“Tell me again why you didn’t go on your way home?”

I asked this simple question as Dannon, Garrett, and I piled into the backseat of my mom’s car. I glanced at Dannon as he plopped next to me.  I was a little surprised that she hadn’t sent Dannon home right away.  I mean, he was supposed to go home last night.  But she didn’t, and now we were in the car on our way to the one, the only, Wal-Mart!

Why were we going to Wal-Mart, you ask?  For a very, very important reason: we were in a vital need of milk.

Yes, because the gas station down the road didn’t have a lovely supply!

“I will tell you again: I forgot.”  My mom rolled her eyes, shutting the driver’s door behind her.  She buckled in, twisting around to look at us.  When she saw me crammed into the middle seat—as usual—she let out a laugh.  “You seem to be in your correct seat, my sweetie.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, cocking an eyebrow at her.  “Oh hardy har, Ma.”  I paused for a moment before adding, “And why did we have to come?”

Garrett draped an arm over my shoulder.  ‘Because we need to get out of the house,” he drawled mockingly.  “Because it would be nice to see the nice sunshine—”

“Of florescent lights?” I retorted, shaking off his arm.  Dannon chuckled from beside me.  I glanced at him and smiled.

“Of course!” Garrett exclaimed with a grin.  “OMG, Mom, can we like go to the toys?”

“You do know that pretty much no one says ‘OMG’ anymore, right?”  I shot him a strange look.  He really creeped me out.  You would think that after seventeen years of putting up with his abnormal-ness, I’d be used to it, but I wasn’t.

“Poppy cock!” Garrett shook his head.  “Anywho, Mother, can we?”

My mom started the car, pulling out of the driveway.  She shot Garrett a disbelieving look from the rearview mirror.  I bet that she thought he’d mature in college, lose the childish edge he seemed to keep with him all through his teen years.  Tch.  Like that would happen.  Garrett was a kid for life.  “I suppose so,” she muttered, licking her bottom lip.

“Yay!” Garrett exclaimed, clapping his hands.

“I’m not going to toys,” I declared.  I could just tell by the tone of his voice that if I did he would force me to do something that I had absolutely no interest in doing.  Like playing with bouncy balls for example.  Or playing dress-up.  Or his personal favorite, riding around on the little-kid bikes.

“Oh, yes you are!” Garrett opposed immediately.  “Dannon’s going, right Dannon?”

I whirled around, throwing Dannon a stern look.  Let him say no, let him say no. . . .

“Yeah,” Dannon replied with a shrug, apparently not understanding the purpose of my stern expression.  “I don’t see why not.”

I fell back in my seat, my hands flying out in exasperation.  “Of course you don’t!  You’ve never been to toys with this kid.”  I jabbed an accusing finger in Garrett’s direction.  “Five minutes and you’ll be begging to find my mom.”

Dannon smiled.  “We’ll see.”

| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |

I crossed my arms firmly across my chest, shaking my head and stamping my foot childishly on the tiled floor.  “No,” I snapped, staring sternly at the two boys in front of me.  “Most definitely not.”

“Come on, Bri,” Garrett whined.  He turned to Dannon.  “Do something.”

Oh, great.  He thought that he could use Dannon to convince me to play some childish game.  I shot Dannon a pointed look, warning him with my eyes not to even try anything on me.  If he took so much as a step closer to me . . . well, for starters I’d be incredibly insulted. 

Dannon sighed deeply.  “She’s not going to listen.”  He gave me an expression mixed with disappointment and sadness.

I immediately felt bad.

Oh no.  He didn’t even have to come near me!  What was wrong with me?  Bending under pressure when the pressure-er wasn’t even really trying?  Kyla would have a field day if she were here. 

“No, no, no!” I shrieked quietly, covering my ears and closing my eyes.  “I am not falling for that!”

I expected laughter, or maybe some more attempts to guilt me into playing their idiotic game.  But what I got was nothing.  Silence—well, excluding the other yapping shoppers trying to get their grocery shopping down before their children got home.

I peeked open an eye and groaned.  The jerks had run off!  “Very funny, guys!”  I called, placing my hands on my hips.  That must have been their plan.  Guilt me to the point where I’d try to block them out.  That way I’d be lured into their little spy game.  That’s right.  They wanted to play spies. 

“I’m not going to look for you!” I shouted when I received no reply.

I stomped my foot again, turning on my heel and storming down the aisle.  I kept my eyes trained on the dirty-tiled floor.  I was not going to look for them . . . I was not going to look for them. . . .

