"Jake." Ally seemed to be frozen for a moment. Her head was filled with contradictory thoughts as she tried to make sense of the situation. First Rebecca's unprecedented apology and now seeing Jake walk towards her caused a creepy feeling surround her nerves. For a moment she thought the couple was mocking her and any moment they would break into fits of laughter.
Rebecca must've read her expression. "He's come to apologize." She heard a whisper beside her. She was staring at him in disbelief judging every step he took towards her.
"What the hell is this? Is this some stupid prank?" Ally shook out of Rebecca's hold and looked at her with contempt filled eyes.
Jake understood her reaction and came closer to them in an effort to calm her. "No... It's not what you think. Just hear me out." He let out in an urgent but hushed tone.
She looked at his distorted expressions searching for any amount of sincerity. Once she was satisfied, she took a comfortable step back from the couple and nodded. "Fine."
He took a deep breadth and started, "I'm sorry I lead you on like that... I never meant to do it. It just sort of happened. I liked the attention you gave me which I was craving to get from Rebecca. But I was just trying to project my feelings for her to you." He looked at the ground and Rebecca rubbed his arm soothingly encouraging him to go on.
"And it… I guess it was just the wrong timing for you to get involved. I swear I never meant to hurt you, Ally." Hearing her name from his mouth pinched her from inside. Hurt feelings were starting to rekindle in her.
Before she could stop herself, a dreading question spilled from her lips. "Why did you kiss me if it didn't mean anything to you?"
"I don't know… I guess I was pretty shocked when you told me what Rebecca did to you. I… I was just showing that I appreciated you."
Ally sighed feeling her nerves calming slightly. The relief she experienced from finally hearing an answer for a question that caused many sleepless nights was unexplainably strange. She heard him mutter a 'Sorry' once again and looked in his expectant eyes.
"What really happened? When you went away I thought you were confronting Rebecca?" Ally demanded to know.
"Intially I did shout at her and asked her why she did it. But the answer that I got was totally shocking." He said as he looked at his girlfriend lovingly. In return she held his hand and smiled. "She said that she was in love with me since the first time we went out and it killed her to see me with someone else." Rebecca hid her face on the side of his body but was not able to conceal the blush on her face.
"And I only could kiss her after hearing the words I've been wanting to hear for a long time." He confidently concluded his little speech. The scene in front of Ally made her feel uneasy and astonished at the same time. Rebecca was still smiling uncontrollably hiding her face in his chest and he was smiling gazing the beautiful girl in his arms.
Maybe this was what love looked like but still it didn't justify a person's ruthless actions. Her presence didn't matter at that time since they were very contented in each other's company. Whether she accepted his apology or not was irrelevant to their lives. They had moved on and were happy together. It wasn't worth the fight.
"I forgive you, I guess." She was surprised by her own words but hearing them made a burden lift off her shoulder. The two snapped their stunned faces at her.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm done with this mess."
"Thank you, Ally." Jake proceeded to hug her but she stopped him. "I think that's enough for today."
He slowly recoiled and shoved his hand forward instead. She shook it with a small smile. "You don't know how much she's been nagging me to apologize to you." He said.
"Well, no more nagging for you now." The couple chuckled together and she stood their awkwardly feeling out of place. They were now laughing at their private jokes.
"Uh... Okay guys I'm gonna go to class." She bid them a goodbye and entered the school with a newly found lightness. The past weeks had stirred and tested her emotions but now she felt somewhat relaxed. Although she hadn't forgotten the betrayal by Jake she resolved to forget it with time.
The school went on as usual for the rest of the week. Ally had been trying to get comfortable around Jake and Rebecca occasionally talking with them. But she had nearly given up on getting Cameron to talk to her when she had heard he was going out with someone from school. She had yet to see this mystery girl though she wasn't sure she was keen to know more.
However, she already knew she wouldn't like this new girl. Lately, she had started loathing every paradigm of Cameron's love life. Rumors were always floating but she chose to keep distance from any gossip about his alleged new 'girlfriend'. The 'girlfriend' term was quite unsettling. Going out on a few dates doesn't make you someone's girlfriend. She had said it to Becky who was excitedly gossiping about the mystery girl.
Friday evening was one of the days when Ally was supposed to tutor Callum. She wasn't scared to see Cameron as she had become used to his ignorance. He would mostly stay in his room whenever she was at his house helping Callum.
They were comfortably sitting in the living room writing equations. Callum was fully focused on to the questions in front of him while she browsed through her phone. "Done." He announced showing her the notebook.
She went through it and explained him his mistakes. "I don't understand this one. Can you repeat?" He asked.
She was about to explain him the concept but she was interrupted by his voice. "Hey, buddy. What are you doing here?"
She looked behind her to see Cameron's bare back. He was standing at the edge of the stairs only in his boxers. The sight was surprising but delightful. He turned around slowly and looked at his brother embarrasement covering his cheeks. That's when she noticed his hair were disheveled and protruding out of his head. "I… I just came to get some water from the kitchen." He said avoiding eye contact with her.
"But kitchen's that way." Callum pointed out to him the obvious.
"Right." He said as if he was hearing it for the first time. He jogged to the kitchen to avoid any further embarssement.
"Does he always roam around in his boxers?" She asked Callum once his brother had disappeared into the kitchen.
"Actually, no. That was… weird." She chuckled slightly and went back to explaining him a new theory.
"Especially when he has a girl over. It's so strange." He said in contemplation. Her head snapped up to look at Callum who was trying to point a finger around the situation.
"He has a girl in his room?"
"Yeah. What are they even doing?" He asked still consumed in his thoughts. Cameron was with a girl wearing only boxers? This could only mean one thing.
