“Someone’s happy,” I grinned at Tyler as he came up to me at my locker after school. “So, do you have good news for me?”
“I want to thank you for yesterday first,” he smiled happily down at me, and it made me happy as well. “We had a really great time together, even though we had to leave the restaurant early and all.”
“Sorry about that,” I apologized sheepishly, feeling bad that I had cut their dinner date short. “I couldn't just ask him to leave. His family was there and all. And if I asked him to go anywhere with me, he’d probably think that I wanted to have sex with him or something.”
“Again.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“But anyway, I'm glad you covered for us though,” he nodded, still smiling at me. “He definitely would have seen us if it wasn't for you. My secret would have been blown.”
I shrugged. “I think we all have enough problems to deal with right nw. Your secret getting out wouldn’t make anything better.”
He nodded in agreement. “Exactly.”
“So, is there any good news for me?” I repeated now, really wanting to know if I was the great matchmaker I thought I was. “You better tell me that you have good news for me.”
Tyler chuckled, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “Well, I have a boyfriend now.”
“Tyler!” I squealed, jumping up and hugging him without even thinking twice about it. This embarrassed him only because people were now looking at us. “That’s so great! I’m so happy for you!”
He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, well…”
“So, do you have any other plans with Henry?” I whispered now as I shut my locker, making sure no one else would hear what I had said.
When he grew embarrassed, I wanted to gush over how cute he was acting. But I’d leave that for Henry to do.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I laughed, not wanting to embarrass him any longer. “I’ll see you later, okay? I have to go meet up with Chloe so we can go hang out.”
“I saw her by her locker with Chris as I was coming over here,” Tyler informed me, and I immediately feared the worst. “You probably want to get over there before one of them kills the other.”
“Oh, no,” I groaned, turning away from him and heading in the direction of Chloe’s locker quickly. I heard Tyler laugh, but all I did was wave at him over my shoulder before continuing on my way.
When I saw the two of them, I hurried my pace. Chris was holding Chloe’s backpack over his head, obviously not letting her have it.
“Give me back my backpack, Chris,” Chloe scowled, looking like she could have clawed his eyes out if she had to. “Stop teasing me and just give it back!”
“Come on, one little kiss,” he grinned, taking a step back and holding her backpack even higher when she jumped for it. “All you have to do is kiss me to get it back, Chloe. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
“You’re disgusting!” she cried, jumping for it again. For some reason, I found this amusing. “I don’t want to kiss you! I don’t like you anymore!”
“Just a little kiss!”
“No!”
I snatched her backpack away from Chris with ease, handing it to her and smirking at him when he glared. He should have known that I’d do that, since I was taller than Chloe and all.
“Chloe will kiss you when she’s good and ready, Chris,” I assured him teasingly, patting him on the shoulder as I held back a laugh. “Just go back home to practicing on your stuffed animals for a little while longer.”
“I’m not gay,” Chris informed me, as if I had somehow been confused.
“That doesn’t make you gay,” I smiled sweetly, glad that Tyler wasn’t around to hear this. “It just makes you lonely.”
Chris rolled his eyes, but then let out a laugh before he suddenly put me in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles into my scalp as I shouted at him to stop.
“Aw, Ivy!” he laughed as he continued to do it. “Do you need me to kiss it and make it better?”
I scowled as I pushed myself away from him as I rubbed my hurting scalp. “Nah, I’m good.”
“You’d rather have Jack or Eli do it, huh?”
My face flushed at what he had said. Did he know about Eli and me? Did he or Jack tell him about what had happened the night before? I’d kill them if they did!
“You know she can’t stand Eli, Chris,” Chloe covered with me, shooting me a concerned glance before turning to glare at the brunette boy standing before us. “And she’s over Jack. So she doesn’t want anyone kissing her head.”
“Or kissing me in general,” I made sure to add quickly, even though I didn’t think that that was the truth.
Chris rolled his eyes again, and it scared me a little because I thought he was going to put me in another headlock again. When he didn’t, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
“I’ll see you guys later,” he grinned, saluting to us before spinning on his heel and starting away. I couldn’t help but laugh at him, but Chloe only scowled at his back as he continued off. I said nothing when she angrily led me out of the school.
