*
TAYA's POV:
I pulled my hand away as soon as I could, causing Blake to flinch. He followed my gaze and his body stiffened as soon as he saw the figure standing by the door.
"Blake, I'm sorry..." I started and he turned his head back to me. "I think I need some time,"
"What do you mean? I just told you all those things and you—"
"And I'm saying I need some time to let it all sink in," I paused for a second before saying, "Okay?"
"But..." he looked as if he wanted to say something, but he took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh instead. Finally he muttered, "Fine..."
"Excuse me," I slipped past him and made my way over to the door. I was well aware that Blake was still watching my every more. The whole room too—I could almost hear all the whispers.
"You came," I said as soon as I was an arm's length away from Judah. I didn't want to sound too excited, but the small smile curving up my face was a dead giveaway.
"Yeah," he raked his hair with his hand. "I just came to check up on you. I was worried you'd look like a fool, waiting for me all alone. But I see you've got yourself some company, so I think I'm just gonna go,"
And my smile immediately turned to a frown.
"Wait, what? But you just got here,"
"This isn't really my scene, Blondie. You know that," he gestured around the room before putting his hands in his pocket. "And plus I got somewhere to be, someone's waiting for me,"
One minute I was beyond excited to see that he actually showed up for me, but the next minute it was all taken away. I felt my heart plunging itself down a cliff.
"Is it Ava?" I muttered lowly.
He didn't answer me, but the look in his eyes gave it away.
"Please don't go," I said before I could even stop myself.
He looked at me and let out a sigh. It was as if he wanted to say something, but he was holding himself back.
"Dance with me. Just one dance. And then you can go if you want to," I said again, noting his frustration.
Perhaps asking Judah to a school dance was a mistake after all.
"Fine. One dance," his eyes softened a little as he said it. I was relieved.
Even if all I could get from him was just one dance, fine, I'll take it.
I took his hand and led him to the middle of the dance floor. As we walked in, I noticed the jealous eyes of the junior girls, the playful wink coming from Hallee, the mocking scoff coming from Viv, and the cold stare coming from Blake.
Ignoring them all, I linked my arms around Judah's neck and he responded by putting his hand on the small of my back.
"Look at all these people. They're all wishing they were dancing with the hottest girl at school," he commented, and I could taste the sarcasm in his words.
"Screw you," I said, rolling my eyes at him.
Leave it to Judah to make any tender, picturesque moment an unromantic one.
As if he knew what I was thinking in my head, he skillfully twirled me around in a circle. Then he gripped my back tightly before letting me down and pulling me back up quickly.
"What was that?" my eyes widened instantly, barely registering what just happened.
"That was the winning move from the 2011 ballroom dancing championship at Camp Tahoe," he laughed.
"You... ballroom danced?"
"I was like ten or so, my mom was desperate, trying anything to get me to behave," he shrugged.
The image of a ten-year-old Judah ballroom dancing was the single cutest thing that had ever crossed my mind. I shall cherish that image forever.
"Then we tried karate, kickboxing, therapy... nothing really worked," he paused a second before saying, "but that's when I found cigarettes and Oxy,"
He flashed me a grin, as if trying to sound cool and calm about it all. But something in his eyes told me that deep down he knew that it wasn't true.
"Do you still need them a lot lately?" I asked cautiously as we swayed softly back and forth between each other.
"Lately... not so much. I actually hadn't taken any meds in a while. I almost slipped up once, the day you came to my house. But after I took you home, I didn't feel like I need it anymore, so yeah,"
He was talking about the day I came to his house bringing frozen peas. I knew he was with Ava, and I knew the kind of deal they had. So I was really shocked when he offered to leave her and walk me home instead. I figured he'd go back to doing his business with Ava after dropping me off. But now, he was saying that he didn't. This just made my heart quadrupled in size.
As if he knew what I was thinking of, his eyes then held a playful glint as he said, "So, is this the part where I say: you're like my own personal brand of heroin?"
I couldn't help but burst into laughter. I smacked his arm playfully, and my hand decided to linger there afterwards. My eyes then darted from his face down to his chest, and that was when I noticed he wasn't wearing a tie.
"You didn't wear the tie I got you?" I said, my eyes looked back up at him.
"I... lost it. Sorry," He muttered, flashing me a sorry grin.
I glanced back down so he couldn't see the disappointment in my eyes. I had asked Judah to the dance as a sign to see if he was into me or not. And so far, the signs had been pretty damn confusing.
Yes, he came to the dance, but he was an hour and a half late. Then he said he was gonna leave, but then decided to stay for one dance. He was being nice and charming, but then he said he lost the tie I got him as if it was whatever.
I was starting to wonder that I might need to rethink my strategies. Perhaps it was true, Judah never really had feelings for me. Perhaps it was all in my head and I needed to accept the fact that I was nothing more than a fun friend to him. My body stiffened and my skin shivered at the thought.
