Chapter Three
Tiffany
I couldn’t wait for rehearsals the next day, so I could see
Robbie and suggest our trip to see Peter Pan. I mean, if he agreed, we’d be, like, going on a proper date thing. As friends, but still, the possibility of spending a day with him, alone, like, outside school made my heart sing!
Just the thought of Robbie made me grin like a maniac. With his amazing brown hair that to most people looked plain and boring, but to me it was anything but. And his tall, lean frame with his perfectly muscular arms and naturally slightly tanned body, with the most perfect stomach, and the most amazing eyes. Argh, just thinking about him made my legs turn to jelly and my heart pound erratically. The only problem was…
“Hey, babe,” said Kevin as I got in the limo. As I sat on the seat, he placed his hands on my waist and dragged my over to his side, smashing his lips against mine in a greeting.
“Rawr,” I said once we had finished our snog-a-thon. This was the problem. I was kind of dating Kevin, and he was a really nice bloke; funny, kind, good looking, rich, so sweet. He just… wasn’t Robbie, was he?
Kevin had lovely short ginger hair that he spiked up everyday. He was quite a short bloke, which suited me perfectly, and he was amazing at basketball. He also lived two doors down from me, which was kind of perfect, as we could spend so much time together.
Kevin was treating me to a full evening with him, spend the night at his, and get a lift to school with him before he missed Friday so he could jet off to the US to go play some b-ball with pros.
That left a boyfriend free weekend for me, where I could spend the Saturday with the boy I truly loved and wanted to go out with.
You may be wondering why I didn’t just ask Robbie out myself. Well, truth be told, I’m pretty strict about traditions, and I’ve always dreamed of marrying the guy that doesn’t need me to ask him to start dating. I wanted Robbie to ask me, and so that way I would know that he was serious about us, about me.
It’s not like I hadn’t hinted about my undying love for him! I had tried so much, trying to get him to realise I was madly in love with him. When greeting him, I’d hug him for a fraction of a second longer than I’d hugged Jamie for. I’d smile at him a fraction of a bit more warmly than I had at Darren. I’d bite my lip as I looked into his eyes. How obvious did I have to make it?
But he was my best friend’s brother, which concerned me. What if Robbie wouldn’t ask me out because he though Jamie wouldn’t approve. What if Jamie didn’t approve? I had known about this passionate love for Robbie for a year and a half now, and I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it with Jamie, incase she didn’t like it, or wanted to keep me away from Robbie. And I couldn’t stay away from him, no how, no way. I just couldn’t do it.
I had dated other boys, trying to get rid of this feeling for Robbie, but it wouldn’t go away. It would leave me alone. It haunted me everywhere I went, whenever I did something I would be thinking of Robbie and I couldn’t stop it! Truth be told, I didn’t want to stop it.
When I woke up, I would be smiling after having a dream where I could be with Robbie, dreaming of our future, marriage, kids, just… together. It didn’t matter what we did, as long as we were together.
When I got dressed, I would be wondering if Robbie would like what I was wearing, what he thought of what I looked like, whether he approved of my skirt, blouse, the way I styled my hair, my bag…
When I was eating, I would be wondering if Robbie liked what I was eating, if he was eating at that moment too.
When I was looking at him, I would be wondering what he was thinking, and what he felt.
Thoughts and dreams of Robbie dominated my life. It haunted me, but I loved it. I was a lucky one, I knew who my true love was, I grew up with him, I talked to him practically everyday. But I was also an un-lucky one, I wasn’t sure of his feelings for me, and I wasn’t dating him.
So all I could do was dream, dream of a future together.
“Babe, are you okay?” Kevin asked, bringing me suddenly into the present, where I was in a limo with Kevin, heading back to his mansion.
“Yeah, yeah, fine, Kev,” I said, twitching my lips in an attempt to smile. I loved Kevin, in some way, but I loved Robbie more. That sounds really spoilt, but it’s the truth, and I couldn’t deny it.
