Hey guys, I hope everyone is having a good Valentine's Day. Thank you for waiting. Here's two chapters.
Chapter 16
Adam
It was the end of the day, no sight of Taylor or Todd. Awesome.
I sat at the usual bench that was near the school parking lot and waited for Aubrey and them to come around. I ran my hand through my bangs. It was different having it this short again. It wasn't that hard to notice that some of my classmates had to take double takes. All day I had this nervous and self conscious feeling that just made me want to sit in the corner of the room with my hoodie up. I wasn't used to people seeing my face fully like this in a long time. But I knew I had to do this to fit in with Aubrey and now I knew I needed to do something else.
"Hey Adam, lost in thought over here, aren't you?" Suddenly I heard Melissa's voice, I turned to her direction and saw she was sitting right next to me. I quickly turned to my other side, expecting to see Aubrey and Hanna but they weren't there. "Oh... Aubrey had to get something at her locker really fast and so I decided to give you some company while she's doing that with Hanna." This was a good time to ask before she came then. I could feel a nervous ache in my stomach as I took a couple silent breathers.
"Hey... Melissa." I started to say after couple seconds of silence between us as I looked down at the cement beneath my shoes. "What do I have to do to... to be with you guys and ... for it be okay with everyone else?" There I asked. I slowly lifted my head to look at her. She looked at me surprised. I could tell she wasn't expecting that. Yeah, I don't blame her. I was surprised myself that I asked her.
"Adam...." Melissa began as she placed her hand on my arm. "I don't think it would be a good idea for you to do that. I, we, we didn't have a choice, we didn't choose this. We were thrown in all of this. You have a choice and I'm not saying it's easy, it's not, but is that what you really want? To be with us and to be in this spotlight where everyone notices and knows you?"
"But... I want to be with you guys. That's what I want. To be with you guys and to have everyone okay with that and not having to be so paranoid on what they're thinking. I mean, why am I with you guys then, why am I hanging out with you guys, why? If I'm not even supposed to be." I couldn't stop my words, they just blurted out as Melissa jerked back her hand off of my arm and back on her leg. Her eyes widen in shock and then she blinked and looked at me as she let my words settle in.
We just sat there for a couple seconds till I heard Melissa say in a soft tone, "I don't know." She turned away from me and continued, "I don't know what we are doing with you. Hanna already knew this was a bad idea from the start, it's why she's been distant with you. She doesn't want to be like Aubrey and myself, we like you, Adam. I didn't lie when I told you that we did and thanks to that we keep forgetting... and Hanna always, always reminds us and makes us remember the reality of the situation."
It all started to make sense now about Hanna. If I was part of their group and accepted, I wonder how she would treat me then? Without her walls and her distance. Maybe we could be friends and I would see Hanna for who she is that Melissa and Aubrey sees. I wonder if that could ever happen. "Sorry guys for keeping you waiting." And then Aubrey voice made me up a bit and I turned to see her coming around, out the side door that led out to the parking lot.
Hanna was right behind her. I couldn't help but focus on her because I finally understood her and things between us now. I always thought she didn't like me but maybe it was because she knew she shouldn't. "Hey guys, what took you?" Melissa asked, her voice normal, like the talk we had never happened as she stood up off the bench. As they got in a conversation about how the halls were crowded with people. I pulled off my book bag, ripped out a sheet of paper from one of my notebooks, and a black pen.
I wrote something on it and got off the bench. "Here." I held the now folded piece of paper to Hanna. They immediantly stopped talking. Hanna just looked at me surprised and then at what I was handing to her. She slowly lifted her hand up and grabbed it from me hesitantly. "Its... my number."
Aubrey
No way did Adam just give Hanna his number.
Oh my god, he did. Hanna looked at the piece of paper that was folded in half that was in her hand and then looked at Adam. "Why would you give me this?" Oh wow. I can't believe Hanna just bluntly asked him that. I looked over at Melissa who looked at me too with the same shocked expression.
"I already have Aubrey and Melissa on my phone, I ... I want to talk to you too." Adam answered. Oh my god. I had to smile at Adam, he was dead focused on Hanna at the moment with determination. She was looking at him with a blank stare but I could tell by her eyes that she was deep in thought. Please don't do anything rash. I really couldn't help think.
