Chapter 20

Let me clear one thing,

Xandra is pronounced as Z-an-dra.

Anyways continue:-D

"The notebook."

"The Ring."

"The notebook."

"The Ring."

"The notebook."

"The Ring."

"Why can't you just agree with me for once?" I asked, irritated.

"Why don't you just stop being a pussy cat and watch the movie I selected? Besides, if you don't like the movie, then why do you have it?" He asked, in a duh tone.

Well, he was right. Why did I have the movie in the first place? Oh right, this movie wasn't mine but Tyler's. He had this craze for horror films. Damn you Tyler. Damn you.

Hold the fuck up.

Did he just call me a pussy cat?

"Who the hell are you calling a pussy cat?" I asked, glaring at him, yet he was unaffected by my glare. He simply smirked at me.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry. You're not a cat, you're a kitten. And the way you're glaring at me just proves my point." He said, causing me to look at him in confusion.

"How does my facial expression prove your point?" I asked, cautiously.

"You look as if you're trying to scare me by glaring at me, but trust me, it kind of looks like a kitten trying to glare at me. You know what? Kitten suits you, you're new nickname is a kitten." He said, looking satisfied with the nickname he came up with.

Kitten, my ass.

In case you haven't guessed it till now, Cole decided to spend the day with me, so that we could get to know each other better. He even said something like he didn't want me alone in this haunted house. I know he was just trying to tease me. This house isn't haunted. I think.

Anyways, we decided to have a movie marathon, watching our favorite movies together. And by our I mean, only Cole's. Because this is the second movie I'm watching of his choice.

The first film? Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle.

It was a great film. I admit. But I can't say the same about this one. I mean come on. The notebook is way better.

"Kitten, I think the popcorn is ready," Cole said, breaking me out of my trance.

I scowled at him.

"Don't call me that. And besides, you wanted popcorn, didn't you? How about you walk on your own legs to the kitchen to get your popcorns. I'm good with my Nutella jar." I said, trying to snatch the remote from Cole's hand, but it was just out of my reach.

"I'm the guest, Xandra. This is your house and your kitchen and your popcorn. All you have to do is take out the popcorn from the microwave. Stop being a lazy ass and serve your guest." Cole said, his tone somewhat matching mine.

That littles---

The doorbell rang before I could complete my thought.

I looked at Cole, knowing that he wouldn't open the door, because he is such an ass hole. A lazy ass hole. Oh, he even avoided my gaze, by shifting his attention to his phone.

I sighed. I guess I'll have to get the door as well as the bloody popcorns.

I got up from my spot on the couch and speed-walked to the front door. Whoever was there was really impatient. Oh look, the bell rang again, for the third time.

Opening the door, I was surprised to see Rebecca and Mason. Rebecca looked really gorgeous in a black slit dress. It looked like she was going somewhere. Mason beamed at me. This boy was so adorable and cute, unlike his brother.

"Uh...Xandra, I need your help sweetie." Rebecca said hesitantly.

"I'm always ready to help you, Rebecca," I said with a smile on my face.

"Well, do you mind babysitting Mason till the evening? I would've told Cole to do that, but he isn't someone with whom I could trust Mason with. But I already texted him to pick Mason up till 5:00 in the evening. You don't have a problem, do you?" Rebecca asked uncertainly. I had to hold back my laughter, after hearing what she said about Cole.

"Not a problem at all. In fact, it's a pleasure to have Mason at my place." I bent down to Mason's level as I ruffled his silky blonde hair. He was so cute.

"Thank you so much, Xandra. You don't know how much you're helping me. I'll get going then." She told me with a smile on her face.

"And you, young man. Don't trouble Xandra and be a good boy. Okay?" She said to Mason.

"Yes, mom." He chirped, happily.

With that, Rebecca left. I took Mason inside.

"Oh! You're here already? I thought you were at Brody's house." Mason said, as soon as he entered the living room and spotted Cole on the couch.

Cole didn't even look surprised. He just gave a small smile to Mason. He then turned to me and said," You still didn't get the popcorn?" In a very casual way.

I decided to ignore him.

"So Mason, would you like to have Nutella or popcorn?" I asked Mason, who had taken a seat next to Cole on the couch.

