Jolayemi

Chapter 16: The Outing

There was something about firsts that gave you this weird sensation. I stared into Gabriel's face as he slept. There were no lines etched in his forehead from where he frowned, neither were the smiles he gave me present. His face was peaceful and calm, and filled with contentment. A smile crept on my face when I remembered what happened the day before. I touched my lips, as I stared at him. I kissed Gabriel Brown. I finally had my first kiss, and it was with a boy I really liked.

I touched my lips again, as I remembered how soft his lips felt against mine. My smile froze, as I remembered something. No, no, no. I kissed Gabriel, like Gabriel, the boy my best friend was in love with. I had to get out of there. I gently removed his hands that was wrapped around my waist, careful not to wake him up, before I took my flip flops in my hand, and tiptoed out of there.

I sighed in relief, when I reached my room, unnoticed. I had to stop, no matter how much I loved Gabriel, which I did, a lot, it had to stop. I was a rotten friend, betraying Starr that way. As the cold water poured on my body, I tried to get my thoughts in order. No matter how hard I tried to fight or resist my feelings for Gabriel, I couldn't. I had to tell Starr what happened, I just had to.

I grabbed my phone, as I went out of the room, eager to find her. She was doing her makeup, and raised her head when she saw me come in. "Jola, hi", she said. "How are you?", she asked. Me? I'm good, just perfect. Hey, by the way, I just want to let you know that I kissed Gabriel yesterday, yeah, remember the guy you are in love with, turns out I'm deeply in love with him also. I really hope you don't mind. I'm sorry, I tried so hard not to fall in love with him, but I ended up doing just that. Yeah, right. "Peachy", I said. "What's wrong?", she asked.

That's it, I had to tell her everything. "Wait, which colour do you think looks good on me?", she asked, referring to her lipstick. "Pink or red?", she asked. "Pink", I said, uncommitted. "Thought so too", she said. I cleared my throat. "Starr", I began. "I wanna look good today, so when I ask Gabriel to be his muse, he won't say no", she said. "Yeah, sure", I said. "So, how do I look?", she asked. She was wearing a pink short body- hugging gown, with a golden necklace. "Stunning", I said.

"Thanks", she said. I opened my mouth again, but shut it when I was interrupted. Fuck me. "Hey", Skyy squealed. "Well, someone's looking fancy", Gabby teased. "You look gorgeous, Starr", she said. Gabby was dressed in a short plaid skirt, a crop top, and a suede jacket, while Skyy was sporting a rad jeans with a topless top, if that made sense. I collapsed in the bed, and sighed. I was keeping a secret from them, and I hated it.

My first kiss was supposed to be something I could happily share with them, but I couldn't cause I just had to go fall in love with him. "Someone's not in a good mood today", Skyy said. "What's wrong?", Gabby asked, concerned. "Nothing", I lied. "Well, I know what's gonna cheer you up. Let's go out", she said. "Go out?", I asked. "Yes, let's go have fun", she said. I liked the idea immediately. "Can Gabriel come with us?", Starr asked? And just like that, my good mood plummeted.

"No, absolutely not", I said. Gabby nodded. "Good idea. We could use some company, and I could invite Collins too", she smiled, ignoring me. I got an idea, if I invited Jer, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I instantly brightened up at the idea, Jer always made laugh, and with what was going on, I could use a little of that. "Okay, I could also invite Jer", I said. Skky groaned. "Y'all are gonna have dates, what about me?", she asked. "You could ask Mark, right?", Gabby said.

"I would, but he is busy today. Family drama", she explained. "You could take Jared", I smiled. "Yeah, he might be interested", Gabby said. Skyy nodded. "Okay, girls. Jola, go dress up, and see if Jer would be available. Skyy, I'll show you to Jared's room so you ask him if he'd wanna go. I'll go call Collins, and see if he's interested, then we'll meet downstairs. Cool?", Gabby asked. We echoed our agreement, and I went to change.