Chapter 12 – Simple Bickers and Food Fights

Ellie

I think the expression of whenever it rains, a rainbow will follow is true. It is because the fight that I had with Austin is like the rain, it’s dark and teary. But after we finally get to patch things up, we’re back to being friendly which can symbolize the rainbow. I know that befriending someone who you like is dangerous as it is because you may end up hurting in the end but what if, this is the cure of getting over him? What if the more I get to know him, I’ll find the things that I won’t like him in a fancy way and will make me get over him sooner than I thought I’d be?

“So now that we’re finally done talking, you should go back to school now.” I stand up from the couch and faced him.

He looks displease, he don’t seem to like the idea of going back to school. “You’re kidding me right?”

“Nope,” I open the front door, signaling him to leave, “You may now go back to school and I’ll get back to my marathon of movie watching and eating a bucket of ice cream.” That is the best thing that I can do right now, especially to get things out of my head, particularly, Austin Prince.

“I can’t go back now.” He crosses his arms against his chest, “It’s like one o’ clock already, lunch break is over and if I head back, I’ll probably get another detention slip.” He places his feet on the coffee table, “I’m trying to stay away from detention if you want me to inform you.”

“Then why are you here if you don’t want to get in detention?” I challenged, forming a smirk on my lips. I know why he’s here, I just want to annoy him so that he could leave.

“You’re seriously asking me that right now?” He asks, irritated. He breathes heavily, “Have you eaten?” He changes the topic and dragged his body out of the couch.

“Ice cream.” I plainly said, “Why are you asking?”

“I want to eat. And it looks like you haven’t eaten too.” He stretches his arms upward and started walking towards our kitchen.

What is this guy planning to do? Does he even know how to cook? Because I know that I don’t.

I close the front door and followed him in the kitchen. He is currently standing in the fridge, looking for something to cook. My mom always stack the fridge with lots of food because she loves cooking and baking. But believe me, it’s only mom and Elliot knows how to cook. Me and dad? A big fat no.

“Are you going to cook lunch for us?” I sit at the counter, looking at him as he fish his hands inside the freezer, “Because I don’t want our house to catch fire.”

He glances at me with a smirk on his lips, “Seriously?” He chuckles, “Well, you’ll help so I’m confident that there’s no house fire involved.”

“No way,” I shake my head in disagreement, “I’m not a cook and holding a frying pan is already difficult for me.”

“What?” He raises an eyebrow, “But your brother is good at it, and I thought you were too.” He exhales, “Guess you’re not that twinsee after all.” He teases.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I ushered towards him and stare at what he was getting from the fridge, “Why don’t you just order pizza?”

“Because that will take too long.” He took the nuggets, bacon and eggs and places it on the counter, seems like he’s too hungry. But just staring at those three ingredients makes me want to set ice cream aside and eat this delicious things instead. “Do you have any potatoes?”

“What for?”

“Mashed potatoes.” He informed.

I took the potatoes where Mom hides it and place it beside the goods that he took.

“I’m not a good cook myself but since I’m hungry, I don’t care anymore.” My eyes widen after hearing him say that, “And I thought you know how to cook, let’s just order pizza, I don’t want trouble.” I urged.

He laughs at my reaction and started putting the pan on the stove, placing it on medium heat. “Where’s your oil?”

I grab it from the cabinet and handed it to him, he places some on the pan and showed me his signature smirk. I swear, if he ever messes this thing up, I’ll blame everything to him.

“Can you mash the potatoes while I fry the bacon and nuggets?”

I rolled my eyes in irritation and grab the bowl on the racks and started peeling the potatoes, “I don’t know what I’m doing in this kitchen but if this tasted weird, I’m going to order pizza.”

He laughs, holding the cover of the pan with his other free hand while he was trying to be distant as the oil started to splash. He looks like me whenever mom ask me to fry something. “Seriously Austin?” I smirk. He’s too cute. Wait, did I just say that?

He sticks his tongue out as he struggles to flip the bacon on the other side, “Why don’t you just focus on mashing that potatoes, so we could be done with?”

“Why don’t you just ignore me and focus on cooking that so it won’t get burn and catch fire?” I fire back.

He chuckles and later follows my statement, “I won’t shut up, I don’t follow any one’s orders.”

“Well if you won’t then maybe you should mashed these potatoes yourself?” I challenged, he raises an eyebrow and cockily replied, “Well if that’s what you want then fine, but you won’t be getting any of these.” He places the bacon on the plate and by just looking at it, makes me want to eat it.

“I don’t need your permission if I could eat that or not, this is my house, you’re just a visitor who happens to be leaving if you don’t shut up.” I let go off what I’m doing and stare at him blankly. Two can play at that game.

