Unintended Love

The next morning, Carly was at my door at seven o’ clock sharp. She stood at my door, scratching her head. She looked confused.
“Was Gabe Smart here yesterday?” she asked. “Because I saw his car here when I came back from having a smoothie with Eric.”
“Um…yeah Gabe was her just for a minute. He gave me a ride home.”
“Oh…so…are you guys friends or something?”
“I guess…why?” I asked, trying to be as cool as possible.
“Well…no reason really…I, ah…I was just wondering.”
“Well, let’s go. I wanna have time to hang out before school.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
We walked out of my house. I locked the front door and then we walked over to her car, got in, and she drove off for school.
“So…what did you and Gabe do yesterday?” asked Carly.
“I don’t know. We just hung out. Talked.”
The silence in the car was utterly horrific. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Okay, so can you just ask me what you’re dying to ask me already? This awkwardness is killing me!”
“I’m just wondering what you were doing hanging out with a guy you barely know.”
“Um, I’m new here, Carly. A guy I barely know describes every guy.”
“Okay, okay…sorry.”
When we got to school, we met up with Eric right away. He hugged Carly and kissed her cheeks, the same way he did the morning before. But this time, he hugged me and kissed my cheek as well. I was surprised, but he’s a friend so I let it go.
“So, what’s up with everyone? How were those smoothies?” I asked
“The best.” said Eric. “Keva has the best smoothies.”
“I’ll have to go with you one day.” I said.
“We go every Monday,” said Carly.
“You two still go to Keva every week for smoothies?” Gabe walked up and joined our group.
I looked over at him and smiled. “Hey,” I said gently.
He smiled back, “Hey.”
Our eyes locked and I couldn’t look away, neither could he. All we could do was smile at each other.
“Oh my God! You two are totally into each other!” yelled Carly in excitement. “I knew it!”
I looked over at Carly quickly and smiled at her. But I couldn’t look away from Gabe for long.
“You are so not gay, Rain.” said Eric.
I looked at him. He seemed mad. I didn’t know what to say to him. So I just said the first thing that came to mind in the midst of the noisy before school crowds.
“Actually, Eric, I am.”
“No, I would’ve sensed it by now.” He insisted.
“Leave him alone, Eric. You can’t tell somebody they’re not gay if they say they are.” She tapped me on the shoulder. “So, are you two like together now?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “We just met.”
“But…we like each other.” Gabe finished.
I took Eric by the hand. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
I pulled him aside to where Gabe and Carly couldn’t hear us.
“What’s up?” asked Eric, bitterly.
“Are you okay with…with Gabe and I sort of getting together.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, Carly said you used to go out and you seem kind of…mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
“I’m gonna trust that you’re telling me the truth. But this is your last chance. If you have any problem with me pursuing Gabe then just say so and I’ll stop.”
“No, you pursue away. I have no problem with it.”
Eric and I walked back to Gabe and Carly. Gabe offered to walk me to my homeroom. I gladly accepted. As we walked, I did something I never thought I’d do in public, I took his hand and locked it with mine.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yeah. Definitely.” I smiled up at him.
As we were walking through the commons area of the school, we heard a giant crash. We stopped and looked to the right, where the crash came from. Zack was standing right in the middle of it. It looked like he ran into one of the common’s metal tables and sent all of the chairs flying.
Everyone surrounded him, including his girlfriend Amy. They didn’t know if they should laugh or just ignore it. It was obvious that his stock was worth a lot at this school. After a while, he looked our way. He and I locked eyes for a second. Then I saw him look down at our hands.
“Come on, let’s go.” I said.
“I wonder what was up with Morgan?” asked Gabe as we walked.
“I don’t know. Who cares? You think if we were in his situation, he’d wonder if something was wrong with us?”
“No, I guess not.” He answered.
When we got to the building where my class was, we sat on a bench right in front of it.
“So, what is it exactly that you like about me?” asked Gabe.
I smiled. “I don’t know. I guess I like that you’re shy, but you’re also confident…in a way.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Of course,” I answered. “I love your hair; the way it’s just right. It fits your personality. I love your lips; the way they’re soft and kissable, but still masculine. And I love that you’re absolutely hot.”
He smiled shyly and put his face into my shoulder.
“And I love your smile.”
“That’s a lot of things to like in just knowing each other for two days.”
“I know what I like, Gabe and I’m a quick judge of character.”
This was a lie and I knew it. I’m a horrible judge of character. If I was good at that, I would’ve sensed that Zack was playing me from the beginning; unless he wasn’t playing me.
In the middle of talking to Gabe, I got a phone call. I got my cell phone from my pocket. As it sat in my hand ringing and vibrating, I was mesmerized by the name on the caller ID: Zack. I didn’t know whether or not I should answer it.
“Are you gonna answer that?”
“No,” I said.
I pushed ignore and put it back in my pocket. Then, my text beep went off. I got out my phone again and read the text.

