FicWad

The week sped by way too quickly for my liking. I started school again on Thursday, which was good for me and lucky for trophy wife. Cuz if I had been forced to listen to one more word about the dinner on Friday, I would have wounded her. Seriously. My best friend, Vanessa Sanchez, gave me all the latest gossip, I wasn’t as behind in school work as I thought (not that I honestly care, since I’m just gonna copy of off Neicey anyways) and everyone was really happy to see me. It was cool. I was happy.

My happy feelings didn’t last till Friday.

Firstly, I woke up with a big headache. Not the type when you feel like a thousand hammers are working in your head, but still pretty big. I went to school anyway, went to the mall afterwards too with Vanessa to get a mani-pedi (the state of my nails was disastrous), shopped for a while and then headed home. Trophy wife was in a panic. Apparently I had promised her that I would be back home by 5 to help her out. I strolled in at 7.45, laden with shopping bags, to find her flitting around in the kitchen, talking to herself. The dinner started at 8 on the dot and the table hadn’t even been set yet. Luckily, I’m a very efficient planner and after delegating someone to set the table, someone else to fix up the living room and hauling Jesse to his room and getting him changed, everything was pretty much on track.

Finally, at exactly 8pm, I went to my room to get changed. I put on my brand new grey Ya-Ya Marine sweater dress, some black leggings and topped off the look with my favorite gold hoop earrings. I looked at myself in the mirror. I thought I looked pretty hot, even though I didn’t really care, cuz I wasn’t out to impress anyone. For real.

Now, I believe in arriving fashionably late to everything. Which is why, at 8.10pm, I was still sitting on my king sized bed, staring at myself in the mirror. I could hear a lot of commotion downstairs, meaning that our visitors were prolly here and any minute no, dad would be coming up to get me. I wasn’t ready yet. I still had to prep myself to do something that I had told myself I would do in the morning. Just thinking about what I was gonna do made me feel unwell.

I was going to be nice to Spencer.

To make myself feel better. Not because he actually deserved it (in fact, he should actually be apologizing to me, after the things he said to me. I can’t remember half of what he said that day, but I’m sure it was all bad. Pretty bad, anyway), but because I did not like feeling guilty. And I did feel guilty. That thank you had been kinda forced and (how hard is it for me to say this) he didn’t deserve it. He did save my life, after all. Even though I don’t have to like him for it.
It had actually taken Jayden to convince me to be nice. He had come into my room while I was chatting with Neicey Hamilton, my other tight friend, two nights ago. I had actually been flaming Spencer and so he asked me why. The whole hospital visit story came out next. I had honestly thought Jayden would have my back, but what he said next totally shocked me.
“Elektra, I think you owe this guy an apology,” he had said, looking completely serious. I stared at him, speechless. You see how shocked I was? I’m usually never speechless! “Look at it from this guy’s point of view. He saves your ass and you can’t even say sorry to him properly? That’s not cool. Plus, he was right to say what he said ‘bout what a totally fucked thing it was to walk right into traffic. “
“No, he wasn’t! It wasn’t his place to talk to me like that! I’d hear it if you or dad told me, not some complete stranger,” I pouted. Jayden shrugged.
“It was his place. He’s the one who grabbed you out of harms way. He has more of a right to tell you off than me or dad. I bet he felt you up when you were lying on top of him on the sidewalk,” he said with a sleazy grin. Boys.
“Well, there’s no way I’m apologizing to him,” I seethed, crossing my arms across my chest and shaking me head stubbornly. Jayden rolled his eyes exasperatedly but he knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t about to change my mind.
“Kay, if you can’t apologize, at least be nice to the guy. We don’t need you flaming him at the dinner table,” he said sarcastically.

So, after talking to Vanessa (be nice then kick his ass for talking smack) and Neicey (can I come to the dinner too? I wanna see him!), I decided to take Jayden’s advice. I wasn’t gonna enjoy it, but it wouldn’t kill me.

