Morning Valentines: Evan tag Brittany

[Evan Hughes]

He was going to comment on Brittany thinking jelly gross, rib her a bit for it, promise to serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner that night. But then, Evan realised, he didn’t like it either. Not on a peanut butter sandwich, that just spoilt a good thing. By itself, sure, he could devour a big thick wad of it on toast, especially the grape kind. So, he would lay off the teasing. At least in regards to PB & J sandwiches, everything else was open game. And he loved that, it was fun just to tease without worrying about offending her. She gave as good as she got. Sometimes better.

Laughing at both her excitement, though it was completely, completely understandable, and the unexpected hug, Evan slipped an arm tight around his girlfriend for a moment, returning it. Snakes were pretty awesome, it was good that someone else agreed with that. Plus, as Brit actually seemed to know stuff about snakes, whereas Evan didn’t know much except that they had scales, and the cool ones were the albino snakes, which Brit had told him in the first place, so it would be good to have her help with all the buying and stuff. Plus, going to get snakes, seemed like a cool idea for a date to him.

“How bout on the weekend sometime? It will give us more time to look around, get, you know, snake stuff. Plus, wouldn’t mind looking at some DVDs, been a couple of weeks at least since I’ve bought some new ones.” he laughed brightly. “Free all weekend, except Sun morn. Same as usual.” Every Sunday for the past month, and for at least the next one, Evan had been volunteering at the local nursing home. Well, his mum had ‘volunteered’ him would be the more correct term. Punishment for the fight he and Patch had gotten in last month. He still argued that it couldn’t be called a fight if he actually didn’t fight himself, but she wasn’t buying it. He didn’t mind too much though, some of the old people were cool. And seeing how he had actually done worse, as in burning a house down worse, he considered himself as getting off lightly. Evan been steering clear of Jessica since their clash in the cafeteria, and things had been quiet on her front. Which made him nervous. She had seemed pretty angry then, he didn’t think she would let things go that easy, even besides the mad letter Patch and he had wrote to her. “Besides then, I’m all yours.”

[Brittany Barnes]

"Yeah, this weekend works. I don't really have too many plans either..." she said although he knew that because anymore he was one of the first to know when she did have plans. "And yeah, I know not Sunday--that's why I scheduled band practices for Sunday afternoons," she said with a laugh. It had made sense anyway since everyone was usually free on Sundays and that way they got a good practice in before headed to the bowling alley for their on-going Sunday night performance.

"Really though, it sucks that you still have to do that--the fight was like forever ago and that Jessica girl is back at Silver," Brittany said. "So double she'll attack you again." Brittany still wasn't completely clear on the happenings of the fight. She knew that Evan must have done something to Jessica to invoke that sort of wrath. Evan said he had no idea what he did, which she did believe, but shes was sure there was something he did even if he wasn't aware of it.

"Want to do it Saturday then?" she asked. She wasn't really sure what 'snake stuff' entailed and why you'd have to look around for it, but she supposed it was always good to have options. However, she was pretty sure that 'snake stuff' was rather basic...you'd need a cage and a light, something to layer the cage with...some mice to feed them with. You could buy the pinkies which were the baby nice that were already dead and frozen which Brit would have preferred even if the knew the snakes liked getting the live mice better--she'd read up on it. Evan had offered to feed the live mice to the snakes but Brit knew she wouldn't be able to watch it because she thought that mice were cute and she'd end up wanting to keep them as pets too. But if Evan could feed them, she figured that she could just not watch or something since she knew the snakes would like the live mice better anyway.

"Might want to go DVD shopping before snake shopping though, because I doubt the pet store will might if you have DVDs in there but the other stores might mind if we walk in with snakes," she giggled.

[Evan Hughes]

Band practices were the time Evan avoided Brittany completely, wanting to give her, and the guys to a smaller extent, some time to themselves. Besides, it gave him and Patch a good chance to get up to their usual mayhem, time spent with his friend was pretty much always guaranteed to be funny. He had been to the bowling alley a couple of times though to see The Rioters play. He could be biased, but he thought they were pretty good. And watching the gig gave him the opportunity to stay a bit after closing with them, and act like the big kid he not so secretly was. Anyone who didn’t want to play, or at least watch and find funny, human bowling had to be pretty boring, according to him. And the last time, he only banged his head up a little, so it was all good.

