15|| Popcorn that's not Corny

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Chapter 15: Popcorn that's not Corny


Friendship is like popcorn in the movie of your life.


~Starlight24


I rolled over my bed, groaning and then falling onto my soft rug. It didn't hurt much, but I still wailed like a banshee.


My hair was splattered across the floor like an odd carpet of blonde, and I could feel the area around my face pressed against the floor. I sprawled out like a dead crow and continued to groan loudly.


"Day, you are possibly the most feminine person I know," mocked Dylan, a cynical air to his words.


I cringed and hopped up, wondering what he was doing leaning into my window. "Go away, Dylan," I told him, rolled my eyes. That was my 'go2' phrase whenever I saw him peeping into my room. It was most annoying, really. It was funny how much Dylan had changed ever since he broke up with Deeds. It was like she was the only one holding him down, and without her he was a big-headed jerk. He was like a second Jase, except Jase was a bit scarier.


"You drool a lot," he informed me, and my hand sprung up to my cheek and the area around my lips, which was damp. I glanced back, only to find that my pillow had faced the same unfortunate situation with my embarrassing salivary issue.


"It's not my fault," I defended myself, rolling my eyes again. "My saliva is just addicted to my pillow for some weird reason."


Dylan chuckled. "Remind me to never sleep with you," he laughed and I internally puked at the thought.


"No chance of that happening, Mister. Keep dreaming." I drew the curtains and walked away, flopping onto my soft bed again. Notice how often I mention my bed. It is my one true love. I ship Bay (the bed and Day) so hard and no one will ever come between us.


I turned on my phone and glanced at my page. My most recent post had already gotten 2M comments and 768K likes. It was quite fun being an undercover superstar. It made you feel great.


I went to my inbox, which is something I never checked. I'd stopped checking after I got my first million followers, which was when people started spamming and it would take me a whole day to reply to everything. So when I did check, I only checked the first few.


The first message was from some random dude called Popcorned.


I clicked on it, wondering what I would find.
He'd sent me 105 messages during the last one week. Talk about being desperate.


Popcorned: Hey Starlight, why do you always end your messages with 'Tnxoxo'? I mean, when I say it out loud I'm reminded of the phrase 'Think Socks' which is what it sounds like when you say it. You should try saying it.
So anyway, my point is that I thought it may be an abbreviation for something, right? Some sort of weird thing you have with yourself?
So I shortlisted these three; tell me which one it is.
a) Think- Secrets Of Cannibalistic Kangaroos
b) Think- Social Orders Can Kill Someone
c) Think- Status Of Clumsy Koalas


I couldn't help but reread the entire thing, wondering whether he was serious. Then I burst out laughing, because he was.


As I scrolled up, I couldn't help but randomly laugh, because what he'd said was pretty ridiculous at places. Especially when he admitted he was being desperate by talking to himself.


Starlight24: Haha, whoever you are I have to say you're pretty funny! Nope, Tnxoxo is Thanks and hugs and kisses. Though I should incorporate the other three! Thanks for your feedback!


I clicked on his profile. His tagline was: I'm not that corny. At first I didn't get it, but then I realized his username was Popcorned. That made so much more sense now.


I sighed and threw my phone back onto my bed and trudged down the stairs, dressed in my ridiculous strawberry covered shorts and rubber duck crop-top. My hair was like a spray of blonde across my face and it had a mildly electrocuted look to it.


"Day, why do you look like a druggie?" Mom asked, making me groan. Ever since the party, my mom had been expecting me to become a drunk drug-addict who had two million boyfriends. Quite frankly, it was pretty depressing.


"Because I was sleeping and I fell on the floor," I informed her, and she gave me a skeptical glance before heading into the kitchen to fetch the coffee, which had its rich scent wafting through the house.


I flung my arms over my sofa and turned on the TV, draped my legs across the couch and smiled happily at the bowl of nachos that stared back at me, the cheesy goodness sprinkled all over. After debating between Kick Ass 2 and The Fault in our Stars (and I finally picked TFIOS for old time's sake), I began gobbling up the contents in my bowl, allowing the powdered cheese to get smudged all over my face.


