Chapter - 11
LOVE IS... DISHEARTENING
"Life would be so much easier if we only fell in love with people who would love us back."
Day - 4
On the third day of the assignment, I couldn't give any definition of love to Ashton. And I was yet to thank Stephanie for that. She had called me while crying over Shane again. Their date had ended on a very bad note. I didn't know the details as she was too busy crying her heart out to tell me anything.
"Are you okay?" I asked her after about half an hour of waking up the next morning. Her eyes were swelled due to continuous crying and she had slept very late as well. I had tried to console her, but I didn't know what the matter was, so I just told her, "Don't cry, Steph. At least tell me what the matter is." But she didn't. She just hugged me and kept on crying.
She looked up from her untouched cereal and mumbled, "I'm fine."
"And I believe you," I told her sarcastically, but with a stern voice.
She sighed heavily when she knew that she had to tell the truth to me. "He... he is..." she trailed off.
I didn't have to ask to whom she was referring to as 'he'. I just kept quiet and waited for her to continue. Her bottom lip quivered like she was about to cry again. "C'mon, girl. Tell me what the problem is." I encouraged her by taking her hands in mine. I was worried about her, very worried. It was true that I had seen her cry for Shane earlier, but never had she looked so devastated. Something was very wrong this time.
"He is thinking of getting..." she trailed off again as her eyes filled up with tears again.
I wiped the tears from her cheek and told her with all the concern I felt towards her, "Take it out of your system. Stop hurting yourself."
She took in a deep breath and finally told me, "He is getting married."
My mouth formed an 'o' at the newly gained, shocking news and I just stared at her with my wide eyes. "With?" I asked, unable to contain this question within myself.
"I don't know. He said that he's going to stop our fling and see some other girls as he wants to settle down in life in the near future," she answered and from the expressions on her face, it was obvious that with each word she spoke, her heart was breaking a lot more.
I could only imagine how disheartening this would have been for her. He had been with her for about three years. Didn't he feel even slightly bad about doing this to her? He was her friend, for God's sake! Didn't it ever cross his mind that Steph could be in love with him? That, maybe, just maybe, he could marry Steph...
I didn't know what to say after that. I wanted to tell her that she was better without him. I wanted to tell her to be happy and give me a party for being free from the shackles of a useless and burdensome relationship.
But no words escaped my lips. I stayed still as I watched her sob and all I could see was the Liana of a few weeks ago; the Liana, who didn't shed even a single tear after being betrayed and after coming back to her senses after one fateful and forgetful night.
I wanted to go to Shane and hit him hard, punch his stupid face for making Steph cry. All men were the same. Nolan did the same with me and here was, my friend, suffering from the same pain. But my mind couldn't deny that Shane was far better than Nolan. He was giving a heads up to her about the possibilities of his seeing other women, while my ex had shoved it in my face at the time of facing consequences.
I hugged Steph to show her that I was there for her always, just like she was for me. Eventually, she stopped crying. That was the power of a hug.
Amidst all the soothing words that I whispered in her ears, the one that sparked her mood was "All men are a*sholes."
"Oh shit, you just cursed." She was looking at me with her eyes and mouth wide open. "Pinch me!"
A chuckle escaped my lips at her reaction and I swatted her outstretched arm away, playfully. "Idiot Ashton Parker," I muttered in distaste the name of the person who was rubbing off on me ever so slowly.
"What?" She laughed a bit, running her hand over her eyes to remove the remaining tears. I was just glad to see her smile again, even if it was because of the person who was making my life really difficult at the moment. A little smile formed on my lips when I saw her like that. This was my chance of doing what she had been doing every morning until three days back. This was my chance of telling her that I cared about her equally and she mattered a lot to me. This was my chance to prove to myself that I was not a crappy friend. This was my chance of making my best friend smile.
***************
Steph had tears in her eyes again. But unlike an hour ago, these were happy tears. These tears were the result of listening to the 'Tales of Liana's never-ending humiliation'.
"How could he bang both mother and daughter on the same trip?" she asked with disbelief.
"I know, right!" I snorted.
