Because of Him

28

And suddenly, I wished we were talking about something else.

I stuffed another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth nervously. "Yeah, we did, actually. It was really fun." After swallowing more chocolate ice cream, I exhaled frustratingly. "Oh, who am I kidding? It was horrible!" I swung the spoon around, sending chunks of ice cream flying into the air.

"What happened?" She frowned. "Is this about him not liking you?"

"Yes.. No.. I don't know!"

I was hysterical. Probably because it was that time of the month. Which was probably the reason I was eating a pint of chocolate ice cream and watching sappy, romantic movies on Netflix.

"It's just.. It feels like he's leading me on. He tried to kiss me the same day he told me he didn't like me; he's constantly looking at my lips all of a sudden, and—"

"Wait, wait," she closed her eyes, "he tried to kiss you?"

"Yeah," I nodded and a roll of my eyes accompanied it, "long story, short – he was right behind me and when I turned around, I stumbled and he caught me. We were really close to each other and we both started to lean in.."

"Oh, no, Lauren. Please tell me you didn't let him kiss you."

"I didn't. I turned away before anything could happen." I paused, looking down at the bin of ice cream. "He's just.. so confusing. And yesterday, oh God, yesterday."

"What? What happened yesterday?" Faith asked, hungry for details.

"After you went into the restaurant, we went to the park and we were lying down on the grass, just looking up at the stars. I felt his eyes on me, so I turned and he was giving me this look, and it made me mad because he doesn't like me, yet he's sending all these different signals and messing with my head."

I shoved my spoon into my ice cream angrily.

Faith's eyes were watching me apologetically, and I noticed how they quickly became angry. "You know what? I'm going to march right to his house and—"

"No!" I whisper-yelled, feeling my eyes widen. "Please don't say or do anything."

"But—"

"Anything."

Instead of fighting me, she pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. "Fine."

"Thank you." I said, breathing a sigh of relieve. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if Faith confronted Logan about everything. He surely would find out my feelings for him, which would only complicate things even more.

We sat in silence for a moment, just eating our ice cream, until Faith spoke again.

"Lauren, what if he's doing all that stuff because he likes you?"

I have her a blank look. "He doesn't—"

"--like you, I get it." She finished for me with a roll of her eyes. "But what if he's just saying that?"

I narrowed my eyes skeptically.

"I mean, what if he just says he doesn't like you because he thinks you don't like him?"

I frowned in thought. I was always the one who stopped us and it was also always me who turned away. My heart skipped a beat. Before I knew it, I was shaking my head. The hope that had rushed through my veins was now long gone.

"He doesn't like me."

Faith's eyes softened and she reached over, placing her hand on my arm. "Lauren—"