"It's fucking freezing in here. What's wrong with these people?" Apparently Judah noticed it too. He took off his jacket swiftly and draped it over me.
"I'm not cold, it's okay," I lied and moved away, trying to take his jacket off. Petty move, but I didn't want to misread his kindness as anymore signs.
"But I'm hot. Just hold on to it for a while," he said instead and pulled the jacket tighter around me.
Dangit Judah.
Acts like these were what got me confused. If he had stayed the jerk that I first met, I wouldn't be having all these conflicting feelings right now.
"Hey," he whispered suddenly, breaking my train of thought.
"Your boyfriend is seriously giving me the stink-eye. Whatever it is that we're doing, it's totally working," he murmured to my ears.
At this point, Blake was just crowned homecoming king and Viviane was crowned queen. As per tradition, they had to slow dance together in the middle on the dance floor. Viviane rested her head snugly on Blake's chest, but Blake kept his gaze on me— or on us.
I turned my head back to face Judah. He gave me a winning smile, but I just shook my head in response.
"Judah, you do realize that I asked you to the dance not to make Blake jealous, right?"
"Right," he scoffed. "Just like you kissed me at the game or took off with me that day at school not to make him jealous,"
"That's..." not true. Not all true. But I just couldn't bring myself to say it out loud.
"Whatever you're doing, it's working, Blondie. Maybe it's time you go back over there and claim your prize," he said again, and his tone was somewhat mocking.
I was starting to dislike the tone of his voice. I glanced away and let out a sigh.
"Oh, I see what you're doing," he said, picking up on my gesture. "You want him to suffer some more, huh? Damn Blondie, you're a badass. I like that,"
"Shut up, Judah," he was really getting on my nerves this time.
"What?"
"Just shut up!" I snapped.
He was slightly taken aback by the way I responded, but he quickly regained his composure. He cocked his head to the side and his eyebrow twitched up.
"Make me," he challenged.
*
JUDAH's POV:
I thought she'd back away. Any normal girl would. But instead, Blondie tugged on my shirt, pulled me down to her, and our lips crashed into each other. She tilted her head to the side as her lips attacked mine. Her kiss was hard and demanding.
Shut me the hell up all right.
This was the first time we kissed since that time on Thanksgiving. Honestly, I still wasn't able to move on from that night to the point where I'd been afraid of kissing her again.
There was something about that kiss.
It wasn't just two mouths meeting or two tongues dancing. It was the connecting of two souls. And it made me feel so damn fine and so damn alive, more than any drug ever could.
That kiss had ruined me.
My brain reminded me of how weak I was becoming under her spell, so I told myself that it wouldn't happen again. I told her right away that it wasn't gonna happen again. But I was deadly wrong. It was happening all over again, right fucking now.
Locking my hand to the side of her face, I deepened the kiss. I wanted to taste every bit of her, every piece that she'd allow me to. I had been craving for her as if she was my own personal brand of drug.
Nothing else seemed to matter at this point. Not the angry glare coming from her boyfriend. Not the shocked gasps or the murmurs coming from the people around us. We made a huge mess of this deal, but I didn't fucking care anymore.
I came here because I thought I needed to save the princess from having a lousy night. Turns out, she might actually be the one saving me from mine.
When we finally pulled away, we couldn't form any words to speak. I looked into her eyes as she looked into mine. Perhaps both of us were trying this new telepathy game where we could just express things with gazes.
Hey, Blondie. Guess what? You're my heroine.
I was thinking hard, trying to decipher that look in her eye. I had never seen anyone looked at me the way she was looking at me right now. It made me feel big and small at the same time.
"So!" a sudden high-pitched voice echoed from behind us.
Hallee had appeared out of nowhere and swung her arms around Blondie's shoulder, cutting off my train of thought.
"This dance is so boring, I'm so sick of this crowd!" she was slurring a little, and her boyfriend stood behind her with a guilty look on his face.
"What are you saying, Hals?" Blondie said to her friend.
"I'm saying: let's get outta here!" she squealed happily and her boyfriend twirled his car keys between his fingers.
"Well... What do you think, Judah?" Blondie turned her face to me, a small smile appeared on her lips as she batted her eyes playfully, "I'm game if you are..."
How the fuck was I supposed to say no to that?
I let out a defeated sigh and shook my head in disbelief. I had lost it for this girl, no questions.
"Game on,"
*
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To be continued.
A/N: Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I'm uploading this chapter early this week, and I still have one more surprise for y'all, so come check back with me on Christmas day! ♡
I wanna say thanks again for your patience and love for 'Really'. Some sweet chapters are coming soon and just to give you a heads up, the next chapters will be more... you know ;)
XOXO,