CAROL wasn't the type of girl to ever care about shoes. She could wear heels and jump in mud puddles for all she cared. That is, if she ever wore heels. Actually, she'd never wear heels.
The guy she liked was quite the opposite of her, she knew that for sure.
Mark, on the other hand, he was the kind of guy you'd find in a book. He was your typical gentleman, opening doors for girls, giving hand kisses. You could say he was prince charming-like.
The thing was, princes went with princesses. Carol was no princess. The last girls Mark had dated were very similar in their personalities and interests. They were beautiful, with or without their caked faces. They were kind, in a way that she only saw in a Disney Princess.
As she laced up her new soccer cleats on the bleachers, she couldn't help but sigh at the thought that Mark would never like a girl like her. A girl who couldn't look like the other girls. She'd rather run suicides than wear a dress.
She looked at the new, blue cleats. At least she had one pair of nice shoes. Her cleats were the equivalent of Cinderella's glass slipper except they weren't given to her. She saved up $200 dollars from babysitting baby demons to buy those things.
When she looked up, she saw Mark beginning to approach. He had that charming smile of his, and sparkling green eyes that drove every girl crazy. "Hey Carol!" he called out, while jogging across the soccer field.
"Hey man!" she greeted, then they did that bro-hand-shake-hug-thing.
"You ready for shooting practice?" he asked.
"Hell yeah! You're gonna get a taste of my mad skills." she punched his arm playfully and he laughed. Well, to rephrase, her punch was more violent than playful and his laugh was more like a groan of pain. Her stomach couldn't help but turn as she watched him laugh through the pain. They had this odd sort of cuteness...
He took his position in the net. Mark was always the goaltender, and Carol was always the striker. That's how the world worked. The perfect pairing. Hence, they could practice together.
She kicked the ball, which landed safely in the net, after it brushed ever so slightly on Mark's fingertips. She looked at Mark, who was just kind of dazed off.
"You got better!" he exclaimed, and she placed a hand on her hip, smirking with pride.
"Excuse me, I was always good." she stated confidently.
They continued to practice for a few hours, with Mark and Carol exchanging advice and criticism. After they were simply too tired to continue, they fell onto the grass, exhausted.
"So...how was your date with Penelope?" she asked, curious about how he felt towards that other girl.
He shrugged and shook his head. "It wasn't the best. She's kind of clingy, and high maintenance."
Go figures. Not to say that Penelope was a snob, but she was a snob. She was the typical spoiled brat who got everything handed to her, and still had the audacity to gloat about it. Mark deserved a girl that cared about him.
Instead of spilling her thoughts, she just said, "Oh."
"Y'know, I just want a girl that I can talk to, without having to try too hard." he told her, looking up at the sky.
"Yeah. I get it man." she casually agreed.
"Carol, you're amazing, y'know." he started, and she started to blush uncontrollably, looking like a strawberry.
"You're like one of the guys." he finished, and it felt like ice was being poured down her head.
Guy-zoned, Carol was guy-zoned.
That hurt her in a way that it really shouldn't have had. Maybe it hurt so much because she liked him so much. That's all she would ever be to him.
One of the guys.
Nevertheless, she laughed. That was the only reasonable response. "Yup. Y'know me, just one of the guys. I'm cool like that." she replied awkwardly.
"You know what? You are like the brother I never had. Thanks for being there for me." he continued as she prayed to God that Mark would just shut up before she lost it.
Brother he never had? Brother? She heard of girls getting friend-zoned, sister-zoned, but brother-zoned? She had stooped to a new low.
Then she did what any girl would do at a moment like this.
She looked down at her chest.
Okay. She definitely was not a boy. How on earth could Mark make that correlation? She was not flat. She could also pretty much guarantee that her face held very feminine features when they weren't covered in mud.
Deciding that this was quite enough mortification one could handle in one lifetime, she decided that it would be best for her if she left.
"Okay, I guess I'll see you on Monday." she finally said, breaking the awkward silence between the two, and picking up her gym bag from the ground.
As she walked away, Mark called out, "Wait up man! I'll drive you home!"
"No need! I'll walk!" she shouted back, not turning around.
One of the guys, she thought, that's what I'll always be. Of course Mark would never see that she liked him and he obviously didn't like her back. If he wanted some cheerleader on the field, then fine. Carol knew that there was nothing she could do if she wasn't his type.
Too bad it didn't change her feelings about him.
He ran up beside her, grabbing her arm, pulling her to a halt. "Carol, are you okay? You seem a bit off."
"I'm fine bro." she said, somewhat salty.
"You are not fine." he commented.
"Yes I am!" she yelled unexpectedly, her gaze burning through him. "What's your problem?" she continued, jabbing a finger at his hard chest.