"Girl, the guy must have incredible talent," she commented with a little glitter in her eyes.
I knew that glitter way too well. "Don't even think about it," I warned, narrowing my eyes at her.
"Stop being so uptight." She rolled her eyes at me.
"He says the same thing," I complained, pouting a little.
Her expressions became way too excited upon hearing this and she asked, "Why don't you hook me up with him?"
"Huh?" Taken aback by her question, no words came out of my mouth.
"Yup," she replied. "I, too, want a stable relationship now and you're looking for a nice girl for him. You know me way too well. So, it'll be awesome. Add to it, I've heard that Ashton is hotter than Dylan. Is he?" she asked, looking mildly curious and over excited.
'Yes, yes he is,' the little girl inside me instantly agreed, but my sane mind was still pondering over everything that Steph had just said.
Ashton and Stephanie.
Stephanie and Ashton.
For some reason, the equation didn't settle well with me. Maybe it was because of the fact that Ashton was a jerk and I knew that well enough in the last three days to risk my friend's heart once again. There was just no other reason. Not at all.
"I don't know, Steph. He is a huge jerk," I told her, coming out of my confused thoughts.
A snort escaped her lips and she told me with a little teasing smile on her lips, "You just want him all for yourself." A frown appeared on my face at her shallow words, while she started laughing. "He calls love as shit?" she confirmed for the tenth time.
I nodded my head, happy about the change in topic.
But apparently, the topic hadn't changed as she continued, "Two of you are too similar to even notice that. Maybe you should include your own name in the list of candidates."
A laugh escaped my lips at her words and I snorted, "I'm so doing that, you know. And I know that it'll be me with whom he will fall in love in the end." Sarcasm was coating my every word.
She smiled a little and said with a very meaningful look on her face, "Maybe you both will."
Rolling my eyes, I got up from the seat and suggested her, over my shoulder, "Read less romantic novels." She just laughed in return and I smiled, happy to see my friend smiling again.
**************
"I so love this movie," I gushed, putting the DVD of The Dark Knight in the player pretty excitedly.
"But Liana, you can't be serious. We just watched The Batman Begins," my best friend whined, making me turn around to face her.
"I told you there is going to be a movie marathon. And you know how much I love the Batman series." I shrugged and started moving towards her after picking up the remote.
She groaned a bit and looked at me with slight helplessness. "I know." I smiled and sat down beside her. "But you do know that I'm going through a break up, right? This is not what we are supposed to watch. We are supposed to watch chick flicks or something really very soppy and romantic."
With a sigh, I faced her and said, "That is so old fashioned, Steph. We are watching this and after this we're going to watch the Dark Knight Rises. No interruptions, please."
I knew she was against my idea of forgetting the pain by watching action movies. Well, most of the people were. But it had always worked for me. I had worked marvelously for the last four months.
I heard her groan as I focused back on the screen and started watching this movie for the umpteenth time. But she interrupted me, whining, "And why the hell are we eating nachos and Mexican wraps? I am supposed to be diving into an ice cream tub at this moment."
Frowning, I looked back at her and reminded her, "You finished an entire cookie dough tub two nights ago. Other than that, I realized how awfully cliché that would have been. Romantic movie with ice cream. No!" I shook my head in a distaste.
"This is my break up, Liana. Not yours!" She looked at me deadpanned.
Yes, this is exactly what I had done when I had broken up with Nolan four months ago. Movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Fightclub, Illusionist, Now You See Me and many more had become my constant companion along with any good food other than ice creams and chocolates. I had made it a point to never cry for him after that one night and I was glad that I never did. I had become a very unromantic person at heart and I was glad about it.
"Trust me, it'll help." I beamed at her, slung my arm around her shoulder, pecked her cheek and focused back on the screen.
I heard her chuckle lightly and mumble, "B*tch" under her breath.
