Chapter Text
Marisol Lewis coughed and wrapped her pink fuzzy blanket tight around her body. A minute ago she’d been burning up, but now she was cold and shivering again. Being sick truly sucked.
She flipped to the next page of her fashion magazine, trying to distract herself by looking at the pretty dresses the models were wearing. One in particular really stood out to her. It was a dark purple dress with puffed sleeves and a cute bow tied across the chest. The satin fabric was patterned with shiny gold and silver stars. It was easily something she would wear.
She closed her eyes and tried to envision herself in the dress. She saw herself walking down the runways at one of Degrassi’s fashion shows, then at a red carpet premiere, then at prom.
And then she had to immediately shut the magazine and collapse back against her pillow. It wasn’t bad enough that she was sick. She had to be sick on prom night. And it wasn’t just any prom night--it was supposed to be her first prom. Normally prom was just for seniors, but Degrassi was extending this year’s prom to juniors and even a few Grade 10s so long as they signed up for a volunteer position this week. Marisol knew a couple kids, like Adam Torres and Eli Goldsworthy, who had volunteered to be servers at the actual dance. Marisol already spent enough time waitressing at Little Miss Steaks, so she definitely didn’t want to spend prom night doing that. Instead she had signed up to help with Grade 9 Orientation along with Katie. Boring, but she figured giving future niners a tour of the wonderful world of Degrassi was a small price to pay for a night of fun.
She had been so excited. She’d spent four hours at the mall trying to find the perfect dress. Twelve stores and six dressing rooms later, she’d found it. A glittering, luxurious dress with a dark green and black bust, long spaghetti straps, and an almost floor-length skirt. The skirt was a lighter shade of green and patterned with floral golden sequins. It just screamed her. She’d actually found it while she was in the middle of buying a different dress. Standing at the register, she caught sight of it on a mannequin in the back, waiting to be claimed. She stopped the cashier mid-transaction and ran like hell to go get it. It had cost her at least three paychecks, but it was so worth it.
That dress was currently locked away in her walk-in closet, out of sight. She couldn’t stand to look at it, to be reminded of what she was missing. Her mother offered to go and return it for her so she could get her money back, but Marisol didn’t have the heart to agree. If anything, she would just save it for next year. That was the only thought keeping her optimistic right now: there was still next year. Her senior prom, which would be fully her prom, was going to be amazing. She would make sure of it. She would self-quarantine for a week beforehand so she physically couldn’t catch anyone’s nasty germs.
Marisol sniffled, willing herself not to cry again. Her flu wasn’t the only reason her queen-sized bed was covered in tissues.
“Knock-knock,” someone said while rapping on her doorframe. Marisol rolled over and smiled when she saw Katie standing in her doorway. Katie was one of the few people who was allowed to see her like this; curled up in bed, pajamas, makeup-less. At least she was wearing her cute silky purple pajamas and bunny slippers. Being sick in style was the only way to be sick. Her best friend was still wearing her bright orange GRADE 9 ORIENTATION VOLUNTEER shirt. Marisol checked the time on her bedazzled digital clock, which had numbers inside of diamonds. These diamonds read 12:55. Orientation must have just ended.
“Hey,” Marisol croaked. Her voice was weak and hoarse. She hated it.
“I brought you some lunch.” Katie revealed a plastic bowl and spoon that she’d been hiding behind her back. She walked over and placed it on Marisol’s nightstand. “Chicken and noodle.”
“O-M-G, you’re the best.” Marisol waited until Katie had backed up again before she sat up to grab the soup. It was from The Dot. Steam poured out as she lifted the lid.
“Are you feeling any better?” Katie asked with concern. She pulled up Marisol’s fuzzy pink desk chair and sat down a safe distance away from the bed, but close enough that she didn’t make Marisol feel like a leper. Best friends were like that.
“Not really.” Marisol scooped a spoonful of noodles and blew on the spoon to cool them down. As awful as she felt, she needed to eat and hopefully the warm, soft soup would feel good on her scratchy throat. “How was orientation?”
“It was fine.” Something in Katie’s tone seemed off. She took a deep breath. “Bianca was there,” she added, trying her best to appear nonchalant. Marisol knew her better than that, though.