The doorbell rang, and, after getting the death glare, I ushered for Mom to get it. She groaned but opened it anyway, only to ask, "Oh, and who might you be, young man?"


That made my heart lurch to my mouth and I leaped out of my comfy abode.


I'm pretty sure Mom didn't like a boy coming over. I was never going to hear the end of this.


"Max?" I asked, the confusion in my voice evident as I saw the sheepish looking boy at my doorstep, scratching the back of his neck. "No offence, but what on Earth are you doing here?"


He grinned, and I could see the faint shadow of a dimple against his cheek. "Uh... our Biology test is coming up and I realized that I learn more when I teach, so do you wanna be... I don't know... Study Buddies?" he asked. He looked very embarrassed, and my cheeks turned pink.


However, Mom's mood brightened immediately once she realized he was a smart kid who was going to get me straight As (I hope).


"Come in, dear!" she said, beaming at Max, who was now looking at her strangely because of her sudden mood change. I don't blame him. "Here's our table; feel free to use up all the space," she said, motioning towards the coffee table in the hall. "Our study table hasn't been set up yet, Sweetie, but I'll tell you when it does. Have fun!"


Max's eyes were the size of saucers. "Well that was a serious turn of events..." he muttered, looking weirded-out. Great way to make first impressions on my crush, Mom. I'm proud.


*****


"This is the best smoothie I've ever tasted in my life," I said, slurping the last bits of my liquid delight in a cup noisily.


"I know, right?" replied Max, who was guzzling down his own Nutella milkshake. He'd even succeeded in making himself a gorgeous milk mustache.


After four hours of slaving away over the biology notebook, we decided to cool our overheated brains with an icy beverage. Max suggested a smoothie place downtown, and I readily agreed. I mean, even if he wasn't thinking of it the same way as I was, it was still considered a date. I just realized how completely desperate I am.


I took a sip of Max's Nutella smoothie and shuddered in delight. On normal circumstances, I would've cleaned the straw or not even tried it because of how spit conscious I was. I was very insistent on not getting herpes.
However, since I liked Max, I did nothing of the sort.
I really needed to sort out my priorities.


It was kind of embarrassing to be found in my night-suit when Max arrived. I'm pretty sure I looked like a plucked chicken gone wrong. He just laughed it off, despite how humiliating it was.


"That was good. And I don't even like chocolate that much," I informed him, rubbing my lips with the sleeve of my shirt before 'ahhing' in delight.


"You aren't human if you don't like chocolate. Chocolate is heaven in a bar." Max was so defensive when it came to chocolate. It was quite funny, really.


"Whatever, this smoothie is good," I mumbled against my straw, trying to lick the little droplets that had formed around it that hadn't been sucked up yet. "It tastes like melted wild berry skittles and liquefied starbursts put in a cup."


"That sounds so artificial," Max replied, rolling his eyes. "I mean, you just made a perfectly natural drink sound like a processed load of crap. Look at this Nutella milkshake, on the other hand. Chocolates and hazelnuts grow on trees; therefore I am drinking a salad. It's healthy."


"Congratulations, Max!" I replied, emphatically. "You just ruined Nutella." We got up and left the bill, with Max casually slinging his arm around me as we walked out if the smoothie place happily. I acted nonchalant about it; like it was every day that I walked extremely close to my crush. My acting skills were on point right now.


"No, I just helped make myself feel better about all the fat I'm loading up in here," he replied, pointing at his belly. That brought me a flashback of his packs that I managed to see the first time he agreed to help me out with my schoolwork, which made me blush a beet red.


"You blush a lot, you know that?" asked Max, teasingly jabbing me in the ribs. Not cool, man. Not cool. Then he tapped his temple in mock-thought, before smirking. "Or maybe you just blush when I'm around," he trailed off, looking at me expectantly as I drowned in my own flush of red across my face.