“I can’t believe him,” she actually said as we walked downtown. “To think that I’d actually want to kiss someone like him! He’s completely disgusting and rude!”
I only bit the inside of my lip, not knowing if there was anything I could say that’d make her feel any better. It was probably best to just stay quiet and let her continue ranting.
“I can’t stand him!” Chloe nearly shouted as we sat in the diner, and I ignored the looks we got from almost everyone around us. “Can’t he just leave me alone? I liked him last year, and that was it! Gosh, this is all Jack’s fault! If he didn’t tell Chris that I liked him last year, he never would have known! I really hate my cousin sometimes!”
“Are you sure you don’t still like him?” I couldn’t help but ask her once she calmed down a bit. Her cheeks were flaming red, which wasn’t something normal with Chloe. “You know, it wouldn’t be a bad thing if you did.”
Her cheeks turned even redder, if that was possible. “I… I do not like him anymore!”
Okay, that just proved it. She was definitely lying to me, even though she didn’t have to. I thought that it was fine if she still liked Chris. You couldn’t control who you liked…
This made me think of Eli. Was I stupid for liking him after everything he did to me? At first, he made my life at Neverland Academy a living hell, but after time went on, he started treating me better. And I guessed that he liked me back, since he’d kiss me back and everything. But he could have just done that with a lot of girls…
“Chloe, if you like Chris, than you like Chris,” I found myself saying now, as if I didn’t even have any control over my mouth any longer. “It’s really fine if you do. You know you can’t control who you like, so if you like him, it’s not even your fault. He’s good looking and everything, so I wouldn’t even blame you if you liked him.”
Her cheeks were still red when she finally spilled, “Fine! I still like him! But I can’t help it!”
I smiled at her. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“But enough about Chris,” she finally huffed, shaking her head as if that was going to get rid of all of her thoughts of him. “We need to talk about you and Eli. After what you told me this morning, we have to talk about some things.”
I knew she was right. I didn’t even know how I felt about him, which I knew wasn’t good. I pretty much had to decide between Eli and Jack, and it was honestly the hardest decision I’d ever had to make in my entire life.
“Are you even over Jack?” Chloe asked me, the one question that I didn’t want to be asked. “I mean, you seem like you are, but sometimes when you see him, you just get this look on your face like you… miss him or something. But sometimes, you get the same look when you see Eli, too.”
I couldn’t have still been in love with Jack. I wouldn’t allow myself to, because then I would have just ended up getting hurt again. But did it mean that I was in love with Eli because I was giving him the same look as I gave Jack? Why did everything have to be so confusing?
“I don’t love Jack anymore,” I said confidently, actually believing it myself. “But I have no idea how I feel toward Eli. I know I like him, but I don’t know if it’s anything more than that.”
Chloe frowned. “Well, I’m glad you don’t feel that way about Jack anymore. It’s probably the best thing for right now.”
I nodded in agreement. If I still loved Jack, I would have been in a relationship with him again. I was smart when I said no to him, because I was sure I would have just ended up heartbroken again. I’d never stop worrying that he’d always be in love with Emma more than me.
“But it’s just that…” I started, not knowing what I wanted to say now. “I think I… really like Eli. When we kissed last night, it made me feel good. It made me feel happy. The last time I felt like that was when I was with Jack.”
Chloe didn’t say anything at first, obviously trying to think of what to say. “Do you think that you’re… in love with Eli?”
“Me?” I nearly choked, not believing what she had just said. “You think I’m in love with Eli? I can’t be! I’m me! And he’s Eli! Sure, I like him and all, but love…”
Chloe shrugged. “You were in love with Jack. If you’re feeling the same way you did with Jack, maybe you’re in love with Eli now.”
“This is making my head hurt,” I groaned, laying my head down into my arms onto the table. “I really don’t want to talk about this anymore, Chloe. I think it’s driving me crazy. I don’t even want to think about it anymore.”
But I knew I would. I knew I’d be thinking about it for a long, long time.