"I think I'll go with popcorn. Nutella is too sweet for my personality." He said.

My eyes widened. Cole had said the exact same thing when I asked him. Like brother, like brother.

"Give me five," Cole said to Mason, and both of them high-fived.

Huh. I look like the odd one out.

"Sure," I said, walking to the kitchen.

Walking into the living room, with my hands full of things, like two bowls of popcorns for the Parker brothers and a bag full of heavenly things like Nutella, gummy bears, skittles, m&ms, Doritos, and other amazing things, wasn't a very hard thing to do.

I wasn't surprised when I saw both of them already watching the movie without me. Here I was, bringing things for them, and look at these shameless boys, they started watching the film without me.

Control Xandra, Control.

Sighing, I placed all the food on the table and sat between Cole and Mason, on the couch.

"What movie are we watching?" I asked, to no one particular.

"The Ring," Mason said, looking at me for a split second before fixing his attention back on the TV screen.

I frowned. I thought it was my turn to choose a movie.

"But--" I was cut off by Cole.

"Nothing will happen, kitten. Don't worry." He reassured me, but his eyes were fixed on the TV screen.

I felt as if someone intertwined his hand with mine. And I wasn't surprised to see Mason holding my hand.

"I'm here, Xandra. Nothing will happen." He reassured me, his green eyes meeting mine. If he wasn't so small, then I would've surely had a crush on him.

But before I could say anything, I heard a 'tsk' sound coming from Cole.

"Will you two be quiet, I can't concentrate." He said, glancing at us, before fixing his gaze on the TV screen.

Sighing, even I fixed my gaze on the TV screen.

$$$

I fed myself another spoon of Nutella when the credits rolled on. Finally, the horror film was over. Mason was already asleep, while Cole switched off the TV screen.

"Remind me to never watch a film with you again. I don't think I'll be able to sleep properly anytime soon." I said, putting all the wrappers in the polythene bag.

"Remind me to never watch any horror film with you. I mean you kept jumping on every five seconds. Even Jessica is braver than you." Cole said, his tone somewhat matching mine.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh please, I didn't tell you to put your arms around me. You were simply looking for excuses to touch me." I said, feeding myself another spoon of Nutella.

The next thing I know, is I'm literally straddling Cole, with his both hands on my thighs. He had a very serious look on his face. The closeness between us was making me nervous.

I could feel his minty breath on my cheek, as his deep green eyes bored into mine.

"I don't need a silly excuse to touch you." He said, not looking away from me. His voice kind of reflected his sincerity.

His eyes then landed on my lips. He subconsciously licked his own lips.

Honestly speaking, I never felt so nervous in my life.

I felt his hand leave my left thigh, as I felt his thumb caressing my cheek. His fingers tracing my jawline. I was paralyzed. I couldn't move.

I felt his thumb on the corner of my lips. As if he was wiping something. The next thing which Cole did make my jaw drop internally.

He brought his thumb near the mouth and he licked it.

Well, I guess even he couldn't resist Nutella.

I could feel his hand on my left thigh again, as he pulls me even closer to himself. If that's possible.

But before he could do anything, I jumped because of his God damn ringtone. I mean, who keeps such a scary ringtone. It was a girl's voice, screaming. That scream was horrific.

Cole moved a little away from me, to receive the call. I got off his lap, awkwardly.

I took two deep breaths. Calm down, calm down.

Looking at Cole's phone kind of reminded me of mine. Speaking of which, I couldn't find my phone since the morning. Where the hell did I keep it?

"I should get going, kitten," Cole said, breaking me out of my trance.

"Uh...sure," I said as I saw him pick Mason up, trying not to wake him up.

He walked out of the living room, with me following closely behind him.

"Bye Monkey." I teased him, as he approached the front door.

"Bye kitten." He said, winking at me before walking out.

I closed the door behind me. I could hear him start his car, in my garage.

He left. Finally. My phone must be in my room I guess.

I found my phone on my nightstand. Switching it on, I was surprised to say at least.

There were like 8 missed calls from Jessica and 10 from Sam.

But that didn't catch my attention. The thing which did was, 5 missed calls from Tyler. So he remembered me. I mean, it has been like 2 weeks since I moved here, and since then he never called me. Why today? I'm just gonna ignore him.