"Don't get ahead of yourself. The whole Special Someone thing is totally unrequited." I informed him sternly, and he gave me an adorable pout. It was funny how carefree he'd become all of a sudden over the last few interactions we'd had. It was like he was able to open up to me.


"Well that sucks, because this is the second date we're having and you still have no feelings for me," Max said, and I froze, the blood rushing to my ears and pounding like a million church bells.


"You think this is a date?" I managed to squeak out, my throat a constricted mess.


"Yeah... don't you?" Uncertainty tinged his words as he glanced at me, his arms hanging limply by his sides and not around my shoulders anymore. I was too shocked and confused to move, so I just stared at him like a retarded goldfish. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you so uncomfortable. I... I just thought I'd made it pretty obvious about my feelings for you, but..." he paused and shook his head.


"Your... your feelings for me," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "You have feelings for me." My monotone showed how completely clueless I felt.


"I'm so sorry," Max mumbled, turning a tad bit pink around his ears. "Uh... so I'll see you tomorrow, then?" he asked, not looking me in the eye.


"No," I whispered, and his entire stature slacked, like he was an ice cream that had just been put in a microwave and was slowly melting.


"Day, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to—" Max began, looking like I'd just hit him with a truck.


"Shut up, Max," I told him, still quavering with joy on the inside. "You don't need to leave at all. This whole thing was becoming hard for me to keep in as well," I replied, vaguely.


Max squinted at me, because I'd not made much sense. "So... you knew I liked you all along." He had adapted my previous monotone. His face was still passive.


"No, I was sick and tired of hiding my major crush on you!" I blurted, and Max's eyebrows went skyrocketing to the moon.


"You're kidding, right?" he asked, looking at me with a grave expression. "Because making my hopes soar isn't a joke, Day. I'm dead serious right now. I've been harboring a crush on you ever since you joined, actually."


I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. "Oh my, gosh Max, this is perfect!" I squealed. "This is officially the best day of my life! I love you!" I screamed, before hugging him tightly and making sure he couldn't breathe.


"Well, just said I kinda liked you. I wouldn't jump as far as saying I loved you," he responded, still a tad bit skeptical about the whole thing. "You're an pathetic actress, you know that?" Max asked, rolling his grey eyes. I wanted to slap him. Why didn't he believe me!?


"I swear to the gods, Max, I will slap your face so hard you will fly off to Mars." I told him menacingly.


"Well, if you loved me then you'd miss me if I went to Mars..." Max taunted, his dimple sinking into his skin adorably. That was when I yerked him.


"Ow," he pouted again, rubbing his ribcage. "Holy shit, you're serious aren't you?" he asked, not quite believing it yet.


"There's no need to make shit holy, Max," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "And yes, I'm glad to know that the realization finally dawned on you. I do like you a lot and you can ask Deeds and Marie and Hailey and they were disappointed in me because they thought I could do much better and that I should like Jase instead because I hang out with him so much and stuff but I honestly think you are downright perfect and that a poetic, motorbike-riding, stud cum secret agent is better than anything I could've asked for and Jase is cool and everything but he's too much of a player for my liking and—"


Max cut me off with a chuckle. "And I thought I rambled," he grinned. "And since when was I a secret agent?" he asked, looking confused.


"Don't you remember the moment we had where you were a secret agent?" I asked, feeling bad that he didn't remember. "I can't believe you didn't even remember that. You are such a good boyfriend," I muttered, rolling my eyes.


This time it was Max's turn to freeze. "Your what, now?" he asked, perplexed. "I'm nobody's boyfriend, Day!" he looked positively lost.


"Well..." I said, feeling like an idiot. "You like me and I like you... isn't that all there needs to be?" I asked.


"Day, you are so clueless and innocent." I shot him a glare. "But I think it's adorable," Max covered up quickly. "No, that's not it. If people get into a relationship, you have to stop everything to be there for them all the time."


