Matenapped

Chapter Seventeen.

Chapter Seventeen

Jem

"How about The Lucky One?"

"Ooh, I know! The Notebook!"

"God yes, I love that movie!"

I sunk lower into my seat. The kids were asleep, leaving me trapped with all the women in the living room. We'd been trying to decide what to watch for the past half hour.

"How about Avengers?" I asked tentatively.

Lisa looked at me like I was insane. "What? I thought we'd decided on a romance."

Actually, you decided on a romance, I thought, annoyed.

"I think Avengers could be fun," Cynthia piped up. I shot her a grateful smile.

"It'd be a nice change," Sara added quietly.

Lisa huffed. "Okay, we'll give it a try."

Two hours later, we were in the kitchen doing the dishes, with Lisa pacing frantically behind us.

"It's just horrible!" she exclaimed. "I mean, they just leave you hanging like that! How is that allowed? Is it even legal?"

"It's called a cliffhanger," I supplied, trying hard not to laugh.

"That never would have happened in a romance!" she huffed. "They always end happily. I hated that stupid movie!" She stopped in her tracks, her shoulders sagging with defeat. "Oh, who am I kidding? That was the best thing I've ever seen. I feel like saving the world or fighting someone."

I finally broke out into laughter, unable to contain myself. The image of Lisa fighting someone was just too much.

All four of us hunched over, gasping for breath as we laughed.

Ding-dong.

I straightened up, wiping a tear from my eye. "Do you think they forgot something?"

Lisa rolled her eyes, already making her way over to the door. "Probably. They'd forget to dress themselves in the mornings if we weren't here."

Cynthia wiped her hands on her apron and followed Lisa to the front door, while Sara and I turned back to the dishes.

"How did we go trough this many glasses?" I griped, scrubbing a cup and handing it to Sara.

"Next time we definitely have to use plastic cups," she agreed.

I smiled at the thought of next time.

"Tonight was actually really fun," I began. "I think--"

Luna, you need to hide, now.

Lisa's voice echoed in my head, sounding urgent.

Sara gave me a stunned look.

"You heard it too?" I whispered, shocked.

There's a cop at the door asking for you. He's coming inside. Go, now! Cynthia yelled silently.

I paled. "Fuck."

Sara and I dropped our dishes and darted upstairs. I made a beeline for Michel's room, but Sara grabbed me and turned me in the other direction.

"Where are we going?" I hissed. My heart was pounding a mile a minute.

"Chase's room," she muttered quietly. "They're not going to search a child's room. Not extensively, at least."

She hid me in the closet, shoving a pile of blankets over me until I couldn't see or hear much at all.