Story of my Life

An awkward bus journey

The rest of the week passed quickly. I had a lot of exams to study for so that kept me quite busy. Which was good. When I was doing something, I wasn't thinking about Alex. But today I found myself with nothing to do. My last exam (for now) was yesterday and the teachers have decided to give us a break by not setting any homework for us to do this weekend. Normally I would be pleased about that but to be honest I just want to be doing something to forget about Alex. I decide to call Ruth and see if she wants to meet up. 

I speak to her about meeting up to just hang out and she comes up with the idea of going to the beach with a bunch of our friends. Great! There will be loads to do and I can work on my tan! And I'm sure that Megan won't be there as she usually goes to the cinema with Alex on a Saturday.

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I sit on the bus, texting Ruth to see where I should meet her. The bus is quite full but I have an empty seat beside me that has my bag on. As we approach the next stop, I shift my bag onto my lap as this is Amy's stop, so she should be getting on here. Bleep. Ooh, I've just got a text. I look down and start to read it as a person approaches me.

"Hi Amy!" I say, without looking up.

Wait... the text is from Amy, saying that she is running late and will catch the next bus instead... so who is standing next to me?

I look up and see Alex standing there laughing. I drop my head, looking back at my phone. What do I say to him? Quick Lauren think!

"Um.. hi Alex... um... er... what's so funny?" I ask, distracted by his laughter.

"Just the fact that you mistook me for Amy" he says, trying to hide his laughter.

Oh great, he did hear that. I was hoping he wouldn't.

"Anyway, do you mind if I sit next to you?" he asks as the bus started moving again.

"Um...no... thats fine." I reply.

I stare out the window, watching the buildings rush past. Maybe I should say something to him? But what? I don't want to sound stupid. But surely anything is better than this awkward silence..? I risk a glance at him and find him watching me, a curious look in his eyes. Blushing, I turn away quickly. I knew I shouldn't have looked! I quickly look out the window again, but this time I'm watching his reflection.

"So Lauren..." he starts.

I turn a little so I'm kinda facing him.

"Uh.. yeah?" I answer, great one Lauren, now you sound like a stuttering idiot!

He looks at me for a long time, probably trying to work out why I keep stuttering.

"Well, anyway... are you okay? It's just... you didn't reply to my text the other day and you are acting really weirdly around me."

Oh no! Not this question! What shall I say? I can't tell him that I have a crush on him! He's dating Megan! Megan would kill me if she knew! What am I going to tell him? I need to think of something quickly! Oh my goodness! He's looking at me strangely! Wait I haven't answered him yet! No wonder he's looking at me like I'm weird! Quick Lauren, think! You need to think!

"Um... well my phone died and I forgot to charge it until today?" I quickly answer, ignoring the other things he said.

"Uh... okay Lauren..." he replies, looking at me like I'm an alien.

Few... that was close. Wait... I thought he was meant to be going to the cinema with Megan today?

Taking a deep breath I gather up enough courage to ask him, "Alex, aren't you on the wrong bus? I thought you were going to the cinema with Megan today?"

"Oh yeah, we were... but it's such nice weather we decided to go to the beach instead. Are you going to the beach Lauren?" he asks.

"Yeah, I am. I'm meeting the others at St. Brelades."

A slight smile appears on his face, "Really? That's where we are going as well! We can join you!"

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttt??????????? This was so, not part of the plan. I wanted an afternoon to forget about him! And oh no! I can't let him see me in a bikini! What if he thinks it makes me look fat? And Megan is going to look so much better than me but she always fusses about how 'ugly' she looks just to get attention... but that is going to make me seem even more ugly! What am I going to do? Maybe I should fake being ill and just go home.

The bus pulls up to our stop. I stand up and follow Alex off the bus.

"So Lauren, where are you meeting the others?" Alex asks.

"Uh... outside Pizza Hut. Where are you meeting Megan?" I reply.

"Well actually she's not arriving for another hour but I thought I would come up here and just relax on the beach. But since I've bumped into you guys, maybe I could just hang out with you all?"

"Um... sure." I say, as my heart sinks.

Why couldn't he just meet her now? They could go off and do whatever it is that they do when they are alone, bleurgh... I don't even want to think about that, and we could just go relax and they could meet us later... (unless they are too 'busy')

Oh well...hopefully he'll be too busy talking to everyone else and will forget about me. Ooh, we're nearly at the others. As we draw nearer I see Ruth's face. She's looking really confused.

"Hey guys!" I greet them.

"Lauren, hi!" Ruth says, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uh, sure" I allow her to pull me off to the side.

"Okay, Lauren. Why is Alex not at the cinema with Mignon and why is he with you?" She whispers angrily.

Oh, sugar! I should have known this was coming! She thinks that Alex is cheating on Mignon... with me! How can I explain this?

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Hey everyone! I made this one longer to make up for all the other shorter chapters! I hope you like it! Also I'd just like to say thanks to all of you who are reading, commenting, voting and fanning me! It really means a lot to me. So to say thanks I am going to dedicate each chapter to a random fan.... will it be you? So today... the random fan is............... Emsie7!