Chapter Forty-Four: I Thought You Liked Cliche Romance Or Mushy Stuffs.
HOLY FLYING PIGS. Breath Evelyn just breath. He isn't kissing you so that's good.
Jayden's hood was big enough to cover both of our faces as Jenny walked passed around us but I don't pay attention to it as both of our foreheads pressed against each other, our breath mingling together. My eyes darted to his only to see him staring back at me and his arms went around me which hung loosely on my lower back.
I'm just helping him.
Everything was black inside but the lights coming from outside gave me the opportunity to look into his blue eyes that's almost black now. What I never noticed was they had tiny golden flecks around the pupil, almost unnoticeable unless you are close enough to see them properly.
I hoist my arms up and wounded them around his neck, lacing my fingers together and feeling the material of his hoodie tense under my palms.
I'm just helping him.
"Jayden! Gosh- he's probably not here." Jenny muttered off then left the place though I don't see it, I just hear the high heels fading away.
I bite my lips and closed my eyes, his forehead warm against mine as I asked. "What seems to be the problem?"
When he doesn't answer, I fluttered my eyes open and see them staring at me with an alien expression. His eyes alone made my heart beat in a way like I've been running a 200 mile marathon in one row. It was overwhelming at the point I had to close my eyes again to get rid of them, when at the same time, I didn't want to.
I. Was. Helping. Him.
"Um, a while ago, I was like... talking to her then I ditched her when I saw Ken harassing you so you know, it's kinda predictable for her to follow me to the dead end." He whispered, his breath just him and a strange smell of perhaps some drink he had a while ago.
I softly laughed, letting the sound drift off. "You're an idiot."
He doesn't answer, instead chuckled and bumped his nose softly with mine. "It was a do-or-die crisis. And she's annoying."
My smile swept off from my lips in the motion and my head felt heavy either for his closeness or his smell. And suddenly, my blood boiled in the thought of... whatever he meant by talking.
And it bothered me.
I let go of him and backed away, quickly gathering myself. "I-I...Jenny is gone. You should go. And I need to find Rosetta too."
His mouth opens for something to say but without giving him another chance to reply, I took off, anger rushing through my veins.
Yes I was mad. Actually mad. The only thing I didn't understand was why. Why was I mad at him? Of course he's dumb. And being dumb just adds up more point for the reason of me being angry at him.
Stupid stupid stupid...
I was storming off without exactly knowing where i was going. I wanted to scream and let the whole world know that I was annoyed by an egotistic handsome jerk.
I bumped into several people that swore at me three times in a row but I didn't give a damn about them. I wanted Jayden to follow me and stop me to explain but at the same time, I didn't. I wanted to swipe his big ego off but at the same time, I didn't.
What is wrong with me? Acting on impulse for a dumb idiot guy?
Me? Evelyn Joan, who hasn't even kissed anyone in her seventeen year old life? Pitiful!
I scoffed when someone yanked my hands and I turn around, coming face to face with Kai.
Seriously? Out of all people; him?
I groaned. "Have you seen..."
"No I haven't seen your hair flipping idiot of a girl friend. When I say girl friend, I mean a girl who's a friend. Isn't it cool?" He coughed the words out and I realized he was drunk as hell.
I sighed, wriggling my wrist out of his grasp. "Then what are you doing here?"
"I-"
And then it dawned to me.
He's drunk.
And I can take advantage of it.
I groaned inside my head. Okay. I just realized how wrong that sounded.
I remembered the time when I forgot to mention that Kai was the person in our school that was similar to Gretchen.
He was the one with all the information. He was the original. He knew everything, about everyone. I'm just referring to the fact that I can take advantage of his truthfulness since he's completely drunk now and won't remember anything the next morning. Got what meant? Good.
I take his hand in mine and screamed (the noises, remember?), "Hey Kai! Let's go outside!"
He slurred then giggled like a ninny. "Yep. It's hoooot here." He pronounced it like 'huuut'.
I nodded then dragged him out of crowds, bumps and my stupid feelings to finally outside, where I felt like someone has thrown me to Ice Age from the Big Bang. In a good way.
My eyes searched for a place where we can talk privately until I found one. Asher's place was huge to throw a party so it wasn't that much of a trouble to find somewhere behind it and thankfully, everybody was on the front yard and not here. Except for two guys, kissing the crap out of each other.
I ignored them like they did to us and sat on the grass, Kai in front of me. I pat the place beside me. "Sit."
He obeyed. "You don't talk to me that much. Why now? Well..." he laughed, ruffling his new haircut, "I don't mind. I kinda like hanging out with you. But don't worry. Not in a weird way. Just in a best friends little sister kind of way."
You're so gonna regret this in the morning, I thought. But out loud, I said, "Look, Kai. I'm gonna ask you something really important right now. And if you don't answer me honestly, I'll probably have to shoot you in front of them." I point my fingers at the two guys who were now starting to tug each others clothes.
