Mustard Man

 

Chapter Seven

 

When I wake up, I feel twenty times better than I did yesterday. I climb out of bed and grab the clothes Logan had set on a chair for me. Walking into the bathroom, I ignore any memories of what happened yesterday. I don’t want to remember just yet.

I unfold the clothes and pull on some fashionably ripped jeans. They are baggy on me, but with a cuff at the bottom, and the belt that Logan put with the clothes they fit okay. The shirt is a soft flannel button down that looks extremely comfortable. I put it on, and realize that it, too, fits okay. I roll up the sleeves a couple of times and then look into the mirror. Grabbing a brush that was put out for me I brush through me hair, the s-waves coming to life. That almost sounds like a disease, doesn’t it? The S-Wave.

What a crap nickname.

I splash some water on my face and rummage through my purse that somebody brought up for me. I find some makeup and put a little bit on so that I don’t look like I haven’t slept in ten years. After I brush my teeth, I’m all set, so I leave the bathroom, glad I look at least half decent. I realize with a shock that my foot doesn't hurt anymore, so I glance down and find I can't even see a mark from where I hurt it yesterday. Weird. 

I open the door to the hallway and creep down the hardwood floored hall, peeking around the corners as if expecting something to jump out at me.

Honestly, I kind of am expecting something to jump out at me. Maybe that bear that I was talking about breaking in earlier, ready to maul me.

I find the stairs finally (this house is huge!) and walk down them slowly. I hear voices talking, joking around down there and I listen with a smile as the brothers have breakfast. I almost don’t want to interrupt, but my stomach growls so I feel I need to.

I find the kitchen eventually and cautiously step inside. It’s huge: two ovens, a huge table, granite counters.

“Wow.” I say to myself, not realizing I’m speaking out loud. “Nice digs.”

Brody grins at me and the other two turn around to look at me. “You look good, Skye.” Logan says and smiles at me. “Not too rough of a night, then?”

I shrug. “I had a nightmare, but most four year olds get those, so it’s no big deal. Sorry again for waking you.” I add to Brody who shovels a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

“No problem.” He murmurs. I see Chase shoot him a look—jealousy? Anger? Disgust?

“You hungry?” Chase asks me. My stomach grumbles and I grin.

“Extremely. But I can go and um, pick something up since this is your breakfast…” I say, looking around for the door.

“Skye, you are not leaving this house unless one of us is with you.” Chase says, seeing right through me. He’s still grumpy. Go figure.

“And there is too much food here for all of us, so come eat.” Logan adds, smiling at me. He really is the nicest brother, I think. Although Brody is nice too.

I sit down beside Logan at the table, and he hands me a plate filled with toast, eggs, bacon, sausage and fruit.

“Holy food, batman.” I mumble to myself. Brody laughs and Logan smiles. Chase gets up from the table, dumping his plate into the sink.

“I’m going to the grocery store in half hour. If you need anything, write it down or come along.” Chase says while walking away.

I look at Brody and then at Chase’s retreating figure. “Is it me, or does he hate me?”

Logan shakes his head. “He doesn’t hate you, Skye. He’s usually grumpy.” He tells me, although I know it’s a lie. Ten seconds ago he was joking around with him and Brody.

“Do you need anything from the store, Skye?” Brody asks me. Why are they so nice to me? I’ve been nothing but a nuisance since I got here.

“That depends on how long I’ll be staying here.” I tell him. Brody and Logan exchange a look.

“It could be a while.” Brody finally says. I frown. A while? How freaking long is a while? Two years, two days, two weeks?

“How long is a while?” I say out loud. Logan smiles softly, as if expecting me to ask that.

“As long as it takes for things to get safe again,” Brody tells me. I stare at the toast on my plate.

“Why do you have to guard me, though? I don’t get it. Why am I so special? What about all of the other Talents?” I ask. Chase never did tell me that. Brody suddenly looks uncomfortable and Logan gets up to get juice from the refrigerator.

As if on cue, Chase walks through the doorway to the kitchen again. “So, who’s coming?” He asks, not looking at me. I swear he hates me.

Brody looks up and Logan comes over to the table again. “I have to get my car fixed,” Brody says.

“I promised Marie we would do something today.” Logan says. Chase sighs and looks at me.

“Looks like you’re with me,” he tells me. I frown. Sound a little happier, why don’t you?

“I can stay here by myself.” I say to him, standing up from the table to help the brothers clear it. Chase shakes his head and grabs the plate of bacon.

“No, you can’t. You’re not going anywhere by yourself.” He says, and his eyes look slightly pissed off. I sigh.

“Well, I have to go to the bathroom. Can I do that by myself?” I ask sarcastically. This is so not fair.

Brody and Logan don’t get involved in Chase and my conversation, smartly. They carry things back and forth from the table to the fridge, ignoring us both. Chase stands by the doorway, looking smugly at me. I stand by the table, glaring at him. I pick up a bottle of ketchup.

“No, fortunately for me, I’ll have to join you in the bathroom too.” He says, smirking. I feel my mouth fall open and before I can think of what I’m doing I hold the ketchup bottle horizontally and squeeze it in Chase’s direction, drenching the front of his white shirt with ketchup.

We all freeze, staring at Chase. I can see Brody starting to laugh silently, before he turns away and really starts to laugh. Logan looks back and forth from me to Chase before shaking his head, as if he could only expect this.

I look at Chase’s face. He’s as shocked as I am, standing with ketchup on the front of his shirt, mouth agape. Slowly, he walks over to the refrigerator and opens the doors. I think he’s just going to ignore me when I see him turn around slowly, and with mischief in his eye hold up a bottle.

