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"HOW DID YOU get that job anyways?" Steph asks Lena, having gained an ounce of respect for her after finding out about her stint as Miley Cyrus' personal assistant. He was fascinated now.
They were sitting side by side around the LaBelle family's fire-pit. Harley, Seth, and Lacey were gathered around it, roasting marshmallows. Gemma was off on the grass, playing with Pluto, their dog. Everyone else was conversing with each other.
"Oh, so now you want to be nice to me?" Lena asks.
"I'm going to fire you." Stephen threatens. The girl in front of him snaps her mouth shut and rolls her eyes. "I know a girl who knows a guy." She mutters.
"That sounds really sketchy."
"One of my friends is friends with someone in Miley's inner circle. He recommended me, I had an interview, and I got the job." Lena states, louder this time.
Steph smiles to himself. "So do I need to give you an interview?"
"No, you gave me the job already. You're practically stuck with me now." Lena smiles, self-satisfied.
"Not unless I fire you, idiot." He jabs back. The brunette raises her eyebrows. "Thirty years old and still name calling, how mature!"
"Idiot." Steph repeats.
"Never change, Warty."
Stephen jumps out of his seat, standing up and pointing at her with both hands. "Name calling! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a hypocrite!" He exclaims loudly.
"That does not count! It's a nickname, we've established that already. In my books, nicknames aren't necessarily name calling..."
"You sound dumb, shut up." Steph tells her, holding a lone finger in front of her lips. "Idiot."
Lena throws her hands up into the air. "I give up! You're impossible." She gets up from her seat and walks to grab a marshmallow. "I'm going to make s'mores, thank you very much."
"Ten bucks you'll burn your marshmallow." Steph replies, setting his hands behind his head. Lena, her marshmallow-on-stick already starting to heat up, turns to look at Steph. "Funny. I'll have you know that I've roasted marshmallows many times, and have never burnt a single-"
"Lena, it's crisp." Harley speaks up. Slowly, she turns her head towards the fire-pit to spot, that indeed, her marshmallow had turned black.
"That was an accident." She says, quieter this time, grabbing a second marshmallow to retry with.
"Ten bucks, Anal." Steph says, yawning.
"Not right now." She says.
"Now, or else you're fired!" He sings. Someone was having a good time.
"If you fire me, I'm going to tell your mom."
"You're fired."
"Sonya!" Lena calls from across the fire-pit. Sonya Curry is sitting opposite them. She looks up at Lena, then at Steph, then back at Lena. "I'm giving you your job back." She tells her.
Lena turns back to Steph, a smug grin resting itself on her face. "I have my job back." She repeats. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes, I did." He mumbles. Steph knows he can't argue with his mom. When she makes a decision, it's settled.
"Good, because now, you're truly stuck with me!"
"Permission to fire my assistant because she's annoying?" Stephen asks his mother. She laughs, shaking her head.
"That's confirmation." Lena chirps.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
IT'S CONSIDERED CREEPY to watch people from your bedroom window while they are simply minding their business, but Lena can't seem to fall asleep. She finds herself sitting in front of the window watching Steph shoot around by himself.
She wouldn't have guessed that he'd be up at twelve in the morning playing driveway basketball with himself, but she wasn't complaining. Everyone in her house was already fast asleep, and this was a good source of entertainment.
Lena never took time to appreciate Stephen's game. She, herself, was a basketball player in high-school. To think that she could've gotten pointers from one of the greats in the league? Sometimes she wishes that she hadn't been so rude to him, but then again, he was also rude to her.
She knew he had a tendency to stay late at the gym- when she was a freshman, Steph would sometimes have to give her rides home. She'd always be lazing around on the sidelines, waiting for him to finish already.
Lena had to admit, she admired him as a player, just not as a person.
After what seems to be half an hour, Steph has a sudden feeling that he's being watched. He turns his back to his house, facing the LaBelles, and directs his attention to Lena's bedroom window. He knows she's there, she's done this before.
Smiling and shaking his head, he opens his phone to Lena's newly added contact.
"Fuck you." He types and sends. Lena is still sitting at her window, displaying the middle finger. She jumps when she hears the notification and reaches across her floor to retrieve her phone.
Smiling, she sends back an emoji of the middle finger, and happily displays one for him again.
"Go to bed, Anal. Ur leaving tomrrow" He sends back, and so she does. She was feeling a little bit tired.
Steph sees her blinds come down, and he assumes that she's gone to sleep. Taking one more shot on the net, he puts the ball in the garage and heads back inside his house to shower once more, and go to bed.
He's a bit pleased about the events of the day, surprising himself. It could be a good thing that he's rebuilding things with Lena, they never had a good relationship, maybe now was the time for them to grow up and fix things.
Lena felt the same. Laying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, she couldn't help but have the feeling of new-ness. What she had just committed to today, was something that she would never have dreamed of doing.
She's happy.
♡
AUTHOR'S NOTES what's popping I just wrote two chapters today. god I love we heart it!
