Destined

Chapter 20

Maria's POV :

On my way to the mall, I had found Joe. What else could we have done ? We walked together to the mall while he talked about some basketball player and I constantly nodded to show him that I was listening, but I wasn't. Jess is a maniac. She always gets this weird ideas out of nowhere. I hate to admit it but her plans are always, I really mean it, always effective.

After the day Ally suggested Jess to tell Austin her love for him, we realised that our plan of making Ally jealous wasn't really working. In fact, it was creating distance between them and that was definitely not what we had in mind. But now, Crazy Jess has got another idea, an idea which I could only do in my dreams because I'm just not that brave. How will Joe react when we start our plan ?

We arrived to the mall and I looked around, my eyes jumping over hundreds of head to find Ally. Thanks to my good eyesight, I saw her at the side of the mall and later she was looking at our direction. I tore my gaze from her and looked ahead. Before coming here, I was forced to call Joe and I told him to come along with us, plus, I was also forced to ask Joe to quiff his hair a little in a flirtatious way. At the end of the call, I was actually very proud of myself. I didn't even know that I could flirt. So now his hair is in a quiff, just like Austin's.

"Looks like we're early." I said, pretending to look for my friends in the crowd.

"Yeah." Joe replied.

"Let's wait over there." I said, pointing at a bench which sat just under the lamppost. Joe nodded in agreement and we both walked to the bench. As planned, I saw Ally coming over to us and I instantly placed my arms around Joe's neck. He looked back at me, shocked. I prayed to God to let this be easy. This is definitely not easy for me, especially when I had to flirt with my crush by touching him and looking at him like a slut. Yet, I can't deny the fact that our touch gave me goosebumps.

"Did you know how hot you are ?" I forced myself to say the dialogues Jess had prepared for me. My cheeks burned, I can't believe I said that. God, help me please !

Ally stopped walking and took a few steps back. That's one of the billion things I love about her. She gives people privacy and I felt bad for using her good quality against her. As planned, Ally must have thought that I'm with Austin right now. I looked at Joe, wondering what he's thinking. Maybe that I have gone crazy. I looked behind him and Ally was gone ! No ! She has to be here somewhere or else our plan would fail. I looked around for Ally and saw a slight movement from behind the bushes and I saw her. She was hiding behind the bushes, peeking at us. I actually found that funny. Oh, Ally.

"And did you know how beautiful you are ?" Joe asked and I immediately shifted my gaze from Ally to Joe. What the hell did he just say ? That was not his line. Well I don't know what his line was but it couldn't be this. I looked at him, not being able to recall what I was supposed to say next. Then Joe smiled. God, that smile.

"What ?" I asked.

"You're all red." He said. I turned my face away, not wanting him to see my red cheeks. I felt his hand hold my chin as he made me look at him.

"I love you, Maria."

This isn't his line ! I was surprised and happy and shocked and delighted all at the same time. My crush loves me ! He leaned down, closing the gap between us and in the blink of an eye, he kissed me. It took a moment for me to register the fact that my crush was kissing me. We were actually kissing ! I wrapped my arms around his neck more tightly. He pulled away, looking at me and smiling.

"I love you too." I said, blushing.

Oh shit, Ally ! I looked over Joe's shoulder and saw her walk away. The kiss wasn't supposed to happen. Our plan was just to make Ally see me flirting with Austin so that in jealousy, she'd tell him her feelings for her. The kiss just changes everything. What will happen to them now ?