I spent the rest of the day with Chloe, trying my hardest not to think of Eli or Jack. I wished that I could have just had a normal time hanging out with one of my best friends, but I couldn’t even do that. All I could think about were the stupid boys that were in my life.
It was late when I finally got home, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t be in trouble for getting home so late. I had told my dad that I wasn’t going to get home until it was after dark, but I was sure he wasn’t expecting it to be twelve thirty when I finally got home…
I let out a sigh once I finally got inside, dropping my backpack onto the ground and leaning against the front door. I really didn’t want to be here, since Eli was somewhere inside. I could only hope that he was asleep, since it was late.
“Oh, you’re home,” a voice said after I had shut the front door. I nearly jumped at of my skin. “I was about to leave the spare key under the mat because I was about to go to bed.”
“Sorry for coming home so late,” I told my father sheepishly, out of breath from him frightening me. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”
My dad laughed. “It’s no problem. Sorry for scaring you.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s fine.”
“Here, look what came in the mail today,” my dad now said, picking something up off of the table and handing it to me. “I thought that that would excite you a little.”
“Morgan’s getting married?” I asked with wide eyes, not believing the invitation I was reading. “That’s so great!”
My dad chuckled. “It is, isn’t it?”
“Are we going to go to the wedding?” I asked, excited to see my cousin again. “It’s in a little while, but still. It would be great to see everyone again!”
“We’ll probably go,” my dad nodded, and I almost hugged him in happiness. “Since we have more money now, we’ll be able to afford the trip down there. It would be nice to see everyone again, even though her parents are probably less than thrilled that this is happening.”
I couldn’t help but giggle as I thought of my aunt and uncle. Uncle Alec was good about this kind of things, but Aunt Tiffany definitely wasn’t. She was just like Claudia when it came to almost everything.
“They’re definitely not happy,” I agreed.
“I heard Leah has a boyfriend now, too,” my dad informed me now, and I stared at him with my jaw nearly touching the floor. “Tiffany and Alec are apparently not happy about that, either.”
“She hasn’t called me and told me!” I cried, a little upset at my other cousin because she hadn’t told me right away. But I didn’t blame her, since I didn’t call her and tell her about Jack or anything. “How do you even know?”
“I keep in touch with Morgan,” he shrugged, and I knew he was rubbing it in my face. “I like to give her a call every once in a while. She seemed really happy that her sister finally got a boyfriend.”
I couldn’t help but groan. “I really hope it’s not Sean.”
I’m not even going to try to explain that idiot. He would always be over when I would visit when we were younger, since my mother was still alive then so we had enough money to do so. He’d follow Leah around everywhere and never leave her alone. She’d used to call and complain about him all the time, but now… Ew. I didn’t even want to think about it.
My dad laughed again. “I hope it’s not either.”
I was glad that my dad was close to my cousins, since they were on my mom’s side of the family and not his. It just made me feel like our family was closer than they had to be, which made me happy.
Talking about this with my dad made me feel better, which kind of surprised me a little. I didn’t think that anything would have made me feel better, but I was obviously wrong. I couldn’t remember when I had talked to my dad about this kind of thing last.
“Well, I’m going to bed,” my dad now said, turning toward the stairs and staring up them. “I’ll see you when you get home from school tomorrow, since I’ll be gone for work when you wake up.”
I smiled at him. “Good night.”
Being home just didn’t feel right when I was all alone. The guy that I had been avoiding all day was upstairs, hopefully asleep so he wouldn’t know that I was home. I still didn’t know how I was supposed to face him, and I really wasn’t looking forward to it.
I decided to take a shower, which I had to be really careful about since the only bathroom was upstairs, right by my room. The door was luckily closed, but I was still afraid that he could have come out at any time.
When I was done showering, I hurried down stairs in only a towel, since I had left my change of clothes down stairs on the couch. It didn’t bother me very much, since everyone was asleep and all, and I figured that I’d just get dressed downstairs.
Instead of getting dressed right away like I should have, I turned the TV on and flipped through the channels until I found something worth watching. Something told me that I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep even if I tried to, so I’d might as well just watch TV.
