Episode 17

EPISODE SEVENTEEN

I arrived and instantly laid on the sofa, a lot of things happened today, I sighed I like Brooke but…

My thoughts were interrupted when my phone vibrated on the table, I picked it up and looked at my messages. 5 messages, all from Arden, I read the messages, one said “congratulations! You were awesome =)” and the last one said “You’re not replying and I’m kinda worried, are you already at home?”

That message was 2 hours ago, I kinda felt guilty for not replying so I decided to give her a call, she didn’t answer it so it went to voicemail

“Hey Arden, it’s Nicky” I said ”I know it’s kinda late but I just called to say sorry for not replying to your messages, I left my phone at home, wouldn’t want to lose it during the race” I giggled a bit “oh and I’m okay, I just got home actually so no need for you to worry, are you okay? How did you day go? I hope you had fun and I promise I’ll go with you next time you want to go to the mall, okay? I have to go now, see you on Monday, bye…”

I hang up and looked at her name on my cell phone, and I love you…

-----------------------------------------------------------

The weekend went by fast, and before I knew it I was back at school, classes were boring as usual but it’s the fun things we do after classes that makes me want to go to school every day and by fun things, I meant laying on the bench by the soccer field, this is our brand new hang out place

“Oh Nicky, We watched that bike race” Cindy said “congrats by the way, you were great at that race!”

I smiled “Thanks Cindy”

“Yeah dude, you we’re like zooming pass the other bikers” Ryan mentioned as he laid his head on Cindy’s lap “and Brooke did a great job too”

“Wait a sec” Kevin interjected “Brooke’s with you?”

“Yeah Kev, it’s a tandem bike race” I said to him

“She didn’t mentioned that to me when we she went here”

“We registered the next day and it was kinda last minute” I explained “when she went back here, we grabbed a snack together and long story short, that bike race was our first date”

And again, all eyes were on me but my eyes went straight to Arden, She just stares at me, I can’t tell what her expression was but I want to know so badly

“It was a good thing I didn’t went with you two” Jamie said with a smile “or I could have ruined your snack date moment”

I giggled “that wasn’t really a date though, just getting-to-know snack moment“

“Getting to know? And what exactly are the things Brooke wants to know?”

All of them were anticipating my answer, bunch of gossips! But I still love them anyway

“She wanted to know if Ar-” I stopped and quickly re-phrase “she wanted to know if I have a girlfriend and I told her I’m single, so she asked me out”

“And how did that date go” Ryan asked

“Awesome, and I get to hang out at her apartment and meet her best friend, so it’s all good”

Then my phone rang, I took it out and looked at the caller

“Speaking of Brooke, she’s calling” I smiled and answered it “Hey! what’s up?“

“Not much, just the usual stuff, I’m a little sad though”

“Why?”

“I have dance rehearsals this week, so I might not have the time to go to your school”

“It’s okay, I’ll just go there and see you”

“As much as I want you to do that, you can’t, our choreographer wants us the focus on practicing so no visitors, at least for today”

“Well, that sucks, when is that dance contest of yours again?”

“This Saturday, you’ll come and watch right?”

“Of course, wouldn’t miss it”

“Awesome, hey I gotta go, oh and Emily’s stopping by there, bye!”

“What? Why-” before I could finish my sentence, Brooke hang up, a while after, I received a message from Emily saying “get your butt down here, I have something for you! =)“

I looked around and saw Emily by the field, “I’ll be right back” I said to the gang and went to Emily

“Hey!” Emily waved as I approached her

“Hey! What are you doing here?” I asked

“Well, Brooke feels guilty for not having the time to see you so she asked me to give you this” she then handed me a box of pizza

“A box of pizza?”

“Yeah, she’s kinda weird”

I giggled “thanks”

Emily smiled “well, I gotta go, bye sweet cheeks!”

I smiled “bye!”

Emily left and I went back to the benches

“Is that a box of pizza?” Cindy asked

“Yeah, it’s from Brooke” I said and sat “I wonder why she suddenly decided to buy me pizza” then I opened the box, the others also peeked at it.

When I saw the pizza, I instantly smiled, the pizza was in a heart shape and it has chocolate chips on it which spells “I love you” in the middle

“N’aww that’s so sweet!” Cindy commented

“Wow, she sure knows how to show her feelings” Ryan said

Kevin spoke “That’s Brooke all right, very outspoken and sweet”

My eyes wandered to Jamie and I saw her subtly looking at Arden, I turned to Arden and when she saw me looking, she quickly turned away, is there something wrong? , I was worried but I let it go for a bit

“Okay, you guys want some?” I asked

“Is it okay for us to eat that heart pizza?” Kevin asked

“Of course, but I get to eat the “I love you” part”

“Deal” they said in unison

And the three of them grabbed a slice, I took two slices and gave one to Jamie then I sat next to Arden

“Here” I said, handing her the pizza “have a piece of my heart, It’s has chocolate chips on it!” I joked but she didn’t laugh

“Thanks but I’m not hungry” Arden replied then stood “I’m gonna go home, I’ll see you guys tomorrow”

Then she left, I was about to go after her but Jamie stopped me “don’t go after her, just let her be alone for awhile”

I sat back down and watch her walk away

-----------------------------------------------------------

I decided to go to Arden’s apartment and have a little chat with her, when I arrived, I texted her saying “can we talk? I’m already outside”

I sat at the ledge by the door and waited. After a few minutes of waiting, Arden opened the door and sat next to me

“Are you okay?” I asked

It took Arden a while to answer but when she did, all she said was “yeah, I’m fine…”

“Then why did you walked out on me earlier?” I turned to her “I thought we’re already back to normal, close friends, like before”

“We did went back to being normal friends, until you started going out with Brooke” she spoke with a hint of jealousy

“What has this got to do with Brooke?”

“I don’t like you dating her” she blatantly said

“You know, you’re being selfish. You’re the one who wanted us to just be friends!” I annoyingly spoke “I’m just trying to move on here!”

“But do you have to go date another girl?!” Arden stared at me with hurtful eyes

“Yeah, I have to” I softly spoke “You move on, not because you got over the feeling of being in love with someone, you move on because you found someone to love greater than the person you fell in love with before”

I closed my eyes for a bit then I looked at Arden “I love you but sooner or later, I’ll fall in love with Brooke and when that happens I want you to be here and be happy for me as my best friend, just like the way you want us to be, do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

Arden nodded and stood then suddenly hugged me tightly from behind, that’s when I felt her tears on my back then she quickly let me go and went inside.

I slowly stood up and with one last glance on her closed door, I left her apartment.