33
"Keith?! Seriously?!"
He just sat there smirking. "Didn't expect that did you?"
"No, not really."
"Well, don't be too flattered, I'm not here to tell you I like you."
"Then what's all this about?"
"It's about my suspicions."
"But you set this up like a date. Why?"
"Oh, that's for Dawson later." He said waving the subject off.
"Dude!" Dawson yelled. "You weren't supposed to tell her!"
"Shut up." Keith scowled at him.
"Back up! What the heck is going on here?!"
"I needed to talk to you, and I knew you would just walk away if I asked any other time and he wanted an excuse to have a nice candle lit dinner with you."
"But he said he has nothing to do with this."
"That's a lie. He was planning on me being a jerk then leaving, then he'd just casually sit down and talk to you and you'd both eat."
"Keith! Shut up! You weren't supposed to tell her!"
"Dawson, just go get us some drinks. We have some things to discuss."
"Wow, I never realized how truly convoluted you were."
"Yes, yes, well, what can I say?"
"So you're not interested in me?"
"No, not at all. I find you small, annoying, and not very pretty."
I stared at him with my mouth gaping. "You mother fu-"
"All we have is Pepsi." Dawson said interrupting me.
"That's fine." Keith said waving him away. "Okay, now to discuss why I wanted to talk to you."
I crossed my arms and leaned back. "Shoot."
"It's about Carson."
"What about him?"
"You're still with him aren't you?"
In my head I was freaking out and my heart rate picked up, but I didn't show it. "No, he broke up with me. Remember?"
"I do, but I don't believe it."
"Why not? We don't see each other at all anymore."
"Well, I remember one time about two weeks ago I had left the room Carson and I were sharing and when I came back I heard something in there. I didn't go in for a minute because I was trying to figure out who was in there."
I still kept my cool even though I knew exactly when he was talking about. I had visited Carson briefly because we hadn't really talked in over two weeks. I just wanted to see him again.
"Funny thing was, I think it was your voice I heard." He smirked.
"Well, you must've been hearing things, because it wasn't me."
My plan here is simply, deny deny deny!
"I'm pretty sure I wasn't. Also, every time he passes you in the hallway I see you both connect eyes in a way that there's a secret to be shared."
"Well, I mean I still love him, but I don't know what he thinks of me."
"Gracie, you and I both know why he broke up with you and that he still loves you."
"He loves me still!" I said playing dumb.
Keith simply laughed. "You're being very convincing I must admit, but I don't by it. Not for a second. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Your eyes give it away. When a person tells a lie their pupils dilate briefly. There are also some other telling signs, but I must admit you're a good liar. You're not showing many signs."
My eyes narrowed. "I'm not lying Keith."
"But you are! I know you are! I've seen you two together! It's way too obvious! My sister is just too dense to see it. Just admit it."
"No, I won't admit it."
"You won't admit it, but you know it's true." He said smirking. I stayed silent. "Alright, well I'll just tell you what I want to keep it a secret."
"There's no secret."
"Even if there isn't if I make one call to my mother and tell her that you both are still together she'll send Carson packing right out of here. Even if you try and say it's a lie, who is she going to believe?"
"Why does she hate me so much?!"
"You humiliated her daughter, and told her her son was gay. That makes a person pretty mad."
"But this is just too far!"
"So you admit you know why he broke up with you!"
"Shut up! But seriously this is too much!"
"Yes, well my mom is known for her rash judgments and constantly overreacting."
"I hate the woman!"
"You're not the only one. I love her, but a lot of people don't. She makes enemies easily. Much like you."
I glared at him. "What do you want Keith?" I snarled.
"Your friend Rose."
"Wha-What? When did you ever even meet her?!"
"I saw her picture, and she's very pretty."
"You can't have her! She's with someone else!"
"I don't care."
"But how can I possibly get her for you. She lives back in my hometown!"
"Call her up. Make a verbal agreement of some kind. Next time we have a vacation, I'm going on a date with her."
"She's going to hate you for this though. She's my best friend."
He chuckled. "That's another thing. You can't tell her about this or anything. You have to make me sound like the perfect gentleman and a wonderful guy."
"I can't do this to her though! That's too cruel!"
"Fine, I'll just make a simply call to my dear mother and we'll see where this takes us."
He got out his cell phone and flipped it open. He began dialing the number and it rang twice before she picked it up. That's when I couldn't take it. "Stop! Alright! One date! I'll get her to go on one date with you!"
He shut the phone and smirked. "I'm glad you saw it my way. Good girl." He got up and walked passed me.
"I promise not to tell, if you hold up your end." Then he was gone.
Okay, well this Valentine's Day truly tops them all that's for sure.
