A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

I wish I could say that the evening when right according to wonderful made up version plan in my head, but, sadly, I cannot. There are times when a girl dreams up the ideal day and knows it will never come true, though she hopes so, and maybe one or two things from her imagination end up happening. Then there are girls who do the same thing, but then everything goes completely opposite of what she wanted to happen and she ends up crying in the bathroom. Of course, being as me and I could be, I would be the later minus the bathroom.

For starters, I was an embarrassment to myself. I shot of facts I knew, and made myself look annoyingly smart. Once, while I was laughing at a joke Cole told, I snorted. And I’m pretty sure I tripped and nearly fell about ten times. There were other things, too, but I can’t remember them all. So, just like myself, by the end of the night I was completely and totally mortified. It didn’t help that some of the girls there started to snigger and point.

At the girl’s remarks, Cole looked down at the floor, and gave me one of those uncomfortable, pitying smiles. Suddenly, I couldn’t take it anymore. I made up some lame excuse, and slipped outside. 

The night air was warm, and the bugs and owls were singing the songs of their people. A few yards away there was a gazebo that was unlit and vacant. I trudged over to it and sat down on one of the benches, tears burning my eyes. Cole’s face had said it all: I was just some weird, stupid little girl with a crush that made him uncomfortable. Within seconds I was sobbing silently, the memories of all the humiliating things I had done felt like knife wounds. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Hunter’s words: ‘That way you and Cole can talk, and I don’t have to be around you,’ wormed their way into my mind and added to pain.

I was so preoccupied with my pity party that I didn’t hear the person coming hurriedly towards me until they spoke.

“Alexandrea? What’s wrong?” It was Hunter’s voice that suddenly interrupted the stillness of the outdoors.

The damage of his words were still fresh in my mind, and I found myself angry.

“Go away,” I attempted to snarl, but my teary voice didn’t make my words as harsh as I wanted them to be.

Despite what I’d said, Hunter slid onto the bench next to me. Raising my hands to push him away, I succeeded in hitting him just a couple times. He only slid closer and wrapped his arms around my body. 

“Let me go!” I cried, thrashing in my endeavor to escape, but his arms only tightened, holding me still. Finally, I gave up and sobbed against his chest.

“Shhh,” Hunter stroked my hair with one hand. It was weird, I suppose, being something I’d only let family or Alex do, but at the moment I found it comforting, so I didn’t make him stop. 

“I ruined everything with him,” I wept. “He’ll never like me.”

Wow, I sounded like one of those girls who thinks boys are all there is to life. If you are a female, and you’re reading this, let me give you this breaking news: boys are not everything. You will not die if your boyfriend dumps you or if your crush doesn’t like you back. There is no fatal disease you can catch when your heart ‘breaks.’ It will not be the end of the world. There are plenty of fish in the ocean. Granted, there are more women than men on our planet, still, plenty of fish. Besides, most of them are idiots anyway. No offense to any male who may or may not be reading this, but it can be true.

There was no answer, instead, I heard a clicking noise. I looked up to find him texting over my head.

What was he doing? I opened my mouth to ask him. “Wha-?”

“Hush,” demanded Hunter, pressing my face back onto his chest while he finished his text.

“But what-?” I tried to ask again, but this time I received a silencing glare.

“Just be quiet and wait.”

Then I got mad at him again. Who was he to tell me what to do? I pushed away from him and stood, stomping away from the gazebo toward the street at the front of the house. Though I could hear him calling for me to stop, I ignored him until he grabbed my arm.

“Could you just wait a second?” He asked.

I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn’t let go. “Leave me alone.”

“Listen, I texted Alex. He’s coming to pick you up.”

“Why? So you don’t have to be around me? How thoughtful of you,” Even I could hear the scornful tone in my voice, and, all of a sudden, I felt bad for speaking so harshly, but I shook it off just as quickly. “It’s awesome knowing what you really think of me. Thank you for making everything so clear! I’ll be sure to stay away from you from now on.”

Hunter’s expression was pained. Letting go of my arm, he looked away.

“I-I didn’t mean-” He stuttered quietly. 

“Sure you didn’t,” and with that, I turned back to the street, only to be met by the sight of a familiar mustang. Alex had arrived.

At the sight of my best friend stepping out of his car, I burst into tears again. I would described his face to you at that moment, but my vision was a little blurred. The next thing I knew we were embracing, my sobs turning into hiccups. Alex pulled away for a second before hugging me again.

“Oh, boy. It’s Men Bewareness week,” I heard him say. I was shocked that he’d say that out loud.

“Don’t you mean ‘awareness?’” Came Hunter’s voice.

My face, buried in the fabric of Alex’s sweatshirt, burned red.

“Nope. It’s ‘bewareness.’ Drea made it up for, um...a certain time.”

Great...just great. He would say that.

“Of course she did,” Hunter’s eye rolling was audible.

Mentally grumbling at my friend and at Hunter, I allowed Alex to lead me to his car, and strap me into the passenger seat. I could hear him thanking Hunter for texting him, then he hopped into the car and started the engine.

“Where are we going?” I asked halfheartedly.

Alex took a deep breath, beginning to pull out onto the street. “The store. You’re gonna need some comfort food.”