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Chapter Thirty Seven: I Love You
[Recap]
"What's the first thing you like about me?"
Chris moves even closer to her.
"You really wanna know?" He smirks.
"Yes."
He smiles as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. His hand lingers there as he stares intensely at her. Steph feels weird with the way he's staring at her but she doesn't look away. Instead, she swallows the lump in her throat. His eyes darken as they move to her lips and he remembers how it felt like kissing her. He wants to feel like that again so he finds himself leaning in.
...
Stephanie stands there -- frozen. The air around them seems to have shifted and she finds herself recalling the one and only time she has kissed him. When he begins to lean in, she mentally panics. Her head yells at her to do something to stop what she thinks is about to happen.
Do something Steph! Pull away, say something, slap him, look away, run away. Just do something -- anything -- to stop what's about to happen. You shouldn't let him kiss you. He's a player. And he's not the guy you like.
But she does nothing. She's just standing there, waiting for something to happen.
'You're doing nothing because you want this to happen,' her subconscious tells her.
She feels her eyes about to flutter close when his lips are millimeters from touching her. And then ---
She hears it -- the loud honk that makes her to jump in surprise which causes the ball to slip out of her hold and equally bringing her out of her daze. She backs away from Chris as if being close to him will burn her.
She looks to see a familiar car pull into the driveway--close to where they're standing.
Chris on the other hand, shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath.
Why? Why did they have to be interrupted? Why? Is the universe against him or something?
He opens his eyes to see that Steph isn't standing close to him again. She's busy picking up the basketball.
"Dude, Coach's mad at you," the interrupter voice yells.
Chris knows that voice. He can recognize it anywhere, even in his sleep. Why didn't he wait a few more minutes before coming over? Why couldn't something or someone delay him for a minute before he came? Chris turns around to see Jason slamming the door of his car shut.
"Did you hear me? Coach's mad at you, dude." Jason reiterates as he walks closer to Chris.
"I know and I heard you the first time," Chris replies, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Jason doesn't even know that he has interrupted a moment.
"Who's this?" Jason asks as his eyes settle on Stephanie.
Chris really didn't want Jason to meet Hazel. At least not yet. It was only yesterday that Jason teased him and asked when he'll get to meet her. Now he's here and she's here also. He ruined the chance of him kissing her again and Chris feels like hitting him or something.
"Hi," Steph says to Jason, holding the basketball under her arm.
"Hey you," Jason smiles at her.
Chris sighs. "Hazel, this is Jason. Jason, Hazel." He does it reluctantly.
"Don't mind him. My name is Stephanie," she tells him, glaring at Chris.
Chris waits for the knowing look to appear on Jason's face.
"Stephanie....Hazel....oh oh oh."
Yup, Jason has that look on his face. He glances at Chris, his eyes twinkling in mischief and a smirk appears on his face. Chris narrows his eyes at him which seems to say 'behave'.
"You're the Stephanie that has managed to sweep Chris off --"
"Ouch!" Jason exclaims. "What the fuck dude!" He glares at Chris who had just smacked him at the back of his head to stop him from completing his sentence.
Chris shrugs and Steph stares at them in amusement.
Sweep Chris off what? Steph wonders.
Chris sees the look on her face and says.
"Don't listen to anything he says. He speaks a lot of Gobbledygook."
"Gobbledygook?" Steph raises an eyebrow in amusement.
"What's that?" Jason asks in confusion.
"You speak a lot of bullshit."
"Why didn't you just say that?" Jason huffs.
Chris shrugs.
Steph chuckles. "I know how it feels like, trust me."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, Brooke's like that too."
"I don't speak bullshit, Stephanie. Don't listen to him. I only speak my mind and the truth," Jason defends himself.
"Oh, I see," Steph smiles while Chris rolls his eyes.
"I don't think I've seen you before but I feel like I have. You look familiar," Jason points out.
"We go to the same school, dummy. You could have seen her in a hallway or class." Chris counters.
"I don't think it was in school...." Jason trails off with a thoughtful look.
"Okay Hazel. I'll drive you home," Chris announces. He doesn't want anymore chit-chat between them. Jason might end up spewing stuff that'll mess up things between him and Hazel.
"Okay," she replies.
Oh so because his best friend is here, he wants to get rid of me so quick, huh? Steph muses. After the moment they just shared before Jason interrupted?