“Nah, not too bad, don’t mind. Besides, could have been worse. Could have been grounded, like Patch was. Then, how would you have coped with loss of Evan time? Don’t think you could of, Brit.” he teased, very glad that Jessica was far, far away, well, Silver was far-ish. “You’ve gotta come with me though one weekend. Wheelchair races, can’t so no to that. And the old dudes would love you.”

“Ah, my girlfriend’s a smart one.” he laughed brightly, winking at her as he squeezed gently on the hip underneath his hand. “DVDs first, then snakes. Though, you gotta admit, it would be pretty funny to go around with some snakes, scare everyone. I’m all yours Saturday then.” He couldn’t wait, even since Brittany first brought up the idea, he had been really keen on getting a few of them. “And on the way back to my place, we can stop at your house if you like. Show off our ‘babies’ to the step-bitch. She would like them, I reckon.”

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany nodded as he talked about the nursing home. She didn't mind old people per say, but she didn't really see how it could be fun either. However, if he liked it, then who was she to judge. "Yeah...what would I do without Evan time," she teased, rolling her eyes. Personally she thought that Patch had gotten off easy. Sure he'd been grounded for a bit but now it was over, while Evan was still paying for it. All and all, Patch had probably put in less time than Evan. But wheelchair races...really? "I'd be down for that," she said with a grin when he mentioned them. "That might actually be worth it." Although she didn't quite agree that the old people that loved her. Even her own grandparents liked to comment on her hair color choices, telling her she could be such a pretty girl if she let her hair be blonde and wore skirts more and crap like that. So, she doubted the those in the nursing home would be much better.

She smiled when he called her his girlfriend. It had been awhile now since they were official, but she still liked the sound of it. After all, she hadn't been anyone's girlfriend really for a long time before she met Evan. She had been so used to being treated like one of the guys that she had been starting to think that she'd never be anything but. The fact that Evan had seen her as more than just a tomboy...well it was really cool and it didn't hurt that he was pretty awsome himself, and cute, that didn't hurt either.

"I would love to show the snakes to Alyson," Brittany said with a laugh. After all, she couldn't stand her step-sister. "But need to make sure my mom isn't home. The whole reason she'd never let me have them is because they freak her out and although my mom is usually pretty cool...probably not a good idea to freak her out," Brit said. For the most part Brittany had always been pretty close with her mother. After all, after her dad peaced out, it had just been Brit and her mom for a good 6 years before her step-dad and come into the picture. Brit knew that she and her mother didn't agree on everything, but she usually tried to be mindful of her mother's wishes even when they didn't agree--mostly because her mom hadn't been the one to abandon her. "But if we can't freak out the ugly step-sister with the snakes, we'll have to find another way to get her," she smirked.

[Evan Hughes]

“Told ya! It’s great fun! There’s this one guy there, I call him Rocket cause he always beats me. He’s pretty cool, I told him all about you. He wants to meet you. But I better watch him, don’t trust him for a second. He’ll try to steal you away. Can’t blame him for it though.” Evan laughed. “Or you if you go for him. Like I said, he’s a cool dude. Fought in a war and everything. Got some wicked scars too, loves to show ‘em off. Just don’t ask him to show you, cause he will. He’ll show you them all, and some of them are in places you don’t want to see. Trust me, I speak from experience.” he shuddered teasingly at the thought.

“Yeah, I’m all for not freaking your mum out.” Evan agreed. He liked Brittany’s mum, the few times he had seen her anyway when he came to pick Brit up. She seemed pretty cool, and he wanted to stay on her good side anyway. So, no snakes near her, too easy. “I don’t get how snakes could freak anyone out though, I mean, come on, they’re awesome!”

