A/N: Jordan I love your stories like a lot! Chris Heywood is like oh god i have no words, you are a literary genius so i am dedicating this chapter to you to show you how much i love your books :)
Oh and I am not really proud of this chapter but whatever it is 3 days earlier than i promised so yeah...enjoy!
People say lying leads to more lying, therefore, you shouldn't lie. But who actually listens to crap like that? My theory is that when you have a good reason to, you should lie. I don't particularly enjoy or appreciate lying, it makes me feel guilty and the worst part is that sometimes I don't remember my lies. It gets really tenacious keeping track of all the lies I told whom. The very first time I lied was when I was 6 years old, well it can't be my very first lie, but it is the one that I remember and it also pops out the most.
My best friend at the time was Maya and she was very excited to go to Jaslyn's birthday party, which I was not invited to. Jaslyn and I weren't very tight, so, she didn't invite me, not that I care. I wanted to have a sleepover with Maya and a few of my other friends, but Maya wanted to go to Jaslyn's stupid party instead.
"Mariah! What should I wear to the party? I have nothing to wear! Please let me borrow something of yours," Maya whined.
Maya's dressing sense was as bad as an old man's memory who is suffering from Alzheimer's, that made no sense, but you got my drift. Maya almost always lets me dress her up because she claims that I am way more fashionably forward than she is.
I nodded my head at Maya and stood up to go fetch something from my closet. Once I was in my walk-in closet-which is not really a walk in, but more like a janitor's closet; I started looking through all my clothes to find something good enough for a party.
My upset mind and broken heart was scheming revenge and what made matters worse was when my gaze fell upon a puke-green jumpsuit. Well, perfect opportunity for revenge, she ditched me and now I am going to ditch my "goody-two shoes" persona for a bit.
I didn't give myself enough time to start feeling guilty and grabbed the jumpsuit and walked out of the closet and proudly tossed the ugly fabric at my friend.
As soon as she got the jumpsuit securely in her hands her eyes lit up. I was confused by her reaction I mean fashionista or not that color is plain ugly, but I guess it's for the better that she likes it and now I won't have to lie to her in order to make her wear it.
Maya quickly stripped out of her clothes and got inside her "party clothes" and stood grinning in front of me. I was dreading the million dollar question I knew she will ask me, but I was ready, it's now or never.
"How do I look?" She asked me still grinning.
"You look beautiful," I replied with a smile, but it probably looked more like that face Jenna Marbles made in her video, "How to Avoid Talking to People You Don't Want to Talk To."
Whatever my expression was Maya didn't notice and skipped out of my room after yelling "Goodbye."
In my opinion after that horrible thing I did to Maya, I should've never even thought about lying to her again, but she was trying to go after my boyfriend and THAT is not acceptable.
Another piece of paper came flying out of nowhere and landed on desk.
What? Mr. Simmons is gay? How do you know this? How come no one else knows this? -Maya
I kept myself from smirking at her gullibility. Well, I am glad she bought it, now she will stay away from him.
I went skating a few weeks ago and I saw him there kissing a guy, so, I assumed he was gay-Mariah
I crumbled up the piece of paper that was covered with a complete lie in my penmanship and tossed it at Maya's desk. She picked it up and hurriedly opened it and started skimming through it. When she got done reading she looked at me and frowned, I returned her frown with one of my own and turned to face the front of the class.
Mission accomplished. Mariah-1 Maya-0. Now she will keep off of my boyfriend.
The loud vibration of my phone cued the end of my victory grin and I lifted my butt off my seat a little to get my phone out of my back pocket. I unlocked it and saw that I had a forwarded message from Allison-one of my friends. I got a forwarded message from Allison? Doesn't she always complains about how she hates them, must be something big then. Now curious I opened the message and after I was done reading it, I was ready to kill a bitch. How fast can a girl spread rumors? God I can't believe once upon a time I considered her my best friend.
I looked down at my phone once again to see how many times has that message been forwarded and my eyes popped out my sockets when I realized it was forwarded about 10 times before it reached my phone.
I was about to lash out on Maya and ready to burn her with my venomous eyes when Michael saw the phone in my hands and smirked. I mentally pleaded him to not ask me to read it out loud to the entire class because he is the only one who is going to be embarrassed by it. But of course my boyfriend is an idiot and by the look he was giving me I knew he was going to take my phone away at the very least.
"Ms. Wilkerson, would you please come up here," Michael ordered.
I refrained myself from rolling my eyes and walked up the classroom and stood at the opposite side of his desk. he put his palm out and I locked my phone before handing it in to him.
He saw that my phone was locked and quickly started tapping something on the screen. The victorious look in his eyes told me that he typed in the right password and he cleared his throat.
"as a punishment and an example of what I am going to do if I ever caught any of you with your phone out in class, I am going to read the text Ms. Wilkerson was so busy reading."