Meanwhile, the sudden change in weather was going unnoticed by the two. The seemingly cloudy day began to turn even darker. The sky, grey, only becoming darker, almost disappeared between the emerging heat of the arguing friends.
"I don't have a problem! But you clearly do!" Mark shouted back.
"I don't! I already told you!" she argued, turning her back on him again.
"Just tell me what's wrong!" he heaved, exhausted from the fight.
She turned around to face him. "You know what my problem is?"
"Clearly I don-"
"You are my problem!" she almost screamed, jabbing him in the chest, multiple times.
Mark stepped back, hurt, but confused at the same time. He had never seen her so mad before, especially at him. They were closer than ever, he assumed that she felt the same. "What did I do wrong? Did I say something?" he asked softly, stepping froward again, touching her arm.
She looked at her feet, not knowing what to say next. She bit her lip, debating on whether she would finally come out and say it or if she would keep holding her secret. "It's just so hard to be around you."
"Why?"
"It just is."
He grew frustrated. "Just tell me what it is!" He let out an uncalled for yell, causing Carol's eyes to widen. "I'm sorry," he apologized quickly after, "I just really want to do something to help you."
A drop of rain fell from the sky, onto her face, at the same time a tear rolled down her cheek. Mark took his hand to her chin, lifting it up until she was staring up at him.
"You can't help me, Mark," she whispered as the rain began to come down stronger onto both of them.
"You don't know that."
She started to sob, something that caught both of them off-guard because she hadn't cried for a very long time. "You can't! Even if I tried, I can't change the way you feel about me!" she yelled at him.
"What do you mean?" he asked, pushing his soaking, wet hair back.
"I like you and you don't like me! That's that! I can't do anything about it!"
His eyes widened in shock, but he was too stunned to even reply.
The field around them was starting to give in from the rain and she could feel her shoes sinking. She threw her arms up, letting out a frustrated scream. "Great! Now my new shoes are gonna be ruined too!"
Before she could say anything else, Mark picked her up bridal-style and started walking across the field.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I know you worked really hard for those. I don't want them to get muddy." he answered bluntly, his face straight.
He carried her all the way to the back door of the school, where they were sheltered from the rain by the rooftop. He carefully let go of her, his hand still pressed against her back as she stood on the ground.
"Thanks," she said shyly, feeling terrible about yelling at him earlier.
"Anything for you," he shrugged.
They stood under the rooftop, listening to the pitter patter of the rain for what seemed like ages. Both of them were feeling more awkward than they were before. It seemed to be getting worse, like a bad flu.
Finally, Mark mustered up the courage to speak up. "Hey, um, did you really mean what you said out there?"
She avoided his gaze. "Oh, that... Well yeah, I'm really sorry for just bringing that onto you like that..."
"No, I mean, it's okay." He gave a shy smile, which she reciprocated.
"Listen, I still want to be friends. You're one of my best friends now and I don't want to lose you." she told him, nervously fidgeting with her fingers.
He stepped closer to her. "I'm really sorry. I actually never thought that you would ever have a crush on me."
She shrugged. "I'm good at acting like one of the guys, huh?"
He laughed.
She gave a sad half smile. "Can we still be friends?"
Then, he did the unexpected. Mark, who planned out everything, the scaredy cat who never planned on making a move on her, leaned over and kissed her. As their lips met, her eyes widened in surprised, but shut quickly after as she found herself engulfed in the kiss.
His kiss was soft, not aggressive, nor possessive. It was slow and steady, never faltering, nor hesitant. His hands held her waist as she found hers wrapped around his neck. It went on until they both needed to gasp for air.
As she released him, he pressed her body to his in a tight embrace. "I don't want to be friends," he whispered in her ear.
"Oh?"
"I guess I hid my crush pretty well too, huh?" he joked, before kissing her again.
She smiled. "You could've saved me a lot of heart aches, you know?"
"Forgive me babe."
She rolled her eyes, "You're not calling me that."
He chuckled before kissing her for the third time. Both of them knew that Carol kind of liked the endearment and that Mark would not pass up any chance to call her his from now on.
*sigh*
I thought I did good with them...what do you think?
I really like their story 'cause it's just so cute when somebody gets out of the friendzone. I mean, it barely happens irl, but let's not think about that hehe.
Hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did when I wrote it.
I forgot I pre-wrote this...so sorry for the late update! Anyways, last, last Friday, I turned 17 and I feel old since all my characters are 16... Anyways, I'm trying to write here but I have too much school (dies) and when I do write, it's essays for scholarship applications. Please send me luck that I get accepted to Universities and that one of my many essays may win me tuition money!!
Oh and be sure to check out my new book, "Behind the Shining Stars" on my page!!!!!
(As you can tell, I'm very excited about it...)
-Summer :))