You Again. I #Wattys2020

Chapter Twenty Four - Costumes and Close Calls

Chapter Twenty Four - Costumes and Close Calls

"Why are you so smiley?" A voice says behind me, causing me to jump.

"Jesus you scared me," I turn to Brandon, "Anyway, I'm smiling because I just fixed the whole Alex liking me dilemma. He now has his attention turned to my friend Alexandria thanks to some damn near perfect timing. I'm hoping that his interest in her will make him not like me anymore so we can go back to being friends," I smile, pointing inside the library where Alex and Dria were chatting away.

She lets out a laugh and I smile, seems like Alex is a charmer and I mentally applaud myself.

Brandon takes a peak to where I've pointed, "She's cute."

My back immediately tenses.

"Agreed," I mutter. "Anyway, bye," I say spinning on my heel.

"Aww Lia is someone jealous?" He teases from behind me.

He catches up and walks along side me, "She's cute, but not my type. I prefer brunettes with bright blue eyes who speak fluent sarcasm. Specifically this one girl, you know her right? In fact, I'm pretty sure you two are quite close," he smirks.

I feel myself freeze when he whirls in front on me, so close that I can feel his breath fanning my face as his hazel green eyes stare directly into my blue ones. He lifts his hand and tucks a loose strand of hair away from my face but keeps his hand on my cheek, "Yeah, really close," he breathes.

"HEY, HEY! THERE IS NO FORNICATING ALOUD IN THESE HALLS, GET TO CLASS OR I WILL HAVE YOU BOTH SENT TO THE PRINCIPALS OFFICE," Shrieks Ms. Henderson, madly waving her hands in the air.

We jolt apart and I hear Brandon curse under his breath while I'm still reeling from his close proximity despite him pulling away.

We ignore Ms. Henderson's threat and continue our walk down the halls. The silence is deafening, neither of us knowing what to say to the other. Reaching my locker I spin the lock, hitting each number and opening it with a click.

Brandon stays silent while I grab my notes and it's only when I shut my locker that he finally pipes up, "I have a question."

"Shoot," I say simply.

"You and Alex get along really well, especially in the past few months, why did you never-, did you ever, feel? I don't know," he scratches the back of his head, trying to find the right words but I know exactly what he's trying to ask.

I never had feelings for Alex, despite the months after Brandon and I broke up and we got closer, I just never felt that way for him. And I knew exactly why.

"Because I always lo-" I pause, "Loved cats. There was never any room for anyone else, cats are just too great," I say breezily. Though it comes out as anything but breezy.

Brandon sees right through my mediocre 'save', but doesn't call me out. Instead, as we reach the library he opens the door for me. "Well I know for a fact that the cats love you too."

He turns and walks away, leaving me stunned. And as I sit back down at the table with the chatty Alex duo, my only underlying thought is that I really wish we wouldn't have been interrupted by that teacher.

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My plan was successful and now not only do we have Alex back with us at lunch, we have Dria with us as well. Her and Alex have really hit it off and now they spend the majority of their time together, which I don't really mind because he still makes time to sit with us at lunch and our spare coffee hangouts.

Dria has been super chill with us hanging out and I couldn't be more grateful. I had to admit I was worried because I knew how some people could be when it came to guys and girls hanging out. And though I admit I am weary of it myself, that's only in the case if one of the two clearly likes the other, which in this case isn't something to worry about anymore.

She's even come up to me multiple times to thank me for introducing the two, though she should really be thanking herself considering she basically introduced herself.

"Arcelia! Are you ready?" Cassie yells up from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, do you have the candy?" I yell back.

"Yup," she says popping the 'p'.

I tighten my ponytail and awkwardly hobble down the stairs. As soon as I get to the bottom I let out a laugh as I see Cassie, dressed as a jar of jelly. She looks down to my matching jar of peanut bar and laughs along with me.

"Are you sure you're ready?" She asks again.

I look down to my outfit, "Uh yeah."

She pauses for a moment, staring me down and I stare back confused, before she jumps, striking a random pose, "I DONT THINK YOURE READY FOR THIS JELLY!" She sings, dancing wildly.

I burst out laughing, "Cassie you're actually the greatest human ever and it's times like this that I know why we're best friends."

She stops dancing, "Yeah, this and you bake delicious things."

"Wow, only using me for the goods I see," I laugh, playfully rolling my eyes.

"Oh you know it," she winks flirtatiously.

She picks up the bag of candy from the ground and we're off. After walking and handing out candy for a few hours, we decide to bring it in.

Slugging off the costumes we both let out a content sigh, "alright, where's our stash?"

"It's up in my room, one box for each," she smiles excitedly.

"You grab the movie and I'll grab the candy?" I ask, already making my way towards the stairs.

"Yup!" She yells when I'm already half up.

We regroup in a few minutes, covers, candy and movie at hand. Cassie gets up to slide the disc in before coming back as the sounds of The Nightmare Before Christmas start coming from the tv. Tearing open the box I greedily reach my hand in and snatch one out, tearing open the packet and shoving it into my mouth and look to find Cassie doing the same.

Ahh, best friends.

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Authors Note: I'm sorry this is so short! I'm working on the date chapter right now but I had to give a filler chapter before I could post it as there's a week to kill.

Have a good weekend and I promise the next chapter will be up shortly!

Love always,

Dia ❤️