The new British kid (Part 4)

The night before Monday morning was a sleepless one. 1

Theodore lay in his bed with his eyes wide open and glued to the ceiling. He couldn’t stop beating up himself for acting like such an animal. Since when did he start acting solely on urges and instinct? The one thing he prided himself in was the ability to be, calm, mature and responsible; his composure and control. That was what differentiated him from every other teenager. Now, Andie had managed to rob him of all those things. He was completely unsure of how that happened. What made him want her so much? Her inability to wear a proper night attire… or more? Maybe he could at least take comfort in the way it felt with her. She felt just liked he’d imagined. Hot… so very hot. She radiated with so much heat when he kissed her. It contrasted with those light blue eyes and the cold tones she often used on him but matched the atmosphere, whenever they were together, perfectly. 2

He sighed… he shouldn’t be thinking like this. He shouldn’t be thinking about this. But he did. He thought about it all night long. 3

Andie sat by her open window enjoying the soothing sensation of the cool wind against her skin. She needed it after what just happened a few minutes ago. She was in a state of mixed feelings at the moment. She should be happy right? She has a huge chance of winning that bet now! She should be feeling triumphant for finally being able to win him over; and she did feel somewhat triumphant, which explained the small satisfied smile on her lips. 4

But it was all so unexpected. Sure, she planned to win him over eventually, but it happened so fast. She at least expected him to start warming up to her before anything major, but that was far from what happened. They were constantly at each other’s throats; always finding one reason or the other to bicker and argue, even up to the moment right before they kissed… before he kissed her. How weird was that? Why did he do it? Of course she wasn’t stupid. She knew her Pjs weren’t very concealing, but she didn’t think it would have much effect on a guy like Theodore. But it did and she couldn’t help but feel flattered about it; that she could make a cold snob like him, push her against a door frame and kiss her like he wanted to take her right there. Take that Chelsea! The memory caused heat to slowly rekindle in her body. He was hot, she thought, but not for her. What she wanted was Trey and a free limo ride… right? 5

****************** 6

Monday morning. 7

The breakfast dish? Extreme awkwardness… with a side of Rex’s special pancakes and some cereal. 8

Theodore was the first to come downstairs, neatly clad in a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He looked unusually casual this morning and his mom took notice but said nothing as he silently reached for the cereal box. 9

He wasn’t himself either. She also noted. Her son usually greeted both she and Rex and whoever else was there before he sat down to eat. Now he was downing his cereal without a word to anyone. 10

“Good morning to you young man.” She muttered over her coffee. 11

He looked up at them as if he was seeing them for the first time. “Oh sorry mom.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Morning. Morning Rex” 12

“Top of the morning to ya!” Rex waved a spatula at him as he nursed a pan filled with pancake batter. “Care for some pancakes?” 13

He shook his head. “No thank you.” 14

Andie was the next to come downstairs with her school bag hanging over her shoulder. 15

“Morning Betty.” She said politely as she settled her bag down and took the only seat left by the counter beside Theodore. “Hey Dad.” 16

“Hey sweetie.” 17

She bit her lip and fidgeted in her chair. “Theo...” 18

“Morning.” He mumbled. 19

Betty lifted a brow at the tension she sensed between the two. 20

“Andie, I hope your settling here is going alright.” 21

“It’s going fine. Thanks.” 22

Betty nodded. “And I’m sure my son here has done his best to make you feel at home.” 23

Her cheeks grew warm. She lowered her head, because she felt a blush coming on. “Um Yeah.” 24

“Andie feels at home anywhere.” Rex commented as he brought a dish of pancakes over to her. “She’s like her old man.” 25

He scooped about three pancake slices and was about to put it in her plate when she stopped him. 26

“Just one dad.” 27

He looked at her as if she had two heads. “One?” 28

She nodded. “Yeah.” 29

“Sweetie this is daddy’s special pancake, when ever I made these, you always stuffed your face with no less than six of’em.” 30

Theodore couldn’t fight back a small chuckle and Andie’s blush deepened. “Just not up for it today dad.” 31

He raised his brow knowingly as if he had suddenly been let in on a secret. “Oh it’s that time of the month?” 32

“DAD!” 33

Betty had to step in. “She said she’s good love, let her be.” 34

She smiled in adoration at the hurt shrug Rex gave and said, “Just means more for me then. I’ll have the rest.” 35

That seemed to console him as he slipped an arm around her waist and directed her gaze to the two teens who sat silently eating at the table. 36

