Ever since the party, Angela had been thinking about Lottie's behavior. She had never had anyone who had been so protective to her except for Timothy.
And she resented anyone being attached to her that way, even though Lottie denied it. You don't beat up a random guy just because Angela was proudly showing off her new piercing.
"Angela ! Charlotte's here !" His father shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
"Don't let her in !" She yelled back as she put away the ice cream she had just eaten.
Paul opened his eyes wide and turned to Lottie whom he had already invited inside.
The blonde walked down the stairs and her expression changed when she spotted Lottie in the kitchen.
She cursed under her breath and turned to her father before grabbing his arm and dragging him into the living room.
"Why did you let her in ?" She whispered-yelled with her eyes wide open.
"You said she was your friend !" He exclaimed defensively.
"That's not a reason to-" She took a deep breath and pulled away to run her hands nervously over her face. "Nevermind."
"Angel, I know that because of your mother you think you-"
"Don't say it, please." She sighed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye quickly.
"Sorry." He whispered, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "I'll leave you alone."
He walked away and ran up the stairs quickly.
Angela sighed again trying to collect herself.
She shouldn't have agreed to let someone new into her life in the first place. Friendly or romantically. She tried to be the meanest with Lottie to scare her away, without success. It was as if Lottie was determined to prove to her that she was patient enough to get through anything.
She didn't like Lottie. She was clumsy, too tall, was too touchy, her friends were mostly annoying.
So Angela couldn't put her finger on what had made her accept or even just not give up right now.
"I'm sorry for what I did." Lottie said, stopping hesitantly behind Angela.
"It's okay. I'm mad or anything." She sniffled, not turning around.
"So you're not coming to school today ?" She asked, trying to hide in her voice how badly she wanted her to come.
"Yeah no, I'm not going today. Thanks for coming though." She replied finally.
----------
Laura and Van both look at Lottie playing with the food on her plate sadly, the palm of her hand against her cheek.
Lottie felt guilty. Only because Angela seemed more exhausted and sad because of her when she came to see her. Not for this stupid guy.
"Do you think we should say something ?" Laura asked turning to the rest of the team.
"She must be depressed not being with her little girlfriend-" Taissa rolled her eyes and Van nudged her.
"Well it's good for once not to have any complaints about what I eat." Mari mumbled as she continued to eat.
Mari who was part of the group but is the mostly friend with Akilah who was also part of the group. The two were a bit of the underestimating duo behind Shauna and Jackie.
Not to mention Mari's girlfriend, Gen.
"And they're not even that close, Angela is always hitting her-"
"Misty. Shut up." Shauna interrupted.
Lottie mumbled something and everyone turned to her.
"What did you just said ?" Jackie asked being closest to her at the table.
"I said she needs personal space." Lottie replied in a low voice, not looking up from her plate. "I don't have to be close to her all the time to really like her."
Taissa pretended to vomit at her words. "You are so in love it hurts to see."
"I'm not in love. I just care about her that's all." She shrugged.
"Is that why you attacked Bary ? Because you care about her ?" Mari asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
"Exactly."
"She didn't seem like she wanted any personal space with that guy anyway-" Taissa chuckled and Laura glared at her.
"Don't say that." She sighed even more sadly.
"And you pretend to not being in love ? Look how sad you are just because she's not coming today." Mari added throwing a crisp at her head.
"You guys are really mean, I think it's cute that she misses her girlfriend like that." Said Jackie with a smile. "I hope Jeff misses me in this way."
Shauna made a face and started drinking her can.
-----------
When Lottie arrived the next morning in front of the Montgomery house. She was genuinely happy to see Angela again.
Sure, she hadn't missed the pinches, and the kicks. But she surely had missed being in her presence.
And when she was about to knock on the door, Mr. Montgomery quickly opened it before she had time to do.
"Oh hi Charlotte." He smiled and stepped back to let her in before going to pick up his newspaper.
She moved forward a little and saw Angela in the kitchen who was still eating her toast with the phone in her hand.
The blonde looked up to see Lottie and swallowed one last time before finally speak. "I bet you've never heard of Whitney Houston ?"
"Huh-"
"Why do you even open Spotify for ?" She asked rhetorically, rolling her eyes.
"I like The Smiths." Lottie replied, grabbing Angela's bag from the bottom of the counter.
She admired the blonde for a moment putting her dishes in the sink with a smile.
Angela turned and eyed Lottie with a disgusted face. "What is this...thing ?"
"What ?" Lottie asked looking at her outfit.
"You didn't do your tie properly." She groaned as she grabbed the house keys.
Then she approached Lottie and grabbed her collar.
"Don't touch my tie-" She tried to remove her hands but Angela took the tie off her neck quickly.
Alfred chuckled as he watched Lottie walk out of the house being slapped with her own tie by Angela.
They both got into the car and Lottie immediately rolled her eyes when Angela tied her tie.
Once finished the blonde tapped both her shoulders. "See. It's a lot better this way."
"I don't see the difference." She whispered looking out the window.
"You don't pay enough attention to details." She complained crossing her arms. "You haven't even noticed I have a new lip balm."
"How am I supposed to notice this stuff !" She exclaimed indignantly, huffing in annoyance.
"I don't know, you play the exemplary girlfriend all the time. It's up to you to tell me." She retorted by looking up and down at Lottie condescendingly.