I then noticed many notifications from my Instagram account. I didn't post anything, As far as I remember.

Opening Instagram, my eyes widened when I noticed a post from my account. The picture kind of took me shock because I felt as if someone removed the ground under my feet. The post was of 11 in the morning.

It was my photo with Cole from this morning. My face wasn't that visible because it was buried in Cole's chest. He was smiling in the photo. He was shirtless by the way. The caption made me very angry.

She sleeps like a cat.

He even tagged his account to this post. The most surprising thing was that this post got many likes. I mean more than 1000 likes. People from my this school as well as from my previous one decided to give this post alike.

Maybe this was the reason why I had so many calls from Jessica, Sam, and Tyler. They wanted to know about the post.

I don't even know what to do now. How did I not find out about this? God, I'm so dumb.

I heard the doorbell ring. Who is there now? I am seriously in no mood to entertain anyone right now.

I heard the door open, must be mom and dad. Dad. It's been days since I last saw him. We may live under the same roof but we are two very busy people.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, running into his arms. I missed him.

"Now now Xandra, I missed you too," Dad said, chuckling a bit, as I felt his hand on the back of my head.

I heard someone clear her throat. Mom.

"Oh hey, mom," I said, sheepishly smiling at her, as I pulled away from Dad.

She had that strict mom look on her face, as she examined my whole body. I was wearing a sleeveless pink top and my worn-out blue jeans.

"I see you aren't ready yet." She said, her hazel brown eyes meeting mine.

"Ready? For what?" I asked, confused.

"I texted you 30 minutes ago. We have a business  meeting to attend." She said, disappointedly.

"You guys can go. I'll stay at home." I said, feeling very lazy to do anything.

"And leave you in this haunted house alone? I don't think so." Mom said, trying her best not to smile.

"How did you-- wait, Cole told you that didn't he?" I asked her. That Jerk.

I heard my dad laugh from behind me.

"Get ready Xandra. We're already getting late." She said, walking upstairs to her room and completely ignoring my last question.

"Princess?" Dad called out before I could go back to my room.

"Yeah?" I said, well kind of asked.

"Who's this Cole boy?" He asked as I turned around to face him. He was smiling at me but I knew he was still kind of protective of me. After what happened that night, Any normal person would be.

"He's a friend," I said quietly.

"Just a friend?" He asked.

"Yeah, just a friend," I reassured him. He shouldn't be troubled because of me.

"Be careful Xandra. Stay safe." He said finally when he was convinced.

$$$

I checked myself for the last time before heading downstairs. I was wearing a light pink sleeveless dress which ended just above my knees. There was nothing special about the dress if you don't count the V neck and the black ribbon on my waist. It was a bit tight on my chest area but was flowing till the end. I  paired it up with a black choker and a black bracelet on my left wrist. I wore black heels with the dress.

I looked okay I guess since I didn't use much makeup.

"I'm ready, mom," I said meeting my parents in the living room.

"Then, let's get going." My mom said, standing up from the couch.

My mom wore a black knee-length dress while my dad also wore a black suit matching mom.

I followed mom and dad outside the house, inside the car. I seriously didn't want to go. But who could explain mom?

Walking inside the restaurant I noticed that it was a very 7 star one. The waiter led us to the VIP section, where the meeting was going to be held.

I was kind of surprised when I saw many familiar faces there. But there was this one boy who caught my attention. His blue eyes kind of light up seeing me. He smirked at me.

The boy was Antony Cage.

A/N,

CLIFFHANGER!!!

Before you say anything, just listen to my story. Please it's important.

So last Tuesday, I decided that instead of updating irregularly, I should start updating once a week. That was every Tuesday.

Me on last Saturday: oh, I need to update(doesn't update)

Sunday: *remembers but is too lazy to update*

Monday:*still remembers*

Tuesday: *accidently forgets*

Wednesday: oh crap! I had to update.(still doesn't update)

Thursday: Finally got it done.

Phew.

I'm sorry. I suck at commitments, maybe that's why I'm single😂😂😂

Anyways,

Stay tuned.

Love you.

Ally❤