Yeah, I Hate You Too, Sweetheart.

Chapter 20 - Justin

   "It's always fun hanging out with Avery," Laila said with a sigh, flopping back onto the couch beside me. 

   A thought suddenly occured to me after she said that.

 "Did you and Avery really talk smack about me after you two left the kitchen?"

   Don't ask me why I'd suddenly blurted out that sentence. Apparently I just felt the need to know.

  Laila hummed in thought, tapping her lips, before she just giggled, shaking her head.

   "Of course we didn't," she told me. "She mostly made fun of me."

 I scoffed at that. "Why would she make fun of you?"

    

     Color rushed to Laila's cheeks and she adverted her eyes, staring down at her bare feet.

  "You're blushing?' I asked her, fighting back a laugh. "Sweetheart, now I really wanna know what happened."

   Laila huffed out a sigh, leaning her head back against the couch.

"She thought it was funny that I couldn't get you to kiss me," Laila finally admitted, looking anywhere but at me. 

   It was unlike me to ever feel embarrassed, but I definitely was at that rather abrupt statement.

"It wasn't a matter of you not getting me to kiss you," I said after a moment, clearing my throat. "It was more of a matter of me getting the courage to kiss you."

  "So you're saying that you already wanted to kiss me, but you were just too scared?"

I opened my eyes and gave Laila  a bemused look, smirking in spite of myself. 

  "Yeah, pretty much."

She flushed even more maroon at that.

   "But a guy would have to be insane to not want to kiss you, sweetheart," I told her, leaning closer, putting a finger under her chin to tilt her head up towards mine.

   Just as I was about to kiss Laila, there was a disgruntled groan from the floor.

 "Seriously, you guys? It was gross enough seeing you kiss my brother the first time, Laila. Now it's just getting downright annoying," Emma griped, dragging herself up off the floor to her feet.

   Laila bit her lip to keep from laughing, her cheeks flushed, and I had to admit, Emma could be pretty humorous, too.

   "You're funny," I told my little sister sarcastically.

 "I'm going to bed," Emma yawned, dragging her feet towards the hallway that lead to her bedroom.

   Laila and I sat in silence while more guests continued filing out of the back yard, occasionally heading through the living room. My eyes started drifting shut again the longer we didn't say anything. This day had been full of so many unexpected surprises that I honestly didn't know what to do next.... except sleep. 

   "Hey, Justin?"

I opened my eyes and glanced over at Laila curiously. "Hm?"

  Laila frowned, a look of thought crossing her face.

"Would you say that we're friends?" she asked hesitantly.

  I thought about that for a moment. "Sure."

"Then.... where does this put us now?" 

   From by the question that she was asking, I knew automatically what she was talking about. And I really didn't blame her for asking. Over these past few weeks that Laila had been here, it was safe to say that my life had been growing into one complicated mass of uncertainty.  

  Really, nothing about that had changed exactly. 

There were a lot of things I wanted to tell her. And if things were different - like she didn't live a state away - I probably would have asked her out. But there was this selfish part of me that kept screaming it wasn't the smartest thing to do. 

  Because when Laila left - and there was no denying it, because ultimately that would happen - it was going to hurt like hell. 

   I could already figure out that much now, and nobody needed to tell me.

So, what was I supposed to do now?

   "Tell you what, sweetheart," I began hesitantly, reaching out to play with a strand of her hair. "Why don't we just make the most of the time we have left together?"

  "Right," Laila agreed quickly, completely flustered. "That sounds fine. Good. Great."

I couldn't help but smile at her cuteness. Typical Laila.

  "You okay now?" I asked her playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

Laila rolled her sea-blue eyes, scoffing.

  "I'm fine, thanks very much," she responded snippily.

"I can see that," I said, raising two hands in defeat.

  "You know what? I'm going to bed."

Laila huffed out a sigh and got to her feet, starting to make her way toward the flight of stairs. She was halfway across the living room before she suddenly turned, a conflicted look on her face,  and then walked back to the couch, grabbed my face in her hands and kissed me.

  The kiss ended almost as abruptly as it'd began, but it'd been enough to knock me senseless.

  "Goodnight?" I managed to say breathlessly, still in complete shock.

Laila just smiled sweetly in response before she disappeared up the flight of stairs, towards her room.

   I watched her go with a baffled look on my face, still not sure what exactly just happened.

"Oh, there you are, Justi - are you all right, sweetie?"

  I jerked in surprise, glancing around wildly, till I caught sight of my mom standing in the back door way with a confused, curious look on her face.

  "I'm fine," I said slowly, as if I was making sure it was true first. "Actually? I'm more than fine. I'm great." 

  I stood and bounded across the living room to kiss my mom's cheek before I was making my way up to the stairs to my room.

  This definitely had been one hell of a day. No questions asked.

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    Okay, so this is getting pretty darn awesome, writing on here. I'm totally loving it!!! :D   If it seems kinda dull right now, don't worry, 'cause a lot more will be coming up soon, hahaha. (: 

   What do you guys think? 'Cause I think I'm pretty darn happy that Laila and Justin have finally gotten together....well, more or less. :D