58. Wanted you to notice me

Chapter 58: Wanted you to notice me

Ethan's POV

*****

I felt my feet stick to the ground as I saw Kelsey standing there right in front of me, with tears in her eyes. She was supposed to be in New York, and yet there she was, her eyes staring into mine as she stood there frozen in spot. I couldn't believe she was there, and a frown quickly formed on my face. I was ecstatic to see her, but she was crying, and that was a sight which I never wanted to see.

"Kels, what are you doing here?" I asked as I took a step forward towards her, only for her to take a step back, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion at her actions.

She was standing right in front of me, nearly at an arm's length, and yet she seemed so distant. Her eyes were looking towards me, but it was as if she were looking through me. It was clear that there was something bothering her, and I wanted her to tell me what it was and allow me to help her.

"My dad and I came back, I missed everyone too much," she mumbled. "Jake told me to stay away from you this morning so I could surprise you before the game, but I guess I'm the one who got surprised," she said, her gaze falling to the floor as I simply stood there, listening to her in confusion.

"Why were you crying?" I asked, once again attempting to take a step closer to her, which to my relief she allowed me to do.

"You tell me," she sternly said, her voice breaking as she shot her head up to look at me, her eyes darkening.

"What do you mean?"

"I come here, ready to surprise you, only to have some cheerleader show me a picture where you two seem to be having the time of your lives," she replied as another tear came trickling down her cheek.

I looked at her more confused than ever. Not once had I met any girl while she was away, nor did I want to. The only girl in my mind for those past few days was her, and it was always going to be her. My fists clenched at the thought of somebody wanting to do something to not only hurt her, but to make her lose all trust in me-trust which took me years to be able to gain. It took me a lot to get to the point I was in with Kelsey, and I was not going to let anybody ruin that for us.

"Kels, I swear there's nothing going on with anyone."

"Then can you explain the photo? I really want to believe you Ethan, so please, make me believe you," she said, her voice sounding weak and vulnerable as tears kept falling down her face. I couldn't stand to see her that way, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her tighter than I had ever done before.

"Kelsey, I promise, there's no-" I stopped talking as my eyes widened in realisation, everything finally starting to make sense.

I knew exactly who showed her that photo, and I could not believe that Bella could stoop that low. She made Kelsey see things that weren't even there. That photo was not taken by Bella, but she did come telling me that she had saved it the day after it was taken because we looked cute in it.

There was a small gathering for the basketball players and cheerleaders, organised by our coaches to start off the new season on a good note. They hired a comedian to entertain us during the party, and Bella and I happened to be sitting together, giving the photographer the perfect angle to take a photo of the two of us laughing at the same time.

"Kelsey, that's nothing. It's not what it looks like, I promised," I sighed, as I took her soft hands into mine.

"Okay, then what is it?" She asked, making me smile out of relief at the fact that she was letting me explain.

"We had a team party for the cheerleaders and the team. We were having fun there but not together, I mean together as a team but not together as in just me and her," I explained.

I never wanted Kelsey to think that I had seen somebody else while she was away. The only person I wanted to see was her, and now that she was there, I did not want it all to be ruined because of someone who was jealous of my feelings for the beautiful human being standing in front of me.

"Okay," she softly replied with a nod of the head before I tried wiping away her tears with my thumb, not wanting to see her cry for no reason anymore.

"Do you believe me?"

She nodded as a smile formed on my face with her answer, before she removed her hand from mine and looked down at the ground, making me frown. I knew that there was something else bothering her, and I could feel my blood start to boil as I asked myself what other lies Bella must have told her to make Kelsey so upset.

"But, it's not just that Eth."

"Then what is it?"

She looked at me momentarily, chewing on her bottom lip nervously before taking a deep breath. I felt all of the air being sucked out of my lungs as she stared at me with those big brown eyes of hers, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"She told me that whenever you have a girlfriend you make sure to let the whole world know you have one. And she's right. But, when we were together no one even knew."

I looked down at her in thought before speaking, not wanting to say any of the wrong things. "That makes you feel bad?" I asked, despite knowing what her answer was going to be.

She shook her head, her features turning pensively as she probably thought about what to say. "Not exactly," she sighed. "But what do the others have that I don't? Were you ashamed of me?" She asked, whispering the last part as she shifted her gaze to the ground

I smiled at her, my hand cupping her cheek as I let my thumb lightly brush it. No matter how upsetting it was to see her cry because of all that, I found it adorable that she was worried so much about it, because that proved even more that our relationship was as important to her as it was to me. I constantly feared that she would forget about our story once she was gone, but it seemed to me that she only felt stronger about it now.

