REALLY ✓

5: The Kissing Scene

"You're not gonna back out, right?"

"Of course not, why whould I?"

"Awesome. I knew this whole Taya 2.0 thing is a great idea,"

I threw her a quick smile and I was about to turn my head back to Blake's table, when I noticed Judah was sitting right behind his table. He was sitting alone, with a book in his hand. But his eyes weren't on the book, they were on me.

When our eyes met, he threw me a wink. I replied by rolling my eyes lazily at him.

"Hey guys," I turned back to Hallee and Gabe. "What do you guys think of that guy Judah?"

They looked over to Judah, then to each other, and just shrugged.

"He seems alright," Hallee said.

"You don't think he's a bit... weird?"

"Nah, he's cool," Gabe replied.

"Why?" Halle asked.

"I don't know. I just got this weird vibe coming from him... I can't really put my finger on it,"

"Well he's kind of an outcast... He's got this rebellious, bad-boy, mysterious, grunge vibe going on, but other than that, he seems all right. But hey, if you want, I could always ask around," she said again, eyeing Judah from head to toe. Leave it to Hallee to know anything about anybody's business.

"You know what, he's actually kinda cute too," she added.

"What? No way!" I gaped.

"Totally. If I didn't have a boyfriend, I'd be all over that hot stuff," she grinned.

Hallee's boyfriend, Jesse, was two years older than us. He was attending the community college in town. Although sometimes it didn't look like it, Hallee was way too smart and emotionally mature for guys our age.

"Nah, I don't see it," I said again.

"Sure, sure. Miss Taya here only has eyes for Mr. Harrison, ever since freshman year,"

"Whoa, you have a crush on Blake Harrison since freshman year?" Gabe almost choked on his chocolate milk.

"Dude!" I spat.

"Sheez, relax. I'm sure everyone at school knows already, it's been like three years. Just like everyone already knew that Gabe here is in love with Maddie," she continued on shamelessly.

"You are?" I turned to Gabe, who really choked on his milk this time.

"Dude!" he literally spat out.

"So what's the deal with you and Harrison by the way? You never told me what happened after you guys talked last time,"

"Oh nothing. We just... decided to be friends, you know, just chill. See where things go," I shuffled nervously, hoping she didn't notice I was avoiding eye contact.

"Wow, Taya 2.0 is independent, cool, and not the clingy-whiny type. Well, good for you. You're handling this very well," she nodded approvingly. "I might say a little too well," she added.

Nothing could get pass her, really.

"We still talk, a lot. We're not rushing into anything, you know," I started playing with my food, doing anything but looking into her eyes.

"He's being a gentleman, huh? That's good. Best-friend approved," she paused for a second before saying, "but hey, if anything happens..."

"You'd be the first to know," I finished her sentence and she smiled at me knowingly.