Romantic Short Stories

8. I Hate Your Guts

They say that it's unhealthy to hold grudges. But every time I look in his direction it makes me angry. That smirk he gives me when he knows he's right or the stupid nicknames he calls me without permission. The way he talks like he's a supreme being after winning something. It's just not okay.

Of course, this has been going on for years. Cheyenne and Travis, Travis and Cheyenne, they hate each other and anybody who knows the two of us knows that fact. We spent all of high school one-upping each other. If I got a 100 on a math test he had a 97. If he had a 100 in science I had a 98. We tied in sports, hobbies, and pretty much any other kind of hobby for that matter. It shouldn't have been a big deal right? People have rivals all the time whom they are friends with. But not for Travis and I., The strange thing is I remember exactly where it started too. You wouldn't imagine that I would remember something like that but I do. It was the third day of freshman year.

A race. One mile. Simple right? Wrong.

Being a part of track and cross country my whole life made one mile like a piece of cake to me. It was only twenty or so kids and I quickly took the lead. I noticed a boy I had never met before. We were at the same pace so I decided to kick it up a notch. I gained the lead on him for a little bit but he quickly caught up giving me a smirk.

"Competition, I see." He said running ahead. I decided it'd be better not to reply to the boy and instead run even faster. "Bold move." He commented. We ran like this for a few moments. Neither of us spoke or even looked at one another but instead focused on the steady pace the two of us were holding.

That was until right before the finish line. There wasn't an actual ribbon to run through or anything. But we both knew where to stop. We saw in the distance. I don't know if it was just the connection of adrenaline but both of us looked each other in the eye before running ahead at full speed. It was the most exhilaration I had felt from a race in the longest time. We ended up in a tie and were going so fast that for whatever reason we both tripped simultaneously. I came to a rolling stop in the dirt and sat up to see him right beside me.

"I guess we both had that one coming," I shrugged.

"Must suck to get beat in a race and fall on your face directly afterward, huh." He said all cocky like.

"Okay, you and I both know that we tied," I said with a small laugh.

"Whatever makes you happy, doll." He replied with a smirk as if he knew something I didn't.

"Hey, you can't just be like that," I said ticked off. I'll admit it was immature to be so annoyed by him but for whatever reason, his very presence made me that way from the very beginning.

"I don't even know what you're talking about," he winked offering me a hand up. "Besides I think you have better things to worry about," he said pointing at my knee which I noticed was bleeding.

"Crap," I muttered.

"Come on, I'll take you to the nurse." He said walking ahead. I sighed already exhausted with being in the presence of this guy. We waited for the nurse in silence while he literally stared at himself in the mirror. Like seriously could he be just a little less obvious about his vanity. Sure, he may have been hot but the least could do is show a bit of humility about it.

"Oh my, what happened?" The nurse asked worriedly when she saw my bleeding knee. I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by none other than the guy who brought me there.

"I beat her in a race and she accidentally tripped. She didn't even notice her knee was scraped so I offered to walk her over." He replied grinning.

"How sweet of you," the lady replied with a smile as I rolled my eyes.

"We tied in that race and you know it," I scolded but the smile never left his face as he threw his hands in the air.