Meet me on the roof
Of the arts blding
@ lunch

I took a deep breath and thought about replying no. I didn’t really want to meet him. Why couldn’t we just talk in public?

No. we talk in
Public or not
at all

I waited for a reply. I was surprised that Gabe never asked me who I was texting. I was sure that he would.

Y R U being
Like that. Just
Meet me

I was getting really pissed off. I didn’t trust myself to meet him alone. It has to be in public or not at all.

alrdy told
U no. Public
Or not at all

He replied quickly this time.

K. Meet me in
the commons by
the food machines

I took a deep breath before I replied.

OK

* * *

When lunch started, I met Gabe at the table that Carly and Eric were sitting at. I set down my lunch on the table.
“Hey, I’m gonna go do something really quick. I’ll be back.”
I looked at Gabe and smiled. He was sitting down. He motioned with his head for me to come closer. When I did, he kissed me.
“Be back soon,” he said. “Or I’m eating your lunch.”
I smiled and turned around to leave. I heard Carly get excited in the background. I left the cafeteria, which lead to the commons. As soon as I walked out of the door, I looked around. I saw which vending machine he was at. I walked over and met him. We sat on a bench that was next to the machines.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.
“Gabe,” he said bluntly.
“What about him?” I asked innocently.
“What are you doing with him? Are you trying to make me jealous or something?”
“No, but it’s obvious that you are.”
“Look, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t be with someone just because you think it’ll make me jealous.”
“I’m not with Gabe to make you jealous, Zack. Get over yourself. I genuinely like him.”
“But you’re not in love him. You don’t love him like you love me. You never will.”
“Even if that were true, how is that any of your business?”
“I still love you, Rain. Please don’t make me watch you with him…It’s torture.”
I laughed in disbelief. “How do you think I felt when I saw you with Amy? Huh?!” I was starting to get upset, tears pushing their way through my eyes. “Kissing her and…holding her. I can’t deal with this.”
I was just about to leave, when Amy came up to the bench that we were sitting at.
“Zacky are we gonna get some food or are you gonna talk to this guy for our entire lunch?”
“Honey, just give me a few minutes,” said Zack.
“Whatever” She turned around and joined her friends again.
“Honey?” I asked.
“Rain…please…you have to believe me.”
“It’s kind of hard to do that when you’ve lied to me so much.” I said. “You lie to me about having a girlfriend. You lie to me, telling me you’re going to call and keep in touch, but you had no intention of doing that.”
“Just give me some time to work this out, kid.”
“No…I won’t. Just go back to your cliché relationship and I’ll go back to Gabe. We can just forget that Hawaii even happened.”
“I can’t…Ever since yesterday you’re all I think about.”
“Don’t tell me that,” I wanted to cry, but I had to fight my tears. “You and I are never gonna happen.”
“We already happened. It’s too late to take it back and I’m sorry if I can’t just forget how close we were in Hawaii.”
“Would you even be telling me this if I wasn’t with Gabe?”
He stayed silent. I had my answer.
“I knew it. Just go to Amy. She’s waiting. And Gabe is waiting for me, so I’ve gotta go. And don’t call me anymore. Don’t text me. Don’t e-mail me. Just don’t.”