Passionate Exchange

Chapter Thirty-Four

Sophie and Henry were over the moon when the pizza arrived. They came down from their room after hearing a knock at the door. When they saw Archer with three boxes of pizza in his hands their eyes lit up like a child on Christmas.

They were grateful that Penny and I put the time and effort into cooking them something, but we were all happy that it went wrong so we could eat the cheesy goodness that is pizza. I still stick by my word though; a burger will forever be better.

We found out the reason the lasagne was so burnt the next time Penny went on her phone. It turns out she read the recipe Brody sent wrong. The message said forty to fifty minutes in the oven and she somehow read it as ninety minutes. Don't ask me how because I still haven't been able to work that out myself. I also have no idea how we didn't notice it burning.

We finished all three boxes of pizza in record time, and it wasn't long before Sophie and Henry excused themselves to sleep off the jetlag, leaving us to do the dishes. You can imagine our shock when we saw Archer eating the crusts that Penny left.

"Who even are you?" She gawked at him, mortified by his actions. She was genuinely concerned for her brother's safety.

Now, the kitchen is spotless thanks to us.

Penny wipes the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. "Why's cleaning so tiring?" She groans, dragging her feet up the stairs. "I'm going to watch The Shining, don't get too bored without me."

She leaves to go to her room, and we're submerged in silence.

"Alone again," Archer announces.

I think back to the last time we were alone. We fell asleep together! I woke up lying on him! If I'd have known Tyler wasn't going to come back until the morning, I wouldn't have stayed. You're lying, you loved sleeping next to him. I push the voice in the back of my head away.

I twiddle my thumbs. "The pizza was good." I blurt out randomly.

He chuckles. "It was."

What else do I say? Come on, brain. This isn't a good time to go blank. He's standing in front of me waiting for me to say something. I'm just staring at him. If I stay quiet for too long, he's going to think I'm checking him out and I don't want that. My eyes wander down his body. Stop checking him out!

"I need to go to the grocery store to pick up some things, you want to come?" He asks. His eyes pour into mine, making me feel compelled to do everything he says.

He's asking me to go to the store with him...like a date? We'd be going to the store alone together. Why would he need me to go with him? He must want me to go with him.

I freeze up. "Hello?" He waves his hand in front of my face.

"Oh," I snap back to reality and blush. "I can't, I have homework to do." That's not a lie, I do have homework to do but it's not due for another couple of days.

"Suit yourself." He grabs his keys that he threw on the shelf earlier and exits the house. I stay rooted to the spot until the roar of his engine becomes a distant memory.

I hold my head in my hands and sigh deeply. "I should have gone with him," I tell myself. The idea of being on his motorcycle, holding onto him tightly, doesn't seem that bad anymore. It's like I've grown this addiction to being close to him.

Regret seeps in. I still haven't told Penny about whatever is going on between me and Archer. But according to Archer, there's nothing to tell. I'm probably just overthinking it. I haven't been able to process it myself, so I have no idea how she would take it. I can't tell her now though; she won't want me to disturb The Shining. Archer wouldn't want me to tell her either. With this thought in mind, I ascend the stairs and head towards my room.