50: Define Everybody

Am I having a heart attack? Yes.

No. Maybe? I dunno. But my heart is definitely beating faster and harder than medically acceptable. My eyes are bulging out of their sockets, not in a creepy way. My jaw might as well be halfway to China with how low it dropped. I must be going deaf because Maddy did not just call me out like that.

"No," I sputter out in a whisper.

Maddy sets her water down and crosses her arms. She gives me a pointed glare with her eyebrow raised. There's no escape to this conversation, no way out. I try my best to look innocent and unbothered, but she can see right through me. Hell, a baby could tell I'm lying. I'm rubbing my hands together and trying not to catch her eyes.

Maddy's hands drop and go to the counter between us, propping herself up. She smiles to me, knowing she's close to pulling the truth out of me.

"Hazel, you're a terrible liar."

"Fine," I sigh, staring at my suddenly very interesting water bottle, "I like Oliver Grey."

Maddy stands up straight again, a proud smile on her face. I cross my arms, now staring at the suddenly very interesting marble counter. I feel a pair of arms pull me into a hug. I relax and hug Maddy back. My short stature makes me feel so small compared to her. She's at least four inches taller than me, and thankfully she's not wearing heels like on New Year's.

"How'd you know?" I ask her when we let go of each other.

"Oh, easy, you were looking at him the whole time Grayson was telling the story. Ryder and I thought it was hilarious, cute, but hilarious," She tells me, "Oh, and you guys cuddle a lot, never seen Oliver as one to cuddle."

I nod as I take in her words. Oliver and I had been in our normal cuddling position. The one where he lifts an arm up for me and I fit into place against his body, by legs falling on top of his and my head right in the nook between his shoulder and his chest.

Thinking back, I was staring at Oliver's profile the whole time. He'd look over every time Grayson would reveal something crazy I did. He'd give my arm a light squeeze whenever I'd bash Grayson. And every time Grayson said my name, I could see Oliver's eyes snap, somehow giving more of his attention to the story.

"So, you and Ryder know?"

Maddy nods, "And so does everybody else."

My eyes go wide for the second time today, "Define everybody."

Maddy smiles to me and walks back to the other side of the counter where her water bottle was left all alone.

"Grayson definitely knows something. What that something is, I don't know, but definitely something."

I give her a small nod. Grabbing my water, I take a long swig. All this information making me feel dehydrated. Too many emotions in too little time. I thought girl talk was supposed to be more fun than having mini heart attacks back to back.

"You wanna go back? They're gonna be wondering what we're doing if we take too long," Maddy gives me a little humorous smile.

"In a sec, I need to go back to being normal."

Maddy laughs, "Normal is overrated."

After a couple more minutes, where Maddy tells me the story of how she met Ryder, we go back to rejoin the group of boys. They're arguing about something when we get back, but fall silent as they see the estrogen in the house makes its way back. Oliver catches my eyes, lifting his arm up for me. I smile and grab his hand, intertwining our fingers, as I sit myself down.

"What happened?" Oliver whispers to me.

I turn to face him and give him a small, innocent smile, "Girl talk."

"You won't tell me?"

"Last I checked, you have a penis."

Oliver smirks, his hand squeezing mine lightly, "Wanna check again?"

I blush at his comment but try to cover it by rolling my eyes. I knew I'd fucked up the second I said the words, but by that point it was too late. Oliver's dirty mind had already powered up.

"What are you boys fighting about?" Maddy speaks up to the group.

"Grayson here thinks we should get pizza for lunch," Tyler laughs, "Obviously the right choice is burgers."

"No, pizza," Grayson pouts like my brothers would.

"Oliver's team pizza and Ryder's team burgers, so we're at an impasse," Tyler finishes explaining the fight we heard.

"Crazy idea," I speak up, "But why don't you get one for lunch and the other for dinner?"

"Hazel, this is why I love you!" Grayson shouts, his goofy grin covering his face.

He jumps up and runs out of the room, most likely going to the kitchen to tell his chef to bake a pizza, or even better, order one like normal people do. I follow Grayson as he runs off, my gaze leading to the door and then to Oliver. His eyes are already on me, studying my movement with his bright blue eyes. His face is stone cold as usual, giving me no indication as to what is going on inside Oliver Grey's head.

"What?" I smile at him.

He shrugs, "You're blushing."

"And you're getting me fat with all this junk food," I laugh, referring to our two healthy choices of pizza and burgers.

"Fattening you up so I can eat you out."

