Blinded by Limerence

02 | Making Progress

I shrugged casually. "What can I say? There's a weird pleasure in loving someone who doesn't love you." When Addie shook her head dismissively, I knew that that was the end of this discussion, but I pressed on anyways, still riding the high of last night's rush. "I just... I feel like I'm making progress," I gushed happily. 

At that moment, Addie flicked my forehead, prompting me to hiss at the sudden jolt of pain.

"What was that for?" I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

"To remind you that life isn't all rainbows and sprinkles, okay?" Addie said in a low voice. "Get your head out of the clouds, M... and besides..." The girl trailed off before subtly jerking her head to the right.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late. My mom took so long in the shower today."

I then understood why Addie did what she did: Hanna's here.

She smiled, looking at me then Addie. "So, what did I miss?"

"Nothing, Han," I replied, forcing on a smile that came out more awkward than I had intended. "Come on, let's get to class."

||

"I'm tired of helping you hide this from Hanna," Addie whispered the moment she took a seat next to me in math class. "We're all friends. We're supposed to share everything with each other."

"Not everything," I muttered, looking away from Addie's piercing gaze.

"Still," she scoffed. "It's weird enough that she liked Archer first, but it's weirder how you won't admit to her that you fell for him, too, while you accompanied her in her stalking endeavors." She paused for a moment then narrowed her eyes. "Misadventures would be the more accurate word for whatever it is you two do, actually."

I was trying to stand my ground, but it was hard to stifle the giggle that threatened to break out at Addie's mention of 'misadventures'. My mind took me back to that one school day: We had just gotten out of school, and Hanna and I went to stalk our prey. We stood behind this Brobdingnagian plant out in the quad, and because of the sheer size of said plant, we thought we were safe, out of sight. Archer was chatting with this group of girls about ten feet away, me and Hanna reveling at the somewhat close proximity.

All of a sudden, Archer and I locked eyes, and understandably so, I panicked, like a deer caught in headlights. I pushed Hanna out of the safety of our bush, and she stumbled out. She wound up waving awkwardly at Archer because, well, what else could she do? 

I know it's wrong of me, but I like that memory, despite being caught staring by the person I was staring at. For some reason, I believe that Hanna was more embarrassing than I was that day, and it made me feel as if Archer thinks lesser of her because of that incident.

Call me crazy, but I like to over-analyze things so that they end up ruling in my favor.

It wasn't that I wanted to one-up Hanna or anything; I swear, if she does end up with Archer, I'll totally be okay with it—at least, I'll learn to be. It's not like there's much hope for me and Archer, anyways. Hanna's so much prettier than me. She's the kind of girl with that classic beauty—crystal blue eyes that make you think you're gazing into a mystical lake, natural blonde hair that hair dyes can't match no matter what they do, and most importantly, she's got curves in all the right places.

I swear it isn't her; it's me and my dumb insecurities.

"Shh!" I hissed instead, shooting the girl a glare.

Addie rolled her eyes in response before averting her attention back to the board with about a thousand formulae scribbled in the not-so-neat handwriting of our teacher. I swear, I look away for a second, and suddenly, the blackboard is filled with gibberish I couldn't understand for the life of me.

Math sucks unless you get the lesson.

It was about a minute after when she turned to me and said lowly, "I'm just saying, no secret ever goes untold."

|||

"Hanna," I huffed out as I caught up to her in the cafeteria. In a teasing voice, I asked her, "You in the mood to stalk your crushie?"

"Mine or yours?" she replied, and my smile faltered at her suggestive remark.

Fuck.

Am I busted?

"Um, w-what do you mean?" I asked nervously, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Addie told me you've got one that you're keeping secret even from her," she giggled as she nudged me, a playful smirk on her face. "Damn, since when did you get tense around me?"

I let out a sigh of relief and pretended to pout, "That Addie sure has got a big mouth."

Hanna laughed aloud. "So?" she prompted, her crystal blue eyes lighting up. "Who is it?"

"That's classified," I winked, wearing a wan smile. I interlaced my arm with hers before suggesting, "How about we ditch that blabbermouth and go find Archer?"

"Sure thing," she grinned, "but don't think for a moment that this conversation is over!"

I led us out the canteen, and we giddily rushed behind some lockers. "It's lunch time," I whispered to Hanna. I gestured towards one of the lecture halls. "He eats lunch in that room until right about... now."

As if on cue, he walked out of the room with one of his backpack straps slung across his shoulder, giving him that tired student look. His hair was unkempt but cute. My face flushed red when I stole a glance of his gray eyes.

"Wow, talk about timing," muttered Hanna. "Maybe you're the one who likes him."

I shot her a look, causing her to raise her hands up. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I was joking!"

Nodding my head slowly, I turned my attention back to Archer. He was now walking away, probably about to reunite with Trevor and Chase at the quadrangle.

"Plus, you know," continued Hanna, an unfathomable grin creeping up her face, "I know you'd never steal him from me. After all, I did like him first."

Gulp.