Sleepover at Natalie's

I run back into my house as I hear the phone go off, picking up my cat and carrying her inside, out of the dripping rain. "Hello?" I ask, trying to brush the rain droplets off of my clothes.
"Hey Chels," My friend Natalie answers. "Doing anything worthwhile today?" I look out the window at the animals I was leading to shelter. "Define 'worthwhile.'" Natalie laughs at me and replies, "Doing anything that I would like to be doing?"
I stifle a laugh at the thought of Natalie guiding animals out of the rain. "Nope!" I grab a dishtowel from my sink and begin to wipe myself off with it. "Good," Natalie states. "Then come over to my house for a sleepover!" Half of my brain stimulates with excitement. I haven't been at a sleepover since I lived in the city, with my parents. The other part of my brain cringes in disappointment. I have to finish herding and feeding the animals. I have to harvest the yams; I have to clean the inside of my house.
"Well I'd love to Natalie, but you see, I have some things I need to do bef-" "No problem!" Natalie interrupts, "Just do what you need to do really quick and come over this afternoon. Gramps will kill me if I skip work anyway." I check the time. "I don't know if I can get it all done by then…" I mutter, my eyes passing over the piles of laundry around my floor and the dishes piled in the sink.
"Aww, c'mon Chelsea!" Natalie moans. "Ell-iot will be there, and I know he's gonna miss you." I turn red, and hear a deal of muffled shouting coming from Natalie's end of the phone call. I vaguely hear her say, "Well you will, won't you?" I giggle in embarrassment and quickly agree to come, while running some water on my dishes.

Within 3 hours, my animals are in their homes, cozy and full, and my yams are all harvested. I put a couple in my refrigerator, fill the shipping crate full, and save a few to bring for Natalie's family. They're all really big on crops. I take a quick shower and dry my hair, pulling it back into my normal red bandana. I'm just about to leave when I remember my pajamas. I grab a small duffel bag and pack my PJs: an orange button down shirt, a cami, and a pair of yellow flannel pants, and my toothbrush, along with a change of clothes for the next day. By the time I get to Natalie's house, it is 5 p.m.
"Oh! H-hi Chelsea, come in." Elliot says as he answers the door. I grin at him and hold up my basket of yams. "I brought some yams for you guys." His eyes fill with surprise and he stutters out a thank you.
"Oh! Yams, thank you so much Chelsea, you always have the best crops." Elliot's mom, Felicia says, walking over gracefully and smiling sweetly at me. "We're going to cook these up nicely for dinner tonight!" I notice that Elliot is now nearly a head taller than her. Man, he grows like crazy! I walk inside, past Elliot and find Natalie leaning on a stack of crates, not paying any attention to the stack of papers in front of her.
"Natalie! Get your head in the game, those papers don't file themselves!" Her grumpy grandpa yells. Natalie groans. "Grandpa, C'mon; let me do the packaging and make Elliot do the boring paper work!" I walk up to her and tap her on the shoulder. She turns to me and a grin breaks out on her face.
"Hey, you made it!" She says, then calls over her shoulder to her Grandfather, "Hey Gramps, Chelsea is here!" She hurriedly pushes the paper work away as he walks into the room. Taro, her grandfather is a short, skinny man, a head shorter and me, with a huge bushy white moustache and eyebrows and no other hair. He's wearing farming overalls, despite the fact that he hasn't farmed in years. His frown disappears as he sees me, and he grumbles, "All right, you can stop now." Natalie whispers "Yes!" under her breath, and then drags me to her room. I smile slightly as I see that her room is even messier than mine. Random pieces of laundry are strewn across the floor, books are piled around her bookcase as opposed to on it, and papers crowd up her desk. She had random posters of bands, movies, and cities all over her walls, and her bed is unmade, the blankets spilling onto the floor.
She hurries around, pushing the clutter up against the walls, and then dragging a mattress from under her bed. She pulls some blankets out from random places and throws them down onto it. "There's your bed!" She says, plopping down on hers. I throw down my duffel bag and sit next to her. "I thought you were supposed to be the perfectionist." I tease. She snickers.
"I don't like working, but if it's going to be done it better be done right. And I like my room this way." She says, patting a pile of her laundry. I laugh at her, then ask, "So….What'cha want to do?" She immediately replies, "We could go to the beach. We've still got a while before dinner is ready." I glance out the window and smile at her. "Natalie, it's raining." "Even better!" I laugh at her seriousness, then suggest, "We could go back and work on the ranch."
"Is that your idea of fun?" Natalie gapes at me, and I laugh. "No! I'm only joking. Do you really want to go to the beach?" Natalie nods and grabs my hand, pulling me to the door. We're just about to leave the house when Felicia calls us into the kitchen.