"Seriously you don't know what are they doing?"
"Umm... Uh..." He jumped from his seat when he came to a dirty realization. "Oh my god. Eww they are doing it."
“Yeah, I think…” She trailed off unsurely. She reanalyzed the situation inside her head- Boxer shorts, messy hair and of course the shameful look on his face. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions, she
scolded herself. Suddenly everything seemed so confusing even the notes which she was familiar with scribbled on the book in her lap.
Callum poked a finger to her side, “Ally.”
“Yes.” She jolted out of her trance.
“You alright? You look like you’re about to puke.”
She straightened her expressions. “Really? I’m just… shocked.”
“Shocked? I thought you and Cameron were pretty close. You know how he is.”
“We were. Now I don’t know.” A sad smile came upon her face as she stared into the distance.
He set his book aside and forced Ally to look at him like he was about to tell something gravely important. “Well… He told me what happened with between you two.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “He did?” According to Ally, that was a detail which should be confined to only the two of them and not be shared with younger siblings.
“Yeah… He told me how you almost kissed.” A disgusted look came upon
his face as he gulped. Suddenly she felt discomforted sitting in that beautifully furnished living room.
“I’m sorry that must’ve been weird for you."
“It was… At first. But now that I think about it… Don’t you think you
two would be great together?” His eyes gleamed with a new zest. Ally was taken aback by the words of the fourteen year old boy who seemed so sure of himself.
“Uh… I don’t know, Callum. But I don’t think we would want that.” She was
amazed by the disappointment on his face.
“Now let’s focus on this.” She slammed the textbook on his lap.
After half an hour of studying, Callum was ready for the test next week. She was packing her bag and was ready to leave when she noticed a figure walking down the stairs. She had seen the girl before in her school but never talked to her. “Hey, Callum.” The girl said with
beaming smile. She eyed Ally and looked back at the stairs she had descended from.
Soon Cameron emerged at the top of the stairs but this time he was
fully dressed. He observed the trio watching him. He descended slowly. Or maybe everything was happening in slow motion inside Ally’s head. She found herself watching every step he took. He was standing beside the new girl when for the first time he made eye contact with Ally. It was just for a split second sparse enough to make his expressions
unreadable.
“Bye, Cameron.” The girl hugged him and said something in his ear which made his eyes almost jump out of its sockets. Ally rolled her eyes.
She went back to putting the things in her bag while Cameron went to see off the girl. She purposely did it slowly unwilling to run into the couple outside. When the front door opened again she saw Cameron
walking back to his room; he was running a hand through his hair trying to make them look presentable. Again, she unknowingly gazed at his movements. And before she could comprehend over her words she let out rather coldly, “Hey.”
He stopped in his tracks and whirled around. He eyed her top to
bottom. “Hi…” He said not trusting his own words.
“Was that your girlfriend?” She tried to make it as cheery as she could but it came out sounding bitter.
“Excuse me?”
“Was that your girlfriend?” This time she sounded more confident. She even managed to paste a fake smile on her face. Callum stayed silent the whole time looking back and forth between the two.
“That’s none of your business.” He finally said. He was standing very far away but she could see the coldness that had gripped his eyes which made her physically take a step back.
“I think it is. I’m your friend and I want to know.” She gathered herself and stood confidently.
“Well, then… Maybe.” He shrugged it off like it was no big deal.
“I’m gonna go guys. But you two please continue.” She heard Callum say. From the corner of her eyes she could see him striding towards kitchen.
“Maybe?” She mocked his relaxed tone.
“Look, I don’t think this is the right place or right time to talk.” He said turning to walk away.
“Fine if you want to keep ignoring this conversation. Then I’m just
fine with it.” She threw her hands in frustration. She quickly finished shoving things in her bag and was ready to run out of his house when his actions stopped her.
He had advanced and tightly gripped her arm and was dragging her towards the
front door. “You want to talk, right? Fine, let’s do that.” She looked at his rigid back astounded by the anger in his tone.
“I can walk on my own.” She angrily shook out of his grip and followed him outside the house.
The cold wind outside seemed to replicate the tension between them. The sun had set and the clouds covered the stars in casket grey. The temperature had significantly dropped making him shiver just a little.
He stopped walking and stood in front of her sternly. “Come on, speak up. You wanted to talk, right? When I tried to talk to you after that game… Y-You pushed me off just like that. And now you wish to
talk to me.” He laughed bitterly. But at the same time he took a threatening step towards her.
“What kind of sick game do you think this is?” He pointed to the ground. The look in his eyes was unfaltering making her swallow a lump in her throat. He wanted some answers from her. The answers she didn’t know.
“There is no game. You said it was in the spur of the moment. And then
you give me the silent treatment like I’ve done something wrong.” She hissed.
“You started it. It was pretty clear you wanted me to say it didn’t mean anything. So tell me did you feel anything?” He looked so serious she wanted to hide away from his gaze. She averted her eyes unable to hold his scrutinizing gaze.
“You know what? I don’t need to deal with this right now.” She walked past him towards her car.
“Right… Run away again. And avoid to deal with your feelings." He yelled as she paced towards her car. "Like you always do. You just love pushing people away, who genuinely care about you, don’t you? You do that the best.” His words pierced her soul. She stopped and challenged him to take his words back. But he was too angry to take anything back.
“I don’t know about others. But I do care about you, Cameron Miller.” She spat and turned around. She didn’t want to see his reaction so she just ran to her car and drove away before he could say or do anything.
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A/N: Hey guys! Personally I liked this chapter cause many new things in it. I know it must be frustrating to not see them together already but we'll get there. Have a happy sunday and let me know what you think!