Mack, 15/ Steven, 16
Son of a Bitch. He stood me up, Jared really didn't come and didn't as much as cared for calling me to tell me he wouldn't make it. Asshole.
I try to hold back my tears, but I can't. Oh lord, I really liked him and now here I am sitting in the benches behind the mall trying hard not to sob while the tears fall down my face.
I feel awful, dumb, stupid. I was played and I fell like a baby on his game. Again. Steven was right, Jared was leading me on after all. My phone rings and I exhale a breath of relief when I see Steven's name. I pick up the phone not caring if he'll notice my muffled sobs.
"Where are you?" He asks straightforward. Yep, he definitely knows. Shame creeps in, my face blushing at the humiliation I'm going through right now. It sucks. I want to hide in my bedroom and never talk to a boy again. But this is Steven. My best friend. So I have no choice but to answer him.
"Meet me behind the mall, Stevie," I say holding back another sob, ignoring the wall of tears covering my eyes. I can practically hear Steven's jaw snapping when he says, "On my way."
He's there after 10 minutes, standing next to the passenger seat door when I run crying to his familiar arms. Steven holds me until my sobs stop coming where my head hides on his chest. He kisses my forehead and opens the door for me, "come on, get in."
We drive in silence for a few minutes until I finally say, with my voice hoarse from crying, "where are we going?" He puts his eyes on me from the passenger seat, his eyes are calming, filled with tenderness and a spark of desire and love. Our eyes lock and suddenly something happens inside me, my stomach turns, my heartbeats raising. Steven's gaze falls to my opened lips and up to my eyes, my skin scorching with his attentively gaze. I kill the stare first, cleaning my throat as he moves his eyes back to the windshield.
I must be imagining things. "Let's just drive," he says at last, killing the tension inside the car. Brief and direct. That's fine by me.
40 minutes later we pull up at his family's house in laguna beach and he just picks me up bridal style before coming inside the house, the salt air filling my nostrils as Steven opens the front rusty door.
He lies me down at the couch and turns on the door lights, so the living room is filled with a dim light. It's comfortable, and suddenly I'm too aware of him. His scent, his strong arms picking me up and the heartbreaks I've been through the last few months, because the boys I pick are never right for me, and somehow he always knows. As if he's reading my thoughts, Steven stares at me from the threshold, narrowing his eyes.
He sits next to me with his guitar in hands and starts playing a soft melody as I lay my head on his shoulders and just enjoy the moment. He starts singing softly "kiss me" by Ed Sheeran, one of my favorite singers, until he suddenly stops and looks down at me, those dark mesmerizing eyes that seem to always look through me wakes shivers on my skin. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks quietly.
I sit up, combing my hair with my fingers. "What is there to talk about? You were right again, Steven. He was leading me on, just like Travis and Mike. I just don't get it. I am fated to heartbreak apparently. It's exhausting, and I'm officially giving up on boys for good. For now on, I'll focus on my clothing line and nothing else." I speak of that in a fast tone and when I'm finished, breathless, Steven looks at me with his eyebrows raised in mockery.
"Well, well, looks like I didn't need to give my pep speech after all. Glad you know your worth, someday you'll find a guy who deserves you and would do anything for you, someone who will treat you like the goddess you are. And sometimes, that person is right next to you and you can't even see it. Just think about it. Though I'm totally up for the Brooke Davis philosophy there, focus on clothes not on bros," he says joking. A weird glimpse on his face, that looks quite a lot like sadness comes and goes faster than I can process before his mouth stretches into a smirk.
And I can't help but laugh over the one tree hill reference. But I also can't help looking at him. Finally noticing him for real. A boy. A handsome, hot boy, caring, loving, that would do anything for me. My best friend....maybe more. Could my best friend be the guy I've been looking for all along?
With his guitar in hands and his signature grin, Steven starts singing and playing "everything has changed" by Ed sheeran and Taylor Swift. I lean on his shoulder, smiling softly as his husky voice makes me savor on the moment and close my eyes, ignoring my thumping heart and stomach filled with butterflies.
"All I knew
This morning when I woke
Is I know something now
Know something now I didn't before
And all I've seen
Since eighteen hours ago
Is green eyes and freckles and your smile
In the back of my mind making me feel like..."
His soft melody drives me to sleep peacefully. And I feel it, and I know he does it too, that night everything changed.
YOU ARE READING
Burning desire
RomanceMackenzie never thought she would see the face of the boy who broke her heart two years ago again, but when he's a rockstar it's hard to forget about it. One concert is all Mack and Steven need so their paths can cross again. The thing is, could th...