Hanna slowly extended her arm out to Adam, holding out the piece of paper back to him, and replied, "I don't want it." Oh no. I glanced over at Adam who was standing still, he was shocked. I turned to Melissa, I could tell by her face that she was getting worried. It wasn't like we could force Hanna to take it either. She was the stubbornest one out of us all.
"Why?" Adam solely asked, not taking the piece of paper out of Hanna's hand either. Hanna winced a bit when he asked, she slowly lowered her arm down, letting it fall to her side. She broke away the eye contact and turned her face toward the bench. It wasn't like she liked confrontations. She didn't.
After couple of seconds, she turned her head back to Adam and before she could answer, we all heard a, "Hey Adam." We all turned our head to the direction and saw that guy, Adam's... okay not Adam's friend. That guy he talked to then that one time.
"s**t." I heard Adam say under his breathe and then he hastily walked over to him. "What are you doing here, Todd?" He still looked weird as before. His hair still spiked, wore a white shirt with a big skull on it, and green and black stripped long shorts that reached his knees with a long chain hanging from it. "I told you already to not be here."
"I thought we were bros." He replied, standing tall in front of Adam. He was a few good inches taller. "I thought you were my bro, I thought you would hook me up too with you but you choose them. That's wrong, dude. You being with them made you forget who your bros are or something. Like the s**t we've been together don't mean squat and you leaving me in the dust 'cause you found better. Let me tell you something, Adam, if we switched places, and I was you, I wouldn't be doing what you're doing. I would've still been your bro till the end but that probably doesn't mean s**t to you, huh?"
And before Adam could say anything back, he stuffed his hands in his pocket, walked away the opposite way of us, and not even looking back. His back turned to us, leaving us all silent. "That's where you belonged, Adam." Hanna said as she broke the silence and looked over at him. He was still in the spot he was when that guy was talking to him but was looking down at the ground.
"Not anymore." Adam simply replied as he slowly walked over to us. I could tell he was thinking about what that guy said. Heck, I was even thinking about it. I know it was supposed to be a talk between them both but since we were just standing there, we ended up hearing the whole thing. "That's not where I want to be anymore." He added as he gave us a small smile. I guess I wasn't the only one dumping people out of our lives.... to make room for something or someone better.
Adam
I can't believe Todd said all that to me but that was okay.
He said what he needed to me and now we were done. "Adam, wasn't he... your friend though?" Melissa hesitantly asked as she walked over to me. "He made it sound like you guys were really close. Why would you mess that up? Don't lose your friendship over us." I was shocked that she said that.
"We, we were friends but it wasn't like.... I was happy with him." I started to explain, I decided to take a seat on the bench before I continued. Melissa sat right next to me on my right while Aubrey and Hanna on my left. "All we did for fun was do all these stupid things. Remember the banana?" Which made them all laugh. "Even before that happened, I always knew I wanted something more. That there had to be something more, and .... with you guys, I don't think that anymore and I am happy with no regrets on what already happened and what is going to happen."
"Aw, Adam, that is so sweet!" Melissa exclaimed while laughing, breaking the serious tone of all of this. She then surprised me by wrapping her arms around me, placing her head on my shoulder. "You're just like a carmel chocolate. This dense chocolate coating on the outside but once you go into the inside, soft carmel comes running out." Which made me laugh.
I looked over at Aubrey and Hanna, they both were smiling at me. "Okay." Hanna said as she lifted her phone up and the piece of paper I wrote my number on. She typed in her phone as she continued, "So.... I have homework to do, can we go now or is this soup opera going to continue?" I turned over at Melissa who still had her arms around me. She smiled at me and let go.
We all got off the bench and started to walk to my car. I looked over Aubrey who was right beside me. "Hey." I greeted. She smiled and let out a small laughed. Her long blonde hair and her white dress she had on that was free flowing, they blew slightly with the warm breeze. She looked beautiful at that moment. I couldn't hold back a smile.
"Hey." She said back, letting the breeze blow her hair anywhere it wanted. I couldn't help but notice a strand of her hair got stuck on her shiny lip glossed lips. Without really thinking, I raised my hand up and moved the hair off, touching her cheek in the process and then when I realized what I was doing, I quickly pull away. I knew I wasn't supposed to do that especially not with Melissa and Hanna right here too.
