the way you'd love her

T H R E E

BELLE

"Gage, finally. Why are you thirteen minutes late!" I ask him, sighing dramatically.
"My old man." He chuckled. I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, cuddling. For some strange reason, I feel the need to touch him every time I see him now.
"God, I missed you so much, Gage."
"Really? I wasn't replaced or anything at camp?" He asked me, grinning.
"You know I could never." I winked at him. His face turned bright red and he laughed.
"Speaking of camp...just go. I know that every second that passes by is killing you because you haven't told me how it was."
And so I told him.

I told him about how when I first arrived, I was so nervous. I told him about how pretty Chiara is, and how kind she was to me. I told him about every group of kids I had to supervise, and I even showed him a bunch of arts and crafts projects they had gifted me. I told him about how I jumped off a cliff for the first time. He winced at that one. I told him about how Chiara taught me how to put on makeup, and that one day I'll show him how I do my eyeliner. I told him about Niccolo, my first official crush and how I kissed him. He got quiet at that part. I reassured him that Nic never did anything to hurt me, and it was actually me who initiated the 'break up'. I know how Gage gets overprotective over me. I think he feels bad that I don't have a dad to do it, so he took that role. It's sweet, but I don't want him worrying about me. I told him about how I was drunk that one Saturday at this bonfire we had. I told him everything.

"So how was your summer?" I grinned. He pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear and I felt chills. That was kind of an intimate act. Before this summer, I had kind of been a prude. Never even hugged a guy (if Gage doesn't count), let alone make out with one. So I wouldn't have noticed it back then. But now, it was a bit weird. Especially since I saw Gage as a brother.

Don't get me wrong, he was gorgeous. Like, Greek God type of hot. But he was off limits. That would ruin our relationship big time, and that's what I treasure the most. Plus, he doesn't think of me like that, despite all the nagging from Chiara all summer. I was telling her about my folks back home and I even showed her a picture of him on technology day, and she freaked out. She literally screamed. She demanded that when I get home, I need to get with him. I'm not gonna lie, that night I had been thinking. A lot. It would be a perfect love story, like in all of the books I read. We would go from friends to lovers.

But that would be in a perfect world. And my world is anything but.

"It was okay." He shrugged.
"Are you kidding? I just gave you a detailed summary of everything I did this summer. And you're telling me it was just okay?" I gasped.
"I was bored without my favorite girl." He nudged me with his elbow. I felt myself get hot. I mean, he was a hot guy calling me his favorite girl. How could I not feel something from that?
"I love you, Gage, but tell me what you did! I know you weren't home everyday. I did have Snapchat on my Tech Fridays, you know." I smirked at him. I had seen him all over social media.

Gage was popular. Like, captain of the basketball team popular. And he was hot. So of course he hooked up. I mean, he was a hot guy after all. Why do I keep calling him hot? Oh my God, Chiara got into my head. If Gage knew what I was thinking about him right now, I would off myself.

"I went to a few parties. Mostly hit the gym. Played a lot of basketball. Went to Jersey with my folks for a week."
"Well. You were right. Your life really is boring without me." I gave him a funny look. He ruffled my hair again, and I caught his eyes on my chest. I looked away, not wanting to make it obvious that I caught him.

"You changed, a lot." He stated.
"Good change or bad change?" I asked.
"Good, definitely. You look hot." He said confidently. Gage was always confident in his words. He always was the man of the room, speaking louder than life. I was going to shrug off his crude comment, but Chiara popped up in my head. Compliment him! She screamed.

"You look hot too." I smirked at him, ignoring the voice in my head that's telling me how stupid I look. He was taken aback.
"You really did change." He laughed. I shrugged, thanking the heavens he didn't laugh at me or make a joke out of my attempt at flirtation. Why was I flirting with Gage? I'm going to hit Chiara the next time I see her.

"I brought some food and fight club. I figured a movie night was appropriate for our first night back." I offered. Fight Club is our favorite movie.

"Sounds great, Belley. Let's get it started."