He pokes my stomach with each word. I squirm at his touch, trying to lean away from him. He continues to poke his fingers at my stomach, causing me to start laughing. I fall down onto my back, hitting the couch. Oliver falls with me, his pokes becoming tickles.

"Get a room," Tyler yells, and then he mumbles, "Fucking cooties."

Oliver gives me a small smile. Our little scandalous position causes me to blush, but thankfully my fit of laughter blends in with the redness of embarrassment. I look at Oliver, raising my arms so I can push him off of me so we can sit back up.

Oliver starts leaning back before I have the chance to push him away, my hands barely reach his chest. He takes my extended hands and pulls me up with him as he falls back into the corner of the couch. I let out a small breathy laugh as he pulls me up by our clasped hands. He falls back into his normal position, letting go of one of my hands so that his arm may stay extended for me.

I let the momentum of him pulling me up take control and it causes me to overshoot my spot a little. I fall forward more than I had anticipated and start to panic slightly, albeit not from much. The worst that would happen is falling a couple inches onto the fluffiest couch in the world. The Adams' knew how to shop for comfort.

And so, in my panic, I let go of the hand that was in Oliver's and twist as to not fall face first. After all, I can't ruin this perfection I call my face. I fall onto Oliver's lap, the back of my head falling atop his thigh. I let out a laugh as I hit my final destination, only to open my eyes and catch sparkly blue ones looking down at me.

"Having fun?"

I nod to answer his question, "With you? Never a dull moment."

He leans back, continuing a previous conversation with Tyler. Most likely something they were talking about before the great debate of what lunch is going to be took place. Oliver doesn't look down to me again, but he does pull a blanket over me, seeing that I had goosebumps from the cold.

"Pizza time, bitches!" Grayson makes his entrance.

Grayson is carrying three boxes of pizza as he rejoins the group. He hands one to Oliver, then one to Ryder, and the final one to Tyler, whom he sits beside so they can share. Oliver opens the box and hands me a piece, bacon and pineapple, my favorite.

"Grayson, how'd you know I like bacon and pineapple?"

Grayson gives me his goofy smile with a shrug, "I didn't, Oliver told me."

I look up to Oliver, he stares down to me when he hears Grayson speak his name to me. I take a bite of the slice, my lips forming a smile as I chew the delicious fast food pizza.

"I know everything," He tells me and takes a bite of my slice.

I was holding it up in the air as to not get the blanket dirty. I also didn't exactly want to sit up and give up my spot on Oliver's thigh. Not that I could if I wanted to, Oliver is holding me basically captive. His arm that usually falls around my shoulders in our normal cuddle position is draped across my stomach, underneath the blanket. His fingers caress my ribs as my hand that's not holding the pizza rests on his arm.

The rest of the day is spent with the six of us goofing around. We go about joking and talking, I mainly talk to Maddy though. After our girl talk, I feel oddly bonded with her, like she knows my darkest secret. Even though it seems like it's not a secret to anyone, everyone except Oliver.

By dinner, I'm exhausted but somehow still have the adrenaline of hanging out with people my age coursing through me. Grayson's chef has just come in with the much promised burgers we didn't get at lunch.

We're all at the table we had breakfast at long ago, the last time I was here for the Christmas get together, or whatever Oliver called it. Maddy is beside me, ungluing herself from Ryder and forcing me to do the same with Oliver. He goes to sit in Maddy's usual spot and so I'm left with Grayson and Maddy to my sides.

"Tyler, tell me something, did you miss Grayson's kiss on New Year's?"

Tyler looks up to me, mid bite into his burger. He sets his food down and tries to swallow quickly so he can answer me, smiling a little while doing so. Once he swallows he clears his throat and looks from me to Grayson.

"Oh, I made sure to get my New Year's kiss," He winks at Grayson.

I laugh, turning to Grayson as well, "Liar, you told me you gave it up."

Grayson gives us a goofy smile and looks around the room, landing on Tyler, "It was 12:01, it doesn't count."

"Oh, so you're just kissing all the homies now? I thought I was special," Oliver speaks up.

He's been relatively quiet since we'd migrated to the table. Silently eating his food, observing everything around him, taking in what's going on. Now I see how he always seems to know everything, he's a silent spy. I only realize this since I'm trying not to be too obvious with my stares. But I think Oliver knows I've been staring. My phone had buzzed several times already since we sat down, I assume one text for each time he'd caught me staring.

"You are special," Grayson's goofy smile falters a little, jokingly going into panic, "But you left me, for her," He points a finger to me.

"Her has a name, and it's 'fuck you, I won'," I slap Grayson's finger away from my face.