He opens the plastic where the nuggets are all placed and he starts to put them on the pan, “Then I’ll just bring the food with me if I’m about to leave if you want to.” He winks at me playfully, making my heart jump. Why does he have the effect on me?

“You can’t do that, it’s mine. It’s my house.” I raise an eyebrow, staring at his figure. It’s only now that I noticed how hot he is cooking in front of me. His shirt hugs his figure which is insanely hot because he has the body of an athlete. His hair is tousled and yet he managed to pull it off without even putting any effort. I wouldn’t doubt if girls will love him, he’s irresistible. Wait, why am I adoring his features again? Didn’t I agreed to myself that I would stop liking him?

“Earth to Ella, are you there?” He flips the nuggets on the other side and gave me a quick glance before he starts to draw his attention back to the pan.

“Wh—what, I mean—yeah, urm—“ I stutter, what the hell am I saying?

“Are you done checking me out?” He said teasingly, making my cheeks go red. I am seriously going insane.

“I’m not checking you out!” I said abruptly, “You’re not my type.”

“Then your type must be this Matt guy who I don’t even understand why.”

“What’s your deal with him anyway?” I change the topic, he places the nuggets on the plate and turn off the stove. He was already sweaty by just cooking and it was evident on his shirt. I can see his abs looking at me even though he still has his shirt on.

“I don’t like him.” He plainly said. He places the nuggets and bacon on the counter and looks at me in the eyes, why is he looking at me?

“Why?” I swallowed the lump on my throat as he starts to walk towards me, is he going to kiss me like the last time and tell me that he’s sorry or he was just testing me? No, he wouldn’t do that. He just told me that we will be good friends who will have to get to know each other.

He was just an inch from where I was standing and he slowly closes the gap between us with his face moving towards to mine, is he really going to kiss me? I can’t move. I just can’t. I have this feeling of wanting to be kissed by him but there’s a small part of me that I need to push him away.

With just centimeters apart, he began to whisper, “Because—you like him. That’s why I hate him.” His hand moves towards my side and after seconds, he moves away with the ketchup at hand. It made me flustered, my heart was pounding so fast and it feels like my breath has just been taken away from me. He moves closer to me because the ketchup was at my back, I was standing in front of the counter. It’s not because he was trying to kiss me. I was the one being weird, I shouldn’t be thinking anything related to that when he already told me that we’re friends.

Wait, did he just said that he doesn’t like Matt because I like him? Did this mean that he likes me? Wait, stop. I should stop assuming and get back to reality.

“Seriously Ella—“ He sits down at the counter with a blank stare, “I’ve been talking like for a couple of minutes and all you do is space out.” He crosses his arms against his chest and looks at me intensely.

“Yeah—“ I cough, “I was just thinking about if I could still pass my assignment tomorrow because I wasn’t able to attend school today.” Lie. I don’t really care about that. I have an average set of grades and by just missing one assignment, wouldn’t really fail me.

“Since when are you a nerd?” He points out with his eyebrow raised, “Why don’t you worry about the mashed potatoes before you go to mars?” He laughs, making me want to remove those pearly whites in his mouth.

I took the spoon from the rack and started mashing the potatoes, I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I? I mean mashed potatoes are cooked by peeling them off and mashing them right?

I took a quick glance at Austin and he has his phone on his hands, smiling like a complete idiot. He must have been texting one of his girl minions, asking one of them to satisfy his physical needs. I just realized that he’s a manwhore, oh wait, I know that before. Am I being jealous right now? What the hell am I doing?

“Don’t let your anger out on that poor potatoes, they won’t look like mashed potatoes if you mashed them too much.” He chuckles, walking his way beside me. He looks distraught by just looking the mess I made. It was his fault that it made it look this way, because if it wasn’t for him being such a manwhore, then I wouldn’t let out all of my frustrations in the potatoes.

“Did you at least boil them first before you mashed them?” He face palms, after realizing that I didn’t.

“Well sorry for that, I just told you, I’m no cook.” I said in a bitter way.

He sighs and started laughing, “You know what, let’s just eat what’s on the plate and forget about the potatoes, I’m sure that we can be full without it.” Is he insulting my cooking or am I just being paranoid. But either way, I’m a bit irritated.

He turns his back on me and I instantly took a handful of mashed potatoes in my hand, “Austin.”

“Yes?” He didn’t turn around to look at me and started to walk towards the fridge.

“Look at me.” I simply said.

He sighs and later turns around and faced me, I immediately place my hand full of mashed potato on his face and wipe the rest that is still on my hand in his shirt. This serves him right for ignoring my efforts of mashing this.

“That is for telling me to forget about the potatoes.” I smiled in victory and started to fist pump in the air. I look insane but I don’t feel bad doing it to him.