"Okay so this says, 'Girls stray clear of Mr. Simmons because he doesn't like girl and he sucks di..." a warm blush spread across his cheeks and he stopped reading and placed my phone inside his desk drawer and sat down, still in shock.
The whole class was roaring in laughter and Michael was just sitting there looking embarrassed. The bell rang and I visibly relaxed and quickly started gathering my things. I was almost out of the door when Michael asked to have a "word." I sighed and strolled back to his desk.
"Mr. Simmons! I need help answering these questions!" a whiny voice called from the doorway and I sighed in relief. Good thing I don't have to talk to him right now.
I looked up at Michael's face and he shot me a pained look and handed me back my phone. Then he turned to face the girl standing at the threshold who had a hopeful expression of her face. Michael nodded at her and she grinned widely before taking a seat. I guess no one forwarded her that text.
I don't need to stay here, might as well hang out with my best friend I thought with a smile and walked out of the classroom.
My locker seemed miles away as I started walking in the direction of it and my lazy body was begging for someone to carry it.
My prayers were answered as out of nowhere someone knocked into me and of course I am klutz and fell right away on my ankle.
It didn't hurt at all, but I wanted the person who knocked into me to carry me as a peace offering. So, I didn't get up and started moaning and making noises like I was in labor, and about to die.
"If you wanted me to carry you, you could have just asked, no need to act like it hurts," a very painfully familiar voice called from behind me.
I glanced around and just like I thought, there stood Mark smiling his gorgeous smile at me and offering me his hand. I took his outstretched hand in mine and stood up, frowning.
He rolled his eyes and flicked my forehead, and then he placed one arm around my shoulder and another on my popliteal. Without as much as a grunt he held me in his arms, bridal style.
He moved his head closer to my ear and whispered, "Your acting skills need a lot more work," his breath fanned my cheek and all I wanted to do was to turn a little and place a kiss on his chiseled jaw.
I refrained myself from kissing him and as my witty reply I gave him the "talk to the hand" signal, making him chuckle.
The whole ride to my locker I asked him if I was too heavy and told him he could place me back on my feet if I am, but he just refused consistently.
As soon as he placed me down, I dialed my locker combination and quickly took my things out because I was very excited to go hand out with Mark. I grimaced as I realized I didn't even ask him if he had any plans today, for all I know he is probably going on a date with one of his groupies.
I was about to ask Mark about his plans for today when he encircled his arms around my waist and gazed into my brown eyes with his deep blue ones smoldering into mine. My breath caught in my throat by the intensity of his gaze and my mouth went dry. I was lost for words. Do friends look at each other with such intensity?
"Mariah..." Mark whispered with a serious expression on his face, then he blinked and his whole demeanor changed. His features lost their seriousness and it was replaced with a playful one. I minded neither, but I kind of wanted to know what Mark wanted to say.
Mark cupped my jaw in his hand and brushed his thumb against my cheek, never breaking eye contact. "Are you made out of Copper and Tellurium?" confused, I shook my head "Because you are very CuTe," he finished with a wink.
My mouth was open for a second before I started laughing and punched his clavicle. He faked being hurt and pulled me into a hug.
"Hey Mark want to hang out today?" I asked, my voice muffled against his chest.
"I would have cancelled all my plans for you, if I had any, but since I don't, I don't need to. So, sure let's hang out. What do you want to do?"
"First, let me go because I can't breathe," he quickly let me go, but his arms were still around me "Second, let's just go to your house and watch something on Netflix," I suggested.
Mark shrugged and pulled my bag over his shoulder and then he took my hand in his and started walking towards the exit. I glared at the side of his head and took my hand out of his. He turned to look at me with a sad smile on his face which went jabbing my heart, but I knew I couldn't let him keep doing it. if Michael saw, he is going to be furious. He is not crazy possessive, but I know as a good girlfriend I shouldn't hold anyone's hand but his.
Mark started walking ahead of me and I ran to catch up with him. I took his arm in my hand to bring him to a stop; he stopped, but snatched his arm away from me and turned to face me.
"I am sorry Meme, I shouldn't have done that," he said with a regretful expression on his face, "but it's a habit you know, I won't touch you again, promise," instead of feeling relieved that he is not mad and I won't have to stop him from touching me, I felt a pang in my chest. It hurts to think about not being touched by Mark, it physically pained me; the way I was feeling was the one I was all too aware of. It felt just like every time Mark started "dating" a new girl, I felt a sense of remorse and loss and it was all too much for me. Some may say I was overreacting, but being with Mark makes me feel safe and I am not going to lose my safe haven for anyone or anything. I threw all the caution and "good girlfriend" shoes into the air and wrapped my arms around my best friend's torso.
A boy and a girl can touch without really touching, right? So, that's what is going to happen. We have to set up some rules, but no rule will consist of Mark not touching me at all, because I won't let that happen, ever.
