We Have A Lot In Common: I'm Hot, You're Hot-Let's Date!

Chapter 3: Confusion

Chapter 3: Confusion

Nothing had changed by the time the school bell rang at the end of the day. After Kale blatantly shut me down during lunch right in front of the oh-so-great Chloe McKinnon herself, I avoided any contact with him for the remainder of the day. I felt so embarrassed over my exposed lie of him and me having a thing over the summer just as soon as I finished telling it, that I left the cafeteria almost immediately afterwards. I hadn’t meant any harm by my lie, I just really wanted a shot with Kale. But now, it doesn’t matter. Because here I am now, standing in front of my locker, with blisters forming on the backs of my feet from my new heels, an unusually low self-confidence, and no idea which books I need for homework. I stare blankly into the random assortment of books… This is why I should have been paying attention in class instead of worrying over him.

“You’ll need your US gov, precalc, and your physics books,” a friendly voice says from behind me.

I turn around to meet the smiling face of Noah. He flips his shaggy hair out of his eyes and grabs my books for me.

“Thanks,” I mumble, taking my books.

“Welcome,” he gives me a small pinch in the side.

“Can you not?” I snap, a little too viciously. Can’t he see I’m miserable? As nice as he is being, I really am not in the mood. Today was a total letdown. He takes a step back.

“Sorry, your majesty.” He gives a sarcastic bow and turns around to leave.

“Noah, I-” I’m about to stop him but I just let him go. I have nothing to say to him anyways.

My locker slams shut, but the noise is swallowed by the chatter and congestion in the hallways, as everybody is getting their books and meeting up with friends, and underclassmen are running around frantically trying to make it to sport’s practices on time. Yup. Welcome to high school, I think sarcastically, in which the only way to get noticed is to make yourself noticeable.

Before I realize it, Carly and Maddy are on each side of me. I greet them normally, as I would any day, as if I’m not feeling awful, and we continue walking down the hall.

“First day back and Mr. Mathewson already hits us with a pop quiz. What’s up with that?” Maddy asks.

“As if he thinks any of us would actually read over the summer,” Carly snorts.

“Yeah! And it wasn’t even like the quiz was that easy. I even read it and still didn’t get some of them,” Maddy turns to me. “What did you think, Liv?”

That’s when I notice Kale hovering over Chloe McKinnon at her locker like some bee over a newly blossomed flower. My teeth grind together. What the hell does she have that I don’t? Without noticing, my pace slows down as I walk by. It’s pathetic, the way he stands next to her, his hand resting on a locker so casually for support, and he spews out his overused come-ons. He looks desperate. Then it hits me- is that what I looked like to him?

I feel sick.

“Olivia?” Carly’s voice snaps me back into reality.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. What were we talking about again?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Fine. If that’s how you’re gonna be…” I hear Kale say to presumably Chloe.

Oh, give me a break! I nearly want to say. But I keep myself straight, and make my way to the glass double-doors at the end of the hallway.

“Hey, Olivia, wait up!” A voice calls from behind.

No way.

I spin around too fast, as I feel my skirt nearly fly up. My cheeks changes to a dull pink, and whether it’s from my skirt, or from the fact that it was Kale who called my name, I don’t know. All that I know, is that I’m staring into the eyes of the hottest boy in school and that any doubting thoughts I ever had vanished.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Want me to drive you home? We never got a chance to finish talking earlier.”

“Sure!” I smile. I turn to Carly and Maddy, “I’ll meet up with you guys later, kay?”

“Alright! See ya later.” Maddy waves.

“You better. And don’t spare the details,” Carly whispers in my ear then leaves with Maddy with a wink.

Kale slides his arm around my waist and throws a glance back over his shoulder. I look, too, to see what he was looking at, only to meet the awing stare of Chloe McKinnon. Her mouth gaped open at first but then snapped shut in what seemed to be frustration. Yeah, that’s right, I think, look who ended up with him after all. I can’t help but feel my smile growing on my cheeks.

“I’m parked in the back, hope you don’t mind a bit of a walk,” Kale says.

“It’s no problem. After an entire day of walking in heels, I think I can last a few more minutes.”

I catch Kale looking down. “You should wear heels more often. They make you look hot.”

On the word ‘hot,’ he pulls me closer to him, playfully. I giggle and nearly lose my balance, but I only half-trip into him, mockingly clumsily, too. I feel comfortable and secure with him so close. With his arm around me, I can feel his strength, yet he’s so gentle with me. I love it.

We reach his black sports car (I wouldn’t be able to give you the name-I’ve never really been all that into cars) and he opens the passenger door for me. He is just way too sweet, my heart thunders against my ribs. He gets into the driver’s seat and we start off through the parking lot back to my house. As we pull out, I catch a glimpse of Noah, who seems to be just catching a glimpse at me when we drove by. He looks somewhat confused and I immediately break away and face my attention back to Kale. After I give him directions to my house, we fall into a short-lived silence.

“So,” I hum, “you wanted to finish talking?”

“Yeah,” he steals a glance at me. “What were you talking about with me earlier?”

“You forgot already?” I tease.

“You can’t blame me,” he offers a smile. “It’s hard to pay attention when I’m talking to a girl as good looking as you. It gets distracting.”

“I could say the same to you,” I flirt back. Looks as if I got my confidence back. “Anyways, I was thinking that you and I could catch a movie or something this weekend.”

“This weekend?”

“Yeah, there are supposed to be like three new movies coming out Friday, you can take your pick.”

“Actually,” he says, “Friday there’s supposed to be a party at my boy, Ty’s, house. You know, that whole ‘parents are outta town’ thing.”

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I mentally knock myself in the head. I knew that there was a party Friday! Hell, Ty went out of his way to invite me last week. How could I forget something like that?

“Oh of course!” I laugh it off, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “It totally slipped my mind. I’ll be going to that. So then, what about Saturday?”

“Saturday… Saturday,” he mutters under his breath. “I’ll check my schedule.”

Before I even have the chance to say ‘great,’ he starts talking again.

“Which house is yours?” he asks.

“That one!” I point a few houses ahead. “The one with the blue car in the driveway.”

He pulls into my driveway and I step out of the car and saying thanks.

“Hey!” he shouts, opening his door.

I turn around to face him.

“I don’t even get a kiss goodbye?”

I crack a smile. Of course you do. He walks up to me and places one hand on my cheek as the other one winds its way around my waist, pulling my against him. His lips softly brush against mine, lingering there for a second. I can practically hear my heart beating, it’s racing so fast! He gently pulls away from me, with a small smile dancing on the corners of his lips, and he turns around, keys spinning around his finger, to his car.