Stuck on Earth - ONC 2020

12. Confessions

The next day, Hannah kept a lookout for Eddie, hoping to see him. She wanted to confirm the spell had been broken. As usual, Eddie spent his Sunday mornings at church, followed by brunch with his family. Through her living room window, she saw him and his parents walk into their house after they had returned. He wasn't there long, as, within minutes, he headed back out, driving off in his car.

Hannah texted Tina, "Hey, girl! Wanna hang out? I'm so bored at home." She made sure it sounded casual.

After thirty minutes had passed, Tina still hadn't responded, and Hannah knew that it wasn't like her friend.

Hannah texted Jennifer, wanting to know if she had heard from Tina at all. Jennifer hadn't and wanted to know if everything was okay. Hannah informed Jennifer that she was able to get the love spell reversed.

Jennifer messaged, "How is that possible? I thought the spell was going to last until the Winter Formal."

Having become a recent master at thinking on her toes, Hannah responded that she found an undoing spell that would override any spell, which wasn't really a lie. Luckily, Jennifer didn't ask for more details.

Jennifer insisted that Tina was probably fine. Hannah knew she shouldn't be worried, especially since Spencer was very confident that the spell was broken. However, Hannah wanted to confirm it with her own eyes before she relaxed.

"Let's go see Tina then," Spencer urged, responding to Hannah's doubtful thoughts.

"Normally, I'd scold you for reading my thoughts, again," she said, pointing her finger at him as if telling him off. "But you said what I wanted to hear. So you're forgiven this time."

Hannah's parents were busy unloading their weekly groceries, as she put on her sneakers by the front door. "Mom! Dad! I'm leaving!" she said, poking her head into the kitchen.

"Where are you headed?" Hannah's mother asked casually, as she was storing items into the fridge.

"I'm just going to go hang out at Tina's," Hannah responded, trying not to appear anxious or fidgety in any way. "I'll be back before dinner."

"Okay," her parents said in unison.

"Jinx! You owe me a Coke, Mary," Hannah's father teased.

Her mother laughed and tossed him a can of Coke from the fridge. All three of them laugh at their mother's quick reaction, and their father's even quicker reflexes to catching the soda can. Hannah said goodbye and made her way to her car.

Spencer appeared next to her, once she drove away from her house and was heading to Tina's.

"I see where you get your sense of humor," Spencer stated pleasantly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Your parents are amazing. I hope you know that."

"They are, aren't they?" Hannah responded thoughtfully.

Spencer turned on the radio and scanned through the different stations. He stopped on the alternative rock station and nodded his head to the rhythm of the latest Natural Dragons song that was playing. It was a song that had been many times over the past few weeks. Even Spencer knew the words and started singing along to the chorus. Hannah thought that his singing voice was as pleasant as his speaking voice.

"Thank you for the compliment," Spencer beamed over at Hannah, giving it away that he heard her thoughts.

Hannah blushed. "I really need to learn to control my thoughts around you," speaking to herself more than Spencer.

He didn't respond but continued singing along with the song. Once the song had ended and went to commercial, he turned the volume down a little. Looking over at Hannah, he said in a stern tone, "Speaking of thoughts. I think it's time we had that talk you've been dreading all week."