Those two started talking, leaving me to just sit there. When the conversation drifted from school to more personal things, I started tuning them out. Taking my phone out, I scrolled through my Facebook, catching little bit of their conversation. A good fifteen minutes had passed when my stomach growled loudly. Dylan and Macey snapped their heads in my direction, almost like they hated the interruption.
“What? I’m hungry.” I put my hands up.
“There is stuff in the cabinet. Go grab something before your stomach alerts everyone in the building,” Dylan said, motioning to the kitchen. Inside, I cheered at getting something to fill my stomach.
I felt awkward going through someone else’s kitchen looking for food, but having Dylan’s permission lessened the feeling. Plus, my stomach was not taking no for an answer. Noticing they had my favorite cereal, I called over to Dylan.
“You sure I can eat something? I don’t want to eat your food.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry. Have whatever you want.”
Not asking again, I began searching for a bowl to eat my cereal. When it came to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I could eat it forever. Definitely the best cereal, in my opinion.
It literally took me five minutes to find a bowl and a spoon. I had to open every cabinet before I found a plastic one I could eat out of, and the same thing happened with the silverware. I was so focused on pouring out my food that I almost missed hearing the front door opening. I swear I was almost drooling as I poured milk, oblivious to everything else. When it came to food, nothing else mattered. I didn’t even wait to sit down before I was eating the cinnamon goodness.
“What are you doing?” someone asked me. I turned my head to see who was talking. I could feel milk dripping off my chin, but I ignored it.
“Huh?” When I saw who was leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest and an amused smile on his face, I choked.
“Are you eating my cereal?” Gage asked, looking at my bowl. I quickly swallowed before answering.
“No?” It came out more as a question.
“That is my cereal.” He glared over at me, almost as if I just stole the best thing that had ever happened to him.
“Uh…” I stared at him, not knowing what to do. Dylan said I could have whatever I wanted; how was I supposed to know the cereal was Gage’s?
“You can’t just eat what’s mine!”
“I didn’t know you owned Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” I couldn’t help but make him even angrier as I brought another spoonful to my mouth. I chewed slowly, biting back a grin. Gage stared at me like I had just killed someone. His jaw was clenched, and he his brown eyes were narrowed at me. I don’t know why I did it, but I just did.
“No one eats my cereal.” It was hilarious watching him get so upset over me eating cereal.
“It’s not like I ate the entire box. There’s more right there.” I pointed to the box on the counter with my spoon.
“You realize how rude it is to go through people’s kitchen without them giving you permission?”
“Dylan told me I could.” I defended myself. It wasn’t like going into people’s kitchens was my thing.
Gage turned to look at Dylan, who was staring at us along with Macey. I had almost forgotten they were here.
“What? I didn’t think she would eat that kind of cereal. I thought she’d be normal and eat my Fruit Loops.”
“Normal?” I called out.
“I personally don’t like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It tastes weird. Fruit Loops are the best,” Dylan said.
“See, I say Lucky Charms are the best. But I am with you on the Toast Crunch,” Macey commented.
“How can you not like this?” both Gage and I exclaimed at the same time. We both looked at each other in surprise.
“Well, Gage, you finally found another person who likes the same cereal,” Dylan said before turning away and talking again with Macey. I rolled my eyes at them while crunching away on my cereal. My stomach was finally settling down, but I knew I had to eat a real meal soon.
I was once again caught up in myself and almost didn’t notice that Gage had grabbed a spoon until my bowl was suddenly ripped from my hands. My spoon hovered in thin air, almost to my lips. My head snapped in Gage’s direction; he was beside me, but after grabbing my food, he took a few steps away from me.
He shot me a grin as I stared at him in shock. He stole my cereal! My eyes narrowed at him as he smugly ate from my bowl. I ate what was on my spoon before turning to him.
“You did not just steal my bowl!” I pointed my spoon at him threateningly.
“What are you going to do about it?” He raised a perfect eyebrow at me. Stupid guys and their perfect features that all girls want.
“Give my cereal back. I am starving.” I reached out for it, but he took a step back out of my reach. “Don’t move!” I growled.
“Wow, I’m so scared.” He made a face at me. He continued munching on the cereal, all the while staring at me knowing he was making me mad. He definitely was getting me back for teasing him a few minutes ago.
“Why couldn’t you just get your own bowl!” I whined and even stomped my foot like a five-year-old.
“Because this is more fun.” He grinned over at me. Having had enough, I lunged for him. Gage of course anticipated my move and stepped to the side, dodging me.
“Seriously?” I ground my teeth and made for him again. I ended up chasing him around the kitchen and even in the living room for the next few minutes. Right when I thought I had him, he would either shove me to the couch or hold the bowl above his head knowing I couldn’t reach that high. Curse my shortness, or curse his tallness.
“Gage!” I yelled as we came to a stop with him on one side of the couch and me on the other. Macey and Dylan sat there staring at us, amused. We were definitely entertaining them.
“Carter!” He mimicked back at me.
“I am going to slap you so hard,” I warned him.
“Princess, you are as terrifying as a butterfly.” Gage deadpanned.
“Hey, I can be terrifying.”
“Sorry, Car, but you can’t,” Macey said, sending me an apologetic look.
