The Royal Crush

7

He scoffed. "That's easy for you to say. You moved on the moment we broke up."

"That's not true. It took time. I just want to let you know that we may be friends, but we'll never date again. So it would be better for you to move on."

"You think I'm not trying?!" he exclaimed suddenly, startling me. "I'm fucking trying and it's not working!"

His eyes were watery and full of pain. I felt terrible.

"Adrian I am-"

"One more chance, Chloe. I know I fucked up, but I love you. Please-"

His face was dangerously close to mine and I found it strangely hard to breathe.

"Adrian-"

He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and his hand stayed there, cupping my face.

"Adrian, no-"

"Chloe..."

His minty breath washed over me as he brought his lips closer to mine.

"Chloe?"

I yelped and pushed Adrian away, jumping off the swing. I looked at Caleb, who was standing at the doorway, eyebrows raised.

"I- I... wow," he said, shaking his head.

"It's not what it looks like," I said.

"Yea, I'm sure it is. I just wanted to tell you I'm leaving. Sorry for interrupting," he said and left. I glared at Adrian and ran back inside. My brain was imploding with thoughts. Adrian almost kissed me. I almost kissed Adrian. Caleb saw us. Shit. 

Everyone had finished eating and were just socializing. I hurried to Vivi, who looked at me in concern.

"Where were you? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," she said.

"Where is Caleb? Where did he go?"

"I don't know, I think I saw him walk to the entrance with his family. Why?"

"I'll tell you later," I said and rushed to the entrance just in time to see Caleb enter his limo. Right before he got in though, he saw me. He just shook his head as the chauffeur shut his door and they sped away.

I couldn't believe it. Why was I so disappointed? Why did I even care? I shouldn't give a shit! I was so frustrated I just wanted to scream and pull my hair out.

"Hey, are you ok?"

I turned. It was Dylan.

"Oh. Hey. Yeah, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"Thank you, captain obvious," I said and rolled my eyes.

"He'll come around," he said.

"What?"

"Caleb. Don't worry about him."

"What... what are you talking about?"

Dylan smiled. "I'm not dumb, Chloe. I know what this is about. Don't worry, I ship you too."

"What!"

"Yep. Hmm... Chloeb? Caloe? Ugh, it's hard to come up with ship names for people with such similar names."

"Are you serious right now?! It's never gonna happen, Dylan."

"And why not?"

"Look at him! He's perfect. He's hot and sexy and cute and he's a family guy and he's got an amazing smile and he's a good guy and I can never compare, with my dysfunctional family and craziness and mood swings and-"

"Wait wait wait, stop right there. Dysfunctional family?"

"Yea, you know how my family is, Dylan."

"Chloe, your family is Cedric and Mr. and Mrs. Everett, and I'm not talking about Kendra and Tobias Everett. Your family is also Vivi and George and Alexa and I. We are your family."

My eyes teared up and I hugged him. Suddenly, we heard a click and looked up to see Shannon taking a photo of us in her iPhone.

"Well, this gotta be interesting," she drawled.

"Shannon, what the hell?" I asked. Seriously, what's her problem?

"First you take Adrian, then Caleb and now Dylan? You want all the hot ones to yourself, don't you? Claim them and then throw them away."

"What the fuck are you even talking about?!"  What kind of psycho was this girl?

"Shannon, leave her alone," Dylan said.

"Oh we'll see about that," she chirped and walked away. What the fuck?

"Great," I groaned. "Just what I need right now."

Dylan sighed. "Don't worry. What's the worst she could do?"

Oh we were just about to find out.