(a/n): Hi, since I've just finished my other book I can start updating daily on this.
Thanks for reading!
-L.T. May
When Monday came, (Y/n) still wasn't over what she and Gianni had done at the event.
They didn't hook up or even kiss or anything. They just talked the entire time. It was nice for (Y/n) to have that new experience of having a friend and it certainly helped that her heart was fluttering the entire time.
Her crush had only grown throughout the night and she couldn't stop fawning over what she was going to say to him.
Granted, they didn't go very deep with their conversation, just getting to know each other. But learning about each other's pasts and secrets would come at a later time.
Gianni had caught (Y/n) off guard with a few casual flirts over the course of the evening that left her heart squealing with joy.
She was so excited that morning that she didn't even yell at Ronan for hogging the bathroom, she just waited till he was done in a daze.
"You missed your bus." Ronan glanced at the time as he left the bathroom and she walked in.
"I'm getting the later bus from now on." (Y/n) responded, pulling out her toiletries.
"Why? I thought you were all about punctuality." He scoffed.
The girl just shut the door in her brother's face in response, she could only be kind to him for so long.
When (Y/n) was on her way to the bus stop she walked with a skip in her step, imagining how differently this day would go. She didn't expect him to be in love with her or anything, but after what they shared that night they just had to be friends.
She planted herself in the seat where she'd sat with him last week and hoped that he would soon occupy the empty one beside her.
(Y/n) purposefully avoided putting her earbuds in so he would know that she was open for conversation. She felt her glee and nervousness increasing with every stop as the bus filled up.
Soon, the bus reached the stop Gianni and his friends got on. She could hear them talking loudly as they walked on.
(Y/n) took a deep breath and smiled, making sure the space next to her was clear. Much to her dismay, he sailed right by it, still talking to one of his other friends and taking a seat towards the back.
She released the air she'd been holding in disappointment, perhaps he just didn't see her. She wasn't ordinarily on his bus after all.
(Y/n) leaned around to see him completely absorbed in some other conversation, she figured she could just catch up with him once the bus stopped as she put her earbuds in.
Finally, the bus had got to school. With (Y/n) as the first person off as she sat so near the front, she waited for Gianni.
She ignored the one over she received from Padgett and her friends and just kept outside the bus in anticipation for him.
Things went awry again when he completely walked by her without even a look of acknowledgement. (Y/n) huffed and walked to catch up to him.
"Gianni!" She called, making him and his friends turn around.
He looked almost annoyed at her while the three other boys just looked confused.
"What?" He spat.
His harsh tone brought on a familiar feeling of a bullet to the brain from her dream but (Y/n) desperately pushed it aside.
"I-um- on Saturday you never finished telling me about that time you and your cousin jumped off the pier." She stuttered out an excuse to continue their interaction.
"You saw (Y/n) on Saturday?" One of Gianni's friends, Arthur, teased Gianni. The way he said her name with such vigour offended her in a strange way since he had never even spoken to her.
"Our parents work together." He said dismissively to his chuckling friends who were making more remarks to each other under their breaths.
(Y/n) desperately wanted to know what they were saying but was sure she wouldn't like it.
"Look here:" Gianni took on a firmer tone that made another boy in his crew, Chip, make an 'ooooh' sound.
"You don't speak to me in school. I felt bad for you at that party and I had nothing better to do so I entertained you for an hour or so but that's all you're getting out of me. I'd appreciate if you'd just leave me alone now." He stated, making the other three boys practically keel over in fits of laughter at the look on (Y/n)'s face.
She looked as if she'd just been slapped in the face, this new reality that she'd imagined was falling to pieces before her very eyes.
She was stupid to think that a guy like Gianni would ever give her the time of day. He spoke to her out of pity.
Fucking pity.
It seemed like that was the most she was going to get out of anyone.
"I-I'm sorry." She had no clue what she was apologising for. Wasting his time? Being misled? Having hope? It just felt like the right thing to say.
Gianni just rolled his eyes and retreated with his friends to go into the building, leaving (Y/n) alone just staring forward with a blank expression.
She was so angry. But not at Gianni, no, she held this rage for nothing and no one but herself.
She was the one who had been so idiotic to believe that Gianni, who had every girl flinging herself at him, could ever return her feelings. No matter how many nights they talked that fact would never change.
The entire school day was dragged down. Onlookers of the interaction or Gianni's friends must have told people. It wasn't exactly the talk of the school but she heard a fair few whispers as she asked by a reviewed her share of strange looks.
In classes, Gianni wouldn't even look in her direction. He never had before but part of (Y/n) was expecting an apology or something for being so blunt and for humiliating her like that.
There were several points throughout the day where she feel her heart tug and her bottom lip tremble and thought she'd break down in tears in the middle of the canteen or the library or somewhere equally inappropriate but she managed to hold it together just about.
It wasn't until she got home when she sprinted to her room and sobbed into her pillow. Carmen was still at work and Ronan was probably at Padgett's place so she didn't care for how much noise she made.
(Y/n) was teenager. These were supposed to be the best years of her life, the end of her childhood where she'd have new experiences and blossom into an adult.
But now she was seventeen and so miserably lonely.
To the point where it was unbearable. Was she really that terrible? Could anyone stand to have any sort of relationship with her? Anyone who weren't her parents or brother, but most of the time it seemed like they'd happily give up that obligation given the opportunity.
A light knock alerted her of someone's presence.
(Y/n) quickly lifted her head patted at he tried and puffy eyes though she still looked a mess.
"You... okay?" Ronan asked quietly, it was rare to have a sincere moment between the siblings.
"....yes." (Y/n) said untruthfully.
"Well," Ronan walked into the room and sat himself on the bed next to (Y/n). "If there were something wrong... what do think it would be?"
"Dumb teenage hormone stuff probably." (Y/n) sniffed and wiped some of the tears of her cheeks.
Ronan nodded slowly. "You sure?"
"Or... hypothetically if I liked some random guy who is way out of my league and I was a total idiot and thought he'd want to be friends with me but turns out he just felt sorry for me." (Y/n) rambled.
"He's at your school?"
(Y/n) nodded and put her head down.
"Then there's no way that's true, Padgett has told me about every single guy in your year and no way are any of them out of your league." Ronan put an arm around (Y/n) and smiled at her. "This is all hypothetical. Of course."
"Yeah." (Y/n) allowed a small grin to creep into her face.
"I'm telling you, (Y/n), one day that guy will be begging for you to even look at him and you're just gonna turn the other way."