Obviously this mental message I was trying to send myself didn’t work because by the time I reached the end of the aisle and started making my way through the main walkway, my eyes were scanning the aisles, searching for the two butt-faces.  I tried to refrain myself, I really did.  But it was like an unnatural force was pulling me.  It was like gravity.  But weaker.  And more annoying.

“I’m going to Mom!” I shouted to nowhere.

I turned, exiting the toy section and making my way toward groceries.  I didn’t like walking through Wal-Mart by myself.  It made me nervous.  I mean, you never knew how many creepers could possibly be at Wal-Mart.  There were so many reports of abductions on the news . . .

Great, Brianne.  Get yourself all worked up.

Just as I reached electronics, something collided with my head.  I came to an instant halt.  I took a deep breath, not wanting to turn around, but wanting to see what the hell had just hit me in the head.  I slowly turned, ready for some rapist to be standing there with a creepy smile on his face.

Well, I got the smile right.

“I’m going to kill you!” I shrieked, charging at my attackers while dodging glaring customers.  Dannon and Garrett stood there, guffawing while they ignored the fact that the bouncy ball they’d grabbed was rolling around on the floor.  “And you have to clean that up,” I snapped as I reached them, slapping both of their shoulder simultaneously.

“I’ll get it,” Dannon volunteered, sauntering over to the bouncy ball which was now rolling its way toward the movies.

“Jerk,” I muttered under my breath.

“Wimp,” was Garrett’s genius reply.

I opened my mouth to snap out a retort, but it shut immediately when a girl walked up to Dannon, stopping him as she spoke to him animatedly, her arms flying through the air.  He, being the idiot that he was, didn’t seem to notice the obvious infatuation for him as he clutched the ball in arms, listening to her speak.  My eyes narrowed.  Did she even go to our school?  And even if she didn’t, what was she doing out of school, anyway?  Sure, we were absent, but what reason did she have?

“Jealous, are we?” Garrett asked lightly, patting my back.

I snorted, forcing my gaze away from Dannon and back to my brother.  “Of course not.”

Garrett didn’t seem at all convinced.  “Your expression darkened, my friend.”  He made a tsking noise.  “Lying is bad for your health, you know.”  He paused, a grin growing on his face.  “And so is denial.”

While I resisted the sudden urge to punch my brother in the face, Dannon trotted back to us, tossing the bouncy ball in Garrett’s direction.  Garrett caught it easily, grinning.  “Who’s the lovely lady, Dannon?”

Dannon gave a small laugh.  I scowled, somehow annoyed at the fact that he wasn’t answering right away.  What was she—a secret girlfriend that no one knew about?  It was highly unlikely that was the case—I mean, he was so popular that nothing could really be kept a secret—but my mind convinced that yes, she was a secret girlfriend.  Why did that piss me off?  No idea.

“Mikayla,” Dannon answered finally.  “She’s not exactly lovely.”

Was than an insult?

Somehow it was comforting.

“Whatever do you mean, Dannon?”  Garrett’s tone ticked me off.  He used that slow tone that was used to edge someone on like they were supposed to spill some important information but was losing the courage.

“Well, in elementary school I helped her up after she tripped.  She hasn’t left me alone since—even after she switched school districts.”  Dannon sighed, bringing a hand through his hair.  “I’m not exactly the type of person to scream at someone to leave me alone, but I’ve left subtle hints.”

Yeah, because smiling really showed how much you wanted someone to go away.

“I think you need to work on your skill, man.”  Garrett grinned.  “You looked rather happy talking to her.”

I restrained myself from glaring—barely.  What was wrong with me?  This was not normal.  I was so glad that Kyla wasn’t here right now.  She’d be all, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!  The apple is working!”

It wasn’t.

Not at all.

Dannon laughed.  “Really?”

“Yes, really,” I said harshly, cutting off Garrett’s reply.  Both heads snapped over to me.  Wow, had it come out that bitterly?

“You okay?”  Dannon’s eyebrows crinkled together.

“Yeah,” I muttered, trying to keep the bitterness and irritation from seeping into my voice.  “Can we just stop standing in the middle of the aisle?  I’m tired of getting dirty looks.”

Dannon and Garrett shrugged simultaneously before nodding.  Garrett tossed me an amused glance—obviously thinking that I was jealous which I wasn’t—before saying, “Let’s go find mom, hey?”

