An early update ;)
xo
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"You're the shard of glass up my ass but somehow I love you anyway."
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For a second we just lay there staring intently into each other's eyes with heavy breathing, until some shouts from the others trying to look for us remind us of where we are.
I laugh awkwardly. "Well, um... We should probably get going now..."
Zeke nods and clambers off me. He lends me a hand to help me up and I'm surprised that he still has the decency to do that after I just brushed him off.
"Zeke? Hayley? We've been looking everywhere for you!" Rebecca shouts over to us with a grin and sends a wink in my direction which Zeke definitely spots.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders like I'm his property or something. "Oh you know, we were just chilling..."
Rebecca nods, amused, and tries not to smile. "Right..." She says doubtfully and raises an eyebrow at us before shrugging. "Anyway, Baz and Foster are just leaving."
"So soon?" I step forward and purposely manage to get out of Zeke's reach so that his arm is no longer around my shoulders. I hear him grunt.
"Yeah they have a curfew apparently." Rebecca frowns. "You gonna come and say goodbye? Or you can just stay here and cuddle into each other's arms—"
"No I'll come." I interrupt her with a glare.
She grins. "Okay then, no need to get snappy. You coming Zeke?"
He fidgets a little before glancing at me. "No I think I'll just hang back for a while. Tell them I said bye though."
Rebecca and I frown but nod anyway before walking back to the house.
"What happened with you two? I wanna hear all the goss." She whispers excitedly in my ear.
"Nothing much..." I admit shyly. "Yeah we kissed but—"
"Oh my god, you kissed? That's amazing! I shipped you two from the start and now it is sailing!" She dances around happily.
"It was only a trick though. He only kissed me to get me off him."
Okay that came out wrong.
"OooOhooo, you were on top of him?" She wiggles her eyebrows at me.
"No, he threw water at me so I got him back by pinning him to the floor." I explain the story to her. "He was like 'get off me' and I said 'make me' and so he kind of... kissed me... And then during the kiss he flipped me over and pinned me to the floor until I agreed to a truce. He was just using the kiss to play with my weaknesses."
"Yeah but whatever your deluded little mind thinks, he still kissed you! Zeke Westley doesn't go round kissing random people." She says and I give her a look. "Okay, so he does but not his friends. Does that mean that you two are almost, sort of a couple now?" She squeals.
"No. Maybe? Oh I don't know. I don't really know what we are. We are friends who hug... And kiss... No that's weird, I have no clue."
Rebecca stops and places her hands on my shoulders. "Okay, listen to me. Block out anything you might find annoying about him and focus on one question," she pauses. "Would you like to go out with Zeke Westley?"
My head snaps. "Who said he would ever ask me out? He wouldn't!"
She rolls her eyes. "Just imagine if he did. Would you say yes?"
I fiddle with the zip on my hoodie. "I don't know... I've only ever been asked out by Dillon before who's a really handsome guy... But with Zeke... It sort of scares me."
She frowns. "Why? He's not that scary."
"No it's not him. I just... The whole thing where everyone would know and if we broke up it would ruin our friendship which makes me frightened."
"Hayley," She lets out bluntly. "What you have isn't friendship. You're practically already acting like you're in a relationship."
"What? No!" I deny straight away as my eyes widen. "I don't know how to act in a relationship, I've never been in one."
"Don't you remember Dan Parkes?" Rebecca grins and wriggles her eyebrows. "You two were the cutest couple in the whole entire world– you would even share lollipops! He would kiss you on the cheek and you would blush every time you saw him—"
"We were four." I deadpan. "That doesn't count."
"Still! You don't need to change how you act. You and Zeke already act closer than close and now you've kissed! See? It's all falling into place." She sums up excitedly.
"Actually he might have kissed me on the forehead as well..." I start quietly but regret saying it from the moment Rebecca starts screaming.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She gushes.
"Well why haven't you told me about what happened on your movie night with Mace, hm?"
I know it was before all the drama began but I remember things like this; when Mace called Rebecca 'babe' and all we could hear through the walls were giggling and flirting.
Rebecca immediately blushes and turns away. "Okay I'll let you off." She says quietly, obviously not going to explain further about her Netflix and chill session. "But anyway, you and Zeke are practically boyfriend and girlfriend already."
"Woah woah, slow down." I try to hold her down before she flies to the moon. "We're not even dating."
"Ah but you went on a date!" She cries triumphantly.
"That was fake!" I shout, now getting frustrated.
"I know," her eyes shine at me. "Shouldn't you he talking about this with him rather than me?"
My eyes widen. "I'm not good with that kind of thing."
"Well you'll have to try."
After a quick goodbye to Baz and a hug for Foster, Rebecca then explains to everyone why I need to go back into the garden again... specifically to where Zeke is right now...
"She forgot her hoodie." She says and I frown.
"She's already wearing a hoodie." Mace points out and looks at Rebecca doubtfully.
"Well she was wearing two... Right Hayley?" She looks at me expectantly.
"Erm, yeah." I frown.
"See?" Rebecca baffles on desperately. "You boys are so forgetful and Hayley should go now, shouldn't you Hayley? Yeah? Okay, bye. We're loving you and leaving you... Well you're leaving us but whatever."
I get pushed into the darkness of my backyard while Rebecca forcefully guides James, Myles, Dillon and Mace back into the house while muttering that they can have a catwalk competition.
I wish I could see that.
But alas, that is only a dream. For I have to go find out what the hell is going on with the guy I like.
Wooh I'm so excited.
Not.
I shove my cold hands into my fluffy hoodie's pockets and trudge towards where I last saw Zeke. I find him huddled by the dying bonfire, rubbing his hands together for warmth. I decide to do what I would normally do, ignoring the earlier awkwardness I had to deal with, and walk confidently towards him.