I put my head on the table and felt like screaming.
Someone sat across from me and I looked up. It was just Dawson.
"I'm sorry Gracie."
"Shut up."
"Are you really still with him?"
I sighed. "I am. I love him Dawson, and that jerk is doing this to me. He's making me use my best friend. It's so wrong. I just didn't know what to do."
"I know. That's a hard decision, but I think it will be okay. One date won't hurt anything right?"
"I suppose." I said looking away from him.
"Listen, I was going to totally take advantage of the moment and try to win you back, but knowing you and Carson are still together I just can't."
I looked at him surprised. "I thought you hated Carson?"
"No, he hates me. I don't hate him. It seems like I do sometimes, but I don't. Frankly I miss the guy. He was fun to hang out with. I felt really bad with what happened with Maya. I mean I tell people it was planned and I knew what I was doing just because I'm a total douche, but in reality I felt extremely bad for hurting my best friend like that. It was wrong in so many ways, but things just happened and I was a stupid boy who saw a pretty girl."
I started at him in shock. This was a new development I never expected. "Wow Dawson, that was...unexpected."
He smiled. "I'm not a total jerk. Just a minor jerk. I do feel bad about some things, and if I came onto you right now with the knowledge that you're still with him, I would feel extremely bad."
I got up and walked over to him. I kissed him cheek. "Thank you Dawson."
Then I turned and walked out. It's Valentine's Day and I want to be with my valentine.
I began looking for him. I went to his dorm, but he wasn't there. Then I went to the ice cream place, but he wasn't there either.
It was getting pretty dark and I noticed the streetlamps coming on. It's really cold outside and I hate being in the streets at night. It gives that eerie feeling.
I pulled my jacket closer to me and began walking back to the school, but my path was cut off by three guys. I recognized them from the school, but I had never talked to them.
"Well hello there." One said. He had short brown hair that was gelled.
"Um...hi." I said. Then I turned around and began walking the other way, but he grabbed my arm, stopping me.
"Wait, don't go yet."
"Why not? I have a strict schedule. You boys don't want to get in the way of that do you?" I lied.
"It's Friday. I'm sure you have time."
"How would you know? And please let go of me." I replied.
"We just want to talk."
"Well, I don't want to, okay?" I pulled my arm from his grasp and continued walking.
They quickly caught up to me. "So do you have a boyfriend?" Another asked. He had black short hair.
I was getting irritated I stopped and faced them. Right when I was about to respond someone stepped in front of me. I recognized the smell of his cologne immediately.
"Yes, I'm afraid she does. Terribly sorry, but leave, now." Carson said sternly.
He was a good three inches taller than the tallest one. He may be skinny, but he had a pretty intimidating appearance.
"Oh! We're sorry Carson, we didn't know she was yours. Peace man." Then they skedaddled out of there. He turned and faced me. "What are you thinking?"
I looked up at his beautiful face and just smiled. I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. "I missed you."
He finally wrapped his arms around me. "I missed you too Gracie."
"I was just looking for you."
"Ah, well why weren't you at your dorm? I went looking for you there."
"I had tutoring."
"Oh, that's right. I just can't get used to that creep being your tutor."
"Well, there's more to it than that. I had an interesting night."
"Oh, really, care to explain?"
"Very much, but I'm freezing, can we go somewhere?"
"Yeah, let's go get some dinner."
I smiled. He took my hand and flagged down a taxi. I noticed then that he was holding a paper bag. We drove to a fancy restaurant and during the ride I told him what happened. He listened patiently.
He didn't get a chance to respond because we had arrived at the restaurant.
We walked in, hand in hand and someone took his jacket. I noticed he was wearing a very nice black button up with black slacks and a red tie. "Whoa!" I said.
He turned and smirked.
He still had the paper bag in his hand.
We went up to the desk and the lady smiled. "Reservation for two for Meyers."
The lady looked on her list. "Alright, if you'll follow me, we have your table ready."
She led us to a booth in a more secluded part of the restaurant and we sat down. She handed us menus and left.
"You've had this planned?!"
"Of course. That's why I had to go looking for you. We couldn't miss our reservation."
I smiled. "But I feel so icky in these clothes. I'm still in my school uniform and you're in a nice outfit."
He smirked. "That's what this is for." He held up the paper bag.
I took it and looked inside. All I saw was silver sparkles. "What is this?"
"A dress."
"You bought me a dress?"
"Yep. Go put it on. I picked in out myself." He was smiling very smugly and it was worrying me.
I eyed him carefully, but got up to go change.
I got into the bathroom and quickly stripped and slipped the dress on.
Yeah, you can definitely tell my boyfriend of all people picked this out for me.
