Steal my Heart.

60

This chapter is dedicated to Eram Shaikh, my sister for her useful criticism and constant support for this book. She's the only one who marks out lines from this book, a practice which I'm very fond of. This one's for you. :)
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Ivy Speaks.
Here's me. Ivy Brown. Known to the the world as the popular Stuart York's best friend. They hardly know that I'm hopelessly in love with him. It kills me. He roams with other girls, kisses them, sleeps with them, but at the end of the day he comes to me. I know of his pain, his childishness, how he misses his mother who left him and his father when he was very young, his lame jokes and all his insecurities beneath a cover of arrogance.

Best friends they say. Do they know how I feel? Stuart was my chemistry lab partner during junior year. It was after Audrey's death. Alastair, Sassy and Stuart were having a hard time coping up. Stuart had found me. A girl who is above all shit like the ones he sleeps with. Who's not interested in guys, is a great listener and gives him the best reassurance. But that's the sad part. All I will ever remain to him is a friend.

I've known Grace since 5-6 years. She's never been popular amongst boys, or anyone for that matter. But Alastair had noticed her. I'd seen how he looks at her, how he just never shuts up about her, or how he keeps smiling when she's around. Even Gracie. How she keeps completing his assignments, how she almost pleads with professors to extend the deadline for him and how she makes sure he has his lunch and everything. Sure there were problems, their insecurities, incessant jealousy, physical needs, but then their love was way too strong. I always wanted a relationship like that.

Stuart is really close to me. I know everything about him. Which girl he's hooking up with, which one he has a crush on. And hearing about all that was like a stab on the heart each time, but I smiled through all that. Everyone, except for him, knows that I love him. Each time he looks at me, I fake a smile, not showing him I want him bad. She must be beautiful, the one he's been talking about, and she's got everything that I have to live without. He's been saying he's so in love, like each time, I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night. He always runs to me and throws an arm around me, like he does with all of his guy friends, I almost lose my breathe. He's so flawless, like I wish I could be. That girl better hold him tight, give him all her love, look in those beautiful eyes and know that she's a lucky girl.

I don't know what's worse, falling for a stranger or falling for your best friend.
Yesterday, when he came up to me and said that he's in love, I could feel my heart breaking into a million pieces, but I still smiled. He keeps falling in love. It's infatuation, but he still calls it love. I just roll my eyes at him.

They say, fall in love with your best friend and it'll be the best relationship. So wrong in my case. Stuart only comes to me when he's lonely or sad or needs advice. How I wish he could love me back! It's a daily torture, seeing that guy and knowing he's not yours. Where did I go wrong? Why can't we end up together? Why am I not good enough?

Gracie's Point Of View.
I walk around the school ground when I hear a sobbing noise from the end of the hedges. It's October end now. Autumn is in it's mid session. I turn through the plants to see that it's Ivy.
"Oh my god Ivy, why are you crying?" I ask, sitting next to her.

"Nothing Grace." She says, dapping away her tears.
I give her a tissue paper. She takes it and mutters a thanks.
"Just look at you. All red and sobbing. You can share it with me if you don't mind." I said, holding her hand.
She continued looking down and taking deep breathes. "It's Stuart."

I frowned. She was addicted to him. How could he not see that?
"What went wrong?" I asked.
"Everything." She burst out crying again.
I held her hand and squeezed it. She held it back.
After a while, she spoke up.

"We had a fight. He was saying that I never approve of any of his girls. I said that I don't because I don't actually seem to like them. That fight just kept escalating till we reached a point where he said that he thought I was too clingy. And now I'm here after that."
"Whoa." Was all I could say.
"I know right." She wiped her eye.
"I think you should tell him. About your feelings for him." I said.
"Have you lost it Gracie? I might just end up losing him as a friend. He'll never accept us together."

"How can you say that without even having any idea? Have you ever said that to him?" I ask, appalled.
"No, but he doesn't like girls like me." She said.
"Oh shut up! If he didn't, he wouldn't even have been your best friend." I said.

She sat silent for a while. Then without a word, she got up and hugged me. I was taken aback at first but then I hugged her back. All she wanted was to be loved.

I dropped her home on my scooty and then I went in and completed my own homework. Stuart would need some serious lectures tomorrow.
After a while, I recieved a call from Alastair. He was standing down, waiting for me.

Now what did he need? A smile tugging at my lips, I went down and looked about. I couldn't see anyone, it was dark anyways. Suddenly, someone kept a hand on my mouth from behind and pulled me in. I was about to scream when I felt a familiar sound near my ear. "I was missing you."

His smile.
His voice.
His aura.
His warmth.
Him.

I turned around to face him. "I was missing you too."
"You don't know about the things you do to me. You're my favourite mistake." He said, our foreheads touching.
"Hmm. I was always attracted to bad ideas. And you're the worst of them all."

He pecked me on my lips and trailed soft kisses along my jaw. Leaning further in, he kissed my neck. I threw my head back, in what could only be described as pure ecstacy. He sucked on my skin for a good one minute till I heard Vanessa's voice from inside. We hastily pushed away. He gave me a tap on the head and went running towards his bike. So much for ruining a perfect moment.

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