It's the earliest Selene has ever had to wake up for a date.
Declan had insisted they leave at nine-thirty--he had to pick her up a few houses down to avoid her parents' suspicion--and told her to dress in something comfortable for walking.
In her half-asleep state, her head pressed against the passenger side window, she realized that Declan kept taking her on casual dates. She didn't even expect him to take her on well thought out dates--she thought he was the go-to-a-party-as-a-date type but he kept proving her wrong.
"We're here, sleeping beauty."
"I'm awake," she said, her voice groggy. She forced herself into an upright position and sighed.
She was wearing a black bralette under a pair of overalls, and vans on her feet. While leaving the house Zoë had said, "You look like an oversized infant. You can't wear this on your date." but it was far too late; Declan had already texted her that he had arrived. Plus she liked her outfit. But she took off her baseball cap and combed out her hair for Zoë's sake.
It barely mattered anyways, Declan had barely commented on her outfit. When he had picked her up, he simply handed her a large caramel ice coffee and kissed her quickly before depositing a breakfast sandwich from Tim Hortons on her lap.
Only now as they exited the car after Declan found a parking space and he slipped his fingers into the spaces between hers did he say, "You look nice."
Nice. It wasn't much but it was a compliment nonetheless. Take that Zoë.
Selene glanced around to figure out where Declan had taken her. VanDusen Botanical Garden. Five acres of greenery. The sun is high and the sky is covered with a pale blue blanket. There were only a few clouds in the sky and Selene could hear birds chirping overhead.
"Smile," Declan said.
She turned to him quickly, putting up a hand as the Polaroid camera went off.
A guy who wasn't that terrible to look at, sometimes funny and also sentimental enough to take her on thoughtful dates and want to take photos? Selene could maybe--just maybe--see what Zoë saw in Declan.
He pouted as the film came out of the camera. "You ruined the photo."
"You caught me off guard," she responded, grabbing a map on her way in.
"Selene."
She turned to him and immediately the camera went off.
She narrowed her eyes at him and opened the map.
He laughed before standing next to her. "Relax, Selene," he said. "Besides, I think it's a good photo."
"Do you want to go in the maze first?" she asked. "Or something else?"
He shrugged.
She remembered how nonchalantly he had said to relax so she took a deep breath and reached for his hand. "Let's just walk around then."
Declan separated their hands so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Sounds good."
They walked around in amiable silence for probably five minutes, then Declan made some stupid joke and before they both knew it, they were covering almost every topic that hadn't been covered on their first date or in their late night text conversations. Declan had her in stitches as he told her about how he'd stupidly broken his leg as a child. They took a lot of photos. It was only April so most of the flowers hadn't bloomed, but when they found a patch of the ones that were in full bloom, Declan made sure to take photos of her smiling in front of them. She even dared to kiss his cheek as they took photos of themselves in front of the waterfall.
They ventured into the maze around noon and they had been in it for twenty minutes and had just hit another dead end when Selene declared, "We're lost. We're never finding a way out, we live here now."
Declan laughed, pulling her close.
"I'm serious," she said. "This is like the fifth dead end." He nodded as she talked, a grin on his lips. "Do you think they know we're in here?"
He wrapped her arms around her waist, his biceps flexing as he pulled her flush against him. "Who knows? We're stuck for now, might as well make the most out of it."
His lips met hers slowly and she couldn't stop the gasp that involuntarily left her mouth. She pulled him closer, her hands buried the hair at the nape of his neck, his hands keeping her hips in place as he groaned; low and needy. Selene's stomach flipped and just as she calculated her next move, her mind hazy, a scoff sounded beside them.
She jumped away from him, catching view of a mother with toddlers just as the woman left.
Declan chuckled lowly, burying his face into her collarbone. "Will you be my girlfriend?"
"Of course; how can I resist terrorizing mothers and scarring their children?" she said, deadpan.
"Great." He kissed her collarbone.
"Now let's get out of here." He held her hand as he led her to the exit of the maze.
"You knew the way out the whole time?" she asked.
"Hey. You were all, 'let's go this way'. Plus it's no fun to just walk straight through the maze."
She couldn't admit that he wasn't wrong; but she wouldn't admit she was right either. "Let's get food, I'm starving."
»
Selene is Declan's girlfriend.
No one gives them weird looks in the hallway, the parking space next to his is reserved for her, and she hung out with his friends practically every day. Her bio on Instagram had been changed to add a simple D for Declan with a pink heart emoji, and his had 'Sel' next to a lock emoji to show how they were so obviously in a relationship. When she posted pictures on Instagram, she made sure to tag him right on her face and he made sure to comment at least three emojis and one line to the effect of how lucky he was.
They spent almost every day together so it was no surprise they were at yet another party, playing a game of uno.
What was a surprise was that Selene was winning--and that Declan had just thrown down a pick up four at her and some black girl was plopping down in his lap.
If he was shocked, he didn't show it as he looked up at her. "Nyx."
Verona, Carlos and Roman looked at Selene but Ruby was beaming at Nyx.
"You came!" Ruby exclaimed.
Selene's eyes quickly turned to her. Ruby had invited her? If this was trashy TV, Selene would throw her five uno cards down and jump over the table to strangle Ruby.
"Couldn't resist," Nyx replied. Her voice was deep and throaty yet filled with honey, almost as if she had just woken up.
