Hope «h.s.»

Fifteen.

Chapter 15:

I decided in the long run to forget about the horrible happenings of the last weekend. I especially did not want to explain everything to Scottie. I know he would try to threaten my father and feel absolutely guilty for not being there for me and being sick. I did not want to cause him any unnecessary emotions. Besides, it was Friday.

I rung into the shop and Scottie was already there as per usual. This time he was preoccupied in packing boxes to notice my presence. I took advantage of that.

"Boo!" I yelled from behind him. His body jolted and multiple CDs were clumsily dropped from his hands.

"Piper!" He yelled.

"That's me!" I smiled. I bent down and helped him pick up the fallen CDs.

"How's my best friend been since yesterday afternoon?" For just being scared out of his pants, he was surprisingly happy, sporting a bright smile similar to mine.

"Great," I answered. "New merch?"

"A bit yeah," Scottie said, pointing to two cardboard boxes to our left.

"Well I'll leave ya to it then," I said, skipping away. My mood was great for some reason.

"No no no, help me," Scottie whined but I was already behind the counter.

I huffed. "Fine."

We restocked about half of the CDs. And each time I went to get another handful, I caught Scottie staring at me. After the tenth time I spoke up.

"Quit it," I laughed.

"Quit what?" he asked, making me want to slap his fake confused face. Scottie was annoying sometimes. Scratch that, most of the time. I just rolled my eyes.

"Okay, so now that I have your attention..." I stopped him right there.

"You don't," I tried not to smile, but it didn't work. The corners of my lips were perfectly curved towards my ears.

"Anyways," he rolled his eyes. "Tonight after work I am going to this party..."

"You go to one every weekend," I butted in.

"Yeah, but this time, you are coming with me."

I squinted my eyes. Almost every weekend he invites me to one and almost every weekend I turn him down. I do not know how many times I have to deny his offer for him to get it.

"Leave me alone," I stated.

"C'mon Pipes, it'll be fun!" He tried very hard to persuade me.

"Parties aren't my thing," I said bluntly, trying to get my message across.

"Okay what if I pitch you a deal?"

I cross my arms. What the heck?

He does not wait for me to answer. "If you come with me tonight, I swear I will never ask you to go to one again... unless you want to."

I put on a fake thinking face. "Let me think about it."

"Really?"

"No!" I shouted. "Surrounding myself with drunk teenagers is not what I call fun."

"Neither is lounging around the house on a Friday night," Scottie protested.

"Okay," I rolled my eyes, offended. This was one situation where we did not see eye to eye and his rich-kid-Catholic-schooler side showed.

"I'm sorry Pipes, I didn't mean it that way."

"Sure," I said, walking over to the keyboard and drowning out the awkwardness with music made by my fingers.