“Bianca? Like, boiler room Bianca?” Marisol’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Bianca DeSousa was Degrassi’s resident bad girl who hung out at the ravine with losers like Marisol’s disgraced ex Owen Milligan and Mark Fitzgerald (well, before Fitz went all Kirk Cameron born-again Christian overnight). She was also the ex of Drew Torres, whom Katie had just recently started going out with. Earlier in the year, at the school’s disastrous Vegas Night, Drew had cheated on Alli Bhandari with Bianca in none other than the trashy Degrassi boiler room. Drew and Bianca had actually started dating shortly afterward, but they had broken up after something happened over spring break. Most of the school thought Drew had killed Bianca’s ex-boyfriend in self-defense, but according to Katie, it was actually Bianca who killed the guy and Drew just took the blame. Apparently the ex was also in a gang who later violently attacked Drew, taking him out of school for several weeks. Katie told Marisol that Drew had severe PTSD from the experience.
That was the extent of what she knew. Katie said Drew refused to share anything more. There were rumors around school that Bianca had cheated on him with one of the gang members and that was why they broke up. Marisol didn’t know if there was any credibility to that. She actually hadn’t seen Bianca around school very much lately. The girl was known to skip, but not this much. She only popped up every now and then, keeping to herself. A couple of times Marisol figured she’d finally dropped out, only for Bianca to waltz into class with her (surprisingly cute) “B” handbag. Anyway, Bianca’s lack of school spirit made her decision to help out at orientation even weirder to Marisol. It just...did not seem like her thing at all. Marisol tried to picture the girl in one of those orange shirts. Nope, page not found.
“Yeah,” Katie said, answering her previous question. “And Drew wanted to be partnered with her.”
Marisol instantly became on high alert. She shoved some soup into her mouth and looked at Katie, wide-eyed. She already didn’t entirely trust Drew with her best friend’s heart after what happened with Alli, and so she trusted him even less with Bianca in the picture. What was Degrassi’s Taylor Lautner up to?
“During the lunch break, I found him in the weight room going after a punching bag,” Katie continued. “He seemed...off. It was like how he was earlier in the year. Paranoid. On edge.”
Marisol nodded as she ate, listening closely.
“He said Bianca’s in trouble and he wants to help her,” her best friend finished. “He didn’t go into detail, but he seemed really freaked out.” Katie dragged her foot along Marisol’s cream carpeting. “I don’t know, Mare, should I be worried?”
Seeing the sadness on Katie’s face, Marisol set her bowl aside. If there was one thing she would not allow tonight, it was her best friend having a lousy prom. Since she herself couldn’t go, Katie having an amazing night was the only thing she was looking forward to. She would not have it any other way.
She offered Katie a warm, comforting smile. “He’s going with you, right?” she said, relieved to see Katie crack a small smile of her own. “Your first dance with your first boyfriend. You deserve this.”
Katie blushed a little. “Thanks, Mare.”
“Besides,” she went on. “From what I can tell, Bianca made Drew’s life super messy. You’re perfect for him. You're what he needs. You have it together. You’re a soccer star and future school prez. You’re Katie Matlin. Drew’s crazy about you, just as any guy should be. He’ll help Bianca with whatever her problem is and then send her on her way. If he doesn’t, I’ll sneeze on him.”
Katie laughed but tried to stop herself. “Mare…”
“Tonight’s your night,” Marisol insisted. “Go. Have fun. That’s what you can do for me.”
Nodding slowly, Katie stood up. “Okay. I really wish you could be there with us. This sucks.”
“I know.” Marisol retrieved her soup and continued eating. She went a little faster now that it had cooled down significantly. Mmm, so yummy.
“You know, I’m actually surprised you haven’t come up with a plan to work around this,” Katie remarked. “I always figured you’d show up to prom in a hospital gown if you had to.”
Marisol smirked. That was hard to deny. “Yeah, well, Mom’s home tonight,” she explained. “And she has me on bed rest. I’d never live it down if I snuck out while I’m sick.”
“Got it.” Katie nodded.
“Besides, it’s not like I had a date anyway.” As disappointing as it was not going to prom, she admittedly hadn’t been looking forward to third-wheeling with Drew and Katie all night. Boys were kind of avoiding her these days because of the whole K.C. incident. She’d thought that had died down, especially with all the Drew/Bianca gang talk, but apparently people still thought she was a curse who broke up relationships. As if KC did not run to her because “everything was so hard at home.”
She shook her head and coughed. She did not need another reason to cry right now.
