Chapter 198

"You haven't forgotten what day tomorrow is, right?" Casey asked me while she dumped her things on the foot of her bed.
I plopped on my bed beside hers and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I hummed in response to her question, laying my arm over my eyes to block the light streaming in through the window by my bed.
When she didn't continue speaking, I raised my arm slightly and took a peek at her.
Casey stood over me, staring me down with her hands propped on her hips.
"You totally forgot what tomorrow is, didn't you?" She asked again.
I grunted in annoyance, prompting her to stop speaking in circles and just get to the point.
I felt a slap land on my torso, causing me to scrunch my body up in reflex to the sudden blow. "Ow!" I looked at her with wide eyes, holding on to the spot that she had slapped. The complaint was mostly made out of surprise and annoyance than pain.
"Bry!" She ran her hand through her hair exasperatedly.
"Case!" I mimicked her tone.
"Stop it, you idiot!" She rolled her eyes at me.
I fell back to my bed, placing my arm over my eyes again to resume my position before she had disturbed me.
"Just spit it out so that I can get some sleep," I told her, letting the exhaustion I felt seep through my voice.
I heard her sigh, "Tomorrow's Valentine's day, you idiot."
Silence enveloped us for a few moments before I realized what she just said.
Valentine's day.
Girlfriend.
Maddy.
Ah shit.
I bolted upright from the bed and looked at Casey wide-eyed.
She gave me a smug look, as if to say, "Yep, I called that 'Fuck me' look on your face. You're fucked now."
I scrambled to get my laptop and phone. "Get your laptop, too. You're helping me."
"Why should I?"
I turned to look at her sharply, "Because if you want to go to that party, you're going to help me right now."
Casey grumbled as she dragged her feet across the room to get to her laptop that was charging on her study desk, "That's not fair. You already gave me the green light."
"Yes, and I can take it back anytime I want because I was the one who gave it in the first place. Now get to work." I snapped, already typing away on my laptop's browser for date ideas.
Casey kept grumbling under her breath, probably calling me names and cursing me, but she grabbed her laptop and sat on her bed across from me to start helping.
Soon, we were busy ringing the florist, restaurants, making reservations, searching up more date ideas, etc etc.
It took us a few hours to get everything together. It was quite the challenge, considering that Valentine's day was less than 24 hours away and we've only just started booking everything. The flowers was the hardest to get. I wasn't really worried about where to go to have a meal with Maddy since she wasn't the type of girl who would appreciate fine dining, which was something I was tremendously grateful for at that particular instance. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to get a reservation at a fine dining restaurant in such short notice. That would just be the perfect definition of hell.
When we were done, Casey closed her laptop and moved it off of her lap to stretch her body. She cleared her throat and rubber her ears. Her ears were turning red from just how long she spent speaking to different florists on the phone. Her voice had cracked by the end of the last phone call and it had gone hoarse from all that greeting and talking.
"I don't know why I have to do this when I'm not even in a relationship. I don't even get to experience the pros of being in a relationship and I still have to do all this work. Where's the compensation here?" She rambled irritably despite having exhausted her voice, glaring at me.
Once everything was done, I was no longer panicked or annoyed. The relieve I felt, knowing that I've got everything set up for tomorrow, put me in a light state. The residual adrenaline that hasn't left my body washed away most of my exhaustion. I got off my bed and walked across the room to open the door.
"Where are you going?"
I turned around to face my sister. "Food."
Her face lit up in an instant and she bounced after me out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen.
"What should we make?" I hummed, opening the fridge.
Surprise, surprise! Our fridge was empty. The only things sitting in the cool shelves were apple juice, orange juice and milk. We didn't even have eggs.
"What happened to the eggs I bought last time?" I turned around to look at Casey.
She gave me a sheepish smile, her fingers fidgeting with the sleeve of her sweater. "I might or might not have tried to cook some eggs for myself and ended up dropping the whole carton, breaking all of them."
I sighed, tilting my head to face the ceiling. "Case.."
"I was hungry, I didn't have money to order any food and you weren't home, okay! I had to survive somehow!" She half-shouted in self-defense.
I scoffed at her overuse of the word 'survive'.
"You won't die from skipping one meal." I looked at her pointedly.
"Um, you don't know that!" She sassed.
I leaned away from her, raising my hands slightly, "Okay.." I trailed off.
"Whatever, we can just order some delivery." I closed the fridge door and scanned the delivery flyers stuck to it, hanging by the multiple fridge magnet covering the door surface.
"What do you feel like getting?" I asked her as I looked through the different menus.
"What about some Italian?" Casey suggested.
I rolled my eyes, fishing my phone out of my pocket to make the call. "Just say pizza. Don't try to be fancy and just stick with the basics. We all know the only Italian food you like is pizza."
"That's not true! There's pasta, too." She argued while I dialed the number of the pizza parlor.
"So what do you wanna get? Pasta?" I raised my eyebrows challengingly at her.
She smiled sweetly, "Pizza."