With a smile on my face, I tried to make her understand a simple reality of life. "What I want to tell you, Steph, is that if the awesome Batman can get rejected by the girl, he so dearly loved then anybody can get rejected." She chuckled at my stupid statement while I continued, "Wouldn't life be so much easier if we only fell in love with people who would love us back? You never know what life has in store for you, Steph. A rejection or heartbreak is not the end of the world." Her face turned serious and I continued, "Yes, we face pain and yes, it is fine to mourn over the loss of somebody we really love but it is not the end. Things between Nolan and me ended, maybe because we were really a very crappy couple but just never thought so. Or maybe we were just not meant to be together. Same must be the case with Shane and you. Maybe this is how things were supposed to happen. Maybe there is somebody who is much more awesome than Shane and you just haven't met him yet. You can't let just one person affect you so badly. Nobody has the power to be so strong other than you, yourself. Whatever happens truly happens for the best. In life, if you don't get something you really wanted, don't be disheartened, because what you'll get instead will always be a better for you as it will be for you, only you."
After my little lecture, both of us remained quiet for some time. Probably she was quiet as she was pondering over everything I had just said to her, over the words, over the deeper meaning that each of the word carried with it.
I, on the other hand, was quiet as I tried to recall that night when similar words were spoken to me, the words that had managed to make me stronger and not shed even a single more tear for a guy like Nolan.
Steph's sudden bone crashing hug brought me back from my thoughts and I let out a laugh in delight at the welcome positivity in her. "Thank you. You're the best, you know."
"Nah. Care to enlighten?" I asked with a little smirk when she pulled back from the hug.
She rolled her eyes playfully at me and sighed. "It's really strange to hear something like this from you."
"What do you mean?" I frowned.
She smiled and said, "You have been so negative about love since past few months. It's good to hear such positive things from you."
Shaking my head, I corrected her, "My thoughts about love still haven't changed, Steph. I'm not positive about love, I'm positive about life." She smiled back at me and before either of us could say anything, the loud ringing of my phone interrupted us. A frown covered my face when I saw the unknown number flashing on my phone's screen.
"Who is it?" Steph asked and I shrugged in reply.
"You continue watching this awesomeness," I instructed her, pointing towards the drool worthy Christian Bale. "I'll be back." She chuckled, but nevertheless did what I had told her to do.
I entered the kitchen where no sounds of the television were coming and for a second wondered if this call was for interview. A little, hopeful smile made its way on my lips and I swiped the screen to answer the call.
"Where the hell are you?" I flinched at the loud and unknown voice from the other end, and pulled the phone away from my ear.
Grimacing, I brought it back to my ear and asked, "Um... hello?"
"No greetings, Bella," the person spoke from the other side. "I'm really disappointed with you today."
"Bella? Um... sorry, wrong number," I told him, frowning a bit.
The person gasped loudly. "How could you forget me? I told you we are meant to be together."
During the very confusing call and the person's supposed love declaration, the voice on the line started sounding a bit familiar and that led to the smile on my lips. "No, not Bella! There are many different stories out there, Harry or Gale, whichever name you want to be called today."
"Jacob." I could hear the grin in his voice. "And Ashton is Edward, you see he is cold and does not have a heart. But that doesn't mean that Edward and you are going to end up together. Like all other stories, this too will end up differently."
A little chuckle escaped my lips at his weirdness. Ignoring his senseless talks, I asked him, "How are you?"
His reply was instant, "How can I be good when you're not here? Why aren't you here?"
"I'm home today," I replied, glancing towards Steph who was busy munching the tacos.
"Why?" he asked rather loudly.
"My friend needed me today," I answered him vaguely.
"And you didn't think about my friend. That's bad, Bella. Do you have any idea how whiny Edward has been since morning? Ow..." Ashton's voice reached my ears saying something like 'f*cking bastard' to his best friend, but he continued, nonetheless, "... that's domestic violence, Eddie!"
A laugh escaped my lips as I imagined what must have happened there. One could definitely expect violence from Ashton if you call him as Edward. "I forgot to inform him. Sorry, I can't come today."
"Oh... okay. See you then," he said, not sounding disappointed at all and cancelled the call.
"Weird guy," I mumbled and started walking towards my friend.
