Chapter 6

I tap on my phone a couple of times but the screen remains blank. What the hell? I tap a little more but the piece of crap remains black.

Darn it! The battery's dead.

I had to call Ava. It was an emergency. I was in-charge of the gym tonight since dad had to go somewhere and I wanted to go buy a pair of shoes since the soles of my current ones broke earlier today. Thank heavens it's weekend or I'd be playing basketball barefoot at school.

I run to the dining room to grab the land phone. I dial Ava's number and place the phone on my ear. When the ringing started my brain just had to pop in an amazing idea. I grin like an evil prankster and chuckle wickedly.

.

Four rings and the phone was answered.

"Hello?"

"HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIDE!" I scream in a sing-along tone.

"Stop screaming woman!"

Click. I hung up.

That most definitely was NOT Avangeline. Unless she turned to a guy overnight. I take a peek at the number dialed and yep, there it was folks.

I dialed an 8 instead of a 7.

Brilliant Judith. You've just proved to a complete stranger that you are a retard.

I try to make my mind to call and apologize to whoever it was that had been the victim to my hideous singing, but then, who cares?

I make myself comfortable on the couch while I take a second attempt in trying to call my best friend. It rings and a familiar "hello" voices from the other side.

"Oh my gosh! Ava, you will not believe what just happened!" And so I begin the tale of the innocent stranger.

A couple of minutes later I run over to Ava's place and I knock on Ava's door a couple of times. And then I resort to banging. The door pried open and standing in just butt shorts and sports bra was my sweet best friend. Who might I add was furious and red in the face.

"You said you'll be here in an hour. Not fucking five minutes!" She screams throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Babe. I live down the block. You should know by now my sense of time sucks." I say as I pass her breezily. She scoffs at me and shuts the door behind. Ava's parents work at a hospital. So they're barely home. Which is why my friend runs around the house naked.

Okay, half-naked.

"Are you listening to me? Judy? Helloooo."

Smirking I turn and walk backward and she groans when I go "Hello from the other siiiiiiiide."

She laughs at my insanely self and since I'm magnificently walking backward I run headfirst or should I say back first? Straight into a body of hard abs.

Yeah, I'm not some girl in a cheesy novel who exclaims melodramatically that she's walked into a wall and realizes they're abs. I know abs when I feel one. Why? Cause my dad's a gym coach and I've seen abs to last me a lifetime.

The question is, there's someone with rock hard abs inside my friend's house. An empty house with only her. And she's in her undergarments.

Oh my god!

Whirling around I come face to face with an olive green shirt. Raising my eyes I find a face peering down at me from high above.

I hate being short. People always look down on me.

A pair of olive green eyes stare back at me in surprise. Is he wearing a shirt to match his eyes or what?

"You!" Was all the guy said as he stared at me in shock. I step back so I don't have to strain my neck to stare at the guy.

"Yes me. Whatever your meaning that is." I say wondering what exactly he means by 'You'. While he's lost for words I take my sweet time in grasping his looks.

The dude before me, I must say is super gorgeous. Tousled Nutella brown hair with a face of gentle yet sharp features. A chiseled jawline, and let's not forget about those rock hard abs girls.

And of course, sadly he's a good 5'9 in height. A whole 9' more than me!

How did my friend even land herself on one of these gorgeous men?

"Is something the matter?" Ava asks coming from behind and standing between us. She's not even embarrassed to stand in front of the guy in her underwear.

"This... Girl. She's the one who screamed at me a couple of minutes ago." The guy snaps through gritted teeth. He must have reminisced to the wonderful memory, cause he winced.

I've got a wonderful voice worth wincing.

"Oh my god... You mean... You're that innocent stranger?" Ava exclaimed and toppled over laughing. I stare at his face in shock.

What are the odds! Meeting the dude I'd called accidentally and shown my fabulous singing side to. Somehow I imagined him screaming at me to stop yelling and I join my friend in her laughing seizure.

"Stop laughing Ava." The dude says with a sigh rubbing his temple. "Who are you anyway?" He asks me in a kind of rude way.

"Me? Who in the fucking unicorn world are you?" I ask equally rude. He looks taken aback at my outburst.

"Sorry, Travis. Anyways Judy meet my long lost brother Travis." She points at the guy. "Travis meet my insane best friend Judith." She then juts her thumb my way.

"Woah there. Back up. When did you find out you had a long lost brother?" I ask in surprise. The guy looks at me like I'm some unknown species that's landed on his world.

"She's referring to me as such is cause I've been away for some time." He says with annoyance. Ava nods. So that's why she's carefree in being partially naked in front of a man.

"So you're Travis. How do you say it? Does it go like Tra-vees or Tray-vis?" I ask the question directly from the brother. I could almost see him slapping his face in frustration.

"The second." He says with a sigh. "Why the fuck did mom have to name me, while dad gave you a cool name?" He asks this from Ava. She slaps his hard chest.