"Can you girls help out with dinner?" I nod and hurry to set the table. Natalie cuts up some fruit while Elliot mans the stove. "What are you making, Elliot?" I ask, placing forks. He turns to me and says, "I'm making Yam Rice. The yams you brought over are really good, Chelsea." He smiles at me, leaning back and accidently placing his hand on the burner. A high-pitched sound comes out of his mouth, in between a squeal and a shriek. He runs to the sink and runs cold water of his burn, while Natalie covers her mouth to stop scoffing.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" I ask frantically, hurrying over to look at his burn. The side of his hand is red, but he looks alright other than that. I carefully touch it and feel that it's really warm. "Oh Elliot…" I croon. I look up and see there are faint tears building up in his eyes. "Natalie, do you have any aloe vera?" She nods and hurries down the hall. "Just soak your hand in water for a bit." I say, filling up a container that was sitting in the sink. Elliot nods.
"Um, T-thank you C-Chelsea." He says, biting his lip. Felicia sticks her head through the doorway. "What's going on?" She asks pleasantly. "Oh, I um, put my hand on the stove…" Elliot says sheepishly. "Oh, not again, Elliot!" She cries, coming over to look at his hand. Natalie walks in with a bottle of aloe vera lotion, and hands it to me on her way over to the stove.
"Look what you did now Elliot! You've burnt the rice!" She scolds, moving the pan off of the burner. Elliot cringes. "Natalie, it's not his fault." Felicia says, trying to soothe her. Natalie rolls her eyes and begins to scoop out the meal on all of the plates. Elliot rubs the lotion on his burn, and then brings the bowl of fruit Natalie was cutting to the table. Felicia scurries out of the room to get Taro, while I sit down next to Natalie.

"So Chelsea, how's the ranch going?" Taro asks gruffly. I swallow a mouthful of yam rice, which is actually pretty good, and respond, "Its okay. I've been pretty worried about my yams lately because it's been raining so much, but I guess they turned out fine." Natalie nudges me, her mouth full, and gives me a thumbs-up to signal her approval.
"And the animals?" I smile. Taro always confronts me about the ranch I inherited from him. "Great. Spot's been chasing away the wild dogs that come at night. I'm thinking of entering him into the dog festival this year." I think about my trusty Dalmatian, given to me as a puppy by my mother. Taro nods. "You've trained him well. You'd better win." He grunts, pushing his chair back and dropping his plate in the sink. Once Natalie and I are finished, we head back to her room, but just before we get there, Natalie makes a quick turn and beckons me to be silent.
"We're going to pull a trick on Elliot." She whispers. I look around at what I realize is Elliot's room. It's the exact opposite of Natalie's, organized and pristine. On his dresser are a few framed pictures of kittens, and a neatly stacked collection on baseball cards. "Now you go and empty his dresser. Put all his clothes under his bed and all his books in his dresser. I'm going to short-sheet his bed!" Natalie hurries to strip his bed of its covers while I stand around awkwardly.
"Natalie, I don't know about this…" I say. "Elliot's so nice, and he burnt his hand. Don't you think he should get a break?" Natalie glances up at me and giggles. "It's so cute how you stick up for him, Chelsea. But really, Elliot's used to worse. I used to dump water on his bed and once when I was dog-sitting I left the dog in his room. He's terrified, you know." I wince at the idea, imagining Elliot walking in on a Rottweiler sleeping on his bed. "Don't worry Chels; this is all I'll do, if it bothers you so much." She says, remaking the altered bed and looking at me with concern. She grins, and we sneak back to her room, nearly being seen by Elliot who is filling out paper work in the hallway.

"Hmm, which do you think will look better on me, green or…pink?" Natalie asks, at a war between two bottles of nail polish. I snicker, and Natalie looks up at me from the floor in annoyance. "What?" I smile and reply, "Ten minutes ago you were saying you'd rather shave your head than paint your nails, and now you're so into it." Natalie blushes and crosses her arms. "But if you need to know, I think the green would look better. It matches that turtleneck you like and the pink would look weird with your hair." Natalie smiles, and begins to paint her nails, as I sit on the mattress and paint my toes red.
A few moments pass; just me, Natalie, and her CD player, quietly playing some unknown song by a band I'd never heard of. Then Natalie looks up at me, smirking. "So," She says, "you and Elliot really hit it off." I roll my eyes at her. "We're just friends, Natalie, you know that." Natalie leans back, raising her eyebrows. "Oh really? Because you sure jumped to it when he hurt himself this afternoon."
I frown and cross my arms. "He was in pain! What was I supposed to do? I'd help anyone out like that, no matter their gender or how well I know them!" "Well you two sure were blushing as you held his hand." "I did not hold his hand, Natalie. I was just…touching the burn." I try to make it sound as dignified as I can, but Natalie laughs anyway. "Okay fine, thank goodness. I don't know what I'd do if my best friend liked my dweeby brother anyway. He'll just go on as an outcast forever." She smiles contentedly at her painted fingernails. I gasp out some indignant noise. "Natalie! That's horrible!" She grins at me sneakily. "So you do admit that you have feelings for him! I was just joking by the way."
