Never Fall For You

12

*Jason's P.O.V.*

“Well, congratulations, Jason. You have proved that it is, in fact, possible to be an even bigger dumbass than normal” I muttered to myself as I walked down the hallway.

Even without looking, I could tell that she was still staring at me. And I could only imagine that she still had that confused-as-hell expression on her face. I mean, in all honesty, I couldn’t blame her. If the roles were reversed, I would have been confused too. And here I was thinking that I was lucky Tyler was too sick to go to school this morning. That I would finally have the opportunity to talk to Kat without having to worry about him getting in the middle of it.

I sighed grumpily, scratching my head, and heading into my first class, trying to forget that embarrassing run-in with the girl I was trying to win over, but was more likely to have run away.

My classes passed by slowly, most likely due to my anxiousness. I’d long since given up fighting the way I’d been feeling lately - it only pissed me off. Instead, I gave in to the fact that the annoying little girl, with the wide, curious brown eyes that lived across the street, was the girl I wanted to be around the most. So, it only made sense, that when Hunter leaned over to me suddenly during third period, and whispered that Kat and Phee both would be coming over to his house after school for movie night, a sudden rush of excitement washed over me. I’d definitely have to be at Hunter’s house, then.

And then, of course, during lunch, she insisted on sitting between Phee and me. Not that I gave her much choice, I guess. Hunter was on Phee’s other side, so the only other seat next to Phee was also next to me. I don’t know, maybe my subconscious planned it that way.

I know she had to think I was a fucking freak, with the way I kept staring at her. But it was weird. I kept noticing little things about her that I had never noticed before. Like, when she smiled, the right side of her mouth curved up more than the left side. Or that she had freckles. And then, there were the things that I had noticed about her, and usually found annoying, but for some reason, now found them to be… well, cute. Like the way she talked with her hands a lot. And that her laugh was very warm and inviting.

“Do I have something on my face?”

I was taken aback by the abrupt question. I hadn’t even realized that she had been staring at me, staring at her. But, as I looked around our table, I began to realize that everyone was staring at me. Had I been staring that long?

I shook my head quickly, and grabbed my the lunch tray that was full of untouched food. I stood up quickly, dumped by trash, then mumbled a goodbye to everyone as I headed out of the cafeteria and to my next class.

I literally could have kicked my own ass as I walked down the hallway. Why was I doing this to myself? I liked it better when Kat just hated me, now she’s going to think I’m completely mental.

Not to mention, I talk to myself far too much.

“That’s it” I said, a lot louder than I meant. I looked around to make sure no one was looking at me weird, but I was alone in the hallway. “I’m going to tell her how I fell. Tonight” I finished quietly.

______________________________________________________ __________________

To top off the obnoxiousness of Hunter’s huge freaking house, his parents built an in-home theater on the back of the house. To say that it was big would be one of the largest understatements in history. A TV screen covered an entire wall of the room. And there were three sets of loveseats - one in the front, and then two side-by-side behind it. They also had a soda fountain on the side of the room, next to a popcorn maker.

I swear his parents are mob bosses, or something.

I couldn’t tell you what movie we were watching. All I know is that somehow, Kat and I got stuck in a love seat together, because Claire and Aaron were cuddled up on one, Phee and Hunter on another, so that left Kat and me with little other choice. As stubborn as she was, she wasn’t about to sit on the floor to avoid sitting next to me.

It must have been a scary movie, because after about the first thirty minutes, Kat was snuggled into me, covering her eyes with one hand, and she had the sleeve of my shirt balled up in her other hand. But when she caught me staring down at her, she moved quickly, and leaned against the arm of the loveseat on her side. After that, I turned my focus to something else, though I could see, out of the corner of my eye, that she kept stealing glances my way.

After the movie, everyone stretched, claiming they were tired. Aaron and Claire were the first ones to leave. Kat gave Aaron a quick hug goodbye, and a slight sense of jealousy came over me, but I shook it off quickly. After that, Phee and Hunter disappeared into the kitchen, so I was finally left with Kat alone.

“Soo…” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets, and rocking back on my heels. Kat was standing in front of the love seat that we’d just shared, stretching, and waiting for Phee to come back so that they could leave.

She let out a small yawn, before looking up at me, and saying “So… what?”

She looked annoyed. Then again, that wasn’t really unusual.

“Did you enjoy the movie?”

She looked up at me, one eyebrow raised. “Jason Hughes” she said, with a laugh. “Are you making small talk with me?”

I scratched my head. “I guess so.”

She rolled her eyes, and looked away from me. “I’m surprised” she said, after a moment. “I wasn’t sure you were capable of being civil.”

Ouch. Okay, I deserved that, I suppose.

I shrugged, looking at the floor. “You’ve never given me the opportunity to show you” I said.

She looked up at me, her brown eyes searching mine, and I couldn’t hold her gaze. I was afraid she’d see right through me.

“What-”

“Kat, I need to tell you something” I said, stepping closer to her. She looked confused, and, in turn, took a small step back. “I really li-”

“Katherine! Let’s gooooo!” Phee sang, as she came back into the room, Hunter on her heels.

I let out a breath, running my hand through my hair, and Kat looked away from me to smile at Phee.

“I’m gonna go” she said to me, and I nodded, waving as she walked over to Phee.

And then they were gone. And I flopped back down on the loveseat heavily, sighing.