“Just look at’em.” He said out loud. “They could go for brother and sister.” 37

“They do look like siblings don’t they?” Betty added. 38

That did it. 39

“I’m stuffed.” Andie declared jumping off her seat as if it was burning hot. 40

“Me too.” Theodore did the same. 41

Theodore went upstairs to grab his bag while Andie was already escaping out the door… 42

“Aren’t you gonna wait for Theodore?” Her dad called after her just as she was about to close the door behind her. The raven-haired girl closed her eyes in anguish. 43

“Um why?” She choked as she slowly turned around. Theodore came running down with his school bag. 44

“Oh great he’s here now!” said Betty. “Now you two can walk together.” 45

“Walk together…” Theodore repeated. 46

“Yes.” His mom said. “Is there a problem?” 47

“No… of course not.” He muttered as he headed out the door. 48

“Andrea…” He said as he walked past her without checking to see if she followed. 49

The two walked together, tortured with awkward silence. Andie looked t him for the briefest second. He caught her gaze and they both quickly looked away. 50

The girl sighed. This was stupid. “We’re gonna have to talk about last night sometime.” 51

A hint of crimson emerged on Theodore’s face. “If that’s what you want.” 52

Her brows furrowed in frustration. “If that’s what -I- want?” She gave a humorless laugh as she folded her arms. “Okay how about telling me what -you- want Theo?” 53

“No.” He insisted ignoring how she shortened his name again. “You want to talk… so let’s talk.” 54

She looked at him for a while her lips stubbornly set in a firm line before she said, “fine… How about telling me why you did it?” 55

He lowered his head. “Did what?” 56

“Why you kissed me.” 57

His throat felt as if it was clogged with a bunch of small frogs. “I-is that what happened? Because I thought both parties… both of us… went in for the…” 58

“Theodore” Andie interrupted, amused by his babbling. “You. Kissed. Me.” 59

“Oh.” He said stupidly. He hadn’t looked at her throughout. 60

“So why’d you do it?” She didn’t know why she was dying to hear his answer. 61

“Well maybe I simply wanted to see if you’d kiss me back.” He said. The answer sounded lousy to even his ears. 62

“Oh please…” She scoffed. “You’re gonna play that card? And I thought Mr. Civil and Sophisticated was better than that.” 63

He stopped walking and turned to stand in front of her. For the first time in their conversation, he made direct eye contact with her. 64

“Alright.” He hissed. “You want to know why I kissed you?” 65

“Yeah?” Andie felt a steady rise of excitement.66

“Because of what you were wearing.” His voice sounded angry. “I mean who wears such an outfit to sleep? I may not be the average teenage idiotic scoundrel you American girls are so used to dating, but I am still a guy.” 67

The raven-haired girl remained stunned and silent for a few minutes before saying. “So my PJs made you kiss me.” 68

He sighed in frustration. When she put it like that, she made it sound stupid. “Not your PJs Andrea; You! You were the one wearing the bloody PJs! You were the one who looked so incredibly beautiful, you were the one who made me want you so much!” 69

Andrea stood there staring up at him. What was a girl supposed to say to that; Especially when she had minimal experience on British ranting. “I’m sorry?”70

He sighed and kept walking. “Don’t apologize. I should be the sorry one. I kissed you.”71

“Well it’s not like I tried to stop you.” Andie followed in his pace.72

“That’s why I’m so remorseful.”73

The blue eyed girl’s dark brows furrowed. “I don’t get it.”74

“If you’d fought me off; it would have been so much easier… I’d say I was sorry and the whole thing would be behind us.” He sucked in a deep breath. “But you didn’t. You kissed me back. I led you on when I was acting solely on guy instincts and for that, I’m sorry.”75

Andie just stared on. “Meaning you only kissed me because of how I looked last night.” Her vice sounded strangely emotionless.76

“Yes.”77

“Nothing more.”78

He made a face. “Obviously not. There’s no other reason.”79

“Right.” She could feel her heart sink and she hated it.80

Just then, Trey’s Honda pulled up by the side walk. 81

“Hey gorgeous.” He beamed and the girl felt a sudden vengeful streak. “Want a ride?”82

“Totally.” The raven-haired teen gave her most flirtatious smile as she strutted sexily to the car with out even acknowledging Theodore. Deciding to add a little icing on the cake, she suddenly plated her lips right on Trey’s before hopping in after which, the dazed boy drove off.83

Theodore had never felt such fury.84