Chapter Thirty-Five
"Are you sure he's here?" I asked Em, referring to Maya's apparent love interest, Jack, who was supposed to arrive in the laboratory any moment. Maya was being kept preoccupied by Blake and Damon in the lunch room as we were hiding outside the lab. "What if he's not even in school, right now? What if he's in the back yard of his house, building a space shuttle to Jupiter?" I asked her bewilderingly.
"You watch a lot of Phineas and Ferb." Em deadpanned.
I simply shrugged my shoulders, "Those kids are kickass."
"Disagree. They're stupid knuckleheads who..oh, wait." Em whispered the last part. She cautiously watched Jack, who walked into the laboratory. Settling down at table in the corner of the room, he began munching on an apple while he flipped through the pages of his thick chemistry text book. "Target's in front of my view." Em said, whispering discreetly like a FBI agent.
"I can see him too, Em." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at her. We walked into the room towards Jack, who was pretty much oblivious to our arrival. I cleared my throat in order to gain his attention. He glanced towards us and upon noticing my presence, he shot me a friendly grin. "Hi, Jack." I greeted him, returning the gesture.
"Grace, hi." He said, with a small wave. When his eyes fell upon Em, his grin grew wider as he excitedly pointed at her, "Tube-light girl, right?" He asked.
"I am a what?" Em asked with confusion. She looked between Jack and I in attempt to get an answer but she couldn't as I was trying to stifle my laughter while Jack was widely grinning at Em. "Hello?" She asked.
"I don't think you know me but I had carried you to the nurse's room when you fainted due to extensive exposure to the tube light in the lunch room." Jack said with a proud smile.
"Extensive exposure to tube light? When the fuck did that.."
Before Em could continue querying about something she has no idea, I interjected in, "Let's leave the pleasantries aside."
"But.."
"Jack, we have to ask you a very serious question and it's a matter of life and death for me, Em and someone else. You have to be promise to be truthful to us under any circumstance." I ranted and took a deep breath in. I glanced at Em who just blinking her eyes cluelessly at me. Not that I blame her.
Jack was gaping at me with a blank look before he decided to speak up, "Are you interrogating me for a crime I didn't commit?" Jack asked with a humorless laugh whilst he scratched the back of his neck with sheer discomposure.
Ignoring his question, I jumped straight to the point, "Do you like Maya Palmer?"
"Maya? Your best friend?" Jack asked with a small smile.
"Yes, our best friend, Maya. Do you like her? Do you love her? Do you want to marry her, make babies and grow old together?" Em asked hysterically.
"Woah what?" Jack asked with a shock.
"She means would you go to the Prom with her?" I asked him, holding back a high Em who grinning spastically at Jack in anticipation. God, I won't be surprised if he runs in the opposite direction from us.
"Prom? With Maya? Not really." He said.
Our excitement and smiles faltered upon hearing his answer. I could feel Em's glare on me as I was the one who concluded to Jack being the one. I let out a dejected sigh as I unbelievingly gaped at him. "How can you not like Maya? I saw you looking at her the way Channing Tatum looks at Jenna Dewan. Then why?" I asked him, incredulously.
Jack let out a sigh, looking up at the ceiling before turning his gaze back towards us. "It's not like I don't like Maya. I do." Jay explained.
"Then what is your damn problem?" Em asked, annoyance floating in her voice. I held Em back by her wrist, fearing her to bang his head against the table. Sensing Em's hostility, apprehension took over Jack as he squirmed uncomfortably under Em's menacing glare.
"Jack?" I coaxed.
"She doesn't feel the same way for me." He said with a dejected look.
Oh.
"Grace and I can play Cupid for you. You just have to open then pretty little mouth of yours and ask her out. Simple." Em chirped merrily.
"You don't understand, ugh!" Jack exclaimed. "Look, as much as I want to take Maya to prom, I can't."
"But how can she not like you back?" I murmured to no one in particular. Apparently, my words fell upon their ears which made Em burst out.
"Because she's fucking blind! Why can't she just be open with us? It would've made our work easier." Em grumbled.
"You guys, I think you should talk to her. I know why she's reluctant to go out with me, but it ain't my place to tell y'all. Talk to her, I know she will tell you the truth." Jack said with a small smile.
We complied by him. I gave him a hug before turning back. But I stopped in my tracks when I heard him call my name. "Yeah?" I asked him.
"Good luck for the baby." He smiled, giving me a thumbs up.
"Thank you, Jack. I'll see you around." I waved at him, exiting the laboratory with melancholy for not being successful in our mission. If not Jack, who was Maya implying about, back at my place. I was pulled out of my reverie as Em clicked her fingers in front of me.
"Why was the Jack dude calling me 'Tube-light girl'?" Em asked me.
"Long story, Emily. Long story." I said with a laugh, as we made our way towards our lockers since lunch was almost over.
-
Blake placed a chaste kiss on my lips before walking over to the oven to bake the butterscotch cookies. Setting the temperature, he closed the oven and turned towards me with a small smile. "Should be ready in some time. What do you want to do until then?" He asked, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.
"I don't know, babe." I murmured, as I rested my chin on the surface of my palms and glanced out of the window. My thoughts revolved around Maya all day. I couldn't help but frown for the fact Maya was not happy and something has been troubling her. The problem, she hasn't discussed it with us which makes me wonder if she doesn't trust us.
