I'm a Fighter and He's the Hottie

Chapter 22: It’s Over? No, It’s Just The Beginning
Tristan’s POV
I could hear them inside, shuffling around quickly. Then, suddenly the door opened, Parker looked up at me.
“Hey man, do you know what time it is?” He said running his hands through his hair.
Was he trying to fool me? Did he really think I was that stupid?
“Where the hell is she?” I said getting straight to the point.
“Who?” He said trying to be curious about it.
“You know the last person who tried to play stupid with me, ended up in a coma?” I said narrowing my eyes at him.
I saw him twitch a little bit and that’s all I needed. Without saying anything else, I let myself into the house.
“What the hell are you doing?! Get out now!” Parker said following right behind me.
I turned around to face Jake, “Hey can you get this annoying dude to shut up?”
Jake nodded quickly and entered the house. I turned back around and heard a “ooph” noise come from Parker. That should do it.
“Now, if I were an idiot, where would I hide someone?” I said thinking to myself.
“Basement,” Jake and I said in sync.
I made my way through all the doors. And right when I came to the last one, a fist collided with my cheek. I stumbled back a couple of steps from the blow. When my eyes finally focused on the person, I realized it was Steven.
He had a smirk planted across his face. It must have been such a big victory to have been able to hit me.
“Now you just made me pissed.” I said furiously.
***
Maddie’s POV
Derek paced back and forth in the room. He was sweating profusely, I could tell he was nervous.
“I told you you’d be caught.” I said nonchalantly.
He turned his attention towards me, giving me a nervous smile, “I’m going to jail, or worse, aren’t I?”
“What do you think?”
“I am,” He said dropping his head down.
I felt a little sorry for him. Even though, he did force himself one me, he kidnapped me, and he’s not exactly the nicest guy around, I still felt sympathy for him.
“If you answer a question correctly, I might be able to help you.” I said making up my mind to help him.
“Really?” he asked, his eyes lighting up a little.
I nodded and then said, “Why did you kidnap me?”
He thought about it for a moment, “I kidnapped you because… I wanted to get back at you.
“For what?” I asked.
“You’re always making a fool out of us. I thought if we kidnapped you and messed around with you for a bit, you’d leave us alone.”
“I made a fool out of you? You made a fool out of yourself; you bully people, who didn’t do anything to you. What makes you think that’s fine?” I said staring at him in disbelief.
“I-I don’t know…” He finally said.
“Promise me you’ll stop bullying other people.” I said looking at him.
He nodded solemnly. Just as he did that a loud crash came from the door. I turned my watched as the knob slowly turned and Tristan’s head popped in. His right cheek was red and his face showed that he was very angry.
“Tristan,” I said as he peered into the room.
“Maddie,” Tristan said looking relieved as he saw me.
“Hey, I want to see her. Move out of the way.” Another voice said.
After a few seconds, Jake’s head popped in through the door frame too. A smile came to my face; they were worried about me so much they even decided to work together. Then both of them turned their attention towards Derek.
“You want him?” Tristan asked Jake.
“Nah, I think both of us should.” Jake answered Tristan.
“Agreed,” Tristan said taking a step towards Derek.
“Wait,” I said, making both pause, “Let him go.”
They both stared at me in disbelief, “You’re letting him go?!”
I nodded.
“Why? He kidnapped you!” Jake said angrily.
“Just leave them alone. Nothing happened here tonight. Let’s go home.” I said walking past both of them.
I didn’t look back to see if they were following, but I could slowly hear their footsteps following behind me. This was a promise I made Derek, let’s see if he can keep his.
As I exited the house, I noticed both Parker and Steven were lying on the floor. I guess I should have guessed that would happen.
***
At Tristan’s house
“Maddie!” Faith said as I entered the house. “Are you okay!? Did they hurt you?”
I gave Faith a weary smile and said, “No, I’m perfectly fine. They didn’t hurt me.”
“Well what happened to them? Did Tristan and Jake kick their asses?” Faith asked curiously.
“Well 2 out of the 3 did. Now, they’re mad at me right now.” I said gesturing towards the two guys ignoring me.
“Wow, what did you do?” She said as she stifled a giggle.
“I wouldn’t let them do anything to Derek.” I said quietly.