Or was it in her imagination? She doesn't even wanna think about it, it'll make things awkward between them. Chris motions for her to give him the ball and she does. She notices Jason watching them in amusement.
What's amusing him? She asks herself.
"I'll go get my backpack," she says before heading into the house.
The guys watch her enter the house. The second the front door shuts, Chris speaks first.
"What the fuck dude!" Chris tries his best to lower his voice. "You were actually going to complete that sentence if I hadn't stopped you."
Jason laughs. "I just said the truth dude. You like that girl. When are you going to admit it?"
Chris throws the ball at him and it hits laughing Jason on his arm.
"I'm not repeating myself." Chris huffs.
Just then, Steph steps out of the house.
"Give me your keys," Chris instructs Jason.
"No. Use yours."
"It's in the garage. Just give me the your key." Jason hands Chris his keys.
"Get in, Hazel."
"Can I come along?" Jason questions.
"No."
"You're leaving me here?"
"Yes," Chris answers.
"Admit it Chris," Jason hollers as they're getting into his car, referring to what they were talking about before Steph returned. Just to piss him off.
"Asshole," Chris grumbles.
"Love you too bro."
"What's he talking about?" Steph asks once they're seated in the car.
"Nothing you need to worry yourself about."
"I'll be waiting for you bestie," Jason yells as Chris pulls out of the driveway.
They spend the ride listening to music on the radio. No one says a thing. It seems like one is waiting for the other to speak first. They're both thinking about what could have happened if Jason hadn't interrupted. Steph is glad Jason came but part of her still wishes he didn't.
Few minutes and an awkward silence later, Chris pulls over in front of her house.
"Thanks for bringing me home," Steph breaks the silence.
"Thanks for visiting. I had fun."
"Me too. Thanks for yesterday."
"Thanks for returning the jacket," Chris smirks.
"Okay, enough thanking." Steph smiles. "I guess I'll see you on Monday?"
"Yeah."
"You know I got the ball in and you haven't told me what you like about me," Steph accuses.
Chris beams and glances at her. "You'd want to know, wouldn't you?"
When he doesn't say anything else, Steph shakes her head lightly and opens the door. She shuts the door after getting out and stands there with her backpack, waiting for him to drive away.
Chris turns on the ignition, winds down the passenger's window and says, "I like your hoodie." Then he drives away.
***
"She's the girl you kissed at my party during spin the bottle that day, isn't she?" Jason inquires with a raised eyebrow the moment Chris is out of his car.
Chris joins Jason and watches him take a shot. The ball goes through the hoop smoothly.
"Yeah. Yes, she is."
"I knew she looked familiar," Jason says as he picks up the ball.
"She got a haircut," Chris shrugs.
"I remember you asked me about her after that kiss. Were you really looking for her?" Jason asks skeptically.
"Um...no. We just somehow became friends," Chris lies.
"And you expect me to believe that? This is even worse than I thought, dude."
"What are you talking about?" Chris questions bemusedly.
"Did you hook up with her or something? Are you guys fuck buddies?"
Chris answer is immediate with slow shaking of his head to prove his point. "No. We're nothing like that. Damn, we haven't even kissed since that time," Chris reveals. If only Jason knows the trouble he went through to get to the point he is with her now. She did give him a hard time.
"Wow!" Jason gapes. "Just wow!"
"Ugh....what is it now?"
Jason smiles. "You like this girl, dude. You really really like this girl. I didn't think this day would ever come. I'm so happy for you. Thank God Ivy didn't cause permanent damage..."
"Wait wait wait wait. What bullshit is coming out of your mouth? Are you sure you're alright? Did you hit your head while I was away?"
"I'm totally fine. I'm just excited for you, dude. I believe you more than like her and it's a good thing to fall in love. I thought your heart had turned to stone after what happened with Ivy --"
"Hold your horses," Chris cuts him off. He's finding it hard to understand what Jason's saying. Did he just say love? "Who's in love?" Confusion flickers in his eyes.
"You are. It's you who's in love. Ed Sheeran was right. People fall in love in mysterious ways. All it took was a kiss for you to fall," Jason says with all seriousness. His free hand that isn't holding the ball touches Chris' shoulder. "I'm proud of you, bro."
The way you'll look at someone who just ran around a mall stark naked -- that's the way Chris is staring at Jason right now.
"You're nuts." Chris takes Jason hand off his shoulder and shoves his car keys into it. "You're clearly insane and I'm not gonna stand here and listen to you."
