Chapter 56: The Bet *Unfortunate Event

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Chapter 47 Part 2 *Unfortunate Event*

~Sophia

“How many months?”

“What months?”

“How many months were you two together?”

“Um, seven,” I answer. “Do you know him?” The question just pop in my head.

When I calmed down after my outburst earlier, Draky asked me if I wanted to go home. I said no because I can’t bare the thought of my parents seeing me like this. They’ll realize something bad has happened, and I don’t want them to be worried about me. So here we are, in the park, seated on a wooden bench beside a big oak tree.

“Something like that,” he says, a faraway look on his face.

I’m confused. When Skye and I were together, he didn’t mention Draky. If he did, I’ll surely remember.

“Care to elaborate?” I urge.

“Well, I don’t really know him,” he starts. “His face is just familiar. It’s like I’ve seen him a couple of times before.”

“He was a student in our school.”

“Oh,” he mutters. “Maybe that was why he was familiar.”

“Remember what happened with a senior and a junior?” I ask quietly.

His brows furrow at my question. “Yeah. Why?” His eyes slowly widens as realization takes in. “That was him?!”

“Yes,” I whisper, lowering my head, and wishing I can hide in the curtain of my hair.

“That happened a year ago, right?”

“Right,” I confirm.

Draky looks at me sideways, and then he sighs. “Pie.”

I find the ground really interesting. “What?” I mumble.

“Look at me.”

I can’t. Because I’m ashamed that my ex boy friend is a jerk. And is a stupid guy. And he didn’t even love me. And I’m an idiot for falling—

Suddenly, Draky closes the little space between us. He puts his hand on my chin and tilts my head up. I’m surprised because he has a gentle touch.

“Wha – what are y-you doing?” I stutter.

His eyes, his blue eyes gaze at me as if he can see to the depths of my soul. His stare is unwavering, his beautiful eyes stayed focus on my eyes, searching my face for the question he only know.

“Sophia. . .”

I’m afraid he can see my deepest darkest secrets so I close my eyes.

“Pie.”

I don’t want to see his reaction because I know it will cause me pain. He’s still holding my face and I know he’s not going to let go any minute now.

“Open your eyes.”

“No,” I whisper.

I can feel every part of my body tingling at his touch. I know our faces are just a few inches away from each other. What am I doing, thinking about these things, when I have a bigger problem in hand?

“Pie, open your eyes now.”

“No.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” he mumbles.

That puts a smile on my face. I realize that he can make me smile even in the worst situation I am in. And if I’m right, it’s not the first time he did it.

“Smiling looks good on you,” he states.

I don’t reply because I don’t know what to say.

He sighs, and I can feel his breath tickling my cheeks. “Pie, if you will not open your eyes. . .” he starts in a threatening voice.

“What?” I ask, intrigue.

“I will kiss you.”

He’s just bluffing, I repeat in my mind repeatedly.

After a few seconds, he says, “You don’t believe me?” And then he moves his face close to mine until our noses touch.

Oh no.

He’s not bluffing after all.

Instinct makes me open my eyes.

I’m surprised at our closeness. I can see his eyes now more than before. There are tiny flecks of silver around the edge of his iris, making his blue eyes more prominent. I’ve never seen blue eyes as clear as his.

“See something you like?” he asks amusedly.

At that, I realize what I’m doing. I’m checking him out! Tearing my gaze away from him, I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

When I turn after a minute to look at him, I find him smiling but. . .

“I thought you want me to open my eyes?” I ask, “Why do you look disappointed?”

His face is clear with emotion, leaving it blank. “I don’t.”

“You want to kiss me don’t you?” I tease. When did I become so bold to ask this question? To him, of all people?

He grins. “What if I tell you yes?”

“Forget it,” I mutter.

His hand finds mine, and he gives it a squeeze. I expect him to let go but he holds on to it, our fingers entwining in their own accord.

“Pie?”

“What?”

“They were kicked out of school,” he says. I know fully well who he’s talking about. “What is he doing here?”

“I don’t know,” I murmur. Of course I know. He’s here to get me. To finish what he started.

“Do you know what happened to the senior girl?”

My vision suddenly blurs as I remember the face of that girl. The girl Skye kissed. I’m about to be drawn when I recall Draky asked me a question.