"Give me a break." Lottie sighed, pinching her nose.
They finally arrived at school, and Angela stormed out of the car. Lottie obviously awkwardly grabbed her things before getting out of the car too.
----------
"Taissa." She snapped as she walked to her class.
"Angela." She smirked.
"What do you want ?" She asked as she continued to walk.
"I just wanted to know, you're only dating Lottie out of pity right ?" Taissa slipped as she leaned to the side.
"What ?" She stopped walking to face her. "Of course not."
"You don't seem to like her company." She shook her head with a mischievous smile. "We've never seen you guys kiss."
"I'm sorry I don't want to show my relationship at school like this, Taissa." Angela spat, gritting her teeth.
She shrugged her shoulders, narrowing her eyes as if unconvinced and walked away giving her a small wave.
Angela felt the anger welling up inside her, she really had no regard for Lottie. How could she say she was with her out of pity.
Technically, she was. But that was because the situation was hopeless, not Lottie. Lottie will have someone who will love her one day. Maybe it wasn't Angela, but there's surely a person in this world to love Lottie fucking Matthews.
The blonde understood why Lottie looked so desperate that day. Taissa remained the bully that she was and had probably teared Lottie down. So much so that the only solution she had thought effective would be to do that.
Well now, fake relationship or not, Angela was determined to prove Taissa wrong.
----------
"Hey do you wanna-"
Lottie got cut off by a pair of lips crashing against hers.
Angela cupped her face and moved closer. Much too close for Lottie to think straight.
She blinked, still in shock.
She could feel her soft lips move against hers. She put her hands on her bare hips. And responded to the kiss by leaning in too.
This wasn't the first time Angela had kissed someone. But with Lottie it was oddly too pleasant.
All her gestures were smooth, her long cold fingers felt perfect against her warm skin.
Her lips were soft, maybe even too soft, it felt like kissing the very embodiment of softness. And now Angela was just wondering if Lottie's hair was that soft as well.
Van passed by, which meant she was going to tell Taissa everything. Angela's plan was working perfectly.
She sighed warmly and bit Lottie's bottom lip before pulling back from the kiss, their faces still close.
Their eyes locked.
Lottie saw those two words running through her mind nonstop.
Act normal.
Act normal.
Act normal.
"You were going to ask me to have lunch together, right ?" Angela asked, wiping the corner of her lip with her thumb.
Lottie just nodded and Angela rolled her eyes playfully, motioning for her to follow her.
Shauna and Jackie look up in confusion seeing a flushed Lottie follow Angela who sat across from the two.
"Hi guys." She smiled as she opened her usual package of crisps.
The blonde began to eat with one hand, and with the other she took Lottie's under the table and placed it on her thigh.
She thought she would explode from the pressure when she felt Angela's hand guide her into her inner thigh.
"You can handle this, right Lottie ?" She whispered with a meaningfull in her ear.
Lottie swallowed slowly, nodding her head.
She smiled at her silent response and kissed her cheek before continuing to eat.
Act normal.
Act normal.
Act normal.
Lottie couldn't even follow the thread of the conversation, concentrating too much on where her hand was placed. She was taking bites hesitantly and was swallowing slowly.
While Angela was talking happily with Jackie and Shauna
Then Van, Gen, Nat and Tai joined them, then Laura, Mari and Akilah.
----------
"Oh my god !" The girl yelled as she approached Angela. "When we're you going to tell me that you are dating with Lottie fucking Matthews ?!"
The blonde looked up from her phone and smiled automatically. "Hi Alexa."
"Don't 'hi Alexa' me !" She nudged her as she sat down next to her in the bleachers. "You're dating one of the hottest girls on the soccer team ! And you didn't tell me !"
"It slipped my mind." She shrugged, continuing to scroll.
"Oh really ? 'Cause that wouldn't slip my mind. I bet her tongue can do-"
"That's my girlfriend, Alexa." She raised a menacing eyebrow, almost daring her to continue her sentence.
"Just saying." She raised her hands in defense. "You should watch practice, that's when she's the hottest. Look at her legs-"
"Alexa." She groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Just look !" She took her face in both hands and turned her to look at the field.
The players seemed to all gather in the middle and everyone sat down on the floor. Except Lottie who only knelt on one knee. Those goddamn soccer shorts. Angela stuck her lower lip between her teeth in reflex.
She pushed Alexa's hands away, not taking her eyes off the field. Or rather Lottie.
She had never seen her that way.
Was Lottie actually hot ?
----------
"I'm going to throw my bag." She explained calmly. "You don't come near me."
Lottie sighed and opened her arms as if she was ready to receive the bag.
Angela tossed it but she pushed her hands away and her bag fell with a heavy thump.
The taller girl smirked. "You'll have to pick it up now."
"I hate you." She mumbled as she moved closer to grab her bag quickly.
Lottie gave her no time to escape and took her in her arms.
"Let go off me !" She screamed, wrapping her legs around her body in reflex.
Lottie removed her hands, and Angela felt her ears flush at the realization that she was in fact clinging to Lottie.
She removed her arms from behind her neck and parted from the girl. She quickly walked into the car. Lottie chuckled as she followed her, grabbing her bag in the way.
She was definitely happy to be by Angela's side again.