His neck moved to the part where they were and came back on me, eyes drooped. "You don't have a license nor a gun. It's stupid to say that, Emily."
I sighed loudly. "You have to answer honestly, okay? Promise me that."
He giggled loudly and sang. "Promise me no promises, ooh na na, just be careful na na..."
"Kai, focus." I firmly stated, even though the song kept going round in my head. The original version, not the Kai version.
"Okay okay. What was that you wanted to ask?"
"Yes," I hesitated. "About it..."
I felt him frown at me. "What is it? Please don't confess your love for me when I'm whole ass drunk. I mean, I won't mind being your boyfriend but at least do it when I'm sober- OW!"
Kai looked at me with his eyes wide because he was pissing me off. He rubbed his arms and groaned. "That wasn't necessary. My arms will fall off if you keep doing that."
"Please," I begged. "Focus."
He groaned, ruffling his hair but for some reason, when Jayden does it... "Jeez lady, hurry up already."
I wake up from my trance before shaking my head. I really need to stop thinking about him. Not just him, anything about him.
"Alright, so. Have you been hearing something about two people of our school being involved in a...vandalism or anything like that?"
Kai nodded like a puppy. "Yes. That's our top notch of conversation right now. Kind of stupid if you ask me."
I gulped. That was not a good news. Not good news at all. "Um, okay. Now, listen, Kai. What I'm going to ask you now is really important, do you hear me?"
I emphasize the last sentence because when I turned my head beside me, he was almost dozing off and I had to knock my elbow on his stomach to wake him up in middle of a hilarious snort. "Ouch! Why do you keep hitting me? Wait, why am I here? Oh right. You wanted to ask me something..."
"It's absolutely stupid to ask you this, and absolutely unattached to anything, but," I take a huge breath, "Do you know who spread the rumor about it in school? I'm asking you because I know you keep tabs on everyone, even though I don't know how you do it. If you know, tell me. Now. Because if you don't..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. "I'll probably have to kill you."
The couple in the corner groaned loudly that even the music was pretty in-distant, we both hear it pretty clearly.
And they were pissing me off.
"Hey love birds! Why don't you continue your tongue hockey session somewhere else? We're trying to have a decent conversation here unlike you." I yelled, holding up the finger. They stop at the edge of taking each others clothes off then snarled at us before leaving, whispering something to each other in another language really fast, clear that they're angry at us for not letting their session.
Kai looked confused at first. But he smiled anyway. "Rumor huh...hm, nope, nope...no...Wait-"
My heart beat picked up in his words as I leaned closer instinctively. "What? What is it?"
He scratched his head, frowning slightly at his lap. "Now that I think about it, your hair flipping idiot of a girl friend...um- Rosalyn... R-Rollerblade..."
Electricity ran through my body immediately when I hear him saying that. It can't be true...
No...Please don't let it be you...
"Rosetta?" My voice came out as a whisper.
My heart beat slowed down, and instead, my stomach dropped in a dull feeling when my brothers best friend trailed on, blabbering as I tried to focus. "Yeah. She was talking with some girl in the hall way before it aaalll started in PE that day and I was coming back from shower. Did you know that I look so hot when I come out of shower? Okay, it was narcissistic but still. She was saying something about people from our school vandalizing places. Most probably a cop chased them away and they were from our school. Then I told my friends about it, then they told the others, then the others told the others and everybody knew about it."
His voice floated further and further away until I was aware that he was talking, but I didn't know what he was talking about anymore.
I know what I needed to know. I can add up everything now.
From the moment she argued with me about having feelings for Jayden, the way she talked and acted weird with me, every time I mentioned Jayden, she'd start looking at him and then me. It's not Kai who Kate told to keep eyes on me.
It was her. My best friend.
I don't want to believe this, but I have to. Thinking about it, Kate stayed close in the whole chain for lying. When Jayden... forced her to tell who it was, she used my brothers best friend instead of my best friend so that it's believable enough and close to the entire train.
Out of all questions, most importantly: What does Kate gain from all of these?
It's obvious that Kai is out of the whole thing and has no idea of what's happening so I think I should keep it that way. Besides, it's no use telling him this now anyway.
I stood up, helped Kai to take him where he was and once I was done, I squeeze myself through the crowd and finally to outside. I take my phone out of my purse to call Blake. If he doesn't answer, I'm just gonna walk home. It's a few blocks anyway.
One ring. Two ring. Three ring.
No answer.
I try it again.
No answer.
Desperate, I almost slapped the screen and it rung again then went to straight voicemail where he's saying in a bored tone, "Hey. I'm glad you called me. Well, you can hang up if you're an axe murderer or whatever I don't care."
I let a frustrated groan then started walking.
I've had enough of this stupid party and stupid musics and stupid Jayden. Jayden, Jayden, Jayden, Jayden... WHY IS HE?!