Once we arrived at Kevin’s his butler opened the door, and Kevin nearly killed me, trying to drag me into the house so fast.
“Kevin, what’s wrong?” I laughed as he continued to drag me to the west wing of the mansion, his wing. I remembered the first day I had met him, and we went straight back to his house, into his room… I had been nervous incase his parents, but he had just laughed and told me, ‘I never see my parents, Tiff! They own the east wing; I have the west wing. We never see or talk to each other. If we do happen to talk to each other, it’s through text or phone calls. It’s like having a house to myself’.
“I want to show you something,” Kevin told me, winking. Oh, so it was going to be one of those days with him, huh? The bedroom, great! If it was Robbie I was with, we wouldn’t be making a beeline for the bed. Yes, I’m… what’s the term parents, teachers and doctors liked to use for shagging…? Sexually active! I’m ‘sexually active’! What, I’m sixteen, it’s legal, Kevin’s hot. I’m not a nun! But I wasn’t with Robbie, and Kevin was gorgeous. What, save myself for Robbie? Nah, if we ever got to, you know, ‘that stage’, I wanted to know what I was doing! And as much as I loved him, I wasn’t going to wait forever, and just live my life in a coma, waiting for Robbie to man up.
But I really wasn’t in the mood for it today. And when you don’t want some… Complain.
“Kevin!” I moaned, “I don’t wanna go to your room, that only leads to one thing, and I ain’t in the mood, babe!”
“Tiff, sorry to disappoint, but that’s not why I’m leading you to my room,” Kevin laughed at me, continuing to pull me to his room.
“Then what are we going to do?” I asked, totally confused.
“It’s a secret! Now, close your eyes,” he said as he came behind me and put his hands over my eyes, stopping me from seeing. With one of my senses disabled, the other four were working overtime. My ears could hear the faint playing of romantic music. My nose could smell the distinct aroma of take away pizza and chips. My hands groped for the door to Kevin’s room. I found it, and pushed the door open. Kevin moved his hands away from my eyes, and placed them on my waist instead, and started kissing the base of my neck, causing me to shiver with delight. In front of me was the most romantic gesture Kevin had ever shown me – I didn’t think it were possible for Kevin to do something of this magnitude!
In front of me was a small table with cushions all around it. On the table was an eighteen inch ham and pineapple pizza, two two litre bottles of Diet Pepsi, and a big bowl of chips, covered in brown sauce and salt (it tastes better than it sounds). This meal, along with lit candles and a DVD on the large TV Kevin owned was my dream day with him.
“How… How did you know? And why?”
“Can’t I treat my girl?” Kevin replied, dragging me to the table and slotting the DVD into the TV. The opening scene of ‘Eragon’ rolled on, and I shrieked in delight.
“KEVIN! You are amazing! How’d you know this was my favourite film ever?!”
“Intuition,” he said, winking. I grinned and settled down, cuddled up to him with the pizza box on my lap.
We sat like this for the duration of the film, and then we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is a funny (if very sexual) film.
By eleven, we were ready to settle down to sleep. Kevin left the room for a minute to brush his teeth. His phone vibrated, signalling he had a text. It was from an unknown number. I checked it, and was shocked. It said:
‘Yeah, Eragon is definitely her favourite film. She loves it. Hope she has a good night - Robbie.’
Robbie? As in, Robbie Black? As in, the guy of my dreams? And he knew my favourite film is Eragon? And Kevin asked him?
Usually, a girl would be upset that her boyfriend had betrayed her and gone behind her back to try to impress her with his knowledge about her likes and dislikes, but I was pretty happy, actually. This gave me an excuse to chuck him and get with the guy that clearly knew me the best! If he’d just ask me out…
I then proceeded to scroll through Kevin’s other texts, and found there were many from a ‘Stacey’. I opened the most recent one and was shocked to find a text that read:
‘I hate that you have a girlfriend, it’s so unfair on her. But I can share; it’s her problem if she can’t. I love you, babe, and can’t wait to see you when you get over to the States. Think, this time on Saturday you and I will be curled up in bed, exhausted xxx.’
