"You mind giving the phone to Reece so I can give him a piece of my mind?!"
I had to move my iPhone away from my ear because Bailey's ear piercing yelling would have caused my poor ear to bleed. Stupid social networking. Chasity posted her new relationship status and now the whole school knows of Reece and Chasity. Once I know Bailey has somewhat calmed down, I place the phone back against my ears and bend my head towards it so I can balance the phone on my shoulder. "You don't need to do that," I kindly tell her.
"Oh yes I do. That boy has the nerve to not only break your heart but bring his new girlfriend to your guys' holiday home! He is not going to get away so easily!" Bailey assures me, making me gulp in nervousness.
I place my hands back behind me on the wood of the community's playground as I sit on the edge of it, letting my legs dangle in the air. "You need to calm down Bay." I attempt to hush her, looking behind me just in case anyone is overhearing our conversation. Specifically if Reece is listening in on this.
That would be bad.
Before I came out here, I made sure that no one would notice. Reece was with the rest of the Super Trio, watching some new action movie. It's their way of resting and regaining their strength. I would have loved to watch with them but I didn't want the view of Reece and Chasity snuggling together and giggling at each other lovingly.
I know I wouldn't enjoy the movie. So instead, I sneaked out of the house, walked for about thirty minutes, and came here where I'm currently wanting to get some advice from my amazing friend. She's so amazing that she wants my ears to bleed.
What a great pal.
"I will not calm down, Zada." She sighs, "you still need to go with the plan."
"No, I think confessing my feelings is out of the question now." I tell her, swallowing hard to contain my tears. It's only been two days since I found out about Reece and Chasity. Those two days have been the worst. I have been avoiding Reece like the black plague. If he would come down for breakfast, I would tell everyone I'm finished and leave. If he would come to the entertainment room, I would come up with a weak excuse to leave but whenever Chasity was with him, I would just give them their privacy and leave without saying a word.
I can't believe I'm saying this but I can't wait for the holidays to be done.
"No way! You still have a chance, Zada. You'll regret it later if you don’t do anything now." Bailey warns me.
"I regret having feelings for him!" I tell her harshly, making sure my voice doesn't get any more louder than it already is.
Silence greets me on the other side of the phone until Bailey quietly says, "you don't mean that."
I stare off at the swing set, picturing the past when Reece and I would always come here as kids. Back then, it was just the two of us against the world. We could tell each other anything, be there for each other constantly. Back then, I didn't have to see him with other girls that are prettier than me. Back then, I honestly thought it would just be the two of us.
A single tear falls down my cheek. "I don't know what to do anymore, Bay." I cry out silently, wiping away that tear before any more can cascade down.
"Zada," Bailey says with understanding laced in her tone, "maybe you should tell him on Christmas day instead of his birthday."
"But that's six days away and afterwards, it would make his birthday and New Years extremely awkward." I point out, already dreading the awkwardness when I'd be giving Reece his Christmas gift after he'd reject me.
"You'll regret it if you don't," Bailey answers me.
I run my hand through my hair as an attempt to calm down my frustration, "what am I going to do for those six days? Operation avoid, hide, and run away?!"
"No, that would be stupid." After about one minute pasts, Bailey realizes that I haven't agreed with her statement because she asks, "that's what you have been doing this entire time, huh?"
I don’t reply which only confirms Bailey's thoughts. "Alright then, there's been a change of plans." She announces dramatically.
"How so?" I ask a bit warily.
"You are going to come in between their relationship." Bailey declares.
I nearly topple over the playground's slide tower, almost falling to the doom that are wood chips. That is the worst idea for a playground floor. Talk about ouch. "Are you out of your mind?"
"No, but you are for not doing this yet."
"Bay, you can't expect me to wedge myself right in between them and act all innocent. I'm not that kind of person!" I try hard to explain to her; to get through to her.
It doesn't work. "You're going to do it if it means you get to have Reece in the end all to yourself." Bailey answers me.
"You're making me sound like some obsessed stalker." I groan out in embarrassment.
"Please, you know everything about this guy to the smallest detail. Stalker is considered a compliment compared to what you should be called."
