Crush, No, Crushed

chapter 24

Singing along to Therapy, I stood in front of my full length mirror. I looked at my reflection and felt my heart tighten in my chest as my mind went straight back to Les. Why was this happening? Couldn't there be some way that Les could tell me his problem then we could go back to normal. I stared into my brown eyes trying to search for the answer. Why didn't he just tell me? He said that I would find out eventually, why not now? There had to be a reason for his sudden secrecy. I was not going to let him get away that easily. Maybe ignoring him tonight would work. If I showed him that I wasn't happy with the way he was treating and keeping things from me, maybe he would feel bad and open up? I closed my eyes, no longer wanting to look at my reflection. I shook my head slowly as I took a deep breath. I didn't know what would happen but all I could hope for was that everything would end okay. That everyone would be happy in the end.

I opened my eyes again and took in my appearance fully, getting my mind off of Les. I was still in the dress that Renee had bought me. It was really cute and I was happy that Renee had gotten it for me. I wasn't really someone that would wear dresses but since I was going to a party tonight, I would keep it on. Now that my hair was dry, I took it out of the braid that I had put it into earlier so it would be wavy. The dark brown waves fell past my shoulders and I ran my fingers through them quickly making sure there weren't any snarls. I re-adjusted the bow in my hair then took one last look at myself and hoped that I looked pretty enough for the party. So yeah, maybe I was hoping that Les would get a little jealous when I showed up with Holden. I knew that somewhere, deep down...hopefully, Les had the same feelings that I did for him. I probably just had to make him see that if I was gone that he would miss me. Years of friendship had to have strengthened his feelings to a less platonic level. It sure had for me.

I groaned in frustration. I was starting to get angry at myself. I couldn't even go two minutes without my mind drifting back to Les. If things didn't work out the way I wanted I had to pull myself out of this obsession I had with him. I needed to learn that my world didn't revolve around Les. For some reason though, I couldn't get my heart to rationalize like my brain was. It was telling me to keep pushing until I got the answers that I need.

Before heading downstairs I went to my closet and got Nate's present. I smiled when I thought of how he would react to it. I personally thought it was funny. I just hope he did too. There was a brief moment when I wondered if Les really would show up without a gift but I shook the thought out of my mind. I need to stop thinking about him. I heard the doorbell and I smiled slightly knowing it was Holden. I left my room pausing briefly to make sure that I had everything then made my way downstairs. When I got down there Renee had already opened the door and was chatting animatedly with Holden while he smiled and nodded his head chuckling. I stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I saw them. They didn't even notice I was there. My lips curled into a small smile as I saw the chemistry between them. They were both talking and smiling. They actually looked really cute together. Renee was just the right height for his tall figure, better than my height would be. She was just a few inches taller than me. My mind started to formulate a plan. Since Holden was being so nice and helping me tonight maybe I could help him by setting him up with Renee. It could help him get over the girl he was having problems with. Also, it would be a good payback to Renee for setting me up with him. I smiled wider at the thought. I was going to set up the guy with my sister, who set him up with me.

I cleared my throat with a grin on my face. They both abruptly stopped talking and looked over to me. They both had a faint smile on their lips and Renee looked at me with a little guilt in her eyes? Hmmm maybe she did like Holden. That would be beneficial.

"Hey Ruth." Holden greeted me.

"Hey." I smirked.

He raised his eyebrow questioningly but I shook my head dismissing whatever he was thinking. He frowned in confusion but quickly smiled as he turned back to Renee.