I stood up, smoothed my dress, and took one last look at myself in the mirror.
“You can do this, Elle,” I told myself, calling myself the pet name my mom used to call me. Then I walked out of my room and sashayed down the stairs. The sound of people talking grew louder as I neared the living room and I took a deep, steadying breath. I walked into the living room, my dad stood up, looking famished. I wanted to laugh. When dad gets hungry, he talks constantly about food, eating, restaurants and the like. Yes, it does get annoying, trust me.
“Elektra! Finally, you decided to make an appearance,” he said, smiling to take the bite off his words. I smiled back.
“I was just getting ready,” I explained.
“Well, now that you’re here, lets get this show on the road, shall we?” dad said expansively. He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to our guests. “This is Amber Anthony, Spencer’s mother.”
Okay. Amber Anthony was a total knockout. She was tall, curvy and completely beautiful. She also looked so much like her son that it was unbelievable. She smiled at me.
“Hi, Elektra. It’s lovely to meet you at last,” she said gaily.
I barely had time to respond when dad turned me to someone else.
“This is Darnell Anthony, Spencer’s little brother.”
I smiled at him. “Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” he replied. He was about 8 years old and also looked just like Spencer and his mother. The family must have some major genes, I thought to myself.
“And of course you know Spencer,” dad continued and I found myself staring right into Spencer’s eyes. He looked even cuter than he had looked at the hospital, as if that could even be possible. He was wearing a black Spiderman t-shirt, blue jeans and a pair of Captain America Bapesta’s. I realized that I was giving him the total once over and smiled embarrassedly.
“Hi,” I said glibly. He gave me an amused glance.
“Hi,” he replied. Dad clapped his hands.
“Let’s make our way to the dining room people,” he said eagerly and took trophy wife’s hand. He led the way to the dining room where I discovered that I was going to sit next to- you guessed it, Spencer. I caught Jayden giving me a wry look over his wineglass. It was a look which said ‘shut up and bear it.”
So I sat down next to Spencer, who smelt infernally good. Throughout the course of the dinner, I caught myself leaning over slightly to sniff him. I think no one even noticed, but I was mortified. What the hell was wrong with me?
Finally, dinner was over. Trophy wife’s Thai cuisine went down so well with Amber that they started exchanging recipe’s in the lounge after dinner. Dad poured out some champagne and Jayden decided he was gonna spend the night at his university dorm. Resisting temptation, he called it.
“Elektra, why don’t you take the kids to the lounge to play some video games?” dad suggested. “And you can take Spencer as well. I’m sure you guys have no interest in old folks boring conversations, right? You probably want to talk about rap music, MySpace and whatever it is you guys talk about. Am I right or am I right, Spencer?” He laughed expansively.
I cringed. Even after one glass of booze, dad could be really embarrassing.
“Definitely right, sir,” Spencer agreed evenly. I rolled my eyes and got the hell out of the living room as fast as possible.