He grinned at the thought of Alyson freaking out over the snakes, which made him even more keen on doing it. Nothing personal, not really. Well, maybe a little, but he mainly wanted to do it for the pure entertainment of it all, and she was a convenient target. “Well, if your mum is home, we can always try to think of a way to get the brat outside. If not, sure, it’s on! Got plenty of ideas in this handsome noggin of mine.” He laughed. “Besides, don’t have siblings of my own to tease and prank, so I’m happy to borrow yours and Patch’s.”

Speaking of Brittany’s mum reminded him of his own, and he sighed loudly, stopping for a moment as the balloon bobbed in the air. “Almost forgot. Mum was kinda...well, nagging me about you coming over for dinner one night, with the two of us. I know, I know, but you’re the first girl I’ve been serious about for a while, and she reckons it’ll be nice. What do ya reckon?”

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany laughed as Evan went on about the wheelchair racing and the old people. He seemed to be actually enjoying this punishment and he was probably doing a good thing by going over there, so it was probably all for the best. The wheelchair races did sound awesome, but Brit still wasn't completely convinced. "I'd have to reschedule band practice," she pointed out, "but maybe I'll come sometime...we'll see...but if I do, the wheelchair race is so on," she said, emphasizing that part. After all, that would be pretty fun and Brit was always up for crazy ideas like that.

Brittany nodded when he agreed freaking out her mom was a bad idea. After all, her mom liked Evan thus far and didn't want to ruin that. She thought he was a little strange--mostly because the first time they met he'd been dressed head-to-toe in orange, but it was pretty obvious that both her and Brit had the same sense of what was fun and cool and what wasn't, so she liked that her daughter had found someone so fitting. "I know--I don't get it either. I love snakes but I guess a lot of people are afraid of them. At least she isn't afraid of dogs," Brit pointed out. That would be a disaster.

"Yeah...or we can find a way to get them into the house without my mom seeing them. We'll have to work it out. I don't really know how Alyson feels about snakes, but she's like really prissy so I bet she'll be scared of them. I'll have to mention snakes around her sometime and see how she reacts," Brittany said with a grin. "Yeah, well personally I wish I was still an only child," Brittany said, after all she'd only had Alyson around since Christmas, "but yeah, at least she's good to prank. We'll have to think of something good to get her with because she's totally a bitch and deserves it." She didn't really know Patch's brother, but imagined it would be pretty funny to prank him as well. Patch seemed way cooler than his twin anyway.

"Oh..." Brittany said when he mentioned dinner with his mom. "Sure. If she wants to do dinner...that would be fine." Truth be told, Brit wasn't completely sure about the whole idea. Yeah, she supposed they were getting sort of serious...there was no denying that, but she wasn't really sure how to act around parents. Some parents were cool with her while others disliked her for what seemed like no reason but that she was a little off-beat. But Evan's mom had seemed cool with her thus-far and if it was her idea for the dinner it meant that she probably didn't dislike her. It would probably be fine, Brit decided. "When does she want to do it?" Brittany asked, knowing that his mom seemed to work late a lot.

[Evan Hughes]

“It’s on? You better bring it Brit, just cause you’re cute, doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you now.” Evan teased, imagining him and Brittany racing around the halls of the nursing home in a couple of wheelchairs. It was just a shame there wasn’t any big hills near the place, now, that would be fun to race down. “I admit, I seem to be better at falling off then the actual racing part, but still, that’s pretty impressive in itself.”

“Hey, it’s don’t forget, it is us you’re talking about here. Of course we’re gonna come up with a mad idea!” he helpfully reminded his girlfriend. “We’ll get her good. Maybe mess with her clothes or something, dye them all black?” He figured girls like Alyson would be real fussy with their clothes, so he figured messing them up would get a pretty funny reaction. “It’s a shame, cause it’ll mess up her room too much and I don’t won’t to get on your mum’s bad side, but it would have been funny to leave one of the pigs from our future cheerleader prank in her room. Could have set up a camera to catch her screaming. It’ll mean she’d hate me forever, but...” he sighed dramatically, “I guess that’s the price I’d have to pay.