Okay. This is it.
I inhaled and exhaled.
I don't know him. I don't know any Jaydens. There is no Jayden. There is no one to call me...
"Queen?"
I sighed and stopped walking.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear...
I hear footsteps following and the next moment, someone grabs my shoulders from behind and is in front of me. Wow that was a quick move.
"What?" I dryly let out, sucked dried by the entire situation.
In reply, he just smirks at me. This maggot. "Jealous much?"
I huffed and shake his hands off my shoulder. "I'm not. Why would I be jealous of someone egotistic like you? You're like Noah Flynn from The Kissing Booth."
He frowns at me. "You're saying you don't like Noah Flynn?"
I give him an unbelievable look. "Of course I don't! I like Jacob Elordi, but not Noah Flynn."
"Well, I thought you liked cliche romance or mushy stuffs."
"I do but only when it's paperback."
"Well, what's wrong with movies?"
I put my hands up , trying to prove my point. "You don't feel much from the movies. See, if it's a movie, you can't feel enough. There is always someone who is filling the protagonists place. But when it's a book, you feel it. You actually feel like you're Hazel Grace or Katniss Everdeen or or... or someone. You understand what I mean?"
Jayden nodded, crossing his arms. "I do indeed."
"The point is," I keep saying. Why am I explaining myself to this guy? "I don't like movies. Obviously the decision is opposite when it comes to a Marvel classic but when it's a rom com, I'm a big no-no. I watch them because Rose forces me to all the time!"
I freeze when my mouth spelled the word Rose and I face sideways at a car that was apparently ours.
Great. I'm looking at my ride and I cannot get in it because the car keys are with my beloved brother. Just great. And this guy here has a fetish of running into me and when he does, it usually don't seem like he's going to leave me anytime soon.
My facial expression must've changed in the meant time because his ones changed too to a softer stretch the next as he said, "What is it?"
I have to tell him. Sooner or later.
But not now. Not when everything is so chaotic and everyone's hearing us.
I shake my head. "Nothing. Actually I was just heading home. So..." I awkwardly draw patterns on the ground. "So, bye."
"That's perfect!"
My eyes crossed at that and I start to feel people starting to eye us strangely. "What part of my heading home seems perfect to you?"
Jayden point his index finger at himself. "Because I, my friend, was going to head home too because apparently, this fucking party sucks so bad that I have no idea why I didn't do it sooner."
I blinked then nodded. "Okay. Bye then."
I start to walk turning my back to him and he's in front of me again. "Woah woah, I said I'm leaving now."
My eyebrows knitted. "Yes, Jayden. I heard you. I'm going home now too. See you later."
He repeatedly blinked before slowly letting out, "I mean absolute no offense Queen, but are you dumb?"
I sighed, tired of the conversation. "You forget girl's you have sex with all the time even though you save their number so things can happen. But I can assure you, I;m not dumb."
He keeps looking at me until I couldn't take it anymore. Perhaps having a hunch, he leaned closer, eyes squinted as though he's reading the old Romeo and Juliet copy in my bookshelf.
"Hm. Then are you delusional?"
"I'm not." I deadpanned.
He sighed, running hands on his face. "Come, I'll give you a ride."
I was gonna say no, but then I thought that my brain wasn't working anymore and I even felt like... I felt like doing nothing. So I said, "Okay." I paused. "Let's go."
As we walked, I remember another thing and it was important so I had to stop walking.
"Go on without me and park the bike like... 50 meters away from this place. I'll hop on there."
He almost stumbled over my shoulder but quickly braced himself and scratched his hair, frowning at me. "Why?"
I looked around. "I can't let the culprit watching us."
I turn my vision back on the crowd who were busy with themeselves, talking, drinking, making out but even though, I couldn't shake the feeling that Jayden was still staring at me.
Then he sighed, ruffling his hair with a hand. "Okay."
He walked away, the car keys twirling in circle around his fingers. I saw him inserting the key in his bike and when he took off, Jayden waved his hand in the air as if trying to catch someones attention when you're on the road. Several people looked at him like he has grown an extra pair of eyes but I knew it was for me.
I rolled my eyes in his stupidity before walking where his bike vanished.
I found him there, the bike still in ignition as I get up on it, wrapping my hands around his slim built waist.
The baboon stiffened, but eased once I barked.
"What are you waiting for? Drive!"
His body shook under my arms as he chuckled. "As the Queen wishes."
The boy slowly starts to drive since the engine was already on and at one point when we start to soar through the night air, I buried my head on his back as I closed my eyes, tightening my grip around his waist.
My head is calm now. Even though I know I'll be a mess when I go back but the time I'm not, I just want to enjoy it.
Imagination or what, Jayden leans back on me so that I can have more of his space and I washed myself in his scent.
I'm completely certain of it now.
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