Invisible

Chapter 15

Darren pulled me to the garden behind the contest's venue. The place was calm and beautiful, only illuminated by the faint light of the moon and stars. But the one thing that made me go radical was the bunch of freshly bloomed stargazer lilies. They looked like they were shining because of the petals and the light from above.

"You do know that this place is a little distant from the rest, right?" I asked him. I was used on being with Darren alone, but heck, we're in a place that we're both not familiar with. "Please tell me you're not planning to murder me? And... are you sure there are no coyotes in here?"

Darren shifted in his standing. His hands were fumbling each other and he looked like he just lost all of the blood in his face, he looks so pale. One thing was for sure, this is torturing him. He is nervous. But... what really is making him nervous? I mean, it's just me and him in this place. Are coyotes roaming around the place for him to be nervous or something?

"Um..." I stammered, feeling a little awkward because of the way Darren is acting. "Is there something wrong, Darren?"

He took a sharp breath in. "I am just..." he paused before talking along again. "I'm just afraid that... you might not want to be friends with me anymore right after I tell you this secret."

I chuckled. "Me? Oh come on Darren. Make a list of the most loyal people in the world and I'm sure I'm on top of that list." I joked. "No matter how bad your secret is, I'm sure I'll still stick around of being your best friend. Besides, we've been friends since diapers, what can happen after a secret telling, right?"

His features softened the tiniest bit. But he continued to fumble with his hands and his shifting every now and then. "Okay..."

"Well?" I asked. "Are you going to tell me or what? Coz I'm sure that your mom and my mom are probably looking for the two of us."

We were engulfed in a silence. I want to say it was a comfortable one, but it was not. Darren keeps on doing what he's doing and if he was uncomfortable, I was more uncomfortable with this. "I just want to say..." he started. "Nicole, I love you."

As much as I want to believe what he said, I shrugged it off. I mean, how cliché could that be? The man I like likes me back. Isn't that thing only exists in fiction books and movies? Instead of showing shock, I feigned understanding. "Is that it, Darren?" I asked him.

"What do you mean, that's it?" he asked, his features telling me that he was slightly annoyed. "I just told you I love you, what do you mean that's it?"

I laughed lightly again, although I was shaking in the insides. "Oh, Darren, I know that you love me!" I joked. "Of course, how could you not love me too? We're best friends for twelve effin years!" I nudged his arm playfully. "You know what, I love you too, now let's get back there coz it's pretty creepy in here."

"N-no, you don't get it..." he stuttered, the fumbling of his hands not easing up the tiniest bit. "I... I don't love you as just a best friend, Nicole! I love you more than that. I love you as in... ugh. I just love you!"

"What is this about, Darren?" I asked him. "Are you making fun of me?"

"What?!" his shock was definitely evident with the way he was telling. "I am not making fun of you! I told you that I love you, do you find it as a joke?!"

"You know what? This isn't funny, Darren," I told him, turning my back at him, "You think that telling me you love me more than just a friend is a good thing to happen? God damn," I muttered other profanities under my breath. This isn't funny. This isn't good.

"Why isn't this a good thing to happen, Nicole? Tell me," he said, holding my arm and turning me around to face him. "I love you, I swear. I... my feelings are real, Nicole. I'm not joking."

I stared at Darren for a while, like he just grown a third eye at the middle of his forehead. I don't know if I should believe whatever he's saying. I mean, if you'll ask me, this is definitely something that I've been dreaming of to happen in my life. For Darren to notice me, to love me the way that I do for him. But there was something that was pulling me back, to not believe him in just that.

I stared at Darren's small eyes. I was supposed to be protesting more, but Darren beat me into speaking. "I even kissed you before, remember?" he asked. "The night after your gig back in Canada. I kissed you. But you pulled away quickly." He confessed and I found myself getting redder than ever.

"How could you remember that if you were drunk off your ass the night you kissed me?" I asked him. "You didn't even speak about the kiss afterwards."

"It's because I wasn't really that drunk that night, Nic," he said. "Sure I downed a glass of tequila that night, but I wasn't so lost in the alcohol's influence. I've done a lot of things just to show you how I truly feel but you seemed to be avoiding all of them."

I huffed my laugh. "This is so unbelievable." I waved my hand in disclosing movement. "You know? This isn't funny. You think telling me you love me is good?" my voice was gaining volume and there was no doubt that people from the other side can hear it because of the silence. "I tell you what. This is messing with my head, Darren! I love you and now you're telling me you love me—"

"Wait, what?" Darren cut me off and I found myself biting my tongue. Bullcrap. Now he knows. "You love me?"

I started to walk away from him and back to the venue. For someone who has short legs, my walk was damn slow so it didn't give any hard time for Darren to catch up on me and snatch my arm to keep me still. But what shocked me was the soft flesh that was linked on my lips.

Darren's lips were mesmerizing, it made me go lost. I don't know what I was completely doing but I soon figured that my lips were dancing with his in sync. His hands found home on my hips and mine were resting around his neck. This was crazy. Darren was kissing me and I was kissing him back.

My world seemed to stop from rotating. Time seemed to slow down and the place seemed to be empty. It was like it was just Darren and Nicole. Nicole and Darren. Nothing more, nothing less.

The kiss was stopped when Darren decided to pull away. I could say that I was feeling some dismay because of him stopping the intimate contact we were sharing. "Why didn't you tell me that you love me?" he asked as his forehead rested on mine.

"I was afraid that you won't want to do anything with me anymore if I tell you that I love you," I admitted. "I was afraid that you don't want to be my best friend anymore if I tell you how I really feel for you, Darren. And if it meant being with you even if my feelings are neglected, then so be it."

He smiled and looked at me in the eyes. I can't bring myself to smiling, although this was something that I have been praying to happen. "You're right," he mumbled, as if he was making sure that only the two of us can hear whatever he was saying. "I don't want to be your best friend anymore, Nicole."

It was now me who pulled away from him and made sure I made some inches of distance from him. "What?" my question came out like it was a whisper.

"I don't want to be your best friend anymore, I said," he told me as he stepped closer to me again and held both of my hands. I looked up at him and saw that he wasn't making fun of me anymore. "I want to be beyond that. I want to be more than just your best friend, Nicole. Please let me be,"

"I want to be your boyfriend." He said with a smile as his lips made contact with my forehead. I can feel goose bumps forming in my arms and even on my nape. "Please let me be your boyfriend,"

"Darren," I smiled for the first time since the beginning of this confession. "I would love to."

"Be my girlfriend?" he offered.

It was as if I have been waiting for him to ask me that question all along. So it didn't take me long to say the answer I've been yearning to say. "Yes,"