"Hey." I say as I put a hand on his shoulder.
He looks up at me and I sit down next to him. We are quite snug on our little log but neither of us seem to mind.
"Hey." He sends a small smile. "Have Foster and Baz left already?"
"Yeah, I waved them off." I sigh.
"Oh." He nods.
I purse my lips. "So... Um..." I struggle to start, causing a strange silence.
"We need to talk." He lets out quickly and I finally get to see his eyes. Their lapis irises dilate into mine as thoughts swirl in his beautiful mind. His eyes are thoughtful, but still gleam at me with questions and mysteries which should probably be left unsolved.
I gulp. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."
"Look, I just want to say how I heard you earlier. Talking to Rebecca, I mean. You were saying how you... You were scared of being with me. Why?" He looks so confused, so hurt.
I look at my feet and decide to only mention half of the real reason. "What people will think..."
"Does that matter?" He looks annoyed and fiddles with something in his hands.
"No of course not." I quickly correct myself and take a deep breath. "It's that... Well the real reason is that I'm—"
"You're what?" He prompts harshly.
I want to shrink into a hole.
My reasoning feels lame as I continue talking. "I would be a rubbish girlfriend... compared to all the ones you've ever had, anyway. I wouldn't know how to act or what to say. I know it's stupid but—"
"You're right. It is stupid." His jaw locks as he stares daggers into the dancing flames of the fire.
"I'm sorry, I just—" I start, fearing that he may be extremely offended by this.
I don't want to hurt him, even though he hurt me.
"No. I don't want you to even think it." He turns to look at me from where he has now stood up. "Don't ever think that you're not just right already. You would make an amazing girlfriend, way better than all the other sluts that I've kissed so don't even think about comparing yourself to them. You don't need to act differently just because you're with me, why would you think that? You're you. And I like you for who you are, not who you would try to be."
My heart melts at the same time as doing a little flutter. Did he just say that he likes me? As a friend?
"I'm pleased one of us believes that." I smile sadly and try not to let my mind wander. He likes you as a friend. "Thank you."
His hand brings my gaze to lock onto his. "You should think that as well. So I'm not letting you thank me until you believe it too." He says sincerely. "Is that the only other reason why you don't want to be with me? And because you're scared of what people will think?" He squeezes my hand.
"Yeah..." I let out softly, avoiding eye contact.
"Well I don't care what they say. And you shouldn't either." He frowns. "They can go around being bitches as much as they want but I won't let it affect us. If I cared about you I wouldn't give a shit what people thought about it."
This time I actually take in what he meant. "If you... If you cared about me?"
He places a hand on my cheek and looks further into my eyes like he's waiting for something.
I swear my soul is not that interesting.
My handsome prince's eyes light up with a bit more of his usual humor as he looks at me. "Haha, no." He jokes and I roll my eyes. "Nah I'm kidding, of course I care about you." I watch as he bites his lip at me and waits for my answer.
Is this his way of saying that he likes me?
I struggle to wipe away the huge goofy grin from my lips. "Zeke Westley." I speak, now on my feet, and roll my eyes. "You'll be pleased to know that I care about you too."
I swear he visibly relaxes. He stares at me with relieved eyes and an overjoyed expression on his gorgeous face before he quickly masks it.
"Well I would be worried it you didn't. Who wouldn't care about this handsome face?" He claims cockily and I stick my tongue out.
"Well now you say that..." I feign walking away.
"Aw, you love me really." He smirks and grabs my hand, pulling me back towards him and into his chest.
"Hm..." I ponder. "I suppose I could stretch to that if I really, really, tried." I grin.
He sends me another smirk. "At least the feeling is mutual."
Zeke then pulls me into his strong, protective hold. His chin rests on my head as he hugs me with all the meaning in his cute little heart. The most handsome guy I know cares for poor old little me. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?
To be honest, it probably isn't.
I don't really understand why he would choose me over all of the girls out there who would do anything for him. I'm not trying to be modest, just factual, because I bet that most (if not all) of the girls he has kissed before were hot, fit and generally gorgeous.
Unlike me.
Zeke holds me in his arms for a while longer and his finger draws circles on my back, but my thoughts still buzz around my head like light bulbs flickering on and off.
"Hayley?" I hear a strangled voice from behind me.
I turn my face to see a shocked Dillon staring at me, but Zeke's arms keep holding me close.
"Dillon." I speak and shuffle around in Zeke's grip. I feel bad that he has to watch Zeke and I hugging. Especially after he asked me out.
Eventually Zeke notices him too and drops an arm, so that he only has one looped around my shoulders, but I get the feeling that he is doing it purposely like it's a warning to Dillon or something. He knows Dillon asked me out, but why would he care about that now?
But wait... if Zeke heard me saying that I would be scared to go out of him then he would have also heard when I mentioned how handsome Dillon is.
I'm so stupid...
"I, er..." Dillon's pale face turns away slightly. "I just came to see where you were. Rebecca was acting strange."
I try my best to smile. "Don't worry, she's always strange." I turn to Zeke. "Would you leave me alone with Dillon for a second? I promise I won't be long."
Zeke covers up his feelings with a tight lipped smile. "Yeah sure." He glances at Dillon, who immediately looks away. "What could go wrong?"
I roll my eyes and sigh. "Please?" I give him huge puppy eyes and flutter my long eyelashes, making him chuckle.
"Just for you." He taps my nose and then, with meaning radiating off of him, he closes his beautiful eyes and places a lingering kiss on my forehead. I don't know whether he really wants to kiss me or whether it's just to warn Dillon, but I can tell that he is soothing both of our worries in that single kiss. When he pulls back, he avoids eye contact and walks away, leaving me with a very glum Dillon.
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Show me that you're here <3 Don't be an onlooker like Dillon ;)