“Mare,” Katie said gently. She sat back down. “You’re an amazing girl. You will find someone worthy of you. Preferably someone who doesn’t have a girlfriend and a baby.”
Marisol hung her head. She didn’t need yet another lecture about how stupid hooking up with K.C. was. Katie, Drew (ironically), K.C. (even more ironically), Jenna, and literally everyone else at school had already given her enough shit for it. But the person who was hardest on her was easily herself. She knew she had messed up. The guilt lived with her everyday, especially when she saw Jenna at school. She had only recently begun to stop feeling dirty over it. Why was Katie bringing this back up now, when she was miserable in every possible way?
Quickly noticing her shame, Katie said, “No, I didn’t mean it like that. What I mean is…” she paused. “You deserve a guy who will put you first. Someone who has no other commitments. K.C. wasn’t right for you. You deserve someone better. Someone who’ll put you first.” She smiled.
Marisol nodded, reaching for a Kleenex. She was trying her best to believe that these days, but it was hard. A part of her thought she would never deserve to have someone truly love her, since she helped take that from another girl. Who would be interested in a homewrecker like her?
“I gotta go,” Katie said, glancing at the clock. “Only 5 and a half hours ‘til the doors open.”
“Okay.” Marisol was disappointed to see her friend leave, especially since she would be spending the rest of the day alone in her bedroom. But Katie needed to have all the time possible to get glammed up for prom. Who decided it was a good idea to have Grade 9 Orientation on the morning of prom? Degrassi seriously had some issues with scheduling.
“Bye, Mare. I hope you feel better.” Katie stopped in her doorway and waved. Her eyes were full of sympathy.
“Bye.” Marisol smiled and dug her spoon deep into her bowl. All that was left was broth.
Once Katie had closed her door, Marisol flopped back down on her bed and clutched her pillow tightly.
Chapter Text
It was 9:38 P.M.
Prom had been going on for over 2 hours. Marisol dug into her bowl of cookies and cream ice cream as she watched Mean Girls on TV. It was one of her all-time favorite movies. She had hoped it would cheer her up a little bit. It hadn’t, really, although she had admittedly cracked a smile at “You go, Glen Coco.”
“Mari!” her mother’s voice called from outside her door. Marisol couldn’t help rolling her eyes a little. Her mother, a doctor, had been checking in on her constantly all night as if she were five. It got annoying, especially since every couple of visits she would say something like, “I’m really sorry you had to miss your prom, baby.” She knew her mom was just trying to be nice, but the reassurances just reminded her that she wasn’t at prom having fun with her friends right now.
“I’m fine, Mama,” she called back, hoping her mom would turn around and leave.
She did the opposite. Her mother burst through the door so aggressively that it bounced back against the frame. She looked...panicked. Distraught. Near tears. Getting a closer look, Marisol realized she was shaking. Somehow she had a feeling this was more than just an hourly check-in.
“Mama? What’s up?” she asked, quickly grabbing the remote and pausing the TV.
Her mom pressed her hands against her cheeks as she paced around the room. “I just got a call from Margaret,” she said, referring to Katie’s mother. “Something happened at the Degrassi prom. Have you heard anything about it?”
Marisol’s heart dropped. Dread instantly filled her entire body. Oh, no. Not again. First Vegas Night, now this? What could have possibly happened this time? “No. What happened?” she reached for her phone. She hadn’t been checking her phone all night, just for the sake of not seeing what she was missing. The last text she’d looked at was from Katie around 6:30; it contained the pictures of her and Drew in front of Drew’s house. Marisol had actually smiled as she’d scrolled through them earlier. Katie looked beautiful in her rose pink dress and Drew looked handsome (she couldn’t deny he was hot) in his tux. They both looked adorable and happy as they wrapped their arms around each other and grinned at the camera. Marisol had felt reassured that at least Katie was going to have the beautiful night she deserved.
Apparently that was too good to be true. She unlocked her phone to see that she had several messages from Katie, along with several Facerange notifications. Her phone had been blowing up all night and she hadn’t even known.
Before she could read anything, her mother said shakily, “There was a shooting.”
Marisol dropped her phone on the ground. A huge burst of anxiety caused the world around her to pixelate and blur out of focus. No. This couldn’t be happening. Practically paralyzed, she uttered, “Not Katie.”
Her mother shook her head, causing a huge wave of relief to crash over her. “No, not Katie. It was a boy named Adam Torres?”