I set up Darnell and Jesse in front of the X-Box 360 and turned to Spencer, who was standing with his back towards me, looking at the photos over the fireplace, a can of Sprite Remix in his hand.
“You wanna play as well?” I asked him. It was the first time I’d spoken directly to him all evening. He shook his head.
“No, I’m good. Plus, I don’t play Halo 3 for shit,” he grinned.
“Same here. Jesse totally owned me last time I played with him. How can a three year old be able to play a video game? He can’t even read!” I exclaimed, flopping down onto a bean bag near the couch. I didn’t want to sit next to Spencer again. I picked up my tabby cat and absently stroked her.
“I’m just a sore loser,” Spencer said absentmindedly. “And a pretty bad winner. Every time someone else is beating me, I start talking smack. And if I win, you know you won’t hear the end of it.”
“Really? You should play with Jesse some time. He always cheats and try telling him he’s going the wrong way. As for talking smack, that’s his middle name,” I said, giving a forced laugh. I knew I was babbling, but I couldn’t help it.
“Oh, yeah?” Spencer said idly, still looking at the pictures. There were some large, portrait sized photos of me, Jayden and my mother on the wall. When dad married trophy wife, he had wanted to take down mom’s picture and put up trophy wife’s but I wouldn’t hear of it. So trophy wife’s picture is up in the living room next to Jesse’s and dads. Talk about solidarity. I figured that the photos were what had Spencer’s attention, and I was glad for it. Not only did it mean I could postpone my apology, but I could also ogle him shamelessly without him noticing. And he was absolutely made for ogling. I was just checking out his ass when he burst out laughing.
“Wow, this is your mom, right?” he asked, chuckling.
“Yeah,” I replied heatedly. Screw whatever Jayden said, this guy is not gonna laugh at my mom and not get a fight from me. Hell no!
“She looks so much like you its scary,” Spencer continued, oblivious to the anger in my voice.
Oh. I think.
“She’s beautiful,” he said softly.
By now, my mouth had just dropped open. Did he just say what I think he hid? So, does that mean he think’s I’m beautiful? Or what?
“Uh-“ I started and discovered that I had no idea what to say next. I was speechless. Something that never happens to me. Ever.
Spencer turned and sat down on the couch closest to me. He took a sip of his drink and gave me another amused glance. Before I got a chance to ask him what was so funny that every time he looked at me he fell down laughing or looked like he was about to, he spotted Heavenly, my cat. Okay, so Heavenly is a few pounds overweight but that’s no excuse for the way Spencer chortled at her.
“What type of cat is that?” he asked curiously. I stroked Heavenly to calm her down (and to calm myself down too).
“She’s a Persian cat,” I answered coldly. “Share the joke.”
“Oh, I was just laughing coz I didn’t think you were a cat person” Spencer explained. “Had you pegged as a snake chick.”
That was not a compliment.
“Do you have any pets?” I asked, struggling to remain friendly. I was trying, but Spencer was really skillful at saying exactly the wrong thing in a nice way!
“Had a tarantula,” he replied flippantly. Of course. “It died a few years back and since then I’ve been pet less. I’m a bit too busy for pets and shit.”
He grinned at me over his Sprite can and I almost swooned again. The guy had the nicest smile I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a bunch of sexy smiles.