Cue another eye roll from me.
Someone picked up the call and I put our usual order in. They told us to wait for half an hour before hanging up. I turned to Casey, "Half an hour, they said. I'll be outside."
She gave me a knowing smirk before going upstairs to her room again.
I shook my head and sighed. She knows me too damn well sometimes.
I stepped outside of the house to our backyard and called Maddy, who picked up after the third ring.
"Hey," she greeted. I could hear the smile in her voice and even the sound of it was infectious.
I smiled, greeting her back. "Hi."
"So, I don't know if you remember what day's tomorrow.." I trailed off, earning a chuckle from Maddy.
"Let me guess, you forgot?" She asked.
"Pfft," I snorted as if it was the most ridiculous thing. Silence met me and I was forced to admit. "Yes. Yes, I forgot. BUT-" I quickly added.
"But I remembered and got something done for tomorrow." I finished.
Maddy made a mocking sound. "You did not remember. I bet Casey had to remind you."
Since I was an honest man and didn't want to lie to my dear girlfriend, I opted to make the next best response after denial.
Changing the topic.
"So, how has your day been so far?"
"Smooth, Johnson, very smooth indeed." Maddy giggled, making me smile.
The edges of my lips pulled up and I shrugged even though she can't see me. "I try."
Our conversation lasted like that, just teasing each other back and forth, a never ending playful fight. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
As my phone started to heat up and the ear that it was pressed against started to feel warm, a third person's voice from Maddy's end of the call shouted for her. Maddy yelled something back, I could hear her considerately draw the phone away from her lips before yelling it out to avoid bursting my eardrums.
Another second of silence filled the line before her voice came back clearly, directing her attention back to me.
"So what time should I be ready tomorrow?" She asked.
"Um," I paused, thinking about the reservations I made and recounting the hours before answering her. "11."
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then."
"I'll see you tomorrow." I told her before hanging up. Just as I stepped back into the house, the doorbell rang.
Light footsteps rushed down the stairs and Casey beat me to answering the door.
"Bry, money!" She shouted over her shoulder as if I wasn't standing a few steps behind her.
I rolled my eyes at her as she took the pizza boxes from the delivery guy and brought it inside as if she was holding the country's flag.
I offered the delivery guy a smile, "Don't mind her, she's a bit.." I twirled a finger beside my head, the universal sign for insinuating that someone has lost their marbles.
His easy-going chuckle and his looks put me slightly at ease. He looked to be around my age and he didn't give off that feel that I get whenever I'm around dangerous people. His chuckle sounded genuine, unlike the sinister and eerie ones I'm accustomed to hearing at night.
"How much was it, again?" I asked him, looking into my wallet to take out some notes.
"Just $22." He said, handing me the receipt.
I took it and checked the list before handing him a $20 note and some coins.
"Thanks, man. Have a good day." I raised a hand.
He nodded, "Thanks, you too."
I shut the door once he turned his back and stepped off the porch.
I sped walk to the kitchen, knowing that Casey was probably already stuffing her face with the pizza. If I didn't rush, she would probably finish all the good bits before I can even touch it.
"Case, share!" I hollered, jogging to the kitchen from the living room.
"Stop hogging it!" I tutted at her, snatching three pieces of pizza at once from the box and stacking them into a pile, taking a bite out of it.
Casey's mouth was so full of the pizza, her cheeks had inflated and resembled a squirrel's.
She tried to say something but it was muffled by all the food in her mouth.
She walked away from the counter and grabbed a glass of water to help down the food in her mouth.
Once there was enough room in her mouth for her to speak, she started arguing. "Who's hogging it now? That's cheating!" She pointed at the stacked pizza in my hand.
I raised a finger at her. "This is not cheating, this is genius."
I took another bite, munching on the mouthful.
Case rolled her eyes, muttered something along the lines of "pig", but followed my lead as she made her own stacked pizza.
I looked at her pointedly.
Such a hypocrite.
Insult me one second and copy me the next.
We ended up wolfing down the 2 boxes of pizza we ordered in 15 minutes, too caught up in our own pizza-eating competition to remember that indigestion exists.
By the time we finished, neither of us were able to move from our seats.
Casey moaned in pain as she cradled her stomach. "I feel like I'm 5 months pregnant with a food baby."
"And I feel like I'm in labour. Dibs on the toilet." I raised my hand and hoisted myself off my seat with the other one.
I waddled my ass to the toilet with Casey screeching behind me to remind me to open the window while I'm doing my business so that the bathroom won't stink. My tongue stuck out in concentration as I focused on keeping my butthole shut until I get to the toilet bowl. Trust me, it's harder than it looks, okay.
"Pfft, where's the fun in that? Why miss a chance to plant a stink bomb when I know you're gonna be using it a few minutes after me?" I cackled evilly as I waddled faster to the toilet before I end up crapping in my pants. What a sight that would be.
Just like that, the tension between us from our talk in the car evaporated. At least until the next time it gets brought up again.