A bottle of mustard.

Before I can run he pops the lid and squeezes the bottle, covering me in mustard. I squeal.

“Chase!” I growl, narrowing my eyes at him. He’s grinning. Brody is laughing so hard I’m worried for his health. Logan is grinning now and shaking his head at us.

I pick up a handful of hash browns. “Bring it on, Mustard Man,” I say to Chase, taunting him. He squeezes the bottle again, getting even more mustard on me. I lift my hand holding the hash browns and hurl them in Chase’s direction. They land with a satisfying smack on his face. He wipes the remains from his eyes, and leans forward to grab the bacon he was holding earlier.

He chucks it at me and it lands down my shirt, the grease slipping down grossly.

I go to reach for a piece of fruit, and Brody puts his hand over mine, stopping me. I see Logan take the mustard bottle from Chase, setting it down.

Chase and I glare at each other, both covered in food, but then start to smile. Brody starts laughing again.

“You two are ridiculous.” He says and then walks out of the kitchen laughing. Logan smiles slightly and then closes the cap of the mustard.

“No more food fights.” He says to me jokingly before disappearing, leaving Chase and I in the messy kitchen. I try not to laugh at Chase—he is absolutely covered with ketchup and hash browns—but fail miserably. Before long, we’re both laughing at each other, grabbing wash clothes from the sink to clean up the mess.

“Hey, you started it.” Chase says after we finish laughing. We’re cleaning up the kitchen now, as it is our job due to the mess we made.

“Yeah, and I would’ve finished it if Brody hadn’t stopped me.” I joke, hip-checking Chase on my way to the sink. Chase chuckles.

“You’re crazy, Skye, you know that? Most girls would be cussing me out right now for getting their shirt dirty, but not you.” He says, stealing a glance at me. I shrug.

“What can I say? They’re not my clothes.” I say and then we laugh again.

Once we finish cleaning the kitchen, we decide we need to change before going to the grocery store.

“I look like I got in a fight with a hamburger.” I say to Chase, staring at my mustard covered shirt.

“And lost,” Chase adds. I giggle.

“Do you know where I could find Logan?” I ask suddenly. Chase looks over at me sharply.

“For what?” He asks curiously.

“Well, these clothes are some of his old ones. So I was thinking that he might have more…” I trail off. We’d been walking through the house and I now just realize that we’ve reached Chase’s room. He nudges the door open with his toe.

“I bet I’ve got something that’ll do.” He says, gesturing for me to follow him. He opens his bedroom door and I step inside behind him.

His room is painted dark blue, covered with pictures of him with famous people, and pictures of him with his friends. I wander over to a picture on his wall of him and a very pretty blonde. They’re sitting side by side, making goofy faces at the camera. I ignore the twinge of jealously I feel in my stomach.

“Is this your girlfriend?” I ask him, trying to keep my voice neutral. Chase, who had wandered into his closet, pops his head out to look at the picture I’m standing by.

“Was.” He corrects. “Amelia Jennifer Roosevelt.” I nod once. Nice name. Splashy. Kind of skanky.

No, I’m kidding mostly. You can’t really have a skanky name. Unless it’s Bubbles Dallas. That’s pretty skanky.

“Here.” Chase says and throws some clothes at me. I catch them and look at Chase.

“Thanks.” I say, and stand around awkwardly. Chase strips off his shirt, and I have a front-row seat to “the Magic of Chase’s Abs”. He pulls a light blue shirt over his head, the same color as his eyes, I notice. He sees me standing there still and raises his eyebrows. I flush. “Um, where can I change?” I ask him. Chase grins.

“My bathroom is right there,” he says and points to a door alone the side of his wall. I shake my head at myself and walk over to it. I am so stupid. Obviously I could change in his bathroom, why wouldn’t I think of that? Too sidetracked by his muscles I guess. Stupid.

I close the door and put on the clothes Chase gave me. I carefully slip off my mustardy shirt and put on the new shirt. It’s black and fits snugly, with the number fourteen in big white numbers on the back. I smile at my reflection and slip on the jeans that Chase gave me, using the luckily stain free belt from Logan. (What’s with these guys and ripped jeans?) They are a little baggy but they almost look like they were made to look that way. Not half-bad, I decide. Opening the door, I walk into Chase’s room and wait for him to finish changing. But after five minutes, I still don’t see him.

“Chase?” I call out. Nobody answers so I decide to wait a little longer, looking around Chase’s room. I find a picture of him and his father, grinning widely into the camera. Wow, I think to myself. Hot dad fantasy. Then I cuss at myself, because a) gross and b) he’s deceased, so that makes me kind of an inconsiderate a-hole.

I sigh. It really is a good picture of them though. They look so happy. I touch the frame, wiping dust off of it when something falls out of the picture. I look around, paranoid, before reaching down to pick up the fallen paper. Curiosity gets the best of me and I open up the folded paper.

Son, it reads. If you’re reading this right now then…

I don’t get any further because Chase walks into his room at that moment and stares at me in shock.

“Skye,” he says, sounding pissed. I gulp. “We’re leaving now.”

And with that, he turns on his heel and storms out of his room. I fold the paper back up guiltily and put it back in its place, running to catch up with Chase. Oh, man. He is so going to hate me now.

 

 

Reviews

[Anya]

oh nooo! Silly Skye!! I feel so sorry for Chase though. This was a very funny chapter, I was laughing out loud. Onto the next chapter...