Aubrey slowed down and moved her hand to her face, to the spot but then started to brush her hair with her hand to put it in place. I squeezed my hand that I touched her cheek with and then let go. I wanted to hug her at that point. I wanted to hug her just like at the mall. I wanted to feel her wrapped around my arms and feeling her against me as she did wrapped her arms around me. It was like we always had this distance. We could be right next to each other but hardly do we ever really come in contact.
But I knew I had to stop those thoughts. No. I can't. I couldn't. I shouldn't. I quickly went over to the driver door of my car while unlocking the car, I hopped in and put my seatbelt on, restraining me from doing something I might regret. Aubrey opened the door to the passenger seat and put her seatbelt on too, I could smell her perfume at that point, a sweet smell but wasn't overpowering at all. I breathed it in without thinking again.
What was wrong with me?
Aubrey
"Hey." Suddenly Adam said to me as we walked to his car.
I meant to just smile at him in response but then that turned into laughing. After all that, he still says that to me. Oh yeah, thanks to all that, he couldn't say anything to me yet. As I laughed, I felt a breeze. Since winter was over, warm air was coming over here. The best were the breezes that stick around for about a minute.
"Hey." I replied as I noticed he was smiling at me and before I could smile back at him, he lifted his hand up to me, I could feel that he was brushing a hair off my lips. His fingers gently touched my cheek as he did. It only lasted for about a second. It was short but it made me life my hand up to touch my cheek like I couldn't believe it happened.
I then had to play it cool and brush my hair to make it look better since the wind was blowing it all sort of directions it seems. I avoided looking at Melissa and Hanna who were right beside me. But I did glance over at Adam, he was already at his car, getting in. I got in the car beside him, put on my seatbelt, and looked over at Adam again and saw he had his eyes closed.
I smiled and decided to poke him in the cheek with my index finger, "You aren't supposed to do that behind the wheel." Which made him abruptly open his eyes and turn to me. He looked shocked at first and then he relaxed and smiled at me. Wait, did we both have a moment of touching each other's cheeks? Wow. We're weird.
"Ew, Adam, what are you doing up there?" Then Melissa asked, laughing which made me join in.
"Nothing." Adam replied as he started his car. He drove in silence as per usual. When we reached Hanna's house, he parked in front of her yard, and watched her get out of the car. "Hey Hanna?" He said to grab her attention before she walked away. She walked over and stood in front of his door. "Thanks." Which made me raise my eyebrows.
"For what?" Hanna simply asked as she grabbed her right book bag strap.
"You know what." Adam answered. I could see a smile slowly creep upon her lips which made me feel relived. She shrugged, turned away and started to walk up her driveway. "Do... do you think she'll text me?" He nervously asked as he started driving to Melissa's house.
"She will." I replied. No doubt about it. She definitely would.
Chapter 17
Adam
"Hey, it's Hanna."
As soon as I came home, I checked my phone, and saw the text. She texted me, thank god. I felt a load off my shoulder. "Hey, thanks for texting me." I typed and pushed send. I laid my book bag on the floor next to my bed and sat down. This was critical.
"Stop saying that." She texted back which made me facepalm myself and then I heard a ring on my phone, alerting me that I had a new text, "So go to the point, what did you want to talk about?" Which made me let out a chuckle, she was so straightforward. She knew I wouldn't just randomly give her my number without a purpose behind it. Dang it.
"How do I fit in with you guys?" I texted slowly. I had to make sure not to screw this up and definitely not with Hanna. I nervously pushed send before I changed my mind or changed it or something. Now the hard part, waiting for the response. I placed my phone down beside me and started to fiddle with my thumbs in suspense.
It took a couple of seconds that felt like minutes. "First off, looks, it plays a big part." That made sense. I had to turn and look at the mirror, at my new short hair, and then I looked at my baggy, black clothes. I placed my phone down on the bed once more and opened my closet. Clothes were just black with some white in there.
I reached up to the shelve above my clothes and got a old from years of use black wallet and pulled out four stacks of fifties. I forgot that I had spare money for emergencies. This was the time for it. I sat back on the bed and started to text Hanna, "Thanks." But then backspaced that, and replaced it with, "Do you believe that somethings can work themselves out?" I really hoped she didn't think it was a weird thing to ask.