I bring one leg up so I can rest my head on my knee, "and what's that?"
"A psychotic creeper." Bailey dramatically echoes for effect causing me to burst out laughing. Thankfully there aren't any children at the park at the moment otherwise I'd be truly living up to my name.
Then again, there would be something really wrong with the parents if they were letting their kids play at the playground at eleven in the evening.
"I'll try," is all I can say to my friend who, for almost three years, has been with me every step of the way as I struggled with my feelings for Reece. Sophomore year is when I met her, in my art class. It was my first semester where I didn't have all the classes with Reece and art happened to be that one class where I was alone. Beforehand, Reece was my only friend. I was even home schooled during junior high with him so I could stay at his side as he struggled through the experiment and mutations occurring to his body.
Reece finally decided we should stop being home schooled after we finished ninth grade. Luckily that meant we skipped being labeled freshmans. I was fine with it, even excited to experience the high school life.
Then high school showed me the truth:
Reece and I belong at opposite levels of the social ladder. Reece was meant to be on the top while I, the bottom.
...that's what she said! Well, thought in my case but that's beside the point. There I go, distracting myself once again.
Back to my main thoughts:
The first week of sophomore year was dreadful for me until I was paired with Bailey for an art project.
"That's good enough for me," I can practically hear the smile in my second best friend's words. I can hear it so well that it's actually contagious, even making me smile.
"So," I drawl out slowly, "are you going to spill the deets to me about the dinner?"
Bailey intakes a sharp breath. "I thought I would get lucky enough that you wouldn't bring it up!"
I actually snort, "please, the entire time you were probably silently pleading that I'd bring the topic up." I hear chuckling on the other line, confirming my thoughts, "so are you going to tell me how it went or continue keeping me in suspension?"
"Hmm, keeping you in suspension sounds pretty tempting."
"Bailey!"
She laughs and exclaims, "they are fine with it!"
I squeal in delight but I already knew she would say this, "of course they would be. You're their daughter, why wouldn't they?"
"Well, all my other friends who had to confess told me their parents had a hard time accepting." Bailey admits to me why she was scared so much to tell her parents the truth.
"Well you're parents aren't like the others. They keep up with the times and have morals. The main one being to love their only child inside and out!"
Bailey sighs, but it sounds like a contempt sigh revealing that she is no longer stressed about having her parents' acceptance. "This is the part where you tell me that I should have listened to you, right?"
I grin in delight that she knows me this well, "yup! If you listened to me in the first place then maybe you wouldn't have panicked over this as much as you had."
"You would have panicked too if you were in my shoes." Bailey tells me.
"No I wouldn't because I can't fit your shoes. They're way too small." I laugh, pulling a loose strand away from my face, behind my ear. I check the time on my watch to see that it is almost midnight. I think I hit a new time record for myself for staying the latest at a playground. I could barely see the road from where I'm sitting.
"You're right. You have your own shoes that are giving you stress," Bailey points out, causing me to groan out in annoyance.
"Can we please not bring this up again?" I beg, not wanting to talk about Reece anymore. I'm too exhausted.
"I'll stop bringing it up when you finally do what you're supposed to do."
I lean against the wooden pole that holds up this small play ground tower, "for some strange reason, I have the urge to hang up on you."
Bailey chuckles, "you do that and I'll call Reece the next minute to tell him the truth."
I'm about to protest but a loud roar from off in the distance freezes me in the spot. The fierce sound echoes all around me making me widen my eyes as I realize that this roar must belong to a tiger. There are no tigers living in this area, or the States for that matter other than a zoo and there is no zoo near here. That roar can belong to only one person:
Reece
"What was that?" Bailey asks me worryingly.
Judging by the fact that his roars are getting louder and louder by the second, I have a slight feeling that he is heading over to me.
"Um, that was my iPod," I mumble sheepishly as I try to create some sort of excuse. I know for a fact that I'm one of the worst liars in the world.
"Your iPod, really?" Bailey doesn't sound one bit convinced.
