***Picture above is of Isabel and Jacey!
And this chapter is dedicated to Skittles, because they're so great.***
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"Hey little sis."
I look up from my book to see John standing in front of me, a big grin on his face. I can't help the smile that forms out of utter happiness of seeing him smiling again.
"Hey," I respond, using my gum wrapper as a bookmark and placing my book beside me. When you're a total book nerd like me, anything becomes a bookmark. "What's up?"
John takes a seat beside me on my bed. "Well... if you must know, I'm going on a date tonight."
I immediately perk up at this, turning to face him in a silent plea to tell me more. "Ooh! You didn't tell me you were seeing another girl. I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks. I figured that the only way I can fully move on from Lindsey is if I start seeing someone else. I'm tired of being angry and upset all the time. I just want some closure, you know?"
I smile sadly at him. "Yeah, I understand. But, if I'm being honest, I must say that you're moving on pretty quickly. It's been, what, two days since you and Lindsey broke up? Don't you think it's a little soon for you to be dating again?"
John sighs, his shoulders slumping in a way that told me he had thought about this himself. "Well, yeah, but I'm sick and tired of thinking about her all the damn time," his voice begins to crack in the slightest falter. "I try and try and try to keep her off my mind, to stop thinking about the beautiful girl I once called the love of my life," he stops here, swallowing a lump I presume was forming in his throat. He looks at me now, and all I see is a vulnerable boy with a broken heart, and I think that for the first time I truly see how desperate he is to forget her. How much he loves her and hates himself for it. "I don't want to hurt anymore, Hailey. I don't want to love her anymore."
I sit there, blinking back the tears that were forming in the corners of my eyes. "John, I understand that you want to forget her, to move on. But before you do that, you have to let yourself hurt for a little bit. If you don't let yourself hurt now, then all of your future relationships will be pointless because you'll be hurting inside every day." I really hope he gets what I'm saying, because he shouldn't be moving on like this. Not so soon.
"You can't get a rainbow without the storm," I say, giving him a small smile.
He groans, flopping backwards onto my bed. "I hate life."
I chuckle, flopping down beside him. "No, you just hate the things that go along with life."
John looks over at me, eyebrows knitted in confusion. "When did you become so smart?"
I smack his arm playfully. "Shut up John, I've always been smart."
He snorts. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
And thus began my smacking him with a pillow repeatedly.
✿ ✿ ✿
That afternoon I updated Isabel and Jai about Andrew and I over a forty-five minute cell phone conversation that consisted of plenty of squeals and questions. Once it was all said and done, they came over to my house for a movie night with just us girls, and a sleepover afterwards. We're currently lying on my floor with popcorn and sleeping bags.
"You know what we should do?" Jai pipes up. "We should call Andrew."
"What?" I blush just hearing his name. Gosh, the things this boy does to me. "No, that's ludicrous."
"No, it's not," Isabel says. "I want to see what he does now that you two have exchanged the sacred three words."
I feel my cheeks turn a deep red. I'm really regretting telling them that. Some things are a bit too intimate to say to your teasing friends. I smack Isabel's arm, which only made her laugh.
I groan, putting my head in my hands. "You guys are really making me regret telling you anything."
"Aw," Jai pouts, propping her head up with her hand. "You don't mean that."
"Actually--"
Before I could blink my phone was snatched by Isabel and I already knew she was scrolling through my contact list--not that it was a long one--in search of Andrew's name.
"Aha!" she exclaims, putting the phone up to her ear.
"Isabel, no!" I literally jump on her back, reaching for my phone, but she fights me off with her free hand, which surprisingly works. Darn her and her dancer muscles. "Hello Andrew!"
I freeze when she says his name.
Oh no. No no no no no no no no. This cannot be happening! Why can't a gigantic black hole just come and swallow me whole? That would be really nice right about now.
"You want to know if Hailey's here?" Isabel continues to talk on the phone, Jai trying to muffle her laughter with her hand in the background. "Why, she's pinning me to the floor this very moment. You know, you should really teach her to control her anger issues."
I give her ponytail a nice hard tug, making her squeal in surprise.