I watch her laugh, looking totally at ease in the huge t-shirt and shorts that serve as her pajamas. It infuriates me. The next minute, Natalie has a pillow in her face. "Oh you're dead!" Natalie yells, jumping at me and pushing the pillow into my face. I turn away, and then try to push her off of me, ending in us rolling over and me stealing the pillow. We whack each other for a few good minutes, then fall onto the floor, catching our breath. I turn to face her and smile.
"So Natalie, who do you have your eye on?" I ask, propping my head up on my hands. Natalie blushes. "Um, well there are a couple cute guys. Vaughn is pretty good-looking." I grimace. "He's handsome, but he's so rude. He always snubs me when I talk to him." Natalie frowns and nods, then looks away. "You're right on that one. And uh, Pierre's really sweet." I practically burst out laughing. "Pierre?" I ask.
"Oh hush, Chelsea." She says, looking uncomfortable. "He's cute!" I stop laughing, but can't wipe the smile from my face. "So you like short guys in top hats?" Natalie smirks at me and retorts, "At least it's better than the gangly ones with no strength, coordination, or special skills at all!" I gawk at her. "Elliot is…nice." Natalie's face is the one of a winner. "It's true!" I say defiantly, "He's sweet and friendly, and I think his clumsiness is…charming." Natalie makes her "I still beat you no matter what you say" face, and I give up my argument. But it is true: no matter what Natalie says about her brother, I still like him better than anyone on the islands. He just has something about him, something quirky and cute that I've never seen in anyone else… my daydream is interrupted as Natalie' door swings open and bangs into the wall.
"Natalie! Did you mess with my bed?" Elliot demands angrily, standing in the doorway. I look up at him in shock. His hair is messed up, he doesn't have his glasses on, and he's wearing a long gray t-shirt and blue plaid shorts, accented by bear slippers. In his right hand he holds a teddy bear that matches his footwear. He meets my gaze and turns pink in embarrassment as he realizes what he must look like.
"Good job Sherlock. Also, nice outfit you've got going on, are those the slippers all the nerdy brothers are wearing lately?" Elliot turns even redder, if possible. "Natalie!" He whines, glancing at me. I frown at her, but she doesn't notice. "Okay, okay," She says. "Come join us. We can play spin the bottle-just as long as siblings don't count." She turns and winks at me, and I give her a look of pure anger as my face flushes in embarrassment. Elliot begins to back out the door in shame. Natalie cringes in my gaze.
"All right! I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being rude, I'm sorry for short-sheeting your bed, I'm sorry for making fun of your teddy slippers. Are we good now?" She says. Elliot's eyebrows rise, as if Natalie has never apologized before. "Um, sure." He says. Natalie pats the spot next to her, and Elliot sits down suspiciously. Natalie quickly grabs his stuffed bear, ignoring his protests, and looks it over. "Didn't mom make you give this away when you were like, 9?" "No." He says self-consciously, fidgeting. "Okay, okay. Not saying anything about it!" I smile at Elliot, and he relaxes a little bit before Natalie says, "Chelsea and I were just talking about the boys on the islands, weren't we, Chels?" I give her a wide eyed look. She wouldn't dare. "Did you know that Chelsea thinks you're charmi-" "That's it!" I shout, leaping over and covering her mouth with my hand. "Good night Elliot, it was so nice to see you, but we must be going to bed now." I say hurriedly. Elliot turns red, grabs his bear, and leaves without a second glance back.
"I can't believe you said that!" I whisper to her angrily. She bursts out into giggles, and I stare at her, outraged. "I'm sorry Chelsea, but your reaction was priceless!" I sigh, and my anger melts away, only to be replaced by a small laugh. Sure it was horrible, but despite that, we end up sitting on the floor, laughing our heads off. "You're so mean to him!" I complain. "Do you know how embarrassing that is? Not only to him, but to everyone?" Natalie fidgets. "I don't mean it seriously…" She mumbles. "But it's still pretty bad." I respond.
"I'm sorry." She says after a moment. I look at her crossly. "You shouldn't say that if you don't mean it." Natalie sighs and looks me in the eyes. "But I do mean it, Chelsea. I guess it's that I'm just jealous." She blushes and looks away. "Of Elliot? Or of me?" I ask, confused. She bites her lip. "Of both of you. I'm jealous that…you two like each other, and Pierre hardly even notices me." I freeze.
"What?" I ask, dumbfounded. Natalie squirms, then gets up and sits on her bed, trying to draw the attention away by combing her hair. "You heard it." "You mean Elliot likes me?" Natalie drops her brush and stares at me desperately, like I'm a kid who won't learn my ABC's no matter how many ways she tries to teach me. "Of course he does! Can't you tell?" I shake my head distantly, trying to take it in.
"So Chelsea?" She asks. I look up at her. "I really am sorry. And I promise I'll apologize to Elliot in the morning too. Okay?" I smile at her. "I know you are, Natalie; I forgive you. And you know what? I'm going to go talk to Pierre for you tomorrow." Natalie's eyes light up. "You wouldn't!" She whispers. I laugh, promise that I'm only kidding, and then she turns out the light.
"Good night Chels." She says softly. "Good night." I whisper back.