“Oh, speaking of, gotta get everyone together who wants to join in the Great Cheerleader Prank of 2008 soon and we can put it in action next practice, or maybe next game. Think I’ve just about tracked down a few pigs for us to use. Can also can a few chickens, a sheep, and there’s no goat, but I can get a llama.” He couldn’t wait, it would be some of his best work, so far. And it was going on YouTube for sure. He still mourned having to take the footage of the burning house down. “I know what you’re thinking. You can’t believe that you could be dating someone this smart and devious, not to mention, ruggedly handsome. But it’s true, it’s true.” Evan managed to get out, looking completely serious.

“Not for a little while.” Evan shrugged, thinking that he sensed some hesitation in Brit’s answer. He couldn’t blame her, if the situation was reversed and he went to her parents place for dinner, well her mum’s and the step-dad’s, he knew it was just about one of the only things that could make him nervous. But his mum was cool, in his eyes anyway. “She’s still rostered on night shift for another couple of weeks. She just started work on nagging me early.” he laughed. “So no need to worry Brit, our date nights you’ll have me all to yourself for a bit more still yet. I can tell you’re relieved by that.” he teased, affectionately kissing her cheek.

[Brittany Barnes]

"Oh it's so on," Brittany agreed. Okay, maybe she hadn't quite agreed to go to the nursing home with him yet, but knowing Evan, he'd find a way to get her there and as long as there was wheelchair racing, she was sure it would be a good time, even if it was a bunch of old people. Who knew, maybe they would be cooler than her grandparents. Maybe they wouldn't try to tell her she'd be so much prettier if she wore more makeup, changed her clothes, and had her natural hair color. All that stuff was way overrated to Brit anyway. She kind of liked how she looked and Evan seemed to like the way she looked too, so she couldn't really complain. She raised her eyebrows when he mentioned falling, "Now that sounds like fun," she agreed. "Can you take the wheelchair down the stairs or anything?" she asked. Okay, maybe that was a bad idea, but it sounded like it could be fun....even if it probably was a little dangerous.

"Of course!" Brittany smiled, she couldn't wait to see what they came up with for Alyson. Hmmm dying her clothes black would be funny...but also it would ruin her wardrobe and well, Brit knew that her step-dad had money, but they still weren't rich exactly. Replacing a whole wardrobe would still be a big expense, and Brittany really didn't want to end up paying for it. And the pig idea, while funny, could mess up the house. "Maybe we can find something with an easier clean up factor," she suggested. She got really excited when he said he'd tracked down the pigs. It seemed like they'd been waiting to do this prank forever! "Yay!" she said, jumping up in the air. "This is going to be ah-mazing! I agree--we should totally assemble a team. I bet Patch will be in and I bet Mal would agree to film it," she said, "and I bet the guys would be up for it too," she said, speaking of her band. "Really too bad about the goat though," she said. "But still, pigs and chickens will be awesome," she nodded, being optomistic about it. She'd really wanted to goat only because apparently they would eat anything and she thought it would be funny when it started to try and eat all of the cheerleaders clothes and whatnot.

"Well, I guess I'm just lucky," she smirked when he started talking himself up. "Didn't think I could ever land a guy that great," she joked, letting him build up his ego. It was kind of funny when he said stuff like that anyway. Or at least she thought so. Had he been serious at all, she probably would have thought he was cocky and annoying like the popular kids who really did think they were that great but she knew he was just kidding. Sure he was confident and she liked that about him, but there was a difference between that and being downright arrogant. Brittany hated arrogant people, mostly because they tended to be the really rich and popular kids who acted like they were better than everyone else.

"Oh, okay," Brit said with a smile, glad she had time before the big dinner. She was sort of surprised her own mother hadn't requested anything like that yet. Then again she had asked a few times if Evan was staying for dinner when he was going to come over. Brit had always said no, but maybe that was her code for wanting to have dinner with the boy. Brit was close enough with her mom that she figured she could just go ahead and ask her. "You...all to myself," she said, as if it she was really disappointed, "and I was so hoping your mom could join us--I thought she could sit in-between us and hold the popcorn," she said, still feigning disappointment. "Too bad," she added, shaking her head.

