Spellbound

“Sorry” he muttered, quickly adjusting himself so he was standing straight again with a few feet of distance in between us.

I looked straight ahead. Not at him, not at anything in particular, just ahead. Before the thought process could even begin he moved again.

“Sorry” he said for the second time. He turned back towards his car and walked towards it, not giving me a second look. He got straight in and drove away, leaving me stood outside Geno’s house completely and utterly dumbfounded.

I turned to step inside hoping to God that Geno wouldn’t notice anything was up like the fact that my face was surely a deep crimson colour, my breathing had deepened slightly and I was rather on edge.

I pushed down on the handle so gently, as if I were scared it was going to break, I was determined not to make a sound, not to be noticed by Geno. I crept into the room on tip toes while wondering to myself the chances of making it to my room unseen and unheard. Slim to none, I thought.

And I was right.

“Elodie! You’re back”

I nodded my head, not turning round to fully acknowledge him and carried on making my way to the stairs. “Elodie” Geno called after me.

I told myself to keep going, keep walking upstairs where I could sit in my room and think without having to look at Geno’s poor, questioning face. “I’m tired Geno, just leave it. Alright?” It was a question but he knew not to say anything, just to let me go.

I found myself doing my usual routine: get changed into my pyjamas, take off the make up I was wearing for the ‘date’ with Kris, brush my teeth, climb into bed, turn off the light, but the one thing I couldn’t do was sleep.

My mind was swimming, becoming flooded with thoughts as my brain tried helplessly to process the events of this evening. I knew for a fact that Kris and I had gone out as friends. But then he’d tried to kiss me as he dropped me off, that must mean he wants to be more than friends. But then he stopped, so maybe he didn’t.

I was too confused to think straight anymore so instead I was just coming up with stupid reasons for what had happened: Kris had been abducted my aliens, he was wasted out of his skull but was hiding it very well, Max had told him to try and kiss me, he had a twin brother that I never knew about.

But after all of my thinking, did it really matter why he’d tried to kiss me? No, it didn’t. It didn’t stop me liking it, didn’t stop me wishing he’d followed through with it, and it didn’t stop me wanting him.

Kris had treated me like perfection tonight and I couldn’t have asked for him to be any nicer to me. Sure I like Geno, but I like Kris too. And I know Kris: he’s known Max since practically forever which means so have I, and I bet Max would have less of a problem with him than he does with Geno.

My mind flooded with thoughts once again and I quickly fell into a deep sleep, hoping that everything would seem a lot less complicated in the morning.

→ → →

Max had texted me to let me know he was picking me up at half eleven so we could all go out for lunch. I had a feeling ‘us all’ meant him & Karla, Marc & Vero and me & Kris. The six of us had been going out a fair bit recently, even though there was nothing between Kris and I it was still a bit like a triple-date.

Max had cooled down about me and Geno, but I think that’s probably because we rarely saw each other anymore. I was spending lots of time with Max again, just like the old days and Kris always seemed to be there, too. We’d become pretty good friends, actually. And Max and I were getting on fine like we used to, so I was happy about that.

In fact, I wasn’t even staying at Geno’s anymore. I saw him in the locker room before or after games, but only because I was going down there to discuss with Max where we were going to eat etc. We’d grown apart a bit, and as much as it pained me to say it because I’d only known the guy a few months, it really hurt.

I missed him. I missed hanging out with him, I missed curling up on the sofa with him while we watched repeats of old TV programmes, I missed his goofy smile. In fact, there wasn’t anything about him that I didn’t miss and it was that thought which convinced me to go and speak to him again, whether Max liked it or not.

I replied to Max letting him know I was going to skip lunch today. Instead I texted Geno, telling him I’d be popping round to have lunch with him instead, and that I’d being food supplies. I quickly hopped into the shower before dressing; a simple pale blue summer dress was called for today with the hot weather we’ve been having. I put my hair up and applied some light make up before heading out to the supermarket.

I went straight for the pasta aisle knowing that no one could fail at making pasta. I picked some pasta swirls and then found some soup to mix it with. I knew Geno couldn’t resist a good soup meal. I chose some fresh bread and a bottle of Fanta before paying and driving the short distance to Geno’s.

I walked straight inside, not bothering to stand at the door and knock. It wasn’t like I didn’t sort of live here anyway, even though I hadn’t stayed here for a while. Geno was sitting on the sofa when I walked in, flicking through the sports channels on the TV. His eyes stayed glued to the TV when I walked in, all the way up until I saw down next to him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“Hello. What are you doing here?” he asked me, in a somewhat frosty tone.

“I came to have lunch with you Geno, didn’t you get my text?” He shook his head and turned his attention back to the TV. “I told you I was coming round for lunch and we could cook something together, like we used to.”

“But you have Kris now. I rang Max to see if we could go out for lunch, but he told me you and Kris were already having lunch together. Every time I ring he says you and Kris always have plans.”

“He what?! Kris and I never have plans Geno, never. Once in a while I will go out with Max, Marc and their girlfriends, and Kris will come along too, but it’s never just Kris and I.”

“Oh.” He looked down at his lap, his hands fiddling Just as I was about to say something more, my phone started ringing. I pulled it out of my jeans pocket to see it was Kris calling. I sighed, answering it anyway.

“Hey, it’s Kris. Look Elodie, we need to talk.”

“I can’t right now, I’m with Geno. What’s so important anyway?”

“We need to talk now; it’s kind of about Max. There’s something I think you should know. I’m sorry.”

I sighed; it would be up to Max to ruin my time with Geno. I told Kris I’d be round within half an hour. I quickly packed up the food I’d brought round, putting it all away in the kitchen and promising Geno I’d be back soon to start cooking. He didn’t look too impressed, but then again neither was I.

I pulled up outside Kris’s apartment and knocked on the door. As soon as it opened Kris started talking at me. He was just babbling and I struggled to make out anything that made sense.

“Max asked me to pretend to date you so Geno would back off. I’m really sorry, I didn’t want to come between you, you both make a great couple and if you ask me, you should go further with your relationship.”

“What? Explain, now.” I shouted at him. I didn’t mean to be so loud, but my mind was swimming with confusion. Max had planned for Geno and I to drift apart all along? Kris was in on it all? I had to go and sit down.

I pushed past Kris and went into his living room, sitting on the edge of the sofa as Kris explained everything. “So basically, Max didn’t really know Geno too well and didn’t want you getting hurt. He decided that because he knew me, I would be a batter person to date you, so he tried to force that to happen. Obviously, we aren’t attracted to each other so nothing came of it. And in the end it got too much to carry on pretending to everyone like we were more than friends, so I just had to tell you. I’m really sorry, Elodie. I should never have gone along with his stupid idea. I’m sorry.”

I let it all sink in. It finally all made sense, somewhat. “But what about when you almost kissed me?” I was scared for his response, but I had to know.

“Err yeah, about that,” I looked up to see Kris looking awkwardly at the floor. He was blushing. “Max told me to actually kiss you, that way it would seem more believable to everyone else. I couldn’t do it though; I couldn’t go through with it. I wanted to, but I knew it would be wrong and I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

“I wanted you too, too. I felt like I should be with you, like everything had built up to that during the evening. But then when I actually sat down and though about it, I didn’t want to kiss anyone apart from Geno, and I knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. I’d resigned myself to the life of a spinster.”

Kris laughed along with me and I could tell that finally we were both comfortable about where we stood with each other. There would be no more awkwardness between us and I could be with Geno properly again. If he wanted to, that is.