~~~
"Some people just need a hug around their neck with a rope." Janice hissed, pulling me through the crowd of students.
I silently followed her, pushing a stumbling guy with a drink in his hand. Wait! How did he even get the drink? This is a school festival, no alcohol allowed. "Hey you!" I shouted at the guy. He turned to face me, his eyes squinting in concentration. "You look like a penguin."
I frowned at his analogy. Should I be pleased that he compared me to a cute animal or insulted because penguins are pretty fat and walk weirdly? I shrugged it off, narrowing my eyes at the glass in his hand. "Where did you get this drink from?"
He looked at the glass and beamed. "Oh this? That guy over there-" he pointed at a small crowded stall which wasn't there till yesterday. "-he's giving this away. Free! I love free stuff! You should try it... it's delicious. And FREE! Wohoo free!!"
I blew a breath of frustrated air, waving him off. As the slowly crowd cleared I caught a glimpse of the unregistered free drink giver.
Alan Moore, you are in soo much trouble!
"Joanna! Are you even listening to me?" Janice cried angrily.
"Uh yeah of course. You said something about hanging a hug uh I mean hanger?"
She gave me a flat look. "I hate repeating things, so never mind what I said."
I licked my bottom lip, wanting to go and scream at my dumb friend. But Janice needed me right now. I finally sighed, last day, let them have fun. I turned my full concentration to my best friend. "So what exactly happened?"
Janice rubbed her eyebrow in irritation. "You know that Kathy? Alicia's right hand?"
"Unfortunately." I replied, wondering where this was going.
"She kissed Dylan. Oh god! She mother effing kissed him. You know like like lips touching and saliva exchanging! I could swear they had tongue." Janice exclaimed, pulling me into a room where a couple was making out. For God's sake this is school festival not a college party. Some are getting drunk and some are getting junk.
"Get out, right now or I'll let go my pet sharks on you." Janice threatened and immediately the couple ran out with the guy holding something in his hands which looked suspiciously like a girl's panties. Eww.
I turned to Janice who was storming through the room. Walk. Turn around. Walk. Turn around. Walk. Turn around.
"Janice, you said you didn't like Dylan day before yesterday." I reminded her, when she had spent the morning at my place.
She stopped her pacing. "I still don't like him." Her voice unsure now.
I rolled my eyes. "And unicorns don't exist."
"They don't." She declared. "Anyways I don't know what to feel Joanna." She sighed, sitting on an empty chair and then shooting up instantly. "Wasn't this where those sex addicts were? Oh yucks! I need to wash these jeans now." She almost debated while wiping her backside and then shook her head. "Do see anything white or that color?" She turned showing me her backside.
I bit my lip from laughing at her, shaking my head.
"Do I have any white substance on my ass?" She repeated, shaking her ass.
I burst out laughing unable to control anymore. "Janice I am sure they didn't reach till that phase."
"I hope so." She said, walking to another chair and resting her butt there. "What do I do?"
"Tell him how you feel." I suggested.
"No ways, you know I can't do relationship shit Joanna. I always end up messing it. I-I just can't seem to handle that pressure of being a perfect girlfriend and trying to hold my jealousy and anger. It never works out." She muttered weakly.
I put my hand on her shoulder, making her look at me. "Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else. Maybe that someone's Dylan, you never know until you try Janice."
"Yeah, but I am so scared." She sighed, closing her eyes. "It is all because of Ryan."
"Janice, he moved on. Even you have to." I told her. After Ryan cheated on her and said that she was the worst girlfriend ever a year back. Janice was broken, she lost confidence in herself and thought that it was all her mistake. Luckily after 2 months Ryan's family moved somewhere in Africa and there's a rumor that no girl likes him there.
Karma is a certified bitch.
It took some time for Janice to return to her older self but eventually she did and slowly all the news about her and Ryan was forgotten, yet somehow she couldn't be serious with a guy, afraid of disappointing him.
In a relationship, people have expectations and when they are unfulfilled it leads to disappointments which lead to getting hurt.
