Chapter 17: You Like Him

ADDY

I’m squinting at Kaylee.

“So... you’re saying you like him?”

She reacts instantly, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Shut up, Addy, I don’t like him like that. I’m not ready for a relationship yet.” She runs her hand through her messy hair, her teeth gritted, and I give her a gentle nudge.

“I think you are ready. Blake seems like a good guy!” I try to plant the idea in her head, but she just shakes her head at me.

“I don’t understand, Kaylee. You like him, he likes you! It’s that simple!” I groan, tugging at her arm.

“No, you’ve got it wrong,” she says, finally stopping. She grabs my hand and starts dragging me toward our spot behind the school.

“We have class, Kay,” I remind her, but she shakes her head.

“Mr. Donavan is sick, and we don’t have any substitute teachers,” she says with a smirk, and my mouth falls open.

“Are you telling me that I dragged my ass out of my super comfy bed for no reason?” I slap her shoulder, grumbling.

She bursts out laughing.

“Aren’t you happy to see me? You’re the one who wanted to know everything and I didn’t come to school yesterday,” she retorts.

“I’ve been asking you what the hell is going on since this morning, butthead! Wanted to investigate you yesterday but you ditched me,” I mutter, sitting down on a tree trunk.

“I told you I was sick! A little bit…”

I give her a look and she gives me a sheepish one.

“Fine, I was avoiding Blake, but it’s not my fault that you ditched school with Asher and got grounded! You could have slept over at my place.” She laughs at the last part and I hiss at her.

“Shhhh! Fine. Now tell me what the heck is going on in your pea-sized brain. How can you not notice how much Blake likes you? The guy was panicking over the fact that he couldn’t find you on Wednesday.”

“Addalynn, he doesn’t like me. I’m just…I’m just sleeping with him.”

My mouth falls open in shock. I definitely didn’t expect that. She had never been with anyone else than her ex-boyfriend, who ended up being a douche by the way. But Blake…I don’t really know what to say.

“Say something, please! I know I should have told you but oh, God, I was freaking out. I don’t really know how it started but it did and I don’t know what I’m feeling toward him anymore.

“We hated each other at first, yes, but then we started joking around and one thing led to another. I wasn’t supposed to feel anything toward him. I can’t do this again?”

Her voice trembles, and I embrace her, trying to calm her down.

“You could have told me, you know. I would never judge you!” I pat her hair before pulling away. Kaylee manages to scowl at me for patting her before looking down at her feet again.

“Blake is nothing like Dave, Kay. Why don’t you give in to your feelings?”

“No, I can’t. Blake was the one who said that he didn’t want to have any relationships. How can I go and tell him that I like him? He will only shut me down.” Kay kicks at the ground.

“Kaylee, it’s been weeks. I don’t think that still stands. Just ask him, come on!”

“Fine…but you’re still going to regret that you made me go home with him on Wednesday,” she threatens me.

“Oh, no, I did you a favor.”

“You didn’t!” she whines, and I slap the back of her head. “We didn’t talk the whole way home. Or he tried, but I didn’t answer him, and when he dropped me off, I didn’t say anything at all, just left.”

I shake my head at her, laughing.

“Why are you even this mad at him, except for the fact that you’re avoiding him... because you like him?”

“I do ~not~ but, um... because Becca Larry was latching onto his body like a leech at school and when I went to his place later I just, you know…”

I raise an eyebrow at her, signaling her to continue.

“I don’t know. I just asked about it and he lashed out at me.”

“You’re the one who told him that you didn’t want anything except sex after he said that he didn’t want any relationships, right? You never wanted one to begin with, even before he said so. Why are you getting jealous?”

Kaylee’s mouth opens and closes like a fish.

“Are you on his side?”

I quickly shake my head at her question.

“I mean, yeah, we’re sleeping together for fun, but can’t he restrain himself from being with others while he’s with me? I don’t care what he does after we’re done,” she mutters, clenching her fist, and I laugh.

She does care. It’s written all over her face.

“Are you laughing at me?” Her glare looks evil so I furiously shake my head again.

“I never said that. You tell me you don’t like him but you get jealous. And how do you know that Blake is with other girls anyway? I don’t think he would do that to you.”

“Saw it with my own eyes!”

“Nope, you saw Becca clinging to him not the other way around. Jalina, Becca, they’re all the same and you know that very well,” I murmur, suddenly thinking about Jalina who had her hands all over Asher whenever she could.

~Pig.~

“You get angry when Jalina latches herself onto Asher!” Kaylee smiles triumphantly.

“Yes but I admit that I like him. Does that mean that you like Blake?”

At this, she shuts up and I start laughing.

“Gotcha, baby?”

She mutters a string of curses under her breath, finally surrendering to the reality of the situation.

“So, what’s the latest with Asher?” Kaylee finally breaks the silence.

“We’re back to being friends,” I confirm, nodding more to myself than to her as I rise from my seat.

“Ah, so you spent your time making up with Asher while I was away yesterday?” She raises her eyebrows suggestively in my direction, earning a mild glare from me.

“He wasn’t at school yesterday. I hung out with May and her friends instead.”

Kaylee’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise at this.

“Huh, that’s strange. He wasn’t there and neither was Xander,” she muses aloud.

I simply nod in response before pulling her along with me to class.

~It’s not like I care or anything.~

But the voice in my head begs to differ.