We sat in silence for a while then he reached over to stroke Heavenly, who was lying on my lap. His hand grazed my thigh and I got flutters in my stomach.
‘Calm down, Elektra!,’ I told myself sternly. A whiff of that yummy cologne he was wearing came my way again and before I even knew it, my mouth opened.
“What type of cologne do you use?” my lips asked.
Shitty. Why the fuck can’t I keep my big mouth shut?
Ignorant as ever (I was starting to wonder if he actually noticed anything), Spencer didn’t find the question weird. Before I had a chance to blink, he had slipped down from the couch and was lying next to me on the beanbag, scratching Heavenly’s ears. I could barely breathe with him so close to me.
“Um, actually, I don’t know what it is,” he replied absently. “My girlfriend got it for me for my birthday.”
Obviously, a guy this hot has a girlfriend, right? Obviously, I knew that. So why the hell did my heart sink all the way to my feet?
“Oh. Oh,” was all I could come up with.
“Actually,” Spencer continued, “I guess I shouldn’t even be calling her my girlfriend, we haven’t even spoken in months.”
Huh? For fucking serious?
“Oh, really?” I asked casually, somehow managing to keep the note of elation out of my voice. Even though I don’t know why I was so happy. I didn’t even like the guy, why should I care if he had a girlfriend or not? “You guys have a fight?”
“Nah, she moved,” was all Spencer said.
“Oh. Okay,” I said, deciding that he wasn’t going to say anything else on that subject. I was cooking up ideas in my head though.
“You got a boyfriend?” he asked suddenly, still plying with Heavenly.
“No,” I replied truthfully. “Not yet.”
He looked up at me then and grinned.
“What’s that mean?” he asked curiously.
I rolled my eyes somewhat impatiently. What the hell did it sound like it meant?
“It means I’m currently between boyfriends,” I explained slowly, like I was talking to Jesse. Spencer nodded and returned his attention to Heavenly. For the first time ever, I wished I was my cat. Then he would be touching me all over, not her!
“So, what’s your type?” Spencer asked.
“Hmm, well, he has to be funny, sexy, charming, clever and a good k- catch,” I replied. I had been going to say kisser, but remembering how close Spencer was and how sexy his lips were, I decided not to risk it.
“Girl, you’re describing me,” Spencer chuckled. I stared at him, trying to see if he was joking or not but he was still bent over the cat and I couldn’t see his face properly.
“I don’t think so,” I said lightly. “I don’t date guys like you.”
“You should really give ‘guys like me’ a try, we’re just as awesome as we look,” Spencer replied. I rolled my eyes.
“Try modesty much?” I asked sarcastically. He laughed.
“I’m not vain, if that’s that you mean,” he said, sounding serious. “I was just trying to get a rise of you. You’re so prickly.”
Well, of all the rude things to say!
“Am not,” I huffed. Spencer twisted himself till he was on his back and smirked up at me.
You are too,” he replied.
“Am not!”
“Plus, you’re crazy,” he said languidly. I looked angrily down at him.
“You don’t even know me,” I scowled. Seriously speaking, he was ticking me off. I bet he was doing it on purpose too. Whatever game he was playing, he was doing it well coz I was really getting annoyed. I’m not prickly!
“When I get to know you, I’ll find out for myself if you’re really that touchy or if the real you is completely different,” Spencer said. “Anyway, I like crazy chicks. I think they’re sexy.”
I wasn’t really listening to him until I heard the last part. Actually, I was about to get up and leave because when I got pissed, I tended to say and do things that I regretted and this boy was just asking for some ball breaking. But when he said the sexy thing, I couldn’t stand up. I stared at him. He grinned at me.
“Are you hitting on me?” I heard myself asking. His grin grew wider.
“What do you think?” he asked calmly, his eyes on my face. I opened my mouth and realized I didn’t know what to say. I looked right into his eyes and he stared back unblinkingly.
Before I could even think of an answer, I heard trophy wife calling.
“Elektra! Tell Darnell and Spencer its time to go!”
And the spell was broken.
Spencer handed me back Heavenly and got to his feet.
“I think I’ma get myself a cat too,” he smirked and turned to Darnell and Jesse, who were still playing Halo. I’d practically forgotten they were even there. “Yo, big D, you ready to leave?” he asked his brother.
“I guess so,” Darnell muttered, standing up. He turned to Jesse, who was staring at him with an adoring expression on his face. “You should come over one day, Jesse. I’ll show you my video game collection.”
“Kay!” Jesse replied, a huge smile on his face. Trophy wife entered the lounge, beaming from ear to ear. She was followed by dad and Amber.
“So this is what was keeping you guys busy,” Amber smiled, putting a hand on Darnell’s shoulder.
We all said our goodbyes and Amber said again what a wonderful dinner it had been and how she would definitely return the favor. Then we walked to the front door and the adults suddenly began to chat again as they waited for Darnell to get back from the bathroom. Spencer turned to me.
“Hey, you know what?” he asked quietly. We were standing in the foyer together, a little apart from the oldies.
“What?” I asked. I was still reeling from the-well- actually, I don’t know why I was reeling. I just was.
“My opinion of you has been adjusted a bit,” he said, his eyes laughing. I forced a smile, knowing I wouldn’t hear anything good. Somehow, Spencer seemed to have the knack of telling me the wrong thing.
“Really?” I asked, on auto pilot. All I wanted was for this evening to end and for Spencer to leave so I could breathe again.
“Yeah. At the hospital, I thought you were a bitchy, spoilt brat.”
Ouch.
I opened my mouth to retort but he continued quickly.
“Today, I think you’re still a bitchy, spoilt brat. But don’t worry. I still like you,” he smirked.
One thing about this guy impressed me. He had nerve.
I gave him my coldest look and smirked back.
“Well, I don’t like you,” I said icily.
Darnell finally arrived and trophy wife started saying how much she had enjoyed the dinner again.
“You will,” Spencer told me confidently, laughed and followed his mother and little brother out of the door.
I was still speechless as dad closed the door and headed to the living room for another drink. I hoped with all my heart that I would never see him again.

Still, it would be cool if I did.