HEY YOU GUYS. WELL AS YOU HAVE ALL BEEN PATIENTLY WAITING FOR, HERE IS THE NEW CHAPTER! IT TOOK ME SOME TIME TO FIGURE OUT THE DIRECTION I WANTED TO TAKE WITH THE PLOT, BUT HERE IT IS. IT IS A LITTLE BIT SHORTER THAN THE OTHER CHAPTERS BUT TRUST ME IT IS WELL WORTH IT. I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK! LIKE AND COMMENT =)
CHAPTER 11
8:13. That was the current time and I could not help but wonder was I making a mistake. Was I acting on emotions or just what my mind was telling me? With that thought in my head i took a deep breath and called Darren. Within three rings he picked up.
“Hello.” said Darren.
“Hey.” I replied weakly.
After tryouts, I had received a reply from Darren, and he did agree to talk on the phone tonight. Deep down he must of still cared about me because I do not know any other guy who would do what he is doing right now after everything that has happened.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Nothing much. I’m waiting for the cheerleading squad to be posted.”
“Oh.” he said shortly.
I started off with trying to make small talk, however I do not think it was working much on my behalf. He barely was answering me.
“Listen um..” I trailed off.
“Mel don’t worry about it.” he spoke.
I was shocked.
“Don’t worry about it?” I asked confused.
“Yeah I get it.”
“Get what?” I asked, cause I sure as hell didn’t.
“I understand that you were talking to other guys, we weren’t official or anything. It just hurt cause I really do like you.”
“But I wasn’t talking to anyone else Darren.” I said to him.
There was a pause on the phone.
“Then who the hell was that guy the other day claiming you?”
“He is just...a friend.” I said hesitantly.
I had no idea who Jacob was to me. I asked myself this a while ago and couldn’t answer that question even then. A friend is the only word that came to mind now.
“And what are we?” he asked.
There was another pause.
“What do you want us to be?” I asked.
“I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Another dead pause.
“So what do you say?” he asked me.
The only thing I could think of next is Jacob and him flirting with other girls. The anger came rushing through me I didn’t realize that I had said okay to Darren.
“Really!? Thank God. I was going to be so depressed if you said no.” he responded sounding very relieved.
“Ye-Yeah.” I stammered.
“Okay cool. Well I got to go but I’ll text you tomorrow.” he said happily.
“Okay.” I said.
“Night babe.” he said.
Babe!?
“Um..yeah. Night.”
I hung up my phone and put it down. Did that really just happen? How did I go from trying to apologize to Darren to becoming his girlfriend in a matter of two minutes?
I got up off my bed and went downstairs to shower. The hot water was relaxing and peaceful. That was before I started to see images of Jacob popping up in my mind. His smile, his toned arms, his piercing eyes. I grabbed my pink towel off of the rack to dry myself. I put my wet hair in a messy bun and made my way back to my room. I bumped into something and realized I accidentally kicked my cat, Haley. She meowed at me with her big moon eyes, as if she was trying to talk to me. I smiled down at her.
“Sorry Haley. I’m so out of it right now I didn’t even see you.”
Despite my body still dripping wet, Haley rubbed her body along my legs and ankles. Her tail swishing back and forth tickled. I fed her some cat food before I made my way back upstairs to dress for bed. It was time to crash.
I put a big t-shirt on and my underwear. I lotioned up and put deodorant on to smell good. I contemplated on fixing my nail polish but said fuck it. I tucked myself into bed and laid down in complete blackness. Another last thought to the fact of having a boyfriend made me groan in a very, very bad way.
What the fuck did I just do?
Three weeks later, and of all damn days it is Valentine’s Day. Fucking Valentine’s Day. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all about spreading the love and wearing pink and red and eating a lot of chocolate. However, this is the first year I have a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day and I don’t know what the fuck I am doing. I mean sure, I went to damn CVS with Dee to figure out a gift, and that was a damn challenge.
“So what are you going to get David?” Dee asked.
I gave her an irritated face expression.
“It’s Darren Dee! Dar-ren. And obviously I do not know what to get since you are here with me.” I said aggravated.
I knew Dee was going to be a smart ass about this whole Darren and I being official shit, but I thought she would be over it by now. Dee simply shrugged at me and kept walking down the aisle of all the chocolate and teddy bears.
“You know I thought you would of gotten over this by now.” I said to her.
“Over what?” She asked.
“You know what.”
She acted as if she was interested in one of those singing cards instead of answering me, and that started to piss me off a little. I snatched the card out of her hand and looked at her with stern eyes.
“What!?” she exclaimed.
“Say what you gotta say damnit.”
“What do you expect me to say? That I’m happy you’re dating David, Drake, Dorian-”
“It’s Darren damnit!”
“Whatever the hell his name is. I just don’t get it. You are dating a kid you haven’t even talked to since we were in 7th grade and don’t even want to date him!”
“Dee please-”
“He’s controlling, possessive, annoying. Yeah he may be cute but he’s still annoying and acts like you only belong to him and shit.”
“He is not contro-”
“What happened to Jacob?” she spat out.
Here we go again.
“Why are you always so damn worried about Jacob and I? We weren’t anything!” I yelled.
“Oh I am not buying that. You two were inseparable for a good moment. What the hell happened?” she asked me.
I couldn’t look her in the face. I did not want to talk about this.
“We just don’t talk anymore.”
“No shit. Why?” she demanded.
“We had a fight.” I mumbled.
“About?” she asked.
I tried to change the subject.
“Maybe I can get Darren one of those cards and a bag of chocolate.”
“Mel…” Dee trailed off.
Dee grabbed me to look her in the face.
“What happened? Because whatever happened took a toll on you. Hell it still is.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re sad.” she said bluntly.
I took a deep breath and put the card I was looking at down.
“He wanted to be together.” I said shyly.
Dee’s whole face lit up. The cheesiest smile stretched across her face.
“I knew it! Oh god I knew it! You guys would have been so cute together!”
“Dee. Dee! It’s not all that easy.” I said killing her vibe.
“Why not? He likes you and I know yo ass likes him too so what’s the problem?”
“I just don’t see how our worlds could actually be together. We both are different races and grew up in different family structures and hang out with different people.”
“Melanie stop. Because you sound stupid right now. You both are more similar than you think. You both grew up in the same town, went to the same schools. You eat the same food, both have parents and siblings. Yes, you both have different skin tones but so what!?” she said.
“We won’t be accepted. When people find out about us dating what is going to happen? We could be in danger.”
“Are you talking about Bryan and those damn wanna be thugs?” she asked.
“Not just them. But what about white people? What are they going to say when they see one of their own holding hands with me?”
“Melanie, ignorance is only around when you let it affect you.”
We stood there in silence for a good moment.
“Dee, I’m new to this dating shit, and it is not like the movies.”
“No shit.” she said laughing.
We both started laughing. We laughed until there was no breath in us. Tears came rolling down my face from laughing too hard, and before I knew it they were no longer tears of laughter. They were tears from self pity and loneliness. I started to really cry, and hard too. Dee stopped laughing immediately.
“What’s wrong? Why are crying?” She asked panicking.
Here we are, in the middle of the damn aisle, in the middle of a store, and I am crying my ass off. Dee hugged me while I cried. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“I’m scared Dee.” I said.
“Scared of what?” she asked me.
“Jacob.” I said.
“Jacob? Why are you scared of Jacob? Has he hurt you?” she asked.
“No. I’m not scared of him.”
“Then what are you scared of Melanie?”
I pulled out of our hug to wipe my face. When I finally got the momentum to stop crying i spoke.
“I’m scared to love him.”