“Ella—“ He speaks, I turn around to see his ridiculous face full of potatoes but I was surprise by the ketchup that he splatter all over my face and down to my shirt.

“Pay back.” He smirks as he removes the mashed potato on his face which he fails miserably because it’s still sticking on his face. But on my point of view, I look like a bloody mess.

I reach for the bowl which is full of the mashed potatoes and started to throw it at him, I aim at his hair, his face but it kept on targeting his shirt. Well, he lives beside us, he could go there and change.

“Stop—“ He surrenders in defeat, I didn’t back down and started throwing him more until I have nothing left, “Looks like I’m done. The potatoes are well spent.”

He walks towards the fridge and took the bottled water, “Well that’s good to hear,” He smirks, He walks closer to me with an evil grin plastered on his lips, looks like he has some tricks on his sleeves.

He remove the bottle cap and spilled the water on top of my head, it was cold and my shirt was instantly wet. Ketchup and water is not a good combination because it looks like I just got from an accident.

He took the mashed potato hanging on his shirt and plop it down on my nose, “Now you look like a miserable bloody clown.” He started laughing but I know I wasn’t ready to give up yet.

I immediately took the bag of flour on the cabinet and aim it at him after I tear the wrapper tip off, “And you look like a mess, I bet girls will dig you in that kind of appearance.”

He started coughing and removing the flour that is covering his face, the kitchen looks like I mess and we do too. But I was glad that mom and dad will be home late because if they see this mess, I don’t think they will let me stay in our kitchen.

Austin instantly removes his shirt from his body and tried to wipe his face off with his shirt. He looks so damn hot and I admit, I was checking him out. That abs of his and tone body makes me want to jump on him. Wait, did I literally just say that? I must be off of my mind.

“Oh Ella—Ella, Ella.” He starts to walk slowly but close to the fridge, “I won’t back down easily.” He opens the fridge and took the prune juice and a can of beer, I don’t think I would want to smell any juicy and alcohol in the same time. I was a bit relieved that I haven’t taken a bath because if I was, I would have been pissed off because I have to go and wash my hair again.

I immediately run towards the cabinet and took the bottle of honey with me, “Now Austin, just admit your defeat before I splatter you with something sticky.” I smile wickedly, but he just grins in return.

He places his shirt on the counter, I can’t believe he’ll chase after me with no top on. I find that sexy, I mean no. Stop checking him out Ellie, you need to stop.

He runs towards me and I run as fast as I could to escape from him. I went out of the kitchen and started to run towards the stairs, I am a runner but he’s much faster than me since he’s a football player. As I was about to reach the second floor, I was immediately grab on the foot, hitting my butt on the stairs. That is extremely painful. The prune juice and alcohol was spilled on top of my head and it was beginning to drip down on my shirt. My shirt is extremely dirty and sticky and I smell so different because of the ketchup, juice and alcohol.

“Okay—“ I admit, “I lose, you win!” I exclaim. He smiles in victory, fist pumping in the air like a kid. I can’t believe that the stairs is now a mess because of the liquid that Austin poured on me and the kitchen is much messier compared to what we are now.

I can’t take my smell, it’s really disgusting. I feel like I’m going to puke. I immediately remove my shirt on my body and tried to wipe the liquid on my face. Poor shirt, never will I again, wear this. I started to wipe the stairs with it because it wasn’t really that dirty and it will probably be sticky if I don’t remove it soon.

Wait, did I just remove my shirt in front of Austin?

I glance at his direction and he has his eyes directed at me, “Seriously Austin?” I glared.

“What?” He inquires, “No need to be shy, I already seen you with just your undies or even bikini on.” He teases, making my cheeks flush red.

“Douche.” I stand up from the stairs and I can feel my butt hurting, “That seriously hurts.” I tell him.

“Well you started it.” He starts walking down stairs and I followed behind him, “Well you’re the one who ignored my potatoes.”

“I wouldn’t have ignored them if you boil them in the first place,” He smirks.

“If you had told me that in the first place then maybe the potatoes would be eaten and wouldn’t be splattered on your face.” I said.

“It was basic, I thought you knew.” He clarify, chuckling seconds later.

I know that we’re bickering because of small things again but that fight that we had, the so called food fight, I kind of enjoyed it. Really. Even though we have a bunch of mess to clean with.

“Well, I’m no cook.” I stated.

“Not your fault.”

“Then whose fault is it then?”

“You.” He points at me, sticking his tongue out and later forms a smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes in irritation but I later felt my lips form into a smile. This may sound crazy but I really enjoy having to spend my time with him. Even if, it’s just a simple bicker or food fight, I think I might just enjoy it.

“Looks like we have a lot of cleaning to do.” He murmurs and sighs as he takes a glance at my direction.