[Evan Hughes]

At Brittany’s question, Evan shook his head, suddenly looking very serious. “No, we can’t do that. It’s too risky, someone could get seriously hurt.” The unusual expression for him was very quickly replaced by his usual grin, and he nodded enthusiastically. “Did it during my second day there. Rocket loved it! Lined me up at the top, he gave me a little push and I went flying! Sure, it was straight into the wall below, but I got some serious air time while I was at it!” he laughed brightly. “Course, some of the nurses weren’t too happy when they saw the little dent in the wall I left, but everyone denied knowing what did it, so it’s all good. It’s not really my fault though, it is a pretty mad staircase, real steep. If you come, I’ll do it again, get you to film me.”

“Alright, I’ll try to think of something funny, but with zero mess. Though, mess and fun kinda go together.” he smiled, looking forward to the challenge. Plus, not that he would admit it, but in his logic he thought that annoying her step-sister would impress Brittany, so he would make sure whatever prank he pulled was a classic one. Maybe something to do with the fact that Alyson seemed to think everyone should love her. It was a shame he only thought about it now, but a Valentine’s prank would have been hilarious.

“Yeah, that’s some luck you’ve got there Brit.” Evan continued to tease, winking at the girl by his side. He counted himself the lucky one, not that he would come clean on it. But Brittany was cute, funny, got his sense of humour, had mad movie taste, not to mention, really cute. “It just worked out well for you that I have a massive thing for hot band girls. Like, really big. I mean, before I met you, I was even thinking about going to one of the school football games, and checking out the band girls there. Lucky you got in first.”

“That’s cute, Brit, real cute.” Evan smirked, playfully banging on her hip softly with his own. “Yep, you’re just going to have to put up with me. I’ll try not to bore you too much, and I’ll make sure I don’t fail you in my popcorn holding duties. I’ll even keep the bowl in my lap.” he laughed loudly. “But, if that really sounds unappealing to you, I can try to find someone else to tag along. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Alyson will be free.”

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany gave him a look when he suddenly got serious. She didn't believe him one bit--mostly because Evan was rarely serious, at least when it came to things like rolling down stairs or anything crazy like that. "Yeah, that's what I though," she smirked when he admitted to already trying it. "Does that mean I can't do it? Maybe since there is already a mark on the wall no one will notice if I make another one," she suggested, although she didn't really want to risk getting caught and Evan getting in trouble. Plus, if going there was his punishment for the fight she couldn't imagine what his punishment would be if he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to at the nursing home.

"Sounds like a plan, I mean yeah messy is fun but I really don't want to spend all my paychecks replacing clothes or furniture. Let's go for an easier clean up mess...maybe involving food or goo or something--you know you can make goo with this borax cleaning stuff and glue...or with cornstarch and water, but that one dries up a lot faster but it's also a lot messier," she explained. It was things she'd learned at summer camp when she was a kid. "I'm not sure what we could do with it, but I haven't made any since I was like 8 or 9...and it was mad fun." A Valentine's Day prank on Alyson was the last thing on Brit's mind, unless it involved rigging her locker so when she opened it chocolate went flying at her face, Brit smiled at the thought.

"Some, luck I got, huh?" she said. "I dunno...I mean this morning I was looking for a cute guy and ended up with you...I don't think that's so lucky," she teased. "Oh, band girls," she went on, "I guess I should let you know that I heard Britney Spears is single--she kind of sings, if you can call it that, and her name is also Britney--she spells it weird, but she's from like the sticks or something so we can blame that on her parents," she said. "But you should really consider giving her a call...or maybe that Hannah Montana girl...I think she's actually like our age, not 13 and she kind of pretends to be a rocker instead of a popstar," Brittany pointed out. "Yeah...I think that might be all I know about pop culture, so I'm out of ideas after that. When it comes to me, I'm still holding out for that cute guy I was looking for this morning," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Or the Jonas brothers," she added, "or did they already come out of the closet? I'm telling you, you'd be surprised by the amount of things I've learned from Alyson leaving US Weekly's and Teen People in the bathroom," Brittany laughed.

"Okay, I'll give you a chance though, but if you drop even one piece of popcorn..." she shook her head as if it would be serious. "Oh...this is my class," she said, suddenly stopping. She smiled and stood on her toes to give him a kiss. "See ya later," she said.

Wrapped for Brit