Marisol gripped her bedsheets. She was feeling way more lightheaded than she had all day. Adam. Drew’s brother. Not Adam. This couldn’t be happening. Adam was way too sweet. He was a good kid. Who the hell would shoot him?
“Is he…?” Marisol couldn’t even bring herself to say the word. Thankfully, her mother knew what she meant. She shook her head. “They took him to the hospital. Gunshot wound to the shoulder. Margaret said he’s expected to be okay, but Katie stopped answering texts a little while ago and she’s worried.”
Marisol immediately went to snatch her phone up from the ground. She was glad to hear that Adam was going to be okay, but she needed to know what was going on with Katie. She checked her messages. The last one Katie had sent to her had been around 9:10. It simply said, “Oh my god.”
Without reading the other messages, Marisol called Katie. She bit her lip as she waited for her best friend to pick up, growing more anxious with each ring.
Her heart dropped again when she was greeted by Katie’s voicemail. “You’ve reached Katie Matlin, you know what to do.” Beep.
She dialed again. “You’ve reached Katie Matlin, you know what to do.” Beep.
“Call me as soon as you get this,” she said. Her voice was hoarse and shaky and choked up, but still assertive. “Katie, what the hell is going on? I need to know you’re okay. Call me, please.” Her tone grew more desperate at the end. She was about to cry. Good thing she had plenty of tissues nearby.
She hung up, still holding her phone, frozen. She was starting to feel sick, nauseous. Her palms were cold and clammy. But not because of her flu. No, it was because, even with all of the thoughts currently swimming in her head, Marisol was starting to make connections. Adam was Drew’s brother. Drew had a confirmed history with a gang. Gang members had guns. It couldn’t be. Could it?
<><><><>
It was. Katie had finally called her back after an excruciating half hour. Through her best friend’s teary version of events, Marisol had gotten the full story.
Bianca hadn’t cheated on Drew with a gang member. She was raped. Multiple times. This same twenty-something guy had threatened to kill Drew if Bianca didn’t do everything he wanted. He had forced her into a “relationship” with him. He was physically abusing her. Drew had invited Bianca to prom with him and Katie so that she could get away from this “boyfriend” for a night (which Marisol actually had several texts from Katie about, as she came to find when she finally went back through her messages). But apparently, the guy had shown up at prom looking for Bianca. Drew fought him and it seemed like things were handled, but then the guy just started shooting. Katie believed he was aiming for Drew, but the bullet hit Adam, who was in the hospital right now being treated. The gang member had apparently dropped his gun in the ballroom and Bianca had used it to try and shoot him, only for Drew to talk her out of it. Katie went with them, which was why she’d been MIA for a little while. Now Bianca was talking to detectives and telling her story while Drew and Katie were at the hospital with Adam.
Katie was texting her from the waiting room right now. She was talking about how worried she was for Drew, how just when he was starting to cope with his PTSD, this happened and made it all worse. His own brother got thrown into the mix, too, and Marisol knew how much Adam meant to Drew. She felt awful for him. She felt awful for Katie, too, having to witness all of this firsthand. Her best friend truly was amazing for supporting Drew through all of this.
Marisol sent Katie a quick text: remember to take care of yourself too. Love you <3. It was the best she could do from her bed. Given the events of the night, Marisol’s mother wouldn’t let her leave the house, especially being sick. But Marisol wished more than anything that she could be there with her best friend and Drew and Adam and their family. She wished she could offer hugs and help and support. The good thing was that Adam was going to be okay. But this night was bound to cause some permanent damage. Everyone must have been traumatized.
The whole story was sickening, from beginning to end. Her heart broke for everyone involved. Poor Adam, poor Drew, poor Katie, poor Bianca! No wonder she was missing so much school. Marisol’s heart ached for this girl she barely knew. No one deserved to go through something like that. Bianca was way stronger than anyone, including Marisol herself, gave her credit for. She couldn’t imagine how terrified Bianca was right now. She was very brave, telling her story.
Maybe Marisol would try and talk to her more over the summer.
Chapter Text
The next day, Marisol felt significantly better (physically), and she managed to convince her mother to let her leave the house. It helped that she didn’t plan on staying out very long. She only had one real plan for the day.
She pulled up in front of the hospital, brushing her hands along her green tunic. It might seem a little weird, her going to visit Adam. They didn’t exactly know each other. Only by association. They had talked a couple of times, but never a real conversation.