"Sometimes." Was all she texted, making me take a deep sigh. What did I expect? For her to text me and we talk and become friends like Aubrey? I could tell Hanna still wasn't going to budge. Not yet. But at least I was starting to understand her more and she was letting up on me so in a way, things were getting between us.
"Hey, are you busy?" I then texted Melissa. Hopefully she wasn't. Really hoping she wasn't. I was glad I had Melissa to talk to and hang out with though out of the three. We were definitely getting along more and more. I was glad of that. She was someone I could count on and talk to.
And then I got a text back saying, "Nope, what's up?" And Aubrey, she was the best.
I slowly typed in, making sure to choose my words wisely, "I want to buy some new clothes but.... I'm not really good at shopping. Do you want to go to the mall with me?" And a smile flash across my face when I read her text back, "Yes!"
Aubrey
No way. No way was this happening.
Couple minutes after Adam dropped me off, I heard the doorbell ring. I ran downstairs and looked through the peek hole and saw Skylark. His black hair was combed back, his usual style. What was he doing here? He rang the bell once more and called out, "Aubrey, I know you're in there. I just want to talk. I'm sorry, babe."
No. I turned my back to the door and started to walk upstairs till I heard him again, "I messed up, Audrey. I don't know what I was thinking. College and my family screwed me up. It just got too much. I'm sorry. Aubrey, I'm really sorry." That stopped me right in my tracks.
Sigh. I turned my heel, walked to the door, and said out loud, "No, go away." And I stood there, still in my white dress I wore through school today, hoping he would go away. Just go away. "I told you yesterday that it was over between us. I meant it. You think you can just treat me like that and go away without saying a word to me and expect to come back like everything is okay. Not to mention, you were a real a** to me and my friends yesterday."
"I'm sorry, baby, I'm sorry. College is no joke and my parents keep pushing me to do this medical s**t that I don't want to do. You know they don't understand me. Please babe, forgive me?" He pleaded but all that just mad me roll my eyes. "Let me take you out, anywhere you want to go. I want to be with you, Aubrey."
"Oh really, now you want to be with? Where the ******** were you a month ago then?" I screamed. I could feel my eyes getting watery. He was supposed to be different than the rest, not the same. He was supposed to be there. He was supposed to be a lot of things.
But he wasn't. "What do I have to do to make you forgive me? What? I'll do anything. Just tell me. Just tell me, babe. Anything." I turned my back, placing it on the white wooden door and slide down. Anything? Anything. He would do anything for me now when all I wanted him to do was be a good boyfriend I thought he could be.
Sigh. I closed my eyes. Why now? Why? "Just go away." I said once more as I blinked back some tears. I didn't know how much this really affected me till now. I thought I forgot about it but it looked like all I did was repressed it and now it was coming all back.
"No, babe, I'm not going anywhere. I know I wasn't there for you but I am now. I'm right here, babe. I'm on my knees. Please babe." I slowly lifted myself off the floor and peeked outside with the window that was nearby. He was on his knees, oh wow. He wore a white collared button down shirt with tan shorts.
And right in his right hand was a big boutique of red roses. He was on his knees, pleading, bought red roses for me, and wasn't going anywhere till I talked to him. I guess I should give him a chance to explain some more. I slowly reached for the door knob to open the door and saw Skylark's face light up. He quickly got off his knees and said to me, "I missed you."
Adam
Shopping was no joke.
Two hours later, a hundred dollars down, me with a big bag with other bags from other stores in it. A bunch of shirts and pants that Melissa thought looked good on me and three pairs of shoes. It was kind of weird seeing Melissa serious the whole time while shopping. She meant business. "Hey Melissa?" I turned over at her, she was sipping on a fruit smooth she bought at a stand that made them to order.
"What, you want to shop some more? See a good sale, where?" Melissa asked as she turned her head to the stores around us. I laughed as her long black hair moved with each turn. She was holding one of my shopping bags that only had three shirts, she insisted to so I wouldn't be carrying around too much.
"No, I was .... sort of thinking of buying Aubrey something." I admitted. Melissa stopped walking and stood there wide eyes with surprise. "Since you're her friend, you could help me." Last time I got her something, I was lucky. Let see how it would be if I had Melissa helping me pick out something.