Together we all headed down the aisle.  As we made our way toward the grocery section, Garrett (being Garrett) decided to chuck the bouncy ball into the novel section instead of going back to toys like a respectable person might do.  Because of his stupidity, he succeeded in narrowly missing a worker’s head as they fixed a couple of books on the shelves.  We had to run away before the guy before the guy could get the chance to even register that a bouncy ball had just flown into the aisle from out of nowhere.

“You’re an idiot,” I declared, rolling my eyes as we came to a stop.

“Never said I wasn’t,” was Garrett’s reply.

Dannon simply laughed his laugh, amused at us both.  I smacked his shoulder, rolling my eyes.  If laughing were a language, he would be fluent.  “Do you ever stop laughing?” I demanded with a cocked eyebrow, snorting as Dannon shook his head, laughing a little more—probably just to prove his point.

“Are you trying to damn your future husband to a life of misery?” Garrett shot me a disapproving look.  “Not very nice.”

I bit down any nasty remark I’d conjured about Garrett’s “future husband” comment because, at that moment in time, my mom happened to come into view.  “Mom!” I called, rushing away from the boys immediately, hoping to catch up with her before she disappeared.  I dodged customers, muttering quick, halfhearted apologies.

“Brianne, please refrain from running inside a store,” my mom rebuked as I came to a halt in front of her.  “And where are your brother and Dannon?”

Oops.

“They’re back there.”  I pointed behind me in their general direction.

My mom shot me a disbelieving look.  “You left them back there?”

“Why yes she did!”  Garrett called suddenly from behind me.  I turned to see him grinning as he leaned on a five-dollar movie bin placed in the middle of the aisle.  Why the movie bin aisle was where the food was instead of at electronics, I wasn’t really sure.  “What punishment should she receive?”

“Where’s Dannon?” I asked, ignoring Garrett’s teasing completely.  I glanced around, searching.  I had only left them because they were together.  Garrett leaving him alone was rather—

“I’m right here.”

I jumped as Dannon spoke into my ear.  I spun around and whacked him on the shoulder.  “Don’t do that!” I hissed, glaring as Dannon broke into guffaws.  Of course he did.  I mean, what else was he supposed to do?  Frown?

“You boys are so mean to my girl,” my mom said with a laugh.

I didn’t know whether to be happy that she was sticking up for me or pissed that she laughed.

“Thank you, Mom.”  I smiled, deciding to be happy.  “Are you done shopping yet?”

“I need to get milk, and then we can go.”

So, basically, that whole time we were here my mom decided to go shopping for things that weren’t on her list.  And now, when us teens were ready to go, she still had shopping to do because she was too preoccupied buying things we didn’t actually need.  Where was the logic in that?  Right.  Nowhere. 

| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |

“Dannon, it was lovely having you!”

I sat up from my spot on the couch, watching as my mom hugged Dannon tightly.  Dannon’s eyes caught mine and he smiled.  He’d declared a few minutes ago that he had to leave and get back to his dad.  That made sense seeing how it was already three o’clock.  I’d expected him to go home hours ago.

“Thanks for having me,” he murmured, turning his gaze back to my mom as she pulled away.  It amused me how close the two got when they only met two or three times.  Though, it was amusing how close we’d gotten in such a short time frame.

“Brianne, walk him out.”

I really hated how much her voice changed.  It made me feel so unloved.  Well, not really.  But still.  “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, heaving myself up from the couch and fixing my shirt.  After a quick glance at Dannon, I followed him out of the house and toward his car.

I paused a few feet away from Dannon as he leaned against his car, a content smile on his face.  “Maybe the next time we hang out won’t be a sleepover,” I commented before I could even think of what I was saying.

“Maybe.”  Dannon paused.  “So, I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

I shrugged.  “Yeah, if you show up.”

He grinned, unhooking his arms and bring a hand through his hair.  “Yeah, I will.  I can’t afford to miss Friday’s game.  My team will kill me.”

I laughed, shoving my hands into my jean pockets and teetering on my heels.  I could just see it now—his teammates gathering around him, huge pitchforks in their hands.  Their eyes would glow evilly as they surrounded him, making no room to escape.  They’d do some Latin chant, and then— “Can I watch?” I asked, deciding to let the daydream fall.  It wasn’t realistic at all.

He gave me a weird look before shaking his head.  “I’m going to disregard that comment.”

It was silent for a moment.  I stood there, staring at a small speck on Dannon’s car.  From the corner of my eye I could see Dannon staring at the sky, pondering something or other.

“Well, I must be going.”  Dannon sighed.  “But, before I go, you’re going to have to give me a hug.”