"Damn it Hailey," she whines, "that hurt." Speaking back to Andrew again, "Yeah, you might not want to talk to her right now, I think she's on her period--"
"Okay," I say, taking the phone from her. "That's enough humiliation for one night don't you think?"
Isabel snorts. "No."
I tug her ponytail again before putting the phone to my ear. "Hey Andrew," I keep my voice cool and casual to seem like I'm totally not freaking out.
He chuckles softly on the other end. "Hey babe." A light blush forms on the apple of my cheeks when he says that.
I smile involuntarily and again say, "Hey," my voice coming out a little breathy.
When he spoke again, I could hear the smile in his voice. "Hey."
I bite my lip, trying to suppress the gigantic grin on my face that I was sure was creeping my friends out. Instead of helping me, this only causes me to giggle and sigh inwardly contentedly. Being in love is such a great thing. "Hey."
Andrew chuckles, and I hear a bit of shuffling on the other end before he speaks again. "You've got the cutest laugh you know." His voice comes out deep and husky, and I wonder how a voice can possibly be that sexy.
Before I can fight the blush rising to my cheeks it's already there. I should just give up trying to fight it, because it'll happen plenty more times as long as Andrew's around.
"I bet you're blushing right now," he continues to speak, amusement evident in his urbane voice.
"Am not!" I defend myself, even though it's a total lie.
His smooth laugh sounds in my ear. "Sure you aren't babe."
I blush again--of course--and drop my voice to a whisper when I say, "Stop calling me that, you're making me blush."
"What? Babe?" He questions.
"Yes!" I whisper urgently. "Stop. Please."
"Sure thing babe. Do you prefer I call you sexy?"
Literally, my face could start a forest fire. If he doesn't stop talking I could make my own TV show called The Secret Life of the Tomato Teenager.
"Andrew," I whine pathetically, "stop it. I'd rather you call me babe."
"Hailey Adkins, you're making it extremely hard not to notice you next to me. My bed's a little cold without you in it."
"Andrew Stokes," my voice comes out unexpectedly shaky, "you're making it extremely hard not to be where you are this very instant."
There's a moment of silence on his end, and I assume he's thinking about something. This pause caused me to look at Isabel and Jai, who I just noticed were staring at me. I also just realized I was still sitting on Isabel's back. I climb off of her and open my mouth to ask Andrew what he's thinking about, but he beats me to it.
"What are you doing Saturday night?" He blurts out the words in one breath, as if he were forcing himself to just say it.
"Hanging out with you?" I lean against the side of my bed and bring my knees to my chest, beginning to play with a loose string on my hoodie.
"Great. My place at seven?"
"Yeah," a small smile plays on my lips. "Sounds good."
"Cool, see you Saturday then."
"Yep, see you then." I play with my string for a bit, pondering over my next words. I wasn't sure if I should say it in front of my friends. But before I could overthink it, I blurted it out before I could stop myself. "I love you Stokes."
"I love you too Adkins."
I grin and hang up, suddenly very grateful to Isabel for calling him. Sighing contently, I go back to my sleeping bag and flip open a magazine, acting nonchalant about my conversation with Andrew.
"Ahem," Jai clears her throat loudly to get my attention.
I glance up at her, raising my eyebrows and feigning innocence. This only causes her to frown at me.
"Don't play that game with us," Isabel warns with a glare.
I turn my eyes to her. "What game? I'm not playing a game." I look at her with big, doe eyes to seem innocent. Of course, she sees right through me.
"Yeah, sure. I'll get it out of you later," she glares at me. "Just you wait."
Right on cue, the doorbell rings.
I spring into action, rushing towards the stairs. In fact, I'm so grateful for the distraction that I didn't even think about why someone would be coming to my house at eleven o'clock at night. For a second, I stop at the top of the stairs, questioning if I should venture further. What if it's some creepy axe murderer? Or a zombie pizza guy?
Chuckling at my insane, and highly unlikely, thoughts, I shake my head and continue descending the stairs, figuring it's just my parents coming home late once again. Once I reach the door I swing it open, revealing a tall, muscular figure that I immediately found familiar.
