October 18
"We're home!" I hear Dan call out. PJ and I were sitting on the couch and eating cupcakes, but I jumped up when I heard them open the door. I followed the location of Dan's voice to the front door where I found him and my brother, shivering in their coats from the blustery wind shrieking outside. I gave them each a hug, and then stepped back to take another bite of my cupcake.
"How was the meeting?" I asked.
"It was pretty good." Phil answered. "Just about as fun as any meeting can get... Why does it smell so good in here?" He asked. I heard PJ come up behind me, and he answered for us.
"We baked cupcakes... They're really good." I held up my cupcake for proof, and proceed to take another bite of it.
"Sweet." I hear Dan mumble. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him eyeing me and then PJ- he probably thought I wouldn't notice, but he should know better than that. I have a feeling that he has some... ideas about me and PJ, but who am I to assume, I suppose.
"Thank you PJ, for being here. And I'm going to get a cupcake because it smells phenomenal." Dan takes off his shoes and his coat, hangs up the latter, and his footsteps fade away as he heads into the house, probably to the kitchen.
"So I'm guessing everything was okay? Thanks for coming over on such short notice, PJ." Phil questioned. I saw a hint of something as his blue eyes darted from PJ to me, but he phrased the question totally innocently and PJ didn't seem to notice. I have a feeling I'm going to have to confront these two about their speculation. They don't know how I feel about PJ, but I still want to know what they think is happening.
"Yeah, everything was fine. And it was not a problem at all." PJ answered. My glance landed on my brother, and he seemed satisfied with that answer.
"Well, I'll be heading out, then." PJ said. He began putting his own jacket and shoes on, and I spoke to him as Phil followed Dan to the kitchen.
"This was a lot of fun... Even though I was sick. We should do this again soon." I said nonchalantly (not really).
"No doubt." PJ smiled, flashing me that heart-melting grin again. "Anytime you want to get together for that collab, you let me know." I nodded, and with that, he took his leave. Gone, it seemed, almost as soon as he had came. And all that was left behind was a gust of wind and my loudly beating heart.
****
"Dan, hurry up!" Phil yelled. I heard pieces of Dan yelling back, but his voice was lost in the hallway. My brother turns toward me, shifting in the couch and rolling his eyes.
"Dan, Dan. Takes a million and a half years to do everything." I laughed and said,
"I got changed in what... Two minutes? And Dan is still in his room. It does not take that long to change into pajamas." I said. As timing would have it, though, Dan wandered into the room. For a second, I was concerned, because it actually looked like he had wandered in here. He seemed so lost for a second that I asked,
"Dan, are you alright?" When I asked that, he seemed to snap out of his trance, and he nodded with new vigor. He sat down next to me and grabbed a Wii remote while Phil put the Mario Kart disk into the slot.
"Just to let you boys know... I wreck at Mario Kart." I said.
"Have you ever seen me play?" Dan asked. "I've won a race with my face." He said. I just scoffed.
"I think my hand-eye coordination beats your facial luck any day."
"We'll see." Dan said. I could feel him smirking beside me, and I felt a flame of competitiveness flare inside me. Every muscle in my body was ready to wipe that stupid smile off his face. Suddenly, the TV yelled out,
"Mario Kart... Eight!" Phil jumped back from the TV with his hand over his heart, and I laughed as I grabbed the remote to turn the volume down.
"Are you ready to lose?" My brother taunted. I turned to Phil, surprised, because he is forever bad at this game. And yet here he is, talking smack.
"What are you on about? Get ready to get wrecked, big bro." I lightly shoved Phil, and in retaliation, he shoved me into Dan. I don't think he meant to push me that hard, but I ended up splayed across his best friend's lap. I got up, saying simply,
"Sorry about that, Dan. Phil has absolutely no impulse control." I didn't think it was a huge deal, but under his straight brown fringe, Dan's whole face had taken on an interesting shade of crimson. He mumbled things I couldn't decipher, and when I landed on top of him, he flinched so hard I'm impressed that the remote he was holding didn't snap.
After that fiasco had ended, we got to the race settings. We let the game choose the place to make everything fair. Even though Dan and I could have easily done 150cc, we dropped it down to 100 for Phil, a perpetual amateur. I chose Rosalina as always, Phil chose Baby Toad, and Dan picked Luigi. We set off on the first map, which was called Dolphin Shoals.
Tapping my foot in time to the catchy music, I easily started off in second with Dan right on my tail. We sailed through the first lap of the course with ease, Dan only dropping back one place behind Wario, and me staying in first.
"Yes!" I heard Phil cry. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bullet bill flying throughout the course, shoving aside other innocent racers.
"That's not fair! You just dropped to 12th place and they already gave you a handicap." I retorted. Phil just left a smug look on his face as Dan replied,
"The only reason why that's a thing is because Phil sucks at this game."
"Hey, that's not tru-" Phil cut himself off as Baby Peach hit him with a banana peel. Dan and I broke into laughter as I crossed the finish line in first, with Dan finishing in third. Even after I took a minute to recover from laughing so hard, Phil has a short ways to go before he finished the race in dead last.
"So... What was it you were saying about that not being true?" Dan asked cheekily. I smiled and waited for my brother's response.
"Okay, both of you can just shut up. You know what you both need? Someone to put you in your place." I noticed Phil's eyes shift over to Dan as he continued. "We're going to have a game night in a couple of days. And I'm going to invite over PJ the game master to kick both of your butts." I immediately noticed the change in Dan's mood. His eyes, which were sparkling before, widened a little bit and lost their shimmer. His gaze switched from Phil to me and back to Phil, almost so quickly that I would have missed it had I not been paying attention. His brown irises dropped to the remote in his hand, and he began fiddling with the wrist strap. I could tell that what Phil said upset him- but I can't quite imagine why. PJ, Dan, and Phil are all good friends. Why is PJ's presence such a problem? And now that I think about it, Dan's been acting a little strangely since we visited PJ.
I am going to find out what is going on, and I'm going to find out soon.
*****
I got into my bed, tired but content with how this day has gone. The only thing that seemed even remotely off is the fact that Dan has been acting a little strange. I will find out what that is all about, but maybe when my brain is a little less tired. I take a sweeping look at my phone before I put it back down, but something catches my attention. On the nighstand where my phone just was, there was a small slip of paper that I hadn't noticed before. I unfolded it, and opened it to see,
'If you ever need anything, call me.' A phone number was written under it, and beside it all, a red and white rocket was drawn. Now, had that rocket not been there, I would have no idea who this was from. But every gut feeling in my body just knew that it could be only one person- PJ Liguori.
"You continue to surprise again and again, PJ. I like that about you." I whispered that aloud, and then I climbed into bed, smiling even though nobody could see it.
YOU ARE READING
The Hidden Storyteller (KickthePJ, Discontinued)
Fanfiction"Doing what I love and loving what I do. As cheesy as it sounds, it's the only way to describe the feeling of living my personal dream." Thalia Lester is, indeed, living life to its full potential- by her standard. She's been travelling across Europ...