“Why have you been avoiding me all day?”
I jumped at the sound of this voice, covering my mouth so my family wouldn’t hear me shout from upstairs. I nearly dropped the towel that hugged my body, and I was sure glad when it stayed put. I’d surely never be able to face him again if he saw me without any clothes on.
I had hoped that Eli was asleep, but I guessed that I was wrong. He was downstairs, staring right down at me as I stood there wet in a towel, no clothes on underneath.
“I haven’t been avoiding you,” I lied, making sure to look away from him and back at the clothes I was supposed to be wearing right then. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind today, that’s all. And I’ve had a lot of stuff to do.”
Eli rolled his eyes at me. “That’s why you went out into the hall and made out with Jack?”
“How… how do you know about Jack and me?”
“You two were kissing right in front of the entrance to the dining hall,” Eli snapped, and I could tell that I had hurt him. “I couldn’t help but notice you swapping spit when I stepped outside to follow Jack.”
“Eli…”
“You just kiss everyone all the time, huh?”
“No!” I nearly shouted, covering my mouth when I noticed how loud I had been. “Jack was talking about getting back together and he kissed me. I kissed him back out of force of habit, but told him that we couldn’t get back together.”
He didn’t look like he believed me, and it made me feel guilty. It was obvious that I hurt him from what I had done, and I wanted to do something to show him that he was the one that I liked now. But the only thing that came to mind at that moment was to drop the towel, but that was definitely not going to happen.
“Can I please get dressed?”
“Go ahead,” he said, turning away from me so his back was facing me. “I won’t look.”
“You better not,” I gulped, slowly starting to undo the towel. “If you do, I’ll never forgive you. I’ll beat you so bad that I… I… I don’t know. Just don’t look back at me.”
I could tell he rolled his eyes. “I won’t.”
And he didn’t, much to my surprise. I kept my eyes on him the entire time, and he didn’t turn back once. When I stumbled trying to pull my underwear up and let out a little gasp of surprise, I saw his hands ball into fists at his sides. He even looked like he was shaking. But I brushed this off as I continued change as quickly as I could.
“Okay,” I whispered one I was finally done, taking the towel and starting to dry my hair with it. “You can turn around now. I’m decent.”
“How great,” he drawled, making his way over and sitting down on the couch. I sat down next to him, having nothing else to do as we sat there in the dark, the TV being our only light like it had the entire time we had been downstairs.
“I’m sorry about avoiding you,” I finally apologized, seeing that he wasn’t going to say anything to me first. “I just… had a lot to think about today.”
“I could tell.”
“But I came to a decision,” I swallowed, knowing that no was the time to tell him how I felt. There wouldn’t ever be a time that was as perfect as now, so I was going to have to do it. I turned my head to face him, only to see that our faces were now so close that our noses were almost touching.
“Are you going to avoid me after this?” he breathed without even letting me tell him what my decision was, his face so close to mine that I wanted to lean forward and kiss him myself. “If I kissed you right now, would you avoid me?”
“No,” I whispered back, and our lips finally touched, gently at first. “Not this time. I’m sure of it.”
Before I could stop him, he ended up picking me up from the couch bridal style, starting toward the stairs, us kissing without even stopping the entire time. He walked us all the way up the stairs and into my room, shutting the door behind him before placing me on my bed and getting right on top of me, continuing from where we had left off.
And as I got closer and closer to him, a feeling that I had felt once before was in the pit of my stomach. I had only felt this feeling when I realized that I was in love with Jack. I could remember exactly where I was, who I was with, and how I was feeling. I knew now that…
Maybe I really did love Eli after all.
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I want to know why you guys think Eli was clenching his fists and shaking while Ivy was changing behind him. >=D Because obviously there has to be a reason. xD
Typing with long nails is such a pain. They just keep getting in the way and screwing everything up for me. -_-
This took so long. I'm sorry! I've been back from my family reunion for a while, but all I've been able to do is stare at my open word document and do nothing. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, but I just wouldn't write. Sorry about that. <3
And they don't have sex, just so none of you are confused. xD
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3