“Can we just eat first?” I argued, he smiles like a complete idiot and I felt like I was in dream land by just seeing him smile like that.

“As long as you won’t splatter any more food on me.” He stated.

“Fine, unless you behave.” I teased and he nods in agreement.

--

After the constant blaming whose fault is it as we eat our late lunch, the cleaning of the messy kitchen which is now clean and after taking a bath, I’m not lying on my bed with clean clothes and wet messy hair. Austin is still on my bathroom, sucks for him that he couldn’t get inside their house because he forgets to bring the spare key and his mom won’t be home until six o’ clock.

Cleaning the kitchen took us about an hour and I just hope that mom wouldn’t notice that her flour is gone or even the beer that my father usually drinks while he watch the football match on the evenings. I guess leaving me and Austin in one house could really cause a lot of trouble but I must admit, I did had fun.

I took my phone from my bed side table and read the new message that I just received,

“Been looking for you during lunch, you weren’t at school. Casey told me you were sick, I hope you get well soon. – Matt” 3:55pm

A smile broke out of my lips as soon as I see the message. He was looking for me? Why? Does he like me? Oh shut up Ellie, stop being such a delusional. He is probably looking for me because he was going to ask me where I went after the party.

I started to stare at the ceiling, what should I reply? Should I just said thanks or should I ask how is he?

I was suddenly interrupted with my thoughts when Austin opens the bathroom door, exposing his upper half of the body with the extra towel that I let him borrow. I can’t believe I’m checking him out again. His perfectly tone body and abs, his hair is completely wet and messy but he was able to pull it off and look so hot without any effort. He smiles at me, making me want to literally jump out of the window because my heart beats so rapidly that I almost forgot how to breathe.

“Done checking me out?” He crosses his arms against his check, making me flinch and go back to reality. I should really stop spacing out and checking on him too much.

“I’m not checking you out—“ I abruptly said, “I just—just—you know, kind of look if you’re using my towel instead of what I lend you.” I stammered. Nice lie, I don’t think if I could pull that off though.

He brushes it off immediately and changes the topic, “So, I’ll just borrow clothes from Elliot and you tell him that I borrowed them.”

“Okay.” I said plainly.

He nods in respond before he exits my room and goes straight at Elliot’s room. I know Elliot wouldn’t mind, he treats Austin like his brother.

I was about to reply to Matt’s message but I was immediately cut off by Austin’s figure in front of my door, “Seriously,” He starts, “You’re texting him now when you have a visitor that you should entertain?”

I was confuse on what he just told me and he later follows it with a quick response, “You’re texting that douche aren’t you?”

“No—“ Well technically I am not because I was going to not until he cuts me off with his surprising figure on my door. He looks at me in a serious way, trying to milk some answers from me. What does he care anyway? “I was going to reply to his message. He texted me first and what’s your problem?”

“Nothing.”

“Then stop being such a douche.”

“I’m not, he is.” He jumps on my bed, occupying the empty space beside me, “So entertain me and message him later.”

“You’re acting a bit strange Austin, can you just act normal?”

“I’m not normal when I’m with you and that’s okay I guess.” He said. Is that a compliment because I can feel my heart pounding like crazy again, what is he doing to me?

“Austin.”

“Ella.”

“Seriously, can you just get off of my bed?” I change the topic and he refuse to do what I said because he moves closer to me more, making every inch of my body feel this electricity that I haven’t felt before.

“Nope.” He casually said.

“Should I push you?” I ask, my body was stiff, I can’t move. Heck, I feel like I can’t breathe.

“If you push me, I’ll pull you with me.”

“Seriously Austin!” I’m losing my mind, I can’t think properly. I shouldn’t be feeling this way, I should unlike him not liking him more. I start to push him away, he was so strong but I feel that just more push, he’ll fall out of the bed.

“Are you seriously pushing me right now?” He grabs the dashboard of my bed and I use both of my feet in support to push him out.

“No captain obvious, what do you think I’m doing?” I said annoyingly.

The moment he was about to fall in the floor, I felt his hand grab my wrist, pulling me with him. And just like that, he was on the floor and I was on top of him. This is not good. I can feel every inch of my body heating him, making me flustered and make me breathless in the same time.

His blue round eyes are just staring back at me and by just looking at it, it was only realize how beautiful his eyes are, how it resembles the color of the sea whenever the sun shines bright to it at the beach. It was beautiful. My heart was pounding so fast and I can no longer move. Please help me, because if this continues, I’m afraid I’ll fall for him more.

“What the hell?!” A voice disrupts our little scenario. We both turn our heads to look whose voice was it from. And boy, I don’t think I’m happy to see him. It’s no other than my over protective brother.