“She was expelled,” I answer. Both of them. Inappropriate behavior in the school is a huge offense. “She didn’t graduate.”

“Of course she didn’t. I doubt if she’s accepted in other schools,” he replies.

“Want me to tell you the whole story?”

“Yes,” he says, staring straight into my eyes.

“I was fifteen when I met him,” I begin. The memory is fresh from my mind; it’s as if it just happened yesterday, when in reality it happened almost two years ago. “I was in the library, reading a book when all of a sudden, he walked by and stopped beside me. He told me he recognized the cover of the book I was reading.”

“What is that book?” Draky interrupts.

“The Giver.”

“Oh.” It’s familiar to him because all second year students were required to study it.

“And then,” I continue, “he introduced himself. We became acquaintances. And then friends. After a few months of getting to know each other, he asked me if I wanted to be his girl friend.” I pause because the memory is visiting my mind, replaying the scenes that happened in the past. “I was ecstatic and overjoyed because I liked him. I treasured every minute when I was with him. So I said yes.”

I realized too late that Skye didn’t introduce me to even one of his friends. I should have known then, but I didn’t. And that was my mistake.

I observe Draky as I talk. He has his poker face on, and it’s hard to read his face. “My friends were surprised. They didn’t expect that Skye and I would be a couple. They told me bad things about him, how I couldn’t trust him. But I didn’t listen to my friends.” Instead I chose Skye. “So in the end, I broke my friendship with them.”

I don’t even know why I’m telling this to Draky. I should just get to the point to get it over with. “Do you mind if I fast forward my story?”

“Go ahead. I don’t mind at all,” he says. It’s as if he’s grateful that I suggested it. Perhaps he doesn’t want to know what I had with Skye. Of course.

“Skye is part of the theatre group in school. He was- I mean, he is a good actor. I wanted to surprise him by being there while they were practicing for their new play the next month. Fortunately, it was not forbidden to go to the auditorium and watch the drama club perform. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of viewers that day. The auditorium was half full.” I pause and take a deep breath. This is the tricky part.

“Students did not know that I was dating Skye. They thought he was single. Only my friends and I knew that he’s in a relationship. Suddenly, while two students were performing a scene, the background curtain fell off.” My breath is coming faster and faster but I force myself to continue. “To my surprise, actually, to our surprise- me, the other students, and the theatre artists, two students were making out behind the curtain.”

“It must be intense,” he mutters.

“Tell me about it,” I choke out. “They surely couldn’t get their hands off each other because both of them were topless. We even saw them kissing before the entire curtain dropped to the ground.”

“Pie. . .”

“So instead of surprising him, he surprised me in the end,” I finish, blinking back the tears threatening to fall from my eyes. I won’t cry for something that happened in the past. Because no matter how much I want it to vanish from my memory, I can’t. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

Because of Skye, I agreed to the saying that you can’t forget your first love. What people don’t know is that you can move on. It’s a hard process. If you know what to do and what to focus your time, you’ll live. Despite everything that happened to you, you’ll find yourself falling in love for the second time. And then you’ll realize that it’s not the same as before. No matter how much you want it to stop; you can’t because it’s a force that can’t be reckon with.

I survived that dreadful incident and it shaped me as a person. Now I think things through before taking action. Most of the time.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Draky says after a minute, squeezing my hand.

“I. . . I don’t want to experience that pain again,” I say. “I’d rather be alone than have my heart broken for the second time. It was an experience I don’t want to happen again.”

“But don’t you think it was meant to happen for you to become who you are now?” he asks slowly, concern written all over his face.

“Yeah,” I admit. “I’ve thought of that. Because of that unfortunate event, I became stronger than before. I learned to love myself even more.”

“But what he did was wrong,” he says through gritted teeth.

“I know,” I agree.

And what you are doing is not so good either. I hope you realize that.

“I have two tickets,” he says, as if he just remembers it. I can hear the excitement in his voice. Very different from the tones he used earlier.

“Tickets for what?” I ask curiously.

“Taylor Swift will have a concert.”

“Really?” I ask incredulously.

“Yes,” he answers, a huge smile plastered on his handsome face.