I laugh from nervousness, knowing I have to end the call immediately before Reece gets here which will be soon. "Yah, I got an app that makes animal noises and I decided to click on the tiger sound."
There is silence on the phone for a few seconds as Reece's roaring continues to get louder. "Is this your way of distracting me?" Bailey finally manages to ask.
"No," I quickly reply, "this is my way of telling you that I have to go. I'll call you possibly tomorrow if I feel like it." I hang up right when I finish so I don't give time for Bailey to complain. Bailey's face vanishes from my phone, indicating that our conversation has ended, revealing to me that I have fifteen missed text messages and five missed calls. One call from my dad and the rest from Reece.
I'm in trouble.
Before I can open up my messages and read them, I hear growling up ahead and lift my head to see a white tiger standing at the edge of the play ground. If it weren't for Reece's stripes or brown eyes, I wouldn't have noticed him due to the fact that his soft white fur camouflages with the white snow. His massive body moves in quite rhythmic movements as he catches his breath but his eyes do not leave me. Instead, they do a twice over to check if I am okay.
"I was talking with Bailey and I didn't realize the time fly by," I immediately inform him, earning a low growl in response. I nod my head at him, "I know, I know. That was stupid of me."
Reece's eyes reveal to me that I am not forgiven. He tilts his large head in the direction of my phone with the unread messages. Taking his hint, I open up the messages and read them.
6:31 PM- Z-Lee, why'd u leave? U love this movie!
7:04 PM - We're at yr fav part. Come over if u want 2 c Loki kick ass.
8:59PM- R you gonna miss dinner 2? Yr dad order Domino's Pizza. P:
9:25 PM- 2 bad 4 u. We ate it all >:)
9:47 PM- Where ever u r, when r u coming home yo? :O
10:00 PM- I don't care if u come home late, at least tell me where u r! :
10:30 PM- Zada, I'm serious, where r u???!
10:40 PM- ZADA, STOP GOOFING AROUND AND TELL ME!
10:50 PM- If u don't answer me in the next ten mins, I'm going to go search for u
10:59 PM- Last chance Zada.
11:00 PM- Fine, u asked 4 it. When I find u, ur gonna be in huge shit, yah feel me?
11:01 PM- HUGE SHIT!
11:05 PM - U can't hide from me, ZADA
11:06 PM- If I get caught roaming around the community as a tiger and get shipped off to Madagascar, remember that it'll be all yr fault!
11:07 PM- Fine, ready or not, here I come
I can't help from chuckling after reading Reece's funny attempt of sounding serious through text. "You sound like some obsessed old lady who's lost one of her three hundred cats."
Judging by the tiger's tense posture, I'd say Reece doesn't find my joke one bit amusing. At this point in time, I notice the fabric locked in his jaw. From the three white stripes on top of the black material, I would bet my life that Reece is holding his favourite Adidas sweats. His massive tiger form finally relaxes after a few seconds of calming down. Reece's giant head then sways from side to side until he locates a bushes at the far left side from me that surround that portion of the playground.
Reece gently moves his paws over the wood chips, not bothered by the hardness of that material. He gracefully walks over to the bushes as I never lose sight of him. I expect him to hide behind the bush so he can change back to his human form but my best friend manages to catch me by surprise.
Reece throws his sweats into the bushes then rapidly turns around and runs at me. Noticing his sudden tactic, I move back until my back hits the wooden rails. It's a good thing I hit that side of the tower not the staircase side otherwise I would have floppily tumbled to my end.
Defeated by a wooden playground, talk about embarrassing.
Reece runs at me until he has reached the bottom of the tower. Then, using his hind legs, Reece lifts himself up so that his front paws rest on the floor of the tower.
I never said it was a high tower.
Reece moves forward until the edge of tower is up against his furry chest. His front legs are stretched to the max with his paws almost touching me, almost. I'm leaning so far up against the railings that I'm surprised I haven't caused it to break and make me fall to the wood chips with it.
Reece's brown tiger eyes shine at me with amusement. He pats the wooden floor of the tower with his paw, making no sound but a significant sign.
He wants me to come to him.
