Fireproof - Warren Peace

six ¥ let's make him cry

Lucy wasn't home when Rhia entered the house, but the power was on and when she ran the hot water, it was indeed hot. Attached to the fridge was a handwritten note in her sister's writing.
Rhia,
I'm working a double at the cafe, but there's some money on the counter. Go get some takeout or something for dinner. We'll talk when I get home.
Love you,
Lucy
Rhia looked at the money. It was two twenties, although one should be enough. Pocketing the cash for later, she went to her room to do her homework.
Time flew by, and it was about eight thirty when she finished. Her stomach growled and rumbled like a wild animal. Laughing, Rhia took off out the window. It was dark already, so she wasn't worried about being seen.
Yummy scents from the Chinese restaurant near her neighborhood took over her nose and the girl drifted down. Her shoes touched the pavement of the parking lot with a soft tap, the smells even stronger now. Blessing the owner for making the place close at ten, Rhia entered the building.
A kind, sprightly Asian woman took her order. The teen sat down at a table while she waited, fiddling with a fortune cookie. Popping the cookie part in her mouth, she read the fortune.
Sparks can be beautiful, but be caring to remember that they can also destroy.
Quirking an eyebrow up, Rhia folded the paper and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans. Confused, she heard her favorite person's voice.
"To let true love remain unspoken is the quickest way to a heavy heart," Rhia turned around in her seat, only for her heart to drop. Warren was sitting with Layla, staring at her with a certain sincerity that made her flush with envy. Layla's eyes drifted around the restaurant, and although Rhia did her best to turn away, it was too late.
"Rhia, hi!" Layla's sweet greeting brought a forced smile to Rhia's face.
She turned. "Hello, Layla."
The redhead lifted one of her hands. "How's your hand?"
Rhia lifted her hand in return, ignoring Warren's gaze. "As if nothing ever happened!" She wiggled her fingers for emphasis. Thanking the stars when the woman came back with her food, she waved goodbye to the two, but mostly to Layla, leaving Warren confused as ever.