Melissa gave me a small smile and started to walk, saying, "Okay, what do you have in mind?" Uh. I looked around for inspiration. I didn't think that far yet. Definitely no clothes though. As I looked around, I saw a sale for shoes. That was it. That was perfect.
"How about some shoes?" I asked as I pointed to the sign which made Melissa laugh. It was a good thing, I guess, that I forgot I had emergency money or else I would've gave Aubrey the money and all of this wouldn't happen. None of it.
"Okay, let's go then." Melissa agreed as she grabbed my arm and turned me away from the shop that had the shoe sign. "But not that one. We have to go to the one she always buys her shoes from." She let go of my arm and started walking with me following her lead.
I wonder what it would be like shopping with Aubrey. What would it be like? "Here we are." Melissa announced as we stood in front of the store Aldo, a store that only had shoes and from what I was seeing, it was specially high heels.
I scanned around but then my eyes caught these shoes. They were completely black with couple of gold chains on the back that hung down like a necklace toward the heel. I walked toward it, picked it up, and asked, "What do you think about this?"
Melissa walked beside me, looked at it, and then at me with a smile, she said "She's going to love it."
Aubrey
As soon as I closed the door behind him, he brought me toward me in a hug.
His arms holding me tight on him, making me smell his cologne. It was still the same one he wore when we were together. I closed my eyes and laid my head on his chest, feeling him brush his hand down my head in strokes. I slowly wrapped my arms around his back. Reminded me of how Adam did when I hugged him. Wait, did I just think about Adam? I opened my eyes and blinked in confusion.
Why was I thinking about him? No, this was wrong. I wasn't going to do this to myself again. I got my head off of Skylark's chest and pushed him off of me. "You need to go now." I commanded as he stood there with the same confused face I had but now I was sure. This wasn't real. This wasn't him. Him at the mall being a a*****e was real. Him avoiding and not making time for me was real. Adam ready to fight him for me was real. This wasn't.
"Why? What happened, babe? I thought you forgave me." Skylark said as he took a step closer to me which made me take couples steps to the door. I shook my head. Just because he was older and hotter than most guys at my school but that didn't mean anything now. I see through that now.
"You expect me to forgive you just like that?" I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well you're wrong and I'm not going to be your doormat. I'm not going to let you do whatever you want and say whatever you want to me and then expecting me to forgive you just like that." It felt so good to say that to him and to admit to myself that I deserve so much better than that.
And then something happened that surprised me, Skylark's smiled like he was amused and started to shake his head. "What makes you think you're so special? You're so fool of yourself, all high and mighty. The only reason I'm here in the first place was because your brother paid me to go out with you again and out of pity for you and the money. I agreed."
What? No. No. I started to feel pressure from water in my eyes as the words came out of his mouth. "Why?" I asked as I looked at him straight in the eyes, trying not to reveal that his words were cutting deep into me. He let out a laugh and shook his head some more. He doesn't care, he doesn't care about me at all. I felt like someone had just punched me in the stomach as I watched him continue to laugh right in front of me.
"That ******** loser you were with, that's why." He simply replied as I got my back off my door and grabbed the doorknob, getting ready to kick him out of my house. "I really can't believe you actually were with him. Geez, Aubrey, if I knew you were that easy..." And before he could finish his sentence and utter any other word, I sprinted over to him and slapped him across the face.
"Get out now." I commanded as I hastily walked over to my door, opened it, and looked back at him. He was holding his right cheek that I slapped, it was a noticeably red even with his tan skin. "Get the ******** out now." I yelled as I held the door out.
"You ******** b***h!" He aggressively said as he walked up to me and stood there. "You think you're worth s**t, don't you? But you're ******** worthless, you hear me, ******** worthless! No wonder your brother can't ******** stand you and your ******** stupid a**." I couldn't help but close my eyes shut. He was so close to my face, screaming to the max those words. Those words that hurt. I could feel tears coming to my eyes again till I heard a car door being closed loudly close by. I quickly looked over to see who it was from and saw a familiar black car right in front of house and Adam running over. Adam? I thought as a tear gradually fell down my cheek.
Happy Valentine's Day! heart
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