In response, I shake my head, "no way, nu'uh. I ain't going anywhere near your claws. This gorgeous face is not in need of a cat fight."
If a zoologist could be with me now, he or she would faint from astonishment. It's not everyday that an individual can witness a tiger giving them a dead pan stare. Wanting to convince me to come over to him, Reece plays the cute card. He whines adorably and I have to restrain myself from screaming out in awe.
"This is so unfair. I wasn't doing anything illegal," I whine, desperately hoping it would make him change his mind but Reece can be persistent when he wants to be. He shakes his furry white and black stripped head and then brings his paws towards him so he can rest his head on them in order to give me the puppy face.
Or in this case, the kitty face.
I cover my eyes with my hands, "no, your cheap trick won't work on me this time!" I declare proudly. I hear Reece huff in frustration but I still keep my eyes firmly shut tight behind the protection of my hands. I will not give into his adorableness, not this time. It always worked for him until now.
I smirk after a few minutes when I hear nothing, a sign that I've won. Thinking that I'm in the clear, I open my eyes to see the spot where Reece was occupying to be empty. Looks like he gave up and left for home. Doens't really seem like something he'd do but hey, I'll take it if it means I've won.
"Ha!" I yell out to which an puff of air is blown at me a second later. I pause and then turn my head to come face to face with the familiar brown tiger eyes. Reece, during the time my eyes were closed, walked over on his insanely quiet paws, around to the entrance of the playground, and strolled over to where I am in the tower.
His tiger body is situated on the staircase but his paws are now placed right beside me. His head is so close that I can feel his breath hitting my face lightly and if he moved any closer, his nose would definitely hit me.
Once again, he has taken me by surprise. I jump back from shock and nearly fall off the side with the kid version of a fire pole but luckily, Reece moved forward and wrapped one of his front legs around my waist. I didn't argue with his action even if my face was forced to be smacked against his furry chest due to his body structure. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his large body frame in fear of falling back.
Falling from heights: my worst fear that I've had since childhood.
Reece uses his other front leg to push us away from the bad edge until my butt is sitting right before the staircase. I then let him go so Reece can move back a bit to give us room.
I smirk at him, "I'm shocked your fat ass hasn't broken this delicate playground yet."
Reece rolls his eyes, seeing as he can't tell me how stupid of a statement I have just made. He gives me room to place my feet on the lower steps so that he can rest his heavy head on my knees. With his body laying across the rest of the steps and most of the playground's floor, he continues back to his kitty face.
I stare into his brown eyes with uncertainty before I finally sigh, giving in to a losing battle. I do what he wants and place my hands on his head, specifically, behind his ears and start to rub in that spot.
Reece closes his eyes and purrs, enjoying his massage. I frown, "don't think I'm doing this for free. You owe me one later."
Reece continues to purr, probably lost in his bliss of happiness to pay attention to my declaration of payment. Knowing I won't get what I want, I decide to give Reece what he wants so I continue to give him his massage.
To distract myself from the moment, I think back to the time when Reece and I would always come to play at this park as children, back in the day before Reece was forced into the experiments that morphed him into the superhero he is now. We were in elementary school then, when there was no social class. Every kid got along with each other because we still lived in the same world of imagination. Even then, Reece and I were the two inseparable children.
Everywhere he went, I went and vice versa. From playing grounders or tag on the playground to having challenges on the swings, Reece and I made sure we were always together. Back then, my six year old self thought we'd be like that forever. She would never think that an accident would alter our future to the point where the only major time I have with Reece is Biology class. She wouldn't begin to understand the responsibility Reece has to the world that makes him put his superhero duties before our friendship. She wouldn't believe that her best friend would spend his nights with almost every girl in their school except her.
My six year old self would never believe me if I travelled back in time and warned her of her future heartbreak. She would call me a fat liar, telling me that her Reece would never do that to her. Back then, I had an innocent mind. I didn't think Reece had the capability to hurt me but he did. It's just that he isn't aware of what his actions do to me.
But during these moments, when it's just the two of us, I feel like we're back in the old days. I don't just reminisce but I long for them. As selfish as this sounds, I want Reece to myself. I'm sick of sharing but in the end, I don't have a say.
