Badass Cinderella

Chapter 31 - We're good, I'll handle him.

Cindy's P.O.V:

Okay, this is not a big deal, you can do this. I tell myself as I make my way over to Luca with the intention of starting a conversation with him, to re-connect our friendship, which has recently been lost in awkwardness and caution.

The person Luca is talking to, laughs, nods and then walks away, and Luca turns away. Good, even more convenient. I walk up to him.

"Hey." I say to him. At first he looks surprised, then he frowns slightly, as if confused. Of course, he must be confused as to why and how I'm suddenly talking to him, after days of avoiding him.

"Cindy... Hi. You look....gorgeous." He says slowly. I smile wide in return.

"Thanks, Andrews." I say confidently. "You look pretty good too, never thought you could rock a suit so well."

That gets a chuckle out of him, and he stands up straighter. "You underestimate me, Walker."

I grin in response and then we fall silent. Its slightly uncomfortable, as he's probably thinking why did I avoid him and why am I talking to him now, and I haven't thought of how to keep the conversation going. So, I decide to just be direct with him, I can't think of any other approach.

"Okay, I know we haven't talked in a while and I haven't really been trying to do so." I say. "I know you did, and I'm sorry about all of that. I just....I had my reasons. Okay, maybe the way I acted wasn't the best, but someone helped me decide that it won't really be cool to lose a friend, right? And of course you must have missed me, Andrews, how could I have deprived you of my wonderful existence?" I try to turn the mood into a joking one instead of tensed, and he rolls his eyes, snickering.

"Oh, how can I thank you, I was absolutely pining  to see your face." His tone is full of sarcasm, though not harsh. "May I ask what reasons you had?"

"Oh, that, um..." I trail away, looking at my feet awkwardly, not sure if I should tell him that I was unsure about feeling slightly attracted to him, and I was still upset over the fact that he did indeed have a player kind of reputation and he could be the same with me, specially after I overheard him talking to his mother. Even though he told me the whole story, I couldn't ignore his habits of charming and playing girls. However, I decided to stay friends at least, even if it was a stupid decision, because I also couldn't deny that he was a good friend.

"Cindy, seriously, is everything alright?" He asks me softly, getting serious. "Is everything okay at home? Something about your sisters?"

"Oh no." I shake my head quickly. "Nothing like that."

"You sure? Though I don't see why you avoid me if that were the case, since you have been avoiding me...ever since you heard me talking to my mom and that misunderstanding happ-wait a minute. Cindy, are you serious?! " He exclaims with wide eyes and I can tell by his expression that he has connected the dots. I say nothing as I look around, avoiding his gaze while biting my lower lip.

"Cindy..."

"Hey, you can't blame me. I couldn't help the thoughts, they weren't really false." I say quietly, but he catches the words.

"Oh come on!" He complains as his frown gets deeper. "Cindy, I explained everything to you. I put out the whole true story in front of you!"

"I know you, I know, but-"

"If you still think I'm playing with you, then I don't know how else to tell you because saying it directly won't help."

"I did believe what you told me."

He shakes his head impatiently. "That's not what I mean, Cindy, I-"

"Cindy! There you are!" Stacey says loudly, both mine and Luca's heads whip to her side at the sudden interruption. Stacey quickly walks up to us as Luca smacks his forehead. "You went to drink water but never came back!"

I give her a smile and smooth down her hair. "Sorry, I found your brother and started talking to him."

"Oh." She says, then takes a hold of my hand. "Well, come with me, I want you to meet my cousin, we were best friends when we lived in Italy!"

"Stacey, not now, please?" Luca requests to her gently though I can sense the slight annoyance in his tone and expression. "I'm talking to Cindy."

"But she was here with me first!" Stacey frowns, crossing her arms.

"She's here with me now." Luca says, copying her. I laugh at his childish action before nudging his arm.

"I can come back later, you have guests to attend to anyway." I remind him, and Stacey perks up, grabbing my hand and beginning to pull me in the direction she came from.

"Talk to you later, yeah?" I repeat to Luca, who just huffs and turns around, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away.

Oh God. I roll my eyes but a smile creeps up on my face too. We're good, I'll handle him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.N: All I have to say is that at least I didn't take a whole year before updating. That deserves some credit, right? Come on, its been a busy year with starting university and all. So here's a little filler chapter till I really get back into it. I'm proud of myself for managing to get a hold of this book again and sincerely thankful to everyone for sticking with this!

Peace!

-RigelU