The Story In His Picture

Chapter 8

Song- Lost in the wild by Walk The Moon

…/…

“Apparently, I told him that he should call me Genny, can you believe that Luke, this is why I never chat with people when I’m sleepy,” I say all these, pacing. Luke is currently in my room with his stepsister, Amy. We’d soon eat lunch.

Almost every Sunday, the Davidsons come to our house to have lunch/dinner or we go to theirs. We didn’t have last week Sunday because my parents went to pick my brothers up from the airport.

“Hey, you need to stop pacing. I’m sure it’s not that bad. Thank God, you didn’t tell him you had feelings for him, that would’ve been a disaster”. I look around to see Amy playing some games on her tab before I reply to Luke and say “That would’ve been a lie”

Luke sighs and says “of course, I know deep down you actually have feelings for him”. I was about to protest when my mum yells “C’mon kids, food is ready,”.

“Race you downstairs,” Luke says and I run before he could finish that sentence. Of course, he gets downstairs before me. “You pushed me,” I say to him even though I admit I’m gaining some sort of internal fat. He just laughs and goes to his seat.

“Thank you so much, Gen, for helping me out in the kitchen,” My mum says (note the sarcasm) and Luke stifles a laugh. “You too Luke,” She adds. Now it’s my turn to hold back my laughter.

We all gather around the table and at that point, I’m just grateful for the type of people I have around me. We talk about general issues for a while before they focus on all of us individually.

Jace and Jay talk about their girlfriends and college. Luke generally steers off the topic of Tami. I’ll just ask him later about it.

“So, Gen, who’s the guy for you this season?” Stacy (Mrs. Davidson) asks. I find her question very amusing and confusing. “No one, I’m a free butterfly,” I say in pure bliss.

“What of Henry?” Amy says and everyone including our dads looks at her. “What!? Henry is not my boyfriend, Amy” I say with a burst of forced laughter. “But, Lukey said you have feelings for him” She adds. At this point, I look at Luke to find him sipping his juice and trying to avoid eye contact with me.

“Lukey, tell Amy what you meant”. Everyone stares at Luke and I raise my eyebrows. He chokes on his juice a bit before saying “I was just messing around. She definitely doesn’t have feelings for Henry”.

“I thought he called Gen…”. “C’mon Amy, let’s go watch Frozen II and sing along”. “Oh yay! Okay”. We head to the sitting room and I search Netflix for the cartoon.

Luke later comes to join us and from then, we made a pact to talk in hushed tones when Amy is close by. “Hey Luke, why didn’t you tell everyone about Tami?”

“Well, even though we made it official, telling them would mean she would have to meet my parents really soon and we really don’t want that kind of pressure right now”. I smile at Luke before saying “Okay”

Honestly, I’m proud of Luke. He’s really grown even though I’m kinda jealous of his situation. He seems happy. No, he’s happy. That’s cool.

We watch two more cartoons after Frozen II and Amy falls asleep somewhere in between the second one. The Davidsons decide to call it a night and head home. We walk them out and say goodnight.

Now, I’m laying on my bed trying desperately to not let what Luke said to get to me. I definitely didn’t have feelings for Henry, considering the fact that he barely shows up to class and he changes girlfriends like clothes.

I used the rest of my time awake thinking of different reasons as to why Henry was not supposed to be in the picture, but that didn’t stop me from dreaming about him.

…/…

“Hey guys, I’m planning a Halloween party, and y’all should definitely come,” Van says. Halloween is in two weeks and I really do not know what I’m going as. “Will there be alcohol?” I smack Darian as he says that.

“Also, there will be prizes for best-dressed couple and individual” She adds. “What are we going as Genny?”. Henry hasn’t stopped calling me that since the incident, and I’m kinda getting used to it now.

“We’re not going as anything together because we’re not a couple,” I remind him. “Well, we can always be,” Darian says beside me and I immediately remind him of the cheerleader seated on his lap but she gets up and walks away, not before scoffing.

Darian flirts with anything and everything so that was not new. I look over in Luke and Tami’s direction and I see them chatting about what they’d wear. It hurt a little because Luke and I always wear matching Halloween costumes and now this year was going to be different.

“I’m going as a blob,” I announce suddenly. They all laugh and reassure them that I’d be the one laughing in the end when I win the prize.

Henry and Chris follow me home for the project and to my surprise, my mum is home. I groan internally as I inform the boys behind me of the situation

As I open the door, I meet my mum just about to head out. “Hello, and you are?” She draws out. I motion to both of them as I say “Mum, this is Chris and this is Henry”. “Oh, The Henry?” My mum asks. I raise my eyebrows and she doesn’t say anything further that would potentially embarrass me. “They’re here for a group project and we won’t be disturbing you” I add. “Good-day Mrs. Greene,” They say unanimously. “Oh! Just call me Mona,” She says to them

“Oh! I’m going to Stacy’s, we’re going to the spa”. “Okay, you have fun,” I tell her. “Brownies are in the oven too, in case you guys want some”.

“Just so you guys know, I’m not giving y’all any”. “Genevieve, share!” with that, she slams the door. I look at them and they smile.

We head to my room and I bring out my laptop for Chris to use. We sit around my study table and begin work.

After thirty minutes of continuous research, I just yell “I don’t know what to wear for the party”. The thought had indeed been bugging me and I technically don’t have any female friends to discuss with. I wouldn’t want to discuss with Luke because then he’d see right through my façade and know I’m not fine.

“You could go as a sexy nurse,” Henry says. I look at him and shake my head disapprovingly. “You could go as a cheerleader,” Henry says and I think about it before shaking my head again. “Too cliché,” I say.

“What’d you think I should go as Chris?”. “Trust me, Grey, you don’t want to know my opinion”.

“But then, I want to know”. “Okay, I warned you. You could go as you, you know, hoodies and joggers or something”. I look at him then squint my eyes and blink rapidly before mentally facepalming myself.

“You know what? Thanks for helping guys”.  “You’re welcome,” they say unanimously and I scoff. They didn’t help at all, if anything at all, they made everything worse.

“So, Henry, who are you taking to Van’s party?”. He shrugs and says “I don’t know, I was thinking of asking Samantha to go with me since you don’t want to”. “Who says I don’t want to? You didn’t ask,”.

He drops his pencil and acts like he’s trying to remember. “Oh yeah, I didn’t”. “Well, Genny, would you go to Van’s party with me?” He says as he gets down on one knee in front of me. “Stop being so dramatic,” I say and Chris laughs. “Don’t ruin the effect,” Henry adds quickly. “Fine, I’ll go with you,” I say as I roll my eyes.

Chris just smiles as he looks at the two of us being dramatic. “Hey, can we all go together, Natasha is not going to be around?”. I don’t see why not, so I nod. “You can’t possibly tell me, I got down on one knee for nothing,” Henry says.

“Technically, I enjoyed the show, so it wasn’t for nothing,” Chris says, I nod too. Henry just smiles and we discuss potential outfits that we can wear. Also, it was going to be a surprise to everyone else.

Night comes by fast and they decide to head home. I really did enjoy their company and I pecked both of them goodnight.