Mason Jones.
Great. I forgot about this particular problem on my hands. I still haven't told him that I'm with Andrew again.
"M-Mason," I say, trying not to let the panic show in my voice. "What are you doing here?"
He grins. "Nice way to greet your boyfriend." I give him a tight smile in return, which I guess he takes as an invite to come in, which is exactly what he does.
I rub the back of my neck awkwardly, trying to think of something to say. "Mason, I don't think you should be here. It's pretty late and I'm tired, so--"
"Are you okay?" He eyes me suspiciously. "You're acting weird."
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." LIE.
"Aren't you happy to see me?"
I cough awkwardly as I try to figure out if I should lie or just tell him the truth. "I'm thrilled to see you Mason, really, but--"
"Great, so can I kiss you now?" Before I answer he's already nearing closer to me, but I turn my head at the last minute so that he kisses my cheek instead. He leans back, confused with his eyebrows furrowed. "What was that about?"
I sigh, knowing I should just tell him the truth now and get it over with before this gets me into trouble later. "Look, Mason, I was serious about what I said that day my brother broke up with Lindsey. We can't make this work."
"Hailey, I was serious about what I said too." He takes a step closer to me. "I really do love you. And I want this to work between us."
I run my hand through my hair, becoming completely frustrated. Who knew Mason was so dense? "Mason, what don't you understand about we can't make this work? Haven't you ever wondered why I never told you I love you back?"
His shoulders slump and his face falls as realization hits him. "I thought it was because you weren't ready," he whispers. I almost feel bad for him, but it's his own fault for not listening to me the first time.
"No," I say, softening my voice. I don't want to seem like a heartless bitch, do I? "It's because I love someone else. I love Andrew. So much." Mason's gaze falls to the floor at this. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, but it's always going to be him."
"Why?" His voice cracks. "Why can't you give me a chance?"
"Mason," I sigh, ready to go back upstairs where I know my friends are waiting to hear the gossip. "When you and I dated, I was hurt. I was hurting so much because of what Andrew did to me, and I didn't want to feel that. I mean, I don't know anyone who would. So when you kissed me, I saw that as an opportunity to move on before I could hurt anymore. Unfortunately, that only made me hurt more, because I realized how much I missed Andrew. I expected to move on with you and be just fine, but it only made me think about how much I wished it had been Andrew kissing me."
When I finish telling Mason the truth, it reminds me of how John is at the moment. He has no idea how alike we are when it comes to relationships. We were both so hurt that we just wanted it to be over with already, and if there was something we could do about it, we most definitely would. I mean, if you had a bleeding wound would you just sit there and let it bleed, or get a bandage? Most people would do the latter, which is exactly what John and I did. The problem: we forgot to disinfect the wound.
"Wow," Mason finally speaks, breaking the awkward silence. "So the whole time I was falling for you, thinking our relationship was real, you just thought of me as a rebound."
"Mason, I know it sounds bad, but--"
"Save it. I'm so done here." With that, he rushes by me and storms out the door. Like a lightning bolt, he's gone in a flash.
I should be upset that he left. That I'll never see him again, even as a friend. But I'm not. Because really, he's just another weight lifted off my shoulders.
In that moment, all I saw was clear, blue skies.
Little did I know that a harsh, gray storm was on its way.
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Ooooh DRAMA is on the way...
So...HI! No, I'm not dead. And yes, it has been a millennium since I last update and I sincerely apologize for that. I don't know about you guys, but there are a lot of things going on in life right now and apparently life doesn't want to give me to to breathe. So, I decided to put aside my homework and write this instead for five straight hours. You're welcome.
So, there wasn't much of Andrew in this, but I think their little phone conversation deserves some major comments so please do not be a silent reader! Follow, vote, and comment! Thanks cupcakes!
Oh, and, just so we're clear, this book is copyrighted. All rights reserved. So DO NOT COPY MY WORK! Don't know who would, or why, but just thought I'd put that out there.
Okay, I'm done yapping my mouth now! ^_^
Happy Saturday night/ Sunday morning!
Cupcake_Queen13