With that said, Chris begins to head in and Jason follows him with a smile on his face.
Once inside the living room, Jason speaks again.
"You're just in denial, Chris. When you realize it, I'd say 'I told you so'."
Chris turns around to face Jason in agitation. "Are you even hearing yourself? She isn't my type. I don't even like her and you're here talking about love?" He snaps at him.
He thinks this is funny? Chris thinks.
Love? Does he even know what love is? He thought he loved Ivy and look what happened. Now, Jason's telling him that he loves a girl -- like he's the one that knows how he's feeling. He doesn't even like Hazel. Or does he? Nope. They're just friends.
Jason believes that Chris likes Stephanie. Maybe saying he's in love with her is a little extreme but that's how he sees it.
"Not every girl is like Ivy, Chris." Jason tells him as he hands him the ball.
"I'm starving," he announces and walks towards the kitchen. Chris sighs and plops down on a couch. Jason was just being silly.
***
Luke felt sick after hearing the truth from Stephanie. He still feels sick now that school's over. He knew what he had to do after hearing the truth. He can't continue to be in a relationship with someone like that.
All this while, he had believed it was Chris that cheated on Ivy when it was the other way round. After coming to school together in the morning, Luke decided to talk to Steph and since hearing it, he has managed to avoid her. He had wanted to break up with her immediately after talking to Steph but he held himself back. He didn't want to break up with her in school. During lunch, he went to the library instead of the cafeteria. She kept calling and texting him like a worried girlfriend would but he ignored them. Luckily, they didn't have any class together. When school was over, he knew he couldn't avoid her anymore. He has to drive her home.
So here they are, in his car. He's been driving for a few minutes while Ivy talked. When she noticed that he wasn't paying attention, she had asked him what's wrong and his reply was that he's tired.
Yeah, tired of her.
She stopped talking and turned on the radio.
Luke pull into her driveway as they arrive. He turns off the ignition and takes a deep breath.
It's now. He has to do it now.
"We need to talk," he declares.
"Okay," Ivy drawls.
"Why did you lie to me?" He turns to face her.
"L.... Lie? She stutters. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh really?" Luke scoffs.
"Wait, is this about what happened yesterday? You believe what he said?" Ivy retorts in an accusatory tone like she's accusing someone of murder.
"I wish I did," Luke replies her.
Okay, something has happened, Ivy muses.
"You lied to me that it was Chris who cheated. Who knows what else you've been lying about? It makes me sick to think that I have been dating a bully. A Liar. A bitch." Luke bellows. He has always hated bullies. He was bullied in middle school and trust him when he says it's not something to go through.
Ivy flinches. Luke has never called her that and she hates how it sounds coming from his mouth.
"You just made look like a fool. Everyone in school knows my girlfriend more than me. You're a very good actress. I don't even know who you are."
"You know who I am, babe. You do. I'm sorry for lying to you. I didn't want you to think of me as a cheat. I'm not that girl anymore." Ivy says to her soon to be ex. She knows he wants to break up with her and she won't let that happen.
"You attacked Steph just yesterday, Ivy." Luke deadpans. "If you're looking for who to feed more lies to, it's not gonna be me."
"So this is about that Stephanie, huh?" Ivy narrows her eyes at him.
"This is about you. You're not who I thought you were and I can't continue this relationship with you," Luke confesses.
"So you want to break up with me?" Ivy hisses even though she's breaking inside.
"Yes. It's over." Luke looks away.
"You can't do this. I won't let you do this. I love you, Luke. I really do." Ivy asserts in panic.
"It doesn't matter. It's over between us. I'm sorry." Luke says monotonously.
Ivy stares at him, looking for telltale signs that this is a joke but finds none. She feels her heart shatter but she decides that she wouldn't let him know he has hurt her.
"Fuck you. Fuck you, Luke --"
"Please get out of my car, there's somewhere I need to be." Luke cuts her off in exasperation.
"Of course I'll get out of this trash you call a car." She opens the door and gets out.
"You'll regret this, Luke. You'll never find anyone like me," she yells at him through the window.
"That's the plan," Luke replies and drives off.
As he drives away, Ivy watches him. Tears form and roll down her cheeks as she realizes what had just happened.
A/N: I know you all wanted them to kiss. Trust me, I wanted them to kiss too but unfortunately, they didn't.
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