My gaze, which had strayed away to the next-door-neighbor’s yard, snapped to his.  Was he being serious?  It was hard to tell—I mean he was always smiling.  How could you tell if he was being serious or not?  That’s right.  You couldn’t.  “What?” I asked stupidly.

Dannon opened his arms.  “Come on,” he cooed.

I rolled my eyes.  “I am not a dog!”

Dannon gestured with his arms impatiently.  “If you do not come here right now, I’m going to give you a puppy nickname and call you it for the rest of eternity.”

I grumbled under my breath, stumbling forward.  It probably shouldn’t have been a big enough threat to get me to hug him, but frankly, I didn’t want to deal with a cruddy nickname for the rest of my life.  “Why do I have to hug you?” I asked with a huff as Dannon brought his arms around me.

“You, my miserable friend, are not hugging me.  You are sitting there while I hug you.”  Dannon chuckled.  “I am not getting out of this position until you hug back.”

“So needy,” I grumbled, wrapping my arms around his waist.  “You know, my whole family is probably watching, and they’re going to make a questionnaire when I walk through the door.”

Dannon smiled, bringing his lips to my ear.  “That’s the point.”

With that, he patted my back before pulling away.  I stared at him blankly as he twisted around, pulling open the driver’s door.  A glare slowly slipped onto my face as I realized what was going on.  I turned, and, wouldn’t you know it, I saw Garrett with his face pressed against the living room window looking triumphant.  “Dannon,” I muttered darkly, “did you happen to know he was standing there?”

Dannon shrugged, plopping into the driver’s seat.  He smiled, saying, “You’ll never know, will you?”

With that, he started the engine, waved, and pulled out of the driveway.

I glowered, watching him disappear down the road.  “You asshole!” I shrieked.

| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |

As I predicted, Garrett and my mom were sitting on the couch, waiting for me to come in.

I closed the door slowly, watching them with narrowed eyes.  The looks they were giving me were frankly disturbing.  Garrett was grinning like an idiot, rocking back and forth on the couch.  My mom, on the other hand, had this creepy smile on her face.  I felt like I was staring at two people from an insane asylum.

“What?” I shot them skeptical looks before sliding next to Garrett.  I would have sat somewhere else, but the recliner was uncomfortable and forever deemed my dad’s seat.  If he caught you sitting in it he’d kick you out—even if he wasn’t planning on sitting in it himself.

Garrett squealed—like a girl, might I add—and threw his arms over me.  I gasped in shock, glaring at the ceiling.  What was up with everyone wanting to hug me today?  I wasn’t huggable.  I didn’t like to be touched.  “You guys are so cute!” Garrett exclaimed, still invading my personal space.  “I mean, the picture I got was astounding.”

Great.  He got a picture.  If he showed that to Kyla I was going to kill him.  “You’re going to delete that picture,” I hissed.  “And besides, Dannon made me.”

“He made you walk up to him and wrap your arms around him?” Garrett rolled his eyes.  “I very much doubt that.”

“He threatened to give me a nickname!”

Okay, that sounded incredibly lame now that I said it out loud.  But it wasn’t my fault they decided to snoop and watch me as I walked Dannon to his car!  Besides, it was the truth.  So, whatever. 

“Oooh scary.”  Garrett made a waggling motion with his fingers.  “Admit it, Brianne.  You’ve got it bad for Mister . . . Mister. . . .”

“Barone,” I supplied.  I paused as a triumphant smirk spread across Garrett’s face.  “That’s not what I—you’re so—Oh, come on—!”

My mom and Garrett suddenly burst into laughter at my despair.  I let my head drop in my hands, grumbling not-so-nice things about my family members under my breath.  Why must they gang up on me so?

“Brianne’s got it bad!” my mom shrieked in glee.

I sat there silently, wondering how I would know if I “got it bad.”  I mean, it wasn’t like I’d ever had a crush before.  So if I were to have a crush, which I didn’t, how was I supposed to know?  How did anyone ever know?

“She’s not answering!” Garrett hollered giddily, pumping his fist into the air.  “OMG!  Brianne’s getting a boyfriend.”

At this, I looked up and glared.  “I am not!  Now, will everyone just quit it?  A guy and a girl can be just friends without any romance attached!  I already told everyone that I’m not dating before I graduate high school.  I don’t even think I’m going to date after that.  Okay?  Now, please just stop!”

With a huff I stomped out of the room, shaking my head as I went.

As I left, I distinctly heard Garrett say, “She is in denial!”