My logic: Stay single and eat a Pringle.
"I know you can never forget Ryan, Janice. You loved him and he will always have a spot in your heart but you have to make place for someone else. Someone actually worth it." I told, trying to soothe her.
She hugged me, her head on my stomach as she was sitting. I wrapped my hands around her shoulders. "It will be okay, eventually." I promised her. It was in my bucket list to find Janice a perfect boyfriend. It was time to have a private conversation with Dylan.
The door suddenly opened and we jerked away.
"What am I missing?" Logan asked raising his eyebrows, looking from me to Janice.
"Nothing." Janice squeaked, making Logan more suspicious.
"What happened to you?" I asked, noticing his unhappy face.
"We broke up." He simply stated, shutting the door behind him.
Janice frowned. "You broke up or her?"
"It doesn't matter Janice." He dismissed.
"You broke up or her?" Janice repeated with a no-nonsense tone. And Janice hated repeating things.
"She broke up. Apparently it was too much for -"
Logan never got to complete the sentence because Janice got up and rushed to the door. "That bitch, I am going to burn her fat ass and then feed it to my pet sharks."
"Janice!" I shouted, catching her wrist and Logan wrapped his arms around her stomach. "You don't have pet sharks." I reminded her.
She paused, scowling. "I'll just buy some then."
"Don't be stupid, they aren't like rose plants, found on the streets. And anyways it's over." Logan said, struggling to keep his grip on her wriggling form.
"I don't care."
"Janice shut up. We don't want her to think that this is affecting Logan or us. It will only make her more happy." I said, trying to punch some sense in her.
She stopped, her mind wheels running. "We should make her jealous." She said excitedly.
I internally slapped my face. "No Janice, we should let it be."
"Yeah, Janice. It's okay, trust me." Logan assured, loosening his grip on her.
She sighed, dejectedly. "Fine, spoilsports."
"What was her reason?" I turned to face Logan.
"We are both busy and hardly meet. We were drifting apart and she didn't want to continue it since we will be in different states for colleges also." He paused. "I have to agree with her, we had drifted apart."
"Good riddance. I never liked her." Janice muttered. Of course she didn't, Marie had literally slapped Janice when she had placed a friendly kiss on Logan's cheek a few months back. After that things between them were not so good.
Logan shifted uncomfortably on his heels. He's hiding something. I looked at Janice and nodded at her, our best friend mind link helping us understand what the other is thinking.
"So? What else did Marie do?" Janice raised her eyebrows, smirking at him.
He coughed. "Uh nothing."
"Logan." I warned.
He sighed. "She kissed this guy from her school as a dare and now she thinks it might be more than a simple kiss."
"Oh I'll show her what more she should think." Janice yelled, running to the door but Logan caught her again.
"No Janice. I'm good. Let's go out now. And no killing or hitting anyone. Where's Brittany and Alan?" Logan changed the topic, going outside.
"No promises." Janice mumbled. "Brittany was taking one of the Australian twins number." Janice said.
"And that dumb idiot Alan is giving away free drinks." I fumed.
"No way!" Logan exclaimed, laughing heartily. "I need to go and help him."
"No! I don't want vomits all over the place." I hissed.
"Blah blah. There's the Prince Charming." Logan pointed at Ace.
"And there's his stupid wingman." Janice muttered, glaring at Dylan.
Logan raised his eyes at her behavior but didn't comment. "I am off to see my other half. You two have fun."
"Don't you dare encourage Alan, Logan." I shouted as Logan skipped his way to Alan.
"Heya!" Dylan greeted happily and Ace just nodded.
I replied with a 'hey' and Janice said nothing. She religiously ignored Dylan and went to Ace, taking them both by surprise.
Ace looked at Dylan and then me, wondering why she came to him. When he didn't get any answer, he turned to Janice.
"Why are you here?" He asked hesitantly.
"Why? Is this your place? I can't even stand here?" Janice snapped.
Ace leaned back, surprised by her outburst. "Calm your tits woman."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist then." She shot back.
