. Then you’ll be sorry."

Despite his jokes, he couldn’t stop the warm feeling from rising to his cheeks – he was sure that they had turned pink by now, although he didn’t really know why. The thought of being in such close proximity to Chelsie made him... flustered. But why? They had been best friends for years, shared everything, knew exactly what was going on inside each other’s heads every moment of the day. And yet now... Fred could barely look at her without losing himself in a daydream. The whole thing sounded girly and weird to him, but he couldn’t deny it.

"Ah, you’ll live," she dismissed, with a fleeting wave of her hand. She leaned over towards the desk, letting her hand find the computer mouse and typing in his password without so much as a blink.

"Hey, how’d you know my password?" he said, as the computer granted her access and she opened up the internet browser. Even though they had been best friends for years, and she had spent so many hours in this room, he was still surprised. The thought made him kind of... on edge, almost nervous, as if she knew something about him, although there was nothing embarrassing on his computer.

"Uh, face it, Fred, having your password as password isn’t all too secure. I guessed it years ago, and you still haven’t changed it."

"You never know!" he said, sticking out his bottom hip and folding his arms. "I might decide to change it tonight. Or tomorrow. Then you won’t know it."

"Oh, don’t worry, it won’t take me long to figure out even if you do change it. I’ve known you too long, Fred," she said, turning away from the screen to look at him, slightly taken aback by how intently he was gazing at her. She paused, frowning slightly. "What is it? Why do you keep staring at me? Do I have something on my face?"