Her eyes met Selene and she pasted on a smile. "Who's this?"
Selene could see why the two had dated. Nyx was--quite simply--hot as fuck and she knew it too. Just like how Declan knew how blessed he was in the genes department. Confidence that boarded on arrogance practically oozed out of every pore of her immaculate dark skin. She wore a grey crop top that cut off just under her boobs and as she stretched an arm around Declan's neck, everyone caught a glance of her black lace bra. The skirt she wore had laces that went from the hem to the waistline on either side. Her lips were pouty, covered in a clear lip gloss and her hair in tight waves that cascaded past her waist. Her nails were acrylics, a pale pink that was sharpened akin to talons.
Selene opened her mouth to speak, as did Declan but Ruby interrupted them both, "That's Selene."
Nyx tilted her head. "The girlfriend." She glanced at Declan. "She's cute."
Selene gave her a tight lipped smile.
"But, since when do you date white girls?" Nyx asked.
Declan said nothing as he looked down at his one remaining uno card. He had been about to win when Nyx walked in, but now he was losing everything.
"She doesn't say much," Nyx said.
Selene glanced at Declan. "Don't have much to say."
She didn't even like Declan, but that bitchy superior vibe that Nyx was giving off was seriously getting her pissed.
Nyx turned to Declan again. "The last one lasted how long? A year?"
Declan's jaw ticked. "Nine months."
Nyx laughed. "And you're with another one? Such a player." Nyx turned her gaze to Selene. "Trust me, the only time he's going to last is in bed."
"Nyx!" Verona said.
Selene shook with anger.
Declan practically begged her with his eyes. "Zo--Selene."
Nyx laughed as everyone in the room froze.
"I'm going to get a drink," Selene said, standing with a glare Declan's way.
"I'll come with you," Verona said, following her out of the room.
Nyx's laughter followed them out. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Selene!" she called after her.
"I hate her," Selene said as they reached the bottom of the steps.
She had almost forgot there was a party going on downstairs. People were everywhere, dancing and laughing and getting drunk, some people smoking out the windows. Ironically some song with the lyrics "break up with your girlfriend" was playing.
Verona shook her head and led her to the kitchen. "She's harmless."
"She's sitting on my boyfriend's lap and undressing him with her eyes."
"I didn't see your boyfriend objecting," Verona responded, grabbing vodka and orange juice from the fridge.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Making you a drink," Verona said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She mixed her concoction and passed the cup to Selene. "You need to relax."
Selene sighed. "Thanks."
"Declan likes you okay?" Verona said.
Selene rolled her eyes. "I know that." She wasn't even concerned about Declan's feelings for her in the slightest. She was much more worried about Declan going back to Nyx and ruining this whole plan. She had fucking kissed him for this plan, she was not going down without a fight.
And his Freudian slip of Zoë's name didn't help much either--it kind of stung too but that was besides the point.
"He called me Zoë," she said, tracing the rim of her cup with her index finger.
"He's drunk and an idiot. Plus you two were pretty close right after another."
Selene nodded. "Tell me about it." She sighed. "Aren't they supposed to be exes? I mean I haven't talked to my ex since we broke up."
Verona sipped from her cup and tilted her head at Selene. "Didn't I tell you that he was cheating on you?" she asked.
Selene sucked in a breath, remembering how the two had first met in grade nine "Well, yeah."
"Nyx and Declan aren't normal exes," Verona said. "They've known each other since forever, they're each other's first everything plus they were together for like two years; they have history."
"Thanks," she said dryly.
"Plus," Verona continued, "I think Declan likes that she kind of fucks with her head. She's like heroin. They both know how to loosen their grip, but I don't think either of them know when to let go. I don't mean in a romantic way. I mean like, they've just been in each other's lives for too long. It's hard to let go of someone when they're basically a part of who you are as a being."
Selene thought of Zoë. "Yeah. I get it. Now how do I get her off of my boyfriend's lap?"
Verona shrugged. "Maybe ask your boyfriend, Sel?"
"Maybe ask your boyfriend, Sel?" she mocked. Maybe she was a little tipsy.
Verona giggled. "Maybe distract him from Nyx?" she suggested. "You're his girlfriend, not her, not Zoë. They're Christmas Past, you're Christmas Present and potentially Christmas Future."
"It's the middle of April," she commented.
"But you got my metaphor, so shut up."
They stayed there for a while, talking and laughing and even dancing at once point, before Declan wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he mumbled.
"Are you sober?"
He nodded. "I only drank when we first came and that was like four hours ago."
She laid her head on his shoulder. "Drive me home, please."
When she got home, she was too drunk to even keep her eyes open but she managed to mumble out the events of the party while her head laid on Zoë's lap and end with a "tell me everything you know about Nyx."
a/n:
hey, crazy butterflies.
I hope you like the update for this month.
I know it wasn't as much as previous months because it was the end of step two but next month will have more than one I promise!
thank you so much for 1000 reads on this book. I also hit 1000 followers so thanks for that as well. I'm so grateful to all of you, your nice comments and messages and feedback are what keep me writing.
be sure to comment your thoughts on this chapter (especially about Nyx, Declan, Zoë and Selene), vote if you liked it and follow for more!
MWAH. LUV YA. BUH-BYE.