"Who was it?" Steph asked the moment I sat down on the couch beside her. Just as I was about to answer her, the doorbell of my apartment rang.
I threw my head back in frustration and whined, "Why can't people let me watch this movie peacefully?" Steph just laughed and patted my shoulder in support. Thanks to her support that I managed to get up and walk towards the door.
To say that I surprised to see who my guests were would be a huge understatement. "What in the world are you two doing here?"
"Surprise!" Jacob, for the current day, grinned his infectious grin and pulled me into a sudden hug.
But he was pulled apart immediately by Ashton, who was glaring down at me. "What?" I uttered. What was wrong with him and why was he glaring at me? He clenched his jaw and walked past me, entering my apartment without my permission. Confused, I looked back at Jacob who was unperturbed by his friend's mood and whatever just happened here as he was still over the moon. "Are you high?" I asked him with complete concern. This guy was probably always high.
He nodded enthusiastically and answered my question, "High on life."
I rolled my eyes at him while a smile tugged on my lips. "What are you two doing here?"
"You were being missed," he replied and I moved aside to let him enter.
Closing the door, I turned towards my living room and found all the three people in my apartment looking at each other. Well, the actual scenario had Ashton sprawled on my couch without a care in the world as if he owned the place. Stephanie was staring at Ashton with her mouth wide open like she couldn't believe that he was sitting in front of her, while Jacob was looking at Steph with a goofy grin on his face.
"Ohkay," I mumbled as I joined them and managed to gain everybody's attention. By Ashton's attention, I meant he was back to glaring at me for no reason at all.
"Bella, I'm sorry. I'm not Jacob anymore. I'm Jasper," he declared and turned to look at Steph. "Will you be my Alice?"
Steph's eyes popped out of their sockets, Ashton let out a snort and I slapped my forehead. "Um... what?" Steph managed to ask in complete confusion.
Before I could answer her, Jacob took it upon himself to clear her confusions. "Well, she is Bella..." He pointed towards me and continued while pointing towards Ashton, "He is Edward because he is cold and heartless." Ashton just rolled his eyes at him. "I'm Jasper, so you'll be Alice." He grinned after his explanation and somehow, between all the confusion, Stephanie managed to smile a little in amusement at Jacob's nature.
Ignoring Jacob and his remarks, I introduced Steph to Jacob, "Jacob, meet my best friend, Stephanie. Steph, this is... um... Ashton's best friend and don't bother asking him his name as he keeps changing it every day."
"Yup, and today I was Jacob before I met you. But now I'm planning to be Jasper," he informed her with his huge grin, making Steph laugh at his weirdness.
"Steph, this is Ashton." I looked towards Ashton, who chose to close his eyes and completely ignore the introduction session I was conducting. Steph looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows and mumbled a "Hi!"
He chose not to reply, as expected and narrowed my eyes at him. As if feeling my gaze, he opened his eyes and looked directly at me. "Don't worry, Steph, as Jacob said he is heartless and very rude." Soon it was a staring match between Ashton and me. He looked rather pissed off today.
"Oh uh. Lovers' spat." Jacob coughed, making both Ashton and me direct our glares towards him.
"Let's continue watching the movie," Steph suggested in a meek voice to break the brooding tension in the room.
Jacob shot a grateful smile in her direction and jumped on his feet. He settled on the seat beside my friend, leaving only the couch on which Ashton was already seated for me to sit. "What are we watching?" he asked from Steph and started munching tacos.
"She is making me watch The Batman series while I want to watch something romantic," she answered with a frown. "She hates romantic movies. Can you believe it? I mean, she is the most unromantic person in the world."
Just as the words left my friend's mouth, I had a sudden urge to run away from my own apartment. Ashton's head snapped towards me and a wicked smirk covered his face. He narrowed his grey eyes at me with an unsaid challenge.
I was a firm believer of love, so he thought. That's what I had told him. The lie about which I had forgotten to tell Steph about.
All I could do was curse myself for missing out this little yet very important detail while telling Steph the stories of my humiliation.
Crap!
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A/N
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PS. My job is so damn hectic! :\ I'm drained!
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