I nodded. "Yep, I know that," I said, popping the 'p'. "And I'm willing to do anything for you, Max."


Just then, guess who decided to ruin a perfectly good moment? Wonderful Jase, of course!


"Day?" he asked, confused as he looked between us. I guess it was a pretty weird sight; seeing me huddled up to Max and burying my face in his warm sweater. To be fair, winter was in around three weeks, so it was pretty nippy. "What's going on here?" He glanced at Max and scowled at him.


"Nothing much... just hanging around with my boyfriend," I giggled, feeling Max visibly tense up for the fraction of a second before regaining his composure.


"What!?" asked Jase. He looked like I'd just told him that I shot his granny. "You're dating this weirdo?!"


Now it was my turn to tense up. "Jase, go find some other girl to screw around with. Leave me alone," I hissed, trying to look as menacing as possible. "Max is wonderfully nice, unlike you. Your head is oversized and you're full of nothing but yourself."


Something broke in Jase's eyes. The sparkle that usually looked like a piercing diamond now looked like fractured glass. I felt my heart constricting, which was something I didn't know I could do considering the fact that I didn't even like Jase and should have had no reason to feel bad about anything.


"Day... I didn't mean it like that," Jase began, coming forward. His normal carefree air had been deflated, leaving him looking lost and desperate.


Max removed his arm from around my waist and stepped forward as well, jabbing his finger at Jase's chest. "Don't you dare lay a finger on my girl," he growled, and my heart melted.


Jase lost his broken nature at that one sentence, and turned rigid. "Who the f*ck do you think you are?" he asked, his eyes glinting dangerously. "What are you going to do, you jackass?"


"Jase!" I cried in protest, sensing that things were going to get serious. "Jase, leave Max alone. Please," I begged, knowing how strong Jase was. Not that Max couldn't fend for himself, but I was worried.


"I think I'm Max Edmonds, the boyfriend of the girl you wish you owned," Max hissed back, and although I was jumping for joy that he finally acknowledged our weird relationship, I face-palmed because that is not something you go around telling Jase Tackett. Especially since he didn't want me in the first place.


That was when Jase's eyes got hard and cold, and he packed a punch straight at Max's jaw. Max stumbled back a little bit, but then he turned and punched Jase right back. I screamed and flung myself at Jase, pushing his strong arms away from Max's face and shielding Max.


Max didn't realize, and he slapped Jase, thereby accidently whacking me on my back. I turned around fiercely, as Jase sneered and taunted, "What a great boyfriend you are. You go around abusing your girlfriend in public," before he struck back. This punch hit my straight in the jaw, because I covered Max. I went flying across the pavement and struck the nearest lamppost. I hit my head hard against it and a low cry of pain escaped my lips. When I looked up, trying to ease my head of the pain, I saw the sky tinged with grey before darkness slowly enveloped me completely, leaving me in a blacked-out state.


A/N:


Hey lovlies!



PIC OF DAY===> damn she's really pretty, isn't she?


Happy with the update? :P I'm not going to update until March 30th, because my exams start tomorrow and I'm being a very bad girl and writing instead of studying (oops?). So, any thoughts on this chapter? Anything you liked? Anything you disliked? Do you think Popcorned will be important?


Best comment gets a dedication. ILY all my new readers! Thanks for being so supportive. Every new reader, vote and comment boosts me up and makes me want to write more. 


Teaser: Day's Mom shows off her cool side in the hosptal wing.


Anyone want a shoutout? Feel free to ask.


Quick question: Do you want me to increase the size of each chapter? I usually stick to around 2000-3000 words, but if you all want to know more per chapter please tell me! I wouldn't mind giving you a tad bit more drama :P 


Pic of Day on the right =D


Song of the day: Rest your Love by the Vamps. I honestly don't know why, but I'm kind of obsessed with this song and ya'll HAVE to listen to it! That's not even a request! It's an order!


Please Comment/ Vote/ Follow/ All of the Above.


Love you all,


~Lexi

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