So he was a lying, cheating boyfriend? Even better. Though I did feel a tiny bit put out at that – I mean, was he not satisfied with me, and so felt the need to run to some other girl? Probably a blonde, like myself, apart from with bigger boobs and more confidence.
I put Kevin’s phone down and curled up in his bed, feigning sleep. When Kevin came in, he bent his head and kissed my forehead whispering my name.
“Hmm?” I sleepily replied. It was times like these when I loved and relied upon my acting skills. They made me, me, and they always came in useful, especially when trying to deceive my stupid, cheating boyfriend.
“Babe, I have a present for you,” Kevin whispered into my ear. Then I felt something cold sliding around my neck, and for a millisecond I thought Kevin was going to strangle me.
My hand reached up to my throat, and I found it was only the feeling of cold metal around my neck, a necklace. White gold, from the feel of it.
“What -?”
“It’s to signify the fact I love you, with all my heart,” Kevin told me, his breath tickling my ear.
“Aww, Kevin, you shouldn’t have,” I told him, meaning every word, but not the way he thought. What I meant was, ‘You really shouldn’t have, seeing as I know your secret, you two faced, cheating piece of scum’.
But I would tell him that later, when I knew the full story, and to see if there was anyone else he was shagging.
Settling back to sleep, I heard the door close, and the faint giggle of a girl. Kevin didn’t have any siblings. Clearly, that Stacey girl was not the only one, but it could wait, for now…
I walk across a field of blood red rose petals, which was sort of unusual, as rose petals didn’t usually fall on a vast field. I turn, and find Kevin calling my name. I run towards him, throwing my arms around his neck and smiling broadly at him.
He smiles, but mockingly, and then he says; “I hate you, I never loved you. You were just a piece of meat to me, something I could sleep with. Who would desire you, with all your flaws and traditional values? No one, that’s who.”
Then I hear the footsteps of a new arrival from behind me. Even though I don’t turn to see who it is, I know. It’s Robbie, and he’s here to protect me. He wraps his arm around my waist and plants a kiss on the top of my head.
“Actually, her traditional value turn me on, and you have an ugly face. I don’t know what you saw in him, Tiff.”
“Neither do I, to be honest, Robbie,” I say, staring at Kevin with a look of pure loathing on my face. Kevin’s face crumples as if he is in extreme pain, and then he explodes, throwing green gunge all over Robbie and I. Instead of making ‘gross’ sounds, I turn to him, and we laugh together at the hilarity of the situation. My ex-boyfriend was made of green gunge! I always knew he was a monster.
Robbie and I walk through the field of rose petals, and find a bed made of feathers and pillows of clouds. We look at it, and I wish that there was also a shower. A shower appears to the left of me, along with two soft, warm, cotton towels. Then I wish for a new outfit, as the one I am wearing is covered in green gunge. A white sundress appears on the bed, along with underwear, but no shoes. I look to my feet, and find I’m not wearing any shoes now, either. Then I look at what I’m wearing right now. It’s a short black skirt and a black blouse that does nothing for my figure.
I look at Robbie, and find he is wearing a pair of black jeans and a red top. On the bed appears a white shirt and white jeans, along with a white pair of boxers.
Robbie and I pick up the towels and head over to the shower. We step into the warm, pounding water and together, shower. Wrapping the towels around us, in case there are other couples hanging about, we step out and change into the clothes on the bed, which are warm. Then we lie together on the bed, staring up at the beautiful white clouds and try to make pictures out of them.
Feeling tired, I cuddle into Robbie and drift to sleep, where I dream of Kevin, a gunge monster, aimed to take my soul. The dream seems so real, I wake up screaming, looking for the fields of rose petals, white clothes, amazing beds and Robbie.
I wake up screaming in Kevin’s bedroom, with him snoring lightly beside me, his arm draped casually around my waist.
I had to talk to Robbie, fast.