It was very cute. It had silver sparkles all over and went to about a little higher than mid thigh. Knowing Carson, he picked it for that reason only. It was strapless with a built in bra so I just put the one I was wearing in the paper bag. I looked back in the bag and noticed very nice strappy heels.
Okay, I wonder who helped him with this one, and how much it cost. Jeez, everything is so nice!
I put the heels on and walked out. There was a woman standing there and she smiled. "I love your dress."
"Thanks, my boyfriend got it for me." I said proudly.
"Well, he has good taste."
I smiled.
I went to the mirror and took my hair out of the bun it was in. I put some water in and shook it, trying to get more natural waves going. Lucky for me, my hair was agreeing with me tonight.
It was a lot longer now. I feel the need to cut it soon.
Also, I always keep my makeup with me in my purse so I quickly reapplied. When I was done I took a look in the mirror and smiled. Not bad.
I walked out and back over to the booth. The minute Carson caught sight of me his whole face lit up.
He quickly stood up and I scooted into the booth. Instead of sitting across from me he sat next to me.
"I knew that dress was a good choice when I saw it."
"Was it the sparkles or the length that caught your eye?" I said narrowing my eyes, but smiling.
He just shrugged innocently.
Then he reached over and took a piece of my hair. "I really love your hair like this. It's beautiful."
I blushed. "Thank you."
He smiled. "So, now do you want to know what I think about that little conversation you had with Dawson?"
"Yes."
"I think that he might be half telling the truth. I still don't completely trust him, but I guess he's going in the right direction. I mean it's one thing if he gets with Maya, but it's a whole nether thing if he even tries to get with you at this point. Before it was when we still were new to the couple thing and whatnot, but now...I don't think I would be able to stand watching another man try to go after you."
I smiled and he scooted closer to me. It felt more comfortable having him close. I was kind of cold in this dress anyways.
"What about what I talked to Keith about?"
"I knew it was going to come. The whole thing with Rose though...all I can say is let's hope she has enough common sense to know he's a total jerk."
"Yeah, I hope she does."
"For now though, let's just focus on one thing."
"What's that?"
"Us."
He leaned down slowly and pressed his lips softly to mine. I smiled and kissed him eagerly. I missed him so much it was killing me on the inside.
One of his hands was on the back of my neck and the other one was on my bare thigh. Well, there's another reason why he got this dress.
We heard someone clear their throat and we quickly separated. The lady didn't exactly look pleased. I would be pretty peeved too if I had to deal with two lovey dovey teenagers on Valentine's Day, when all I get to do is work.
That must really suck.
Anyways, we quickly took our order and she left.
"Okay, so where were we?" Carson asked.
I placed a finger on his lips, stopping him. "Easy there cowboy. There are people here."
"Not that many."
"Yes, but I have a tendency to get carried away with you. I can't risk people thinking I'm a slut or something. I've already got the dress for it."
"Hey, I think you look gorgeous."
"You always do. You're biased."
"I guess you could say I'm blinded by love."
I chuckled. "That would work wouldn't it?"
"I just can't understand why the heck Keith said that to you, about not being pretty. That's the most ludicrous statement I've ever heard. I'll be sure to punch him when we get back."
I laughed. "He deserves a lot more than just being punched."
"That's so true."
"All that really matters to me though is what you think." I smiled up at him.
He ran his hand through my hair. "And I think you are the most perfect girl I've ever met." He leaned down and pecked me on the lips.
"It's so nice to know you think that and we've been together for seven months."
"Has it been that long?"
"Yeah."
"Wow, time flies when you're having fun." He said running a hand through his own hair. He paused for a second, then looked nervous.
I eyed him. "Are you alright? What's with the sudden change from Mr. Confidence, to Mr. Squirrely?"
"N-nothing." He stuttered.
"You're kidding me right? You think I can't see right through you?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Do you even know who you're talking to?"
He chuckled. "Well, for once you're going to have to wait."
"I don't want to."
"I know. Neither do I, but you have to."
Our food came and he turned to receive it. I did too, but that's when I noticed there was something in his pocket that was out of the ordinary. I wonder if it's my valentine's present! I'm so excited!
**Well, if you didn't notice I got extremely carried away with this chapter lol. I felt like if i ended it with no Carson that would be cruel. There hasn't been a whole lot of Carson recently so I decided to make a big segmant for him. Be happy I did. It's really late lol. Anywho, what do you think is in his pocket. It could be anything. It doesn't have to be in a box, but it could be. She just said it was out of the ordinary. So what do you think? Also, if I get anyone saying it's too short I'ma be pissed. This is the longest chapter I've ever written lol. But I hope you liked it as much as I liked writing it. =)**