"Are there any more rules about girls that I should know?" Dylan asked, turning to me with a tired expression.
Handling Janice was tough, very tough. One of the reasons why her relationships never worked.
I nodded my head. "Say sorry no matter whose mistake it is. If she says she trusts you, try to never break that trust. She won't trust you back easily. Prove it to her that all men aren't the same. Don't do things that would hurt her a lot."
"Yeah, like kissing other girls." Janice added bitterly and Dylan's eyes widened in realization and then confusion.
"But we aren't dating." He whispered to me.
"So weren't Joanna and me." Ace said, making me scowl. Point.
Dylan cleared his throat, "We need to talk." He said to Janice.
"No thank you very much. Why don't you go and talk to that Kathy fatty? Oh no! You two would do lot more than just talking." She responded folding her arms under chest.
He rolled her eyes and then grabbed her hand, going in a random direction. Janice pretended to protest but then eagerly went with him.
And once again I was alone with the idiot frustrating bad boy again.
Oh joy!
"So how are you?" Ace asked, sinking his hands into his pockets. Her jeans were back to black and his T-shirt was yellow, a light color surprisingly but I didn't comment about it. He shifted his foot, a movement that screamed he was anxious.
"Fine."
"Sorry about uh- that day." He sent a half smile and my stomach flipped. Damn his disgustingly gorgeous looks.
I sighed as I remembered that day. The realization that I was getting attached to Bryan Cooper had left me in dumps and I had tried to avoid all conversations with him, not that he tried communicating.
I had to keep praying he would text so that I could ignore him. In vain.
When I got on his bike that day, we didn't speak a word, even my hands were on his shoulders instead of encircling his waist. As soon as we reached home, I turned to go. But Ace's words stopped me. "Sorry", he had said. And I still didn't know why he was sorry for. Making me laugh? Being with me? Meeting my mother? Calling me beautiful? Trying to kiss me? I hoped it wasn't the last one, if it was it would break me.
I cleared my thoughts and throat, gathering my courage. "What were you sorry for?" I asked, glancing at him through my eyelashes.
He bit his lip, making me want to bit them as well. I was sure they would be soft and good enough to eat. I shook my head from those thoughts, this was serious.
"I -"
"Ace." Max suddenly appeared, panting and the whispered something in Ace's ears, making him stiff and his face blank.
I had never hated someone as much I hated Max at that moment. Here I was finding answers with so much difficulty and he had to come and ruin everything. Idiot. Go slap yourself with a brick.
As if sensing my thoughts, Max turned to me and smiled guiltily before running away again.
"I have to go." Ace said, running his hand through his uncurled hair.
I controlled the urge to stamp my foot in disappointment. "Okay."
I was still looking down in frustration when I saw Ace's shoes come nearer to me.
I looked up just in time to see his face come closer and his lips lightly touched my cheek. His lips stayed for a few seconds and then grazed the area slowly. The feel of his lips felt like heaven on my skin. His lips were soft, just like I had thought. I couldn't move, I was frozen in place. The only thing I could feel was the feel of his lips on my cheek and way that cheek burnt with warmth.
"Take care." He whispered, going closer to my ear. His breath burning the way from the cheek to ear. His lip trailed the path and I was sure my face was red by now. I still couldn't move or identify the feelings erupting inside me. They were so unfamiliar and jumbled.
Suddenly I felt cold, utterly cold. Inside and outside. I realized that Ace had taken a step away from me. I looked into his darkened eyes and saw desire in them. My insides clenched and all of a sudden I wanted those lips on mine. Kiss me dammit!
He shook his head, probably reading the thoughts in my eyes. He smiled slightly and then he was gone.
It took me a few more moments to actually function properly. The wheels in my mind started moving and my heartbeat turned to normal. The blood started flowing through my body and those bizarre feelings slowly felt.
Finally I apprehended what had happened.
Bryan Cooper just kissed my cheek and those unexplored and exotic feelings came back in a rush.
The bad boy just kept his warm lips on my skin, willingly. Finally!
~~~