//\\

Rhia was tired of Penny slamming her locker door shut, but what can you do when there's five of the same person standing around you? That's right, nothing. The Bloodstorm girl was already in a bad mood from the night before, and she had just witnessed a sweet guy from one of her classes, Steven, get rejected in his homecoming proposal by his lifelong crush in front of everyone.
"So we heard Warren asked Layla to homecoming," they all said at once, making her freeze. One of them smacked the books out of her stunned hands.
Shaking her head, she picked up the books. "Good for him."
To her shock, she felt a masculine arm slip around her shoulders and looked up to see Steven smiling at the Penny's.
"Good, because Rhia is going with me," he told them. They all laughed.
"We just saw you get rejected by Shelby," one of them sassed. Steven smiled down at Rhia's gobsmacked face.
"Well, I have no date, and there is no way I'm letting a girl this fine go by herself," he defended, tightening his arm on her shoulders. Rhia smiled broadly, appreciating both his compliment and his random affection. The Penny's huffed and left, shoving people out of their way in the process. As soon as they were out of sight, Steven dropped his arm and moved to face her.
"Sorry about that. I'm an emotion reader and I noticed your distress."
His green eyes sparkled and his brown hair was fluffy with an extremely soft look to it. Rhia waved a hand.
"It's no biggie, I appreciated it," still smiling, she opened her locker again. "I'm sorry about Shelby, I thought she was really into you."
Steven laughed. "Oh, she is, she just won't admit it to herself," he leaned closer. "I have a deal for you, Miss Bloodstorm."
Rhia giggled, a girlish and endearing sound, and leaned in herself. "And what is that, Mister McFarland?"
He looked around suspiciously before speaking. "You and I," he started, gesturing between the two of them. "Are going to make Shelby Reeves and Warren Peace so jealous they can't contain their feelings anymore," he whispered deviously. Rhia's smiled turned into a frown.
"But Warren doesn't like me," she murmured back. Steven rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed as if she was the biggest idiot in the world, which she probably was.
Pointing to his forehead, he raised a perfectly fluffy eyebrow. "Emotion reader, remember?" Rhia laughed again, but this time at herself. He spoke again. "So, I'm gonna walk you to your table at lunch, but sit across from him, not by him. This way I can see you and tell you what he's feeling from my table. Deal?"
Rhia thought about it for a moment. It made sense and would help a lot because Warren wasn't very vocal about his emotions, nor did his face give many things away. Unless of course that emotion is anger. A smile worked it's way onto her features, and she shook his outstretched hand.
"Then let's go, my dear, I believe lunch is calling our names," he hooked her arm through his, and they walked together to the cafeteria. As they neared the table, Steven startled her by bursting into loud, contagious laughter that made her laugh as well. All eyes moved to the duo, including Warren's, which narrowed heavily.
"Bye, Rhia, see you later!" Steven wheezed, unable to control his laughter anymore.
"Bye Steven!" she called as he walked back to his table. When she looked at Warren, the wide smile died on her face at his expression.
"You and McFarland are friends now?" the cold front he showed to everyone but her was in place, making her frown. Looking over to Steven quickly, who mouthed that Warren was greener than the grass outside, Rhia nodded.
"He's nice," she said. "And he helped me with the Penny's just a minute ago."
Warren let out a humph before turning back to his book. Rhia was about to speak again when Layla sat next to her.
"Hi Warren," the redhead greeted. "Hi Rhia."
Rhia was sure that if her skin could change color with her emotion, she'd be the color of Layla's shirt, but she smiled anyway, stuffing her mouth with a bite of her sandwich. Warren leaned forward with narrowed eyes.
"Did I do or say anything last night to make you think this is okay?" he asked.
Layla just laughed. "You're so funny. But seriously, you're never gonna believe what happened. I was just about to ask Will to homecoming when, wouldn't you know it, I told him I was going with you instead." Rhia's eyebrows shot up and she looked to Steven. The boy goofily used his index fingers to make horns and made an angry face. Rhia snorted, earning a look from Warren.
"I don't remember that being part of the plan," he seethed. Hmm, maybe Steven's powers were legit. Although it wasn't hard to tell when Warren was angry, it was his most dominant trait. As Rhia was taking a sip of her juice box, Magenta sat on her other side.
"Hey Layla, did you do the history homework?"
Rhia's eyes flickered back and forth between the people at her table. Warren snapped at Magenta. "What are you doing here?"
Magenta rolled her eyes. "It's called sitting." Rhia grinned, the purple haired girl reminded her of the first day when she sat with Warren.
"No one sits here but us," the boy gestured between himself and Rhia, making her smile soften.
Magenta hummed before turning to Layla again. "So what did you get for number four? Because I wasn't sure if Tigerman was A) bitten by a radioactive tiger, or B) bitten by a regular tiger and then exposed to radiation."
Rhia interjected, knowing the answer. "It's B," the shapeshifter looked shocked but wrote it down anyways. The Bloodstorm girl watched Warren's face as Ethan and Zach sat down too. He was extremely angry, that she could tell. Taking a shot of bravery, Rhia moved her hand to gently rest on his, astounding the entire group into a brief moment of silence. Realizing what she was doing and the reaction it was getting, she pulled her hand back, folding them on her lap.
"Does anyone else need a date for homecoming?" Warren snapped, to which only Ethan put up his hand. Warren looked at Rhia with confusion and opened his mouth to speak when Layla burst into ridiculous laughter. Rhia seemed to put two and two together when Will Stronghold walked by with Gwen Grayson.
"Warren, you are crazy!" Layla laughed. As soon as Will had passed and was gone, her laughter died. "Please, I promise I will make this as painless as possible."
The pyrokinetic looked at Rhia with a questioning gaze. Sighing, Rhia ran a hand through her hair. "Steven asked me after the Penny's told me you asked Layla," she said quietly, an emotion that no one but Steven could place playing in her features. Warren frowned even more, if that was possible. Rhia quickly looked to Steven again and her new friend gave her a thumbs up. The boy in front of her turned to Layla.
"So, you're not doing this because you like me or anything. You're doing this to get at Stronghold," he inferred. Rhia suddenly felt like she was being purposefully ignored and she didn't like it one bit. What was she supposed to do, not go to the dance at all? Go by herself and stand there alone during slow dances like an idiot? Yeah, no thank you.
Layla seemed hesitant in her answer. "Yeah."
Warren leaned in with a smile that quite literally sucked the air out of Rhia's lungs. "Then I'm in," his smile dropped. "But I am not renting a tux." And with that, he left, smacking Zach with his bag as he did. Rhia's blue eyes followed him until he was out the door. Then, she deflated like a balloon. The group around her looked at each other in a panic, not really knowing what to do.
"So, I may have misjudged the connection there," Layla began, but Rhia held up a manicured hand.
"No, it's fine, Layla, just continue to prevent your own heartbreak at the expense of someone else's," she collected her things and left, no longer feeling hungry.
Rhia left school early, convincing the nurse that she was sick and needed to go home. Flying home with extra speed, she was surprised to find that Lucy was already home. The sisters stared at each other for a moment before hurtling into each other's arms like rockets.
"I am so sorry," Lucy murmured, kissing Rhia's hair.
"I'm sorry, too," the younger sister replied, snuggling further into the embrace. "By the way, we need to go dress shopping for homecoming," she added.
Lucy gasped, pulling away. "You're going? Who with?"
"I am going with Steven McFarland. He wants to make Shelby Reeves jealous." Rhia's older sister watched her carefully, sensing something else.
"And you?"
Rhia leaned against the counter, looking away. "I might want to make someone jealous, too," she murmured. Lucy got a shit-eating grin on her face.
"We are gonna get you the best dress, make you look so good, and you are gonna have so much fun that there is no way this boy won't be jealous! Let's make him so jealous that literal tears fall out of his eyeballs," Lucy was to a point where it was like she was rallying troops for battle. It reminded Rhia of when she was young and learning to fly and how Lucy was her personal hype-woman for every lesson. "Let's make him cry."

Wow this is a super long one but there was no way I could split it up nicely. Let me know your thoughts and thanks again for reading!