“Traitor!” I hissed at her.
“I want my cereal back!” I looked back at Gage.
“Too late.” I watched wide-eyed as he titled the bowl and drank the rest of the milk. Apparently, he’d eaten the rest of the food as we’d been running around.
“You evil, evil person!” I shook my spoon at him. Somehow, I still had it in my hand.
“Mmmm.” Gage smacked, even licked, his lips as he finished.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“Well, you started it by eating my cereal first.” I opened my mouth to say something when Dylan spoke instead.
“You two are so weird. It is freaking cereal. Who cares? Plus, it isn’t even that great!” He threw his hands in the air. This time my hard gaze wasn’t on Gage; it was on him. Gage was glaring at him too.
“Take that back!”
“No.” Dylan stuck his tongue out at me.
“Real mature.” I scoffed.
“Says the one who just chased Gage around the house over cereal.”
“I will thump you, Dyl!”
“She’s scary, isn’t she?” Gage joked. Tired of dealing with him, I went back to the kitchen and put my spoon in the sink. Gage could clean it up. Heading back to the couch, I passed Gage and shoved his shoulder, although he didn’t even move an inch. Damn him and his muscles. Instead of him being hurt, my shoulder ached.
“You are such a child,” Gage muttered once I passed him.
“You are,” I bit out and fell back against the couch. It was a weak comeback, but it was all I had. I ignored Gage as he went and washed the bowl. I even ignored him when he called for me to clean up my spoon. He stole my food.
Since Dylan and Macey were taking up one side of that couch, that left me and Gage on the other side. I was still slightly annoyed wi
th him, so when he did sit down beside me, I tilted my body in the other direction. My eyes were glued to my cell phone, although I had already seen most of the stuff on the screen.
“You aren’t ignoring me, are you?” Gage asked a few minutes later. I kept on ignoring him, skipping from app to app. “You are. Why?” He kept on asking me for a good two minutes before the poking started. At first it was only on my arm and every few minutes, then it changed to being poked harder and down to my waist.
“Stop it,” I hissed, swatting at his hand.
“Why are you ignoring me?” he asked, poking my side roughly which caused me to squirm.
“Gage, seriously, stop.”
“Am I annoying you?” I could just hear the grin in his voice.
“Yes, you are.” I slapped his hand once more.
“You are violent.”
“You make me violent.” We sat there and bickered back and forth like an old married couple. Whatever I said, Gage just had to have some sort of comeback, and I couldn’t let him have the last word.
“Do you think they will ever stop?” I heard Macey ask Dylan. I could feel their eyes on us, but it did nothing to stop our bickering.
“Probably not. We may have to intervene.”
“Maybe if we mention that we are going to go eat?” Macey supplied. They were oblivious to the fact that we could plainly hear them.
“You know we can hear you,” I said, looking over at them.
“Are you two done yet? We want to eat before the fight,” Dylan asked, sending both Gage and I a look, like it was all of our fault. Like they hadn’t been sitting there for the past hour talking.
“Yes, let’s go,” I said, moving away from Gage and up off the couch. My stomach was once again growling. It was seriously a miracle I wasn’t fat with how much I loved to eat.
“Fat-ass,” Gage muttered under his breath as I stood up. I whirled around to face him.
“My fat ass will sit on you if you don’t shut up.” He put his hands up in surrender and shut his mouth for once. Happy I finally shut him up, I grinned and turned around. Mace and Dylan were up and waiting for us. Grabbing my bag, we trailed out of Dylan and Gage’s apartment and headed to grab something to eat.
Even though Gage and I were bickering, I wasn’t angry at all. In fact, my insides were singing for some odd reason. I didn’t want to admit it, but I liked arguing with him; it was entertaining, and he actually could take as much as he would give. It was nice knowing both of us could hold up against one another. It was like Gage opened up something inside of me and made me this person who talked back, who made sarcastic comebacks.
It was weird but exciting in a way. I acted different around him, unlike the shy, quiet girl I was around others. I wasn’t even like this around Ethan sometimes. I was self-conscious around Ethan, and with Gage I…wasn’t, surprisingly. I didn’t seem to care around him. It scared me how I changed around him.
As we walked down the hall to the stairway, Gage softly shoved me to the side before shooting me a small smile. He walked up beside Dylan, leaving me next to Macey. Maybe feeling this way wasn’t all that bad.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you everyone who has supported me and my writing. Thank you to everyone on Wattpad who waited patiently as I updated each chapter, and for commenting and encouraging me to keep making stories.
Thank you to my parents for putting up with me locking myself in my room to write and supporting everything I do.
To Arianna, who pushed me to keep writing this story and forced me to put her in as a character.
And thank you to everyone at Limitless. From my cover designer to my amazing editor! Thank you for believing in this book, in me, and for helping me get this book published.
Thank you, everyone!
About the Author
Currently lives in a small town called Mesquite, Nevada. She is going to college to be an English teacher and writes on the side. When she isn’t busy with school work or writing new books she likes to hang out with her family, do things outdoors, and read whatever she can get her hands on.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kenadee.bryant
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kendoll350
Goodreads:
https://www.wattpad.com/user/OutOfMyLimit17
Silent Love Page 26