"Grace?" Blake asked, breaking my chain of thoughts. I looked up at him only to see worry lacing over his face. "What's wrong, love?" He asked, as he pulled out a chair and sat at the table, opposite to me.
"Huh?" Honestly, I was too busy admiring this perfectly carved human being to hear what he had to say.
"What is going on? You don't seem like yourself." He queried, with furrowed brows as he concentrated his questioning gaze on me.
I let out a sigh and rested my forehead against the surface of the table. "I'm worried. About Maya." I said, my lips twitching down in a frown. "I don't know what's wrong with her, but there's just something she's keeping to herself. Not that Em and I don't respect her privacy but it's kind of freaking us out, right now. I don't know if she's involved with someone dangerous or maybe she's in love with Donald Trump, that might be the reason for her to shut us out. God, she's drifting away and I feel I'm going to lose my best friend. She, of all people should know that we would always be there by her side. What if she has cancer, oh my god, Blake.."
"Grace." Blake said, banging his fist lightly against the table. "At least breathe between your monologues." He said, glint of amusement in his eyes did not go unnoticed by me. "And you're just overthinking." He said, trying to sound convincing. Unfortunately, instead of calming me, it actually triggered something within me to make burst out.
"Overthinking? I'm gonna fucking overthink because this is my best friend we're talking about, right now." I gritted at Blake, who by the looks of it tensed up.
"Chill, woman." He said, his hands up in defense. "What I'm trying to say is that why don't you just confront her, make her spill the beans out." He suggested, with an uncertain and nervous grin.
I felt the guilt churn within me for snapping at Blake for something he was innocent about. I shoot him an apologetic smile, "Yeah, I think that's our only way into her head." I sighed and ran my fingers through my breast long hair. Blake stretched his arm forward and took my idle hand in his. He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand soothingly which made my senses calm.
"You should not get yourself worked up, Grace." Blake said calmly. "You know, I really love how you want to fix everything for your girls but you once told me that somethings are just out of our control. Let them be how they are. It will all get figured." Blake smiled.
I nodded in understanding but then cracked up a laugh, "Philosophy is growing onto you, eh?" I asked him teasingly.
"What can I say, love. I learn from the best." He winked at me, and once again, those stupid butterflies erupted in my stomach just like the first day I saw him in the hallways, three years ago.
-
I stretched my limbs lazily as Em hit the pause button as Maya went to make popcorn. When we were sure she's away, Em turned towards me, "When are we talking to her?" She asked me.
"Don't know, Em. This our first sleepover since forever, I don't want to ruin it by asking her something she's not comfortable talking about." I said, biting my nails nervously. I glanced over to my bowl of ice-cream to check if it had melted. I pulled the bowl towards me and dipped my fries into the melted strawberry ice-cream and let out a moan, experiencing foodgasm.
Em grimaced to what I was eating and stuck her tongue in disgust, "Ew. Really?"
I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly without sparing her a glance as I continued devouring, ignoring Em's constant gagging voices. It didn't take long for Maya to return with our bowls of popcorn. She hit the play button and settled down on the bed, between Em and I. However, we couldn't concentrate on Ryan Gosling since the two of us were discreetly stealing glances at each other, asking the other person to speak up.
Suddenly, the room felt silent as Maya hit the pause button and looked at us questioningly. "Mind telling me what's going on?" She asked, arching her brows curiously.
"Em?" I looked her desperately for her to take charge from here.
"Emily, what's going on?" Maya turned towards her. "You two seem to be so freaking distracted. It's disturbing as hell." She deadpanned. "Well?" She coaxed.
"We met Jack Kingston today." Em said nervously.
"My lab partner? Yeah, what about him?" Maya asked.
"Well, um, we asked him to take you to the Prom and.."
"You did what?" Maya asked, her eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets due to shock. Vexation took over her face as the information was absorbed by her. "Why would you guys do that?" She asked in a low tone, her fists balled up and eyes shut.
Holy fuck.
"In our defense, seeing you upset about not having a date yesterday, we wanted to get you one." I chimed in. I put on a smile on my face in order to cool Maya down, which apparently didn't work. "Maya, we had the best intentions for you." I reasoned, putting my hand on her shoulder and giving it a light press.
"I understand but, God! You guys could have simply asked me." Maya sighed exasperatedly.
"Or maybe you could have not been so discreet about this to your best friends." Em frowned at her.
Maya's eyes softened. Letting out a sigh, she looked up at the ceiling before turning her gaze towards us. "You guys, I really appreciate you'll taking so much efforts for me, I really do. But you'll won't understand my dilemma." She said, running her hand through her dark mane, frustratingly.
"Try us." I challenged. Maya's face turned into a nervous façade as she looked between Em and me and couple of times before succumbing to our persuasion.
"The one I want to bring to the prom is a girl." Maya said, keeping her gaze down.
"Wait, you want to bring a girl as your date? Why?" Em asked densely. I mentally face palmed myself seeing Em being so..bright. I looked at Maya who was anticipating me to judge her for her choice, but instead I kept my mouth shut. Not by disgust but shock.
"I swing the other way."
That one statement was enough to make a curious Emily shut up.
-
The gorgeous cover up in the media box is made by @Ivona1950
Thank you so much for the cover, Ivona. It's simply amazing <3