Out of Ink

Chapter 9

The next few days were pretty uneventful, if you ignored Emmett getting detention for groaning loudly when he found out Mrs Norris, one of the IT teachers, and a not so nice lady, was subbing Monday's Biology lesson. Zack had actually been nicer to Serina. Or at least he wasn't insulting her. Serina could feel her indignation towards him soften a little. By Wednesday afternoon, she no longer felt the need to ignore him whenever they were in the same room anymore. Which was probably a good thing because he was knocking on her bedroom door. She'd left it slightly ajar because the room felt stuffy with the door and windows closed. Serina would open the window, except there was a light shower happening, and she didn't fancy a wet pillow. "Come in." She told him. Zack opened the door but only took a single step into the room. "What's up?"

"Hey Serina. Emmett and I are throwing a pool party at mine on Saturday. You and Sydney are both invited."

"A party?" She sounded disapproving. "While your parents are away? I'm sure they're going to love that."

"Nah, dad said it was okay as long as I kept it outside." Serina still looked skeptical.

"Okay." She said with a shrug. "It's not my but they'll kick."

"Cool. What are you reading?" She was reading a different book to the one he had seen before.

"I finished the other one." She explained. "This one is about a hot demon doctor who saves the life of this demon slayer. Now she's all conflicted about having to kill him. It's related to the one I just finished. They're totally falling for each other."

"Riiigght." Zack drew the word out. "Nothing more romantic than trying to kill each other."

"Well, it is a romance book." She pointed out. "And he's a s*x demon so..."

"Of course he is." Zack teased. He took note of the cover. Another guy who couldn't find a shirt and a woman with long red hair were pressed against each other. Yeah, he was pretty sure this book was as R-rated as the last one had been. "Is it any good?" Her eyes lit up.

"Oh yes." Zack had to swallow to get rid of some of the dryness he suddenly felt in his mouth. They looked at each other for a little while longer. "Is there anything else you wanted?" Serina asked. "You". The sudden thought shocked him.

"Ahh. No. Just the invite." He shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. He had to get out of there. "She's your best friend’s sister. She's your best friend’s sister." He repeated the mantra in his head as he retreated down the hall. "She’s Emmett’s sister!" Then another thought entered his mind. He needed to read that book.

It was Emmett’s turn to cook dinner that night and Zack decided to help. Despite having most of his meals cooked for him, Zack's parents insisted that he at least knew the basics. Sam planned the week's meals in advance, and she'd written chicken stir-fry for Wednesday. It didn't get any easier than that. Emmett chopped the veggies while Zack browned the meat. "Honey, soy, garlic, or honey mustard?" Zack asked browsing the jars of pre-made sauce in the cupboard.

"Mustard." Was Emmett’s immediate reply. "Serina never picks that one. Probably because she knows I love it."

"Or she doesn't like it." Zack suggested. "Maybe we should go the other one?" He was feeling the need for Serina to like his cooking.

"No way. She'll eat it, she just always picks sweet and sour." Zack hesitated. But in the end, he grabbed the jar his friend requested.

"Hey, do you think your mum will let me cook adobo next week?" He asked.

"Sure. Just write what you need on the shopping list and let mum know."

"Cool." He might not impress Serina with the stir-fry. But he might earn some points with his mum's pork adobo. It took him a few minutes to start wondering why exactly he was suddenly so interested in impressing her. Emmett finished with the veggies and tossed them in, taking over for Zack at the stove. Suddenly, having nothing to do, Zack started tidying up their mess.

"Just leave it." Emmett told him. "Dad's on dishes tonight. It's part of the deal." In their house, someone cooked and someone else washed up. They all took turns. Though apparently, whenever it was Patrick's turn they had something super easy that just had to go into the oven. Like frozen pizza or chicken wings. Patrick had many talents, but cooking wasn't one of them.

"This is good boys." Sam told them. They were all sitting together around the dining table.

"Yeah." Serina started on her brother. "We finally found something so easy even you couldn't mess it up." Emmett picked up a piece of carrot and threw it at his sister's head. The slimy vegetable hit her cheek.

"Hey!" She yelled at the same time their dad yelled;

"Knock it off!" The twins glared at each other. She wiped her face with a napkin, which she then scrunched up and tossed on the table. It was very, very tempting to peg it at Emmett’s head. Patrick eyed his children for a little longer to make sure they didn't start throwing any more food. Just a few years ago, there would have been food everywhere by now. The complete opposite, Sam was just ignoring the hostile glares. Chances were she'd be needed for the big blow up later. Unless the kids separated immediately after dinner and didn't see each other for the rest of the night. They finished their dinner in silence. As soon as she was done, Serina went upstairs to have a shower and the boys went to the front TV room where they sat on their phones. Emmett scrolled the socials and Zack went to open the e- book he'd downloaded before dinner. Except he just remembered that he'd left his phone charging upstairs.

Serina bumped into Zack in the hallway. She had a fresh pair of pajamas in her arms, and she was thankful her clean undies were on the bottom of the pile so he wouldn't see them. They were pink with little avocados dotted all over them. That would have been embarrassing. "Hey." He said, after they had literally just bumped shoulders while passing each other. Suddenly, he reached out and cupped her cheek. Serina felt his thumb brush over her skin and her belly did that odd rolling thing again. "You missed some." Confusion coloured her expression before she remembered her i***t brother's carrot had hit her cheek. Zack pulled his hand away and her blue eyes widened slightly as he brought his thumb to his lips. Their eyes locked and he stared at her intently and his tongue swept over the pad of his thumb. Her stomach rolled so forcefully she was surprised it hadn't knocked her over. The sound of footsteps on the stairs finally broke the spell. Serina ducked into the bathroom and closed the door so fast, Zack blinked and she was gone. "What the hell was that?" He scolded himself. That was... well he wasn't sure what that was.