A worried whine brings me back to the playground lit up by the moonlight. I look down to see Reece gazing up at me, glad to see me come back from my daze. I can't help but blush slightly in embarrassment, mumbling a soft sorry.
Reece stays completely still as he continues to stare at me. I can't read the emotions swirling in his eyes and I wish I knew what was going on in his head. We stay like that for a few more minutes before Reece realizes what he's been doing. He blinks a few times until a mischievous glint consumes his brown eyes. I don't have time to react or prepare myself before Reece lifts his head to my level and starts to lick me.
"Ew, gross!" I laugh out loud, bringing my arms up to shield me from Reece's sloppy, wet tongue. His saliva covers the side of my face and arms but he refuses to back down. The tickling sensation causes me to laugh some more, "please, I give! Uncle! Uncle!" I scream out, making sure not to yell out his name, for security's sake.
Reece gives me one more lick before pulling me back and giving me what could be called a tiger grin. He then pushes himself up and walks off the playground. He heads back in the direction of the bushes until his body is completely consumed by the plants. I stay put in my cringed state until Reece walks out from the bushes in his true form: a great looking guy just wearing his favourite sweat pants with his six pack on display for the world to see.
Thank goodness it's dark out now so I can't really see the fine details of his muscles that would most definitely cause me to blush non stop.
With his hands in his pockets, Reece strolls over to me. "I think you have received proper punishment."
I give him a disgusted face, "this is a sort of punishment I should receive if I broke your Xbox not this! This was an honest mistake!" I complain as I try to rub the saliva off of my face with the dry portion of my sweater which happens to be the part covering my back.
Reece's grin widens as he watches me struggle to pull the back of my sweater to my face. "For leaving us no message and in worry of where you were for the past four hours, I think this is perfect punishment. I might have even gone easy on you."
"You call this easy?!" I point at my drenched snoopy sweater. "I'm sorry for not saying anything but I seriously think it wasn't a big deal!"
"Big deal? It's the middle of the night! You could have gotten hurt!" Reece shouts back, his grin gone.
"We're in a safe secluded area, nothing is going to happen to me," I mumble, staring at the ground because I hate it when Reece yells at me.
I hear Reece sigh, "I'm sorry for raising my voice at you, Z-lee but please don't leave me without telling me where your going."
"Why should that matter to you," I blurted out. My eyes widened by a bit when I realized what I said but it was too late, I couldn't take back my words. So I cautiously looked back up to see a furious teenage, almost adult, boy.
His jaw is clenches as he breaths deeply through his nose, a habit of his when he is trying to control his anger. "Never ask me that again, Zada. You know you mean the world to me so don't ask such stupid questions." Reece growls out, his animal side surfacing.
I nod my head immediately, ignoring my increased heart rate that is caused by the fact that he told me he cared for me greatly in his own way. As much as I didn't want his words to lead me on, I feel a rise of hope in me that I might have a chance.
In an instant, Bailey's plans for me seem like a near distance future, a possibility that could bring me unimaginable happiness.
A dream come true.
But all good dreams come to an end. "Now how about we head back home. I don't want Chasity to get too worried." Reece states and turns to walk in the direction of our home.
It's a good thing his back is turned to me so he can't witness my shoulders slouching. The hope that was just seconds ago filling me up with new light diminishes, taking away my fantasy.
"I'm coming," I call out, chasing after my best friend as I let go of my dream for now. In the mean time, it looks like I'll have to deal with the new perfect image couple.
I can't believe Bailey thinks I can get in between that?!
__________
Tada! So, what you guys think??? Likes? Dislikes?
CUTENESS OVERLOAD ANYONE?!
Also, thanks SOOOOO much for the +100 reads! I don't have any ridiculous hopes of this story getting a ton of reads. I'm keeping it realistic here but I'm still shocked and thrilled that DMisMM got over 100 reads.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!
~Till Next Time!
(Oh and definitely check out Zedd's Find You. It's awesome if you're into pop/electro music :3