"God, Kelsey, of course not. I love you like I have never loved anyone in my entire life. You're my princess and you know that," I said.

"Then what is it?" She asked, looking up at me once again.

I sucked in a deep breath as I prepared myself to tell her the truth. I had hoped that I would never have to tell her this, fearing that she would start viewing me as a complete idiot. Nonetheless, I couldn't keep letting her believe that our relationship wasn't as special to me as all my others, because that couldn't be further from the truth.

"Whenever I had a girlfriend I didn't make sure the world knew we were dating but I did make sure that you knew we were."

"What?" She asked, slightly shocked.

"You know that I liked you before all of this Kels. I don't know, I guess I wanted you to be jealous, I wanted you to notice me," I embarrassingly said. "I feel like an idiot," I chuckled.

I smiled as I noticed her trying to hide her smile, a smile which I had been dying to see for the past two weeks. "You're not an idiot E, I am," she said. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

I grinned at her as an idea popped into my head, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion at my reaction. My plan was going to allow me to kill two birds with one stone, and excitement bubbled up inside of me as I thought about how much better things were going to be after the game because of it.

"Tell you what," I said, inching my face closer to hers as I felt her take in a sharp breath. "If you cheer me on today, and we win, I'll show you just how much you mean to me."

I smirked as I noticed her cheeks brightening up at our proximity, and I backed away slightly to try and get an answer out of her. A full smile finally lit up her face as she outreached her arm for me to shake. "Deal."

"God I missed you," I said as I engulfed her in a hug, not even acknowledging her request to shake hands. I had been dying to hug her since she left, and I was not going to waste anymore time without doing so.

"I missed you too," she said as her arms wrapped around me, her head snuggling into my chest as I could feel my heart rate starting to increase.

I groaned as I heard a whistle coming from the cafeteria, signalling that it was time for us to go to the dressing room to get ready for the game. If it were up to me, I would have stayed there with Kelsey in my arms all night, but I also knew that leaving her now was going to be worth it later.

"Good luck," she said with that sweet voice of hers.

"What? No good luck kiss?" I pouted, making her laugh at me as she shook her head. God, I missed that laugh.

I sighed disappointingly as she gave me a peck on the cheek, telling me that that was all I was going to get. I smiled at her before kissing her nose with a wink. "For now," I said before separating myself from her and jogging towards the dressing rooms, trying to fight back the urge to look back at her.

Now that Kelsey was back, I had an even bigger motive to win the game. I wanted her to see just how important our relationship was to me, and how serious I was about it. She was my forever, and I wanted to finally convince her of that.

"Coach," I called out after he finished his usual pre-game pep talk. He instantly looked at me, giving me his full attention. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about how I've been playing lately, and I promise you that things are going to be much different today."

The coach nodded, sending me one of his rare smiles. Coach was a tough man, but his own experiences in basketball always served as good advice for our own plays. He wasn't an old man, only around his forties, even if his well-built body and gelled back hair often made people think he was younger. I used to be scared of him when I first joined basketball, but he had faith in me, and I respected him for that. That was exactly why I couldn't let him down, just like how I couldn't let Kelsey down.

He often told me how I could have a future playing basketball, or even coaching it, and I felt horrible when I nearly proved him wrong with how I was playing. I loved basketball, and the fact that my separation from Kelsey made me play badly scared me. That was another reason why I had to make sure that Kelsey and I never had to break up again.

"I hope so Walker, you know how much I'd hate to take you out of the game," he sternly said, as I nodded.

"You won't have to sir," I convincingly said. "But, if we win, I have a favor to ask," I said, his eyebrows raising questioningly before I told him everything that I was planning. I feared that he would say no, but I knew what his weakness was, and I knew exactly how to use it.

"If we win, you can do anything you want," he said with a light chuckle, patting me on the back. "I remember when I was your age. Who am I to say no to that."

"Thanks coach," I excitedly said, making him shake his head at me. I was happy, and I knew that nothing could stop me from winning anymore.

*****

A/N Hey jellybeans,

So I was reading this book yesterday and I noticed that a lot of it is just dragged on and cringey and I don't really like the beginning, It's not written in the way I wanted it to be. The ending is okay so that will probably be left as it is but I just want to let you guys know that as from June, this book will be rewritten.

I won't be unpublishing the book so you don't have to worry about that, I will copy and paste the entire thing on to word, but then, when the update is finished and I am re-editing the whole thing, there might be a day where some of the chapters (excluding the character list) may be unavailable

Now of course, this is a long time from now but I just wanted to inform you guys so there wouldnt be any inconveniences.

Thank you for your co-operation

Love,

~M