It didn’t matter. She needed to see for herself that he was okay. She needed to see his smiling face, needed to hear him cracking jokes. He was such a sweet kid and he didn’t deserve this. Thankfully, Drew let everyone know on Facerange that he would be out of the hospital soon (Adam was having some trouble typing, for obvious reasons).
She had also learned from Drew that Adam liked brownies, so she bought some from the bakery downtown before coming over. She held the box carefully in her hands as she made her way through the hospital. Katie had given her Adam’s room number.
When she reached the right door, she took a deep breath. Given that both of her parents were doctors, she had spent a fair amount of time in hospitals. She was used to them. It was just weird, the thought of seeing someone from her own school in here.
The door was halfway propped open. She knocked as she pushed it open a little. “Hello?” The first thing she noticed was that Adam was in bed, peacefully asleep. Damn. Apparently she picked a bad time to come.
The lights were off in the room, but sunlight was still pouring in through the very thin blinds. Drew and Adam’s mother was sitting in the chair next to the bed, reading what appeared to be a knitting magazine. Marisol had seen her a couple times around school, usually yelling at Mr. Simpson. Katie said she was nice, but she’d always struck Marisol as a little intimidating. Marisol had no idea what to expect from her. Would she ask her to leave?
When she saw Marisol, Mrs. Torres set her magazine aside in surprise. “Hi,” she said. “Are you one of Adam’s friends?”
“Uh, not exactly,” Marisol replied. “I’m Marisol, I’m best friends with Katie."
Mrs. Torres just nodded slowly, taking it in.
“I just came to see how Adam was doing,” Marisol continued. “But I can come back later, since he’s asleep.”
“No, it’s okay,” Mrs. Torres said in a surprisingly warm tone. “Thank you for coming. Come on in.”
“Okay.” Marisol smiled and stepped further into the room. No one else was there, not even Drew or their dad. But the room was still very much full. All around, there were flowers, cards, candies, balloons, even a GET WELL SOON lizard, which she had some questions about. That didn't even include the abundance of well-wishes for him on Facerange. Adam was a very well-liked kid at Degrassi, that was for sure.
“How’s he doing?” she asked. Now that she was closer, she could see that Adam looked perfectly fine aside from the bandage on his shoulder. He wasn’t pale or bruised or anything like that. Just sleeping. His steady, deep breaths were comforting to her.
“He’s good,” Mrs. Torres said. “Tired, obviously.” She chuckled, evidently trying to lighten the mood. It occurred to Marisol that this was the second time this semester that one of her sons had ended up in a hospital bed. She seemed to be faring a lot better than Marisol would have expected. “They wanted to keep him for observation, just to make sure there weren’t any complications. But he’ll be discharged tomorrow. He’ll have to do some physical therapy for awhile, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.”
“That’s good.” Marisol was glad to hear that Adam’s recovery was going smoothly. “Well, I brought some brownies for when he wakes up.” She held up the box.
“That’s very nice of you, thank you.” Mrs. Torres looked very appreciative. “You can just set them right there.” She gestured to the table next to the bed, which barely had any room left on it. Marisol moved a balloon and a couple cards out of the way and gently set her box down.
“I’m gonna go find my husband,” Mrs. Torres said. “He disappears pretty easily.” She stood up. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, Marisol.”
“Thank you.” Marisol nodded.
Mrs. Torres left the room, leaving Marisol alone with Adam. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to leave just yet. Maybe it was because she’d spent several days locked up in her house. Maybe it was because she was hoping Adam would wake up soon. Maybe it was both. She placed the knitting magazine on the floor and took Mrs. Torres’ place in the chair. She pulled out her phone to keep herself busy in the meantime.
A few minutes later, she heard footsteps coming into the room. She figured it was Adam’s parents or possibly a doctor, so she quickly stood up to get out of the way.
Who she wasn’t expecting to see was Eli Goldsworthy, holding what appeared to be a portable DVD player. He froze in his tracks when he saw her. “Marisol?” he asked in confusion.
She just blinked in response. It made sense that Eli was here; he was Adam’s best friend. The two of them had apparently worked as servers together at the prom, she remembered. Eli must’ve been pretty freaked out, too. Especially since he’d apparently seen his ex-girlfriend get fatally hit by a car last year. Marisol had just never expected to cross paths with him here. She figured she would see Adam’s family and possibly even Bianca. Eli being here seemed completely random even though it wasn’t.
