Proposal Week

Five: Feeling Dejected But Glad

|Thursday|

I woke up facing Lucas. There was a small smile on his face as he stared at me. "You're awake." He grinned and reached out, brushing the short hairs away from my face.

"Do you have morning classes, today? I forget."

"No. I just have an afternoon class but no swim practice." He grinned and pulled me close to his chest.

"Why did I hear you telling Libby that you didn't like him like he likes you?" I tensed before relaxing.

"I wasn't listening to what was in my heart." I murmured, and he kissed the top of my head playfully.

"That's not a good idea." I looked up and giggled.

"I know. But when I did, I got you." I gripped his shirt in my fists and pulled his lips down to mine.

~

"Time for lunch." I muttered, rolling over and staring at the clock. We had only been laying in his bed for twenty minutes, but I was starving.

He laughed as my stomach growled, and we ventured into his kitchen where he sat me down at his bar and started to make food for us.

I looked down at my lap and suddenly realized that I was in one of Lucas' baseball t-shirts and a pair of his Tristan Uni basketball shorts.

"Did you change me?" I asked, looking up at him with shock written across my face.

"Yeah, but I shut my eyes when I did it."

"So you could have touched me." His back stiffened.

"I was careful." He whispered. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed his shoulder that I could barely reach since he's so tall.

"I know you would be." I murmured, and he relaxed.

~

I returned to my room around 10 and found Libby hurrying to leave for her next class.

"Where were you?" She asked, rushing around as she ate her breakfast.

"With Lucas." She stopped and looked at me.

"I know that voice. You can't be serious." I blushed and turned away.

"He kissed me." I murmured, and she came around to face me.

"What happened to not liking him like he likes me?" She asked, lowering her voice as we talked.

"I don't know. I mean, I've had a lot going on that I just didn't realize." Libby sighed and assuaged her temples.

"Don't hurt Tally." She muttered before grabbing her bag and leaving.

"We're not even dating. He never asked me out or anything." I said even though I knew she wouldn't hear me.

I went over to the piano and sat down. I carefully opened the lid and ran my fingers across the keys lightly before starting to play a song from a book I had used back in 7th grade. I let loose and played my best, focusing on only the music running through my veins.

Once I had gone through all of the songs in the book, I came to a close.

I don't like like Lucas. We're friends. I love that we're friends and nothing more. I'm not ready for that kind of commitment.

I have to speak to him.

I quickly got ready for my day and grabbed my school bag before running downstairs and stopping at the front desk where his mom poured over her work at the computer, his dad flipped through files, and Lucas dealt with a customer.

I sidled up behind the customer and took my turn when they left.

"I need to tell you something." I lowered my voice. "We can't be together. Sorry, wrong wording. I don't want to be with you. I love that we're friends, and that's it. I don't want to go further than that with you. I realized that all I feel for you is friendship." I felt my heart break inside as I saw the heartbroken look on his face.

"I get it. You still like him. It's fine. I'll get over you." He pressed a kiss to my temple, pushing me away softly before turning away, but not without me seeing the tears building in his eyes.

I left for campus, feeling dejected but glad that I got that covered. Hopefully Tally will be okay. No promises though.

I was walking down the sidewalk when a basketball player came tumbling my way and knocked me over into the snow, making me shiver.

"Dude, you just knocked Ryla Walters over! Here, he-here, let me help you up. You're too pretty to be outside and in the snow." A tan hand was stuck in my face as the black basketball player rolled off of me. I stood up on my own and brushed myself off.

"You weigh a lot more than you look, Jeremy, and thank you, Joshua." I commented to the boy who toppled me over.

He shrugged and hopped up. "Nah, my momma says I'm doing fine."

"If you want to be fat." I mocked his voice before heading to my class, hearing the basketball players 'ooohhh' at my comeback.

I sat down and slumped against the desk, ignoring Shyanne who had just sat down. Her cheeks were pink, and I could tell she was winded.

"I dislike Joshua Bambino so much." She muttered under her breath as she set her things down.

I'm guessing she ran into the basketball team like I did.

"He's actually really sweet."

"You just said that because he's big, blue eyes' best friend." She hissed in my direction, sounding a lot like her pet snake.

"Nope." Then, I noticed the ring on her finger.

"Who's that from?" I asked.

"You'd never believe me." She smirked, an odd expression from her, but I decided to ignore it and turned to pay attention to my professor as they entered the room.

~

After class, Shyanne and I met up with our group of friends and headed out for lunch, a rarity that everyone can join. I guess you could also call it a welcome-home-Shyanne lunch so that also works.

I was kind of silent during the entire thing. It just now occurred to me that everyone in our group of friends had been proposed to...except me. I felt a little hurt, and my mind began to wonder, cooking up situations.

The day seemed shorter than the rest and less eventful. It was nothing compared to the days before.

I went back to the apartment and found a bouquet of flowers awaiting one of us in front of our door to our apartment.

I picked them up and took them in. I unwrapped the flowers and put them in a vase before tossing the wrapping in the trash can.

I headed back out to the streets for a little bit of shopping for moving out to California.

~

That night, I laid in bed thinking about how almost everyone on campus had been proposed to. Then there was me, Little-Miss-Lonely. I sport no ring on my left index finger.

Again, my mind wondered until I fell asleep. I was exhausted despite my uneventful day.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The song to the side/at the beginning of the chapter is Loud by R5. The picture to the side/at the beginning of the chapter is Hailee Steinfeld as Shyanne Carter.

I know this is not my best work and is a very short chapter, but I couldn't really make it any longer without talking or giving useless information. We're almost to the climax of the story. Watch out for the next chapter! It has been worked on very hard.

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