"Avangeline is a cool name? Like since when? Every damn guy who calls me makes up their own fantasy mind that I'm some blonde bimbo chic." She says with a wild glare. "I mean what does Avangeline have to do with being blonde? Sometimes guys can be really stupid." She ends with a sigh. I pat her shoulder, comforting her.

"True my friend. We live in a time where males have noodles for brains."

Someone clears their throat and I realize we've got a third wheel. "I'm a man?" He says with a question.

Is he doubting his gender?

"Your not sure what category you fall to? My goodness." I place a hand on my heart mocking surprise.

"Ava, where did you find this... This thing? Such an illiterate brat!" He ever dares to point a finger at me. I slap his finger aside rudely.

"Now you listen to me brother gorgeous." I even go to extra lengths to sashay my hips and plant a hand on one side. I point my finger at him so he would be ticked off. "Who are you calling an illiterate? FYI I'm top of the class. Take back what you said and rephrase it to smartass brat."

He seemed too lost for words that he had his mouth slightly open. "How... How can you be top of the class when... When your such a pain?" He exclaims like some girl who couldn't buy her favorite purse. I give him a smirk to annoy him further. He sighs and shakes his head as if to shake off a bad dream.

"Forget it. I'm out of here." And he pushes past me and walks out of the house. Once the door shuts behind him I stare at my friend crossing my arms over my chest.

"Your brother and you have a single-digit difference in your number?" I ask with an eye roll.

"Mom's doing. So it's easier for her to contact us." Ava says with a shrug. I perk my brow at that.

"So what if she wants to call you when she's on her period and ask you to buy tampons but calls brother gorgeous instead?" I ask. Ava snickers at that and then grins at me.

"Well, then she'll order him to do the shopping for her."

Oh my god! Mrs. Heatherfield would so do that!

I laugh at the thought of the dude trying to ask the salesman where the tampons are. Poor guy.

But wait. More importantly.

"Since when did you have a fucking older brother!" I ask my friend in bewilderment. I mean, I've known her since second grade! And I've never come across a brother.

"I've always had a brother? He was just someone who wasn't really important introducing so I never introduced. You've met him a couple of times when we were kids, you just never knew he was my brother." I raise a brow at her, demanding with my glare just what kind of a bullshit explanation was that.

"He left home for med college three years ago," Ava says as she heads up the stairs to her room. I run after her, still trying to process the fact that my childhood best friend had an older brother I was never aware of.

A gorgeous one at that. Not to mention smart.

"So he's back now?" I ask. If he's going to be around, I'd have less time to spend with Ava and it annoyed me.

"He said he felt homesick or something and came back." She says with a shrug as she holds up a red off-shoulder top and a blue T-shirt trying to choose between the two.

"You won't be less available, right?" I ask her and she turns to scoff at me.

"No way! I'll be sticking to you as always." She says flicking her brown hair and then putting on the off-shoulder. "So what's the plan?" She asks as she tries to put on a pair of jeans.

"I need to get a pair of running shoes. A Nike preferably. How about the store close to school? I saw them having a sale going on." I say, bouncing on her beanie bag. Ava gives me a quick nod before she starts with her makeup and hair. I have zero makeup on my face. Not even eyeliner. I have never even used lip balm.

Am I even considered a girl?

"Done! Let's go." Ava sings as she pulls me to my feet and down the stairs. We pass the living room to get to the front door and brother gorgeous who had stormed out of the house was seated comfortably watching something on their LCD flat screen. He gives me a pointed look and I return it with en extra glare. He just ignores me and turns back to the TV.

Such a brat! I should have screamed even louder so he'd go deaf.

Ava and I leave the house and trudge down the street until we reach the bus stop. I was wearing my sneakers and it felt awful! I always wear my running shoes and it felt weird wearing something else.

"I really hope I'll get used to the new shoes," I say to Ava who was busy ogling at a guy opposite the road.

"You'll start wearing it every single day! You'll even wear it when you sleep and when you go to the bathroom. Don't worry, you'll get so used to it." She says without even looking at me. I hit her arm and she turns to scowl at me. I glower back at her and she replaces her scowl with a smile.

"So how're things with James? Have you two started chatting? Texting? Calling?" She asks hopefully. Her eyes glow like the midnight moon.

"Uh, he walked me to class ONCE Ava. And you expect me to share numbers with him?" I ask her dryly with a blank expression. Ava gives me a nervous laugh and I frown.

"Ava," I say threateningly. "Don't you dare tell me,"

"Okay I gave him your number," she says in a rush. "But I did that cause I thought you two hit it off! I mean you spoke to him during lunch break." She was giving me her puppy eyes but I ignored it and glared at her instead.

"Ava we spoke about basketball. I would have spoken to an alien if it had been about basketball! What have you done?" I sigh rubbing my aching temple.

"Just text him when he messages. Alright?"

"I'll delete and pretend I never got a message," I say with a pointed look. This time she glared at me but I don't give a fuck. She knows pretty well I hate to have anything to do with guys.

Why does she have to make life so difficult?

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