“Hi,” she said, realizing Eli was waiting for her to say something.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I came to see Adam. What else would I be doing here?” “Right.” His eyebrow arched up. He seemed a little suspicious, which annoyed her. Just because she had a bad reputation around school didn’t mean she couldn’t come see a boy who was shot. Just because she wasn’t technically friends with Adam didn’t mean she couldn’t bring gifts or show her support.
Besides, Eli didn’t know anything about her. Not that she knew anything about him. Other than the ex-girlfriend thing and the fact that he’d crashed a hearse on purpose (and that he drove a hearse to begin with). Oh, and he had dated Adam’s other best friend Clare Edwards for awhile. This last semester he wrote a weird play about her as some sort of revenge over their breakup or something. She was now dating Jake Martin, who looked like he could be her brother. Needless to say, Eli clearly had his own issues he needed to work out before he thought about judging her.
“What’s that for?” she asked, gesturing to the DVD player.
He looked down and adjusted the device under his arm. “We’re gonna watch Grown Ups,” he explained. “It’s Adam’s favorite movie.”
“Sounds about right.” Marisol couldn’t help smiling.
Shuffling came from the bed. Before either of them had time to react, Adam said, “Eli and Marisol?”
They both jumped and turned around. Adam was sitting up in bed, smiling, his eyes and voice tired.
“Hey, you’re awake!” Marisol said, unable to hide the happiness in her voice.
“How you feeling, bro?” Eli asked.
“I’m all right.” Adam had a mischievous look on his face. “Just surprised to wake up and see you two here together. Very interesting combination.”
Eli and Marisol just looked at each other and shrugged. Adam wasn’t wrong.
“I have the movie,” Eli announced.
“Awesome.” Adam adjusted his blanket slightly. He looked up at Marisol. “I didn’t see you at prom with Katie and Drew. What happened?”
“I was sick,” she explained.
“Ah. Well, you didn’t miss much." He nodded toward his shoulder. "Guess this is what I get for volunteering to serve bread.” He cracked a smile. “I’d shrug, but I can’t.”
“Come on, dude, don’t even joke,” Eli said, but even he seemed a little amused. Marisol knew why. Adam cracking jokes meant that he was perfectly fine. She just rolled her eyes playfully.
“For real, though, it sucks that you were sick, but it’s probably a good thing you didn’t end up going,” Adam added.
“Yeah,” Eli agreed. “For sure.”
Marisol’s smile wavered and she shifted her weight, uncomfortable. She didn’t want to talk about any of this dark stuff right now. She just wanted to relish the fact that Adam was okay and awake and talking. Changing the subject, she held up her brownie box. “I got you these,” she said cheerfully.
“What are they?” Adam asked.
“Brownies, from Carmello’s.”
Adam’s eyes widened happily. In that moment, he looked like a giddy little kid. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.” She set the box down in front of him and opened it for him.
He happily reached in with his healthy hand and grabbed a rich chocolate snack. “Thank you so much.”
“Damn, girl, you did better than me,” Eli quipped.
“No, you’re both great,” Adam insisted through a mouthful of brownie. He was getting crumbs all over his blanket, which Marisol normally would have found unappetizing, but right now, on him, it was cute. “Eli, let’s watch the movie.”
“Okay.” Eli knelt down next to the bed and set up his DVD player. He glanced up at Marisol. “Do you wanna watch?”
Touched (and surprised) by the invitation, Marisol gaped a little. Watching Grown Ups with Eli and Adam certainly sounded way more fun than going back home now and spending the rest of the day there. “Yeah, sure,” she agreed without hesitation, kneeling down next to Eli. “Thanks.”
He nodded, giving her a civil smile.
Once Eli got the movie going, he set up the portable on the bed in a spot where they could all easily see it. Adam had the best view, obviously, but she and Eli still got a reasonable eye’s worth.
They had to sit very close together in order for that to happen, however. And, getting a close up of Eli’s dyed black hair and piercing green eyes, she had to admit he was not that bad looking. Especially since he’d recently cut that hair and no longer looked like Lord Farquaad. She shook these thoughts away and focused on the movie.
For the next hour and a half, she and Eli and Adam got lost together in the blunderous world of Grown Ups, laughing and chatting the afternoon away.