Because of my paranoia to Skye’s reappearance, I forgot what’s happening around me. “When did you get it?”

“A few days ago,” he replies. “Driana and Andre are going too.”

“Really?” I ask amusedly. “How come?” Something is really going on between them.

“I asked Andre if he wanted to join us, and he said yes. So I decided to ask Driana as well. She’s my twin, and she’s your friend. Besides, the more the merrier.”

Oh, well. I thought Andre invited Driana in his own accord.

Draky gets something from his wallet. He raises the ticket in his hand. “Do you want to come?”

“Of course,” I say gratefully, taking the ticket from him.

“Great!”

“By the way, when’s the concert?”

“December 13.”

I laugh as I remember, “That’s her birthday!”

“It’s a birthday concert,” he says amusedly.

My mind suddenly wonders if we’re still speaking to each other after, when I tell him that I know about the bet. What will happen to the concert then? To our tickets? Wait. Why am I even thinking in advance? I have to live one day at a time. When the time comes, whatever happens happens.

The ringing of my phone breaks me from my thoughts.

“It’s my mom,” I say. “She’s probably wondering where I am.” I didn’t even notice that it’s getting dark. Stars are starting to showing in the sky.

“It’s getting late,” Draky agrees. “Let’s go.”

We stand from our bench and make our way to his car. He is quiet as he drives and that’s okay because I’m comfortable with the silence. That’s one of the things I like about us. We don’t have to talk to fill the awkwardness with conversations.

My mind is drifting around the events that happened today. Surely, my life is changing. I’m not even in college yet!

After a few minutes, we arrive at my house. Draky opens the passenger door for me. I really am glad that chivalry is still alive. I walk to the porch while he follows behind.

“For you,” he says, handing me a paper bag.

I take it from him and ask, “What is this?”

“Why don’t you open it?” he says, a silly smile forming on his lips.

“I see that you’re back in your usual self.”

He shrugs. “I have a positive outlook in life. I don’t let the past ruin my future.”

“Thanks,” I mutter dryly.

“For my gift?” he says amusedly. “You’re welcome!”

Rolling my eyes, I open the bag. A surprise squeal escapes from my lips when I find what’s inside. “Peanut brittle!”

He grins, liking my expression.

“This is one of my favorite foods,” I say, forgetting the fact that I was moping earlier. “I used to eat it everyday when I was a kid!” Really, just staring at the container, I’m starting to forget about my problems. Peanut brittle can do that to you. Whenever Parker and his family visited their home country, Philippines, they always brought Peanut brittles with them because they knew I liked it a lot.

“I know,” he says slyly, still smiling.

“How?”

“Parker told me.”

Realization hits me. “You talked a lot about me didn’t you?”

“A little,” he answers evasively, tearing his gaze away from me. “He gave me that bag on your birthday and told me to give it to you when you’re feeling down.”

“How come you have it now?”

“I carry it all the time,” he admits sheepishly, his cheeks starting to turn scarlet. I can’t help but think it’s adorable and cute.

“Thank you so much,” I say. “For this.”

“You should thank Parker,” he says, still not looking at me. He’s embarrassed!

“I know,” I say. I wonder what they really talked about. “Draky?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you look at me?”

“I. . .”

“If you don’t look at me, I’ll kiss you.”

He slowly raises his eyes until they meet mine.

“Thank you so much,” I say gratefully. “For listening to me, and for everything. Thank you.”

“Y-you’re welcome,” he stutters.

I can’t help myself so I stand on my tiptoes and give him a kiss on the lips. I know I take him by surprise because when I stop after a few seconds, he’s still frozen, still not moving. His eyes though are as clear as crystal. Meanwhile, my heart is doing a somersault, trying to burst out of my chest.

Suddenly, a memory flashed in my mind. A few days ago, I kissed Draky on the cheek after we made our project in Literature. That was when I stayed at Andre’s place and Parker was our substitute. It feels like a long time ago. If I’m right, Draky has the same reaction as before.

My cheeks blooming with red, I whisper, “Good night Drake.” And then I enter the house and shut the door behind me.

I can't believe I kissed Drake Swift on his lips!

Now I made things more complicated. But even though Draky and I have games of our own, I’m glad I can count on him. I have a feeling it’s just the calm before the storm.