"Okay, okay I get it, you can't live without my magical touch, now let's go you know I hate school."
I chuckled and started walking out of the door with my best friend right beside me...as always.
As soon as we got to Mark's house I forgot all about the rules I wanted to enforce and decided to just chill with my best friend, just like old times.
"You know, there are way more things important than finding out if Aria and Ezra are going to stay together," Mark said.
"Yeah you're right, I should probably go call Michael, he needs to know why I did what I did," I said while playing with my fingers-something I do when I am freaking out about something, right now it's because I don't want to find out how mad Michael is going to be. You are dating a gay guy apparently, you are such a dumb ass, a voice in my head said and as mean as it was, it was absolutely right.
"What are you talking about? That's not nearly as important as finding out who this "A" person is," Mark said with a straight face, at that I threw a pillow at him that hit him square in the face.
He took the pillow I threw at him and lunged at me then he started thwacking me with it. I took another pillow from behind Mark and soon we were in a full-out pillow fight.
My phone's ringtone started going off, but Mark wasn't budging and kept hitting me like the idiot he is.
"Mark! I need to get my phone! It's probably Michael, we can continue this later, please Mark," I pleaded.
"Alright..." he stopped hitting, "But on one condition, you have to..." before he could continue whatever sick demand he had in mind for me, I thwacked the pillow on his face and leaped towards my phone. I quickly picked it up off of my nightstand and ran to the bathroom, quickly locking it.
"Hello?"
"Mariah hey, we need to talk," Michael's deep voice replied.
"I know!" I moaned, "I am really sorry, I know you are not gay, but I have a good reason..." Michael's chuckle trailed off my thoughts.
"I am sure you did, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about, how do you feel about going to a party with me?" he asked.
The thought of dancing dirty with my sexy boyfriend was so appealing that I couldn't say no. Michael said some sweet nothings into my ears, and then we both bid adieu and hung up.
I sighed dreamily and opened the door to the bathroom. As soon as I stepped out Mark tackled me on the floor and started tickling the life out of me. I squirmed, and laughed and begged him to stop, but he didn't and kept going.
Mark was straddling me now, and I was out of breath and probably red in the face; someone chose that moment to enter the room and I almost had a heart attack. Mark's whole body stiffened and I had my fingers crossed and was thoroughly praying for it not to be my mom, because I knew she was going to kill me if she saw Mark and I in such a compromising position.
"It's good to see you here son," my father's voice called out from behind Mark and we both physically relaxed.
My dad is well aware of the fact that Mark and I are nothing but friends; unlike my mother who never believes in that and says that we are friends with benefits. She is so disgusting sometimes, I swear.
Mark jumped at the mention of his name and glanced around to find my father grinning at him with no trace of suspicion on his features. He trusts me so much; it makes my heart ache, in a good way.
Mark stood up and ran up to my father who engulfed him in a very bear-like hug, to which Mark responded with just as much enthusiasm. I internally awed at the sight in front of me, my two most favorite men in the world get along with each other just as much, or maybe more than I get along with them.
Mark's dad is a hard ass, just like my mom. That's why Mark likes my dad better than his and I like his mom better than mine. Mark even mentioned swapping parents once, but I refused to have to deal with both hard ass parents on my ass.
I patiently waited for Mark and dad to pull apart; two-thousand years later, they did. As soon as Mark stopped hugging my dad I scrambled through the opening between the two men and wrapped my arms around my father's neck.
Mark started whining about feeling left out, so, dad offered his other arm to him and we were conjoined in a very tight and painful group hug.
Dad and Mark sat in the living room talking about something I knew I didn't give a crap about, so, I dozed off into space.
Mark left shortly after because apparently I am very boring and he is sick of my presence. I brushed him off and flicked my hair over my shoulders in a "bitch you're dismissed" kind of way and started to turn around to leave, but Mark grabbed me by the shoulders and gazed into my eyes. He looked dazed and kind of like a puppy who is love-struck, as his eyes smoldered into mine. His expression confused the crap out of me.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked curiously.
"Because everything you do is so beautiful and I..." he trailed off and with a blink of eyes his dazed expression was gone and he looked like someone splashed cold water on his face. This is two times in a day, what do these meaningful glances mean? I pondered. He rearranged his expression into a playful one and said, "I wish I was as perfect as you!" he finished in a high-pitched nasally voice.
I frowned and went to slam the door in his face, but he stuck his foot at the last minute. He gestured for me to move back, so, he could get in, I did what he asked.
Mark walked up a little closer to me before he was right in front of me, he quickly grabbed the back of my head and started leaning in. I internally started panicking, is he about to kiss me? What does that mean for us? What about Michael? Yes, I love Mark, but I can't cheat on Michael! Just as I was about to push him back Mark planted a kiss on my cheek, but a little too close to my lips. His eyes locked with mine and he shook his head; without saying another word he waved at me and left.