“What!?” She yelled at the top of her lungs, “Alright what did that guy do to you? I’ll go over there and kill him myself. Bro, go get my car keys.”
I raised my brow at her; I couldn’t imagine Faith trying to take anyone down. “No, don’t. I made a promise with him.”
“What promise?” She paused to look at Tristan, “Hurry and get my keys!”
“I wouldn’t turn him to the cops, if he would stop bullying people.”
“Oh,” She said finally calming down to look at me, “But Tristan and Jake are still mad at you for that?”
I nodded my head up and down. “Yep,”
“Tristan, can you come here for a second?” Faith asked sweetly.
Tristan looked at her for a moment and then said, “Sure,”
When he stood right next to her she turned towards him and yelled into his ear, “Why the heck are you mad at her!?”
“Ow! Can you yell any louder?” He said covering his right ear.
She flicked his head and said, “That’s what you get. Now shoo.”
“Thanks,” I laughed and smiled at Faith.
“Mhmm, if he’s still mad at you, just tell me.” She said and winked at me. “I need to take Jake home, I’ll see you later.”
“Okay, see ya.” I said as she walked away.
“Hey, can I talk to you real quick?” I said tapping Jake on the shoulder.
“I have to go, Faith’s taking me home.” He said obviously still mad at me.
“It’ll be real quick. We can even talk outside if you want.” I said giving him a light smile.
“Alright,” he said finally giving in.
I exited the house and he followed right beside me. I stopped as soon as we got to faith’s car and I gave him a hug. At first he didn’t respond, but slowly he wrapped his arms around me. I rested my head against his chest.
“Thank you,” I said into his shirt.
“For what?” He asked quietly.
“For getting along with Tristan, long enough to find me. It meant a lot to me. You’re the best friend I could ever have.” I said to him.
I could feel his stiffen up a little. I looked up at his face, it looked slightly annoyed.
“Maddie, I need to tell you something.” He said pushing me back a little.
His eyes were very serious and they were looking directly into mine. The way he looked at me, made my heart accelerate a little bit.
“W-what is it?” I asked hesitantly.
He was silent for a very long time, but finally said, “I don’t like it when you call me your best friend.”
I looked at him puzzled, “What do you mean? You are my best friend.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.” He said frustrated.
“I don’t understand what you mean then.” I said getting even more confused.
“It’s just…” He trailed off, looking away from me.
“It’s just what?” I said trying to figure out what he meant.
He turned his head towards me again and he stared straight into my eyes. My heart rate accelerated again, and he placed his hand under my chin, lifting it up a little. Then he bent down and kissed me.
I stood completely still, frozen to the floor. My mind didn’t comprehend what was happening. I didn’t know what to do. After what seemed like eternity, Jake pulled his head back up.
“I love you Maddie, I always have.” He said pulling me into a hug.
I didn’t embrace him back, I didn’t say anything, but all I did was stand there in complete shock. How could he love me? How could he love me and I not even realize? It made sense now, why he’d been acting so distant. I’ve been hurting him all this time, and I didn’t even know. I was terrible person.
“Hey, ready to go?” A new voice said.
I turned my attention towards the voice, it was Faith. She gave me an “Are you okay” look and I nodded, even though I knew I wasn’t.
“Well, Jake, are you ready?” She said looking back up to him.
“Yeah,” He said, almost as if nothing had happened.
“Bye Maddie, see you tomorrow.” He said to me, patting my head.
“B-Bye,” I managed to say in a hushed tone.
They both climbed into the car, and drove off. I watched them until I couldn’t see her car anymore. How was I going to face him tomorrow?
I turned around to see Tristan staring at me. “Are you okay?”
I blinked a couple of times, and tried to force a smile on, “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
He shook his head sideways, “It’s just you look a little pale.”
“Oh, it’s probably from my lack of sleep.” I said trying to convince him.
“Yeah, that’s probably it. Let me take you upstairs.” He said giving me a small smile, while holding out his hand for me.
I hesitantly took his hand and let him take me upstairs.
When we got to Faith’s room, Tristan gave me a peck on the cheek before leaving. I entered the room and lied down on the bed, not bothering to get under the covers.
“What am I going to do about this?” I said covering my eyes with my hands.