Grayson looks at me, his eyes wide, then he starts laughing. His goofy grin is bigger than I've ever seen it as he laughs, leaning his head back. His fist pounds the table slightly before his hand rests on my shoulder. He sobers up a little, a deep chuckle still reverberating in his chest. His eyes open, crinkled up in laughter, and looks to me.

"Hazel, you might have won New Year's, but he's mine."

"I'm right here," Oliver looks at the two of us, "And I already have a winner."

Maddy, Ryder, and Tyler are looking between us in amusement. They all have smiles on their faces as they watch us jokingly argue. Maddy's foot hits my shin when Oliver speaks up. I give her a side glare, knowing fully well why she's hitting me. She ignores me though and does it again. I hit her back this time. Maddy gives me an innocent smile, pretending to be oblivious.

"Can we go watch a movie now?" Tyler asks.

We all turn to him, nodding or giving different forms of agreement. Standing, I pick up my plate to go take it to the kitchen, at least to put it in the sink. Grayson shakes his head and takes the plate out of my hands, placing it back on the table.

"It's your birthday weekend, no need," He says with that goofy smile of his.

"Birthday weekend? That's a little excessive."

Grayson laughs and drags me along through the halls. His arm drapes across my shoulders to lead me around the house. There's a movie theater room inside the house, a new room I haven't been to yet. Of course, I get lost through the zigs and the zags of the halls, but at some point we make it to a dark room with a large screen.

Grayson's arm drops but is quickly replaced by another. I look to my side to find Oliver's blue eyes staring at me. His hand that's draped across me taps my arms a couple of times begging for attentions. I bring my hand up to reach his, intertwining our fingers together. We're both looking at each other the whole time.

"You were so far," Oliver tells me.

I give him a smile, thankful that the darkness of the room helps hide the heat in my cheeks, and in a lighthearted tone I say, "I missed you too, Oliver."

Oliver stops walking. His eyebrows furrow slightly, leaving him with a confused look on his face directed towards me. I stop with Oliver, staring at him. We're in the middle of the corridor that leads to the reclining theater chairs. Everyone else is already settled in their seats, arguing about what to watch.

"Say it."

I break into a smile. I keep my hand in Oliver's as I twirl around. Extending our arms, I end up facing him, my back to the screen. Oliver looks to our hands and then follows my arm up to my face. Our eyes lock, mine bright with amusement and him expectant.

"You're needy."

I turn around and pull him down the corridor to the remaining seats. Oliver follows behind me, pulling me back so that I fall back into his arm. His arm falls over my shoulders and our hands continue intertwined.

We make our way into the second row that has the empty seats. Grayson and Tyler are in the front row, Maddy and Ryder share a seat beside Grayson.

Oliver let's my hand go and drops his arm and lets me go in first. I feel the cool air hit my shoulders as his arm drops. I'm about to sit down in a chair when two hands grab my hips and pull me down. I let out a small gasp as I fall, landing on Oliver's thighs.

Oliver reclines the chair, taking me down with him. He moves around under me to give me room to cuddle to the side of him, although I'm mostly on top of him. I rest my head on his chest and wrap my legs around his. My arm drops around his torso, resting on his ribs on the opposite side I'm on. Oliver's hand rests on my hip bone, close to my scar.

"I'm needy," He whispers.

The screen turns on and a movie starts playing. The four of them finally came to a consensus of sorts. My guess is that Maddy just put a movie on while the boys argued, ignoring her.

Oliver is hesitant to move his hand over my scar, but I nod my head against his chest as a form of permission. He skillfully lowers the band of my sweatpants down just enough so that my scar shows and then he covers it with his hand. His thumb grazes over it, sending tingling sensations through my body.

Feeling confident, I lead my hand down to the hem of Oliver's shirt and pull it up slightly. I let my hand glide under his shirt and brush up against his torso. I feel him stiffen at the touch of my cold hand against his warm body. I stop moving once I reach his ribs again and draw lazy circles.

Grayson comes along with popcorn halfway through the movie. He gives me a knowing smile and winks at me before walking off to his chair. I only blush at him, taking the bag of popcorn.

"Popcorn," Oliver says, moving his legs around to get my attention.

I push myself up a little so I can look at Oliver's face. He smiles and nods to the popcorn. I look over to the bag and when I bring my eyes back to Oliver, his mouth is open wide, expectantly. I roll my eyes and rest back on Oliver's chest. Putting my hand in the bag, I grab a singular popcorn piece and raise it up to Oliver's mouth. He closes his mouth, his lips brushing against my fingers as he does so, eating the popcorn.

"Needy."