The English Boy

Chapter 37

I opened my eyes, and then I realized what just happened.

I looked at Callum in shock, his eyes were close, and he was smiling.

"God!" I said, and then I ran from him.

"Johanna, wait!" he went after me.

I was tearing up and wiping my lips with my sleeve. I feel very guilty! It's almost as if I cheated on Luke.

"Joe! Callum!" dad was yelling from the backyard "Where are those two?"

I didn't mind anything!

"Joe!" Callum grabbed my arm, and then I slapped him. We both looked at each other in shock.

"Please, leave me alone," I said, calmly and rationally "I don't want to hurt you."

I could get violent when I flip a switch.

"I don't want you to get hurt either," he said "But, what happened out there-"

"Stop!" I said.

"It happened, alright?!" he said "It's not in your head!"

"Shut Up!" I yelled, and then he became silent.

Great way to start the New Year, right?! Kissing another guy besides your boyfriend!

"Joe?" he spoke.

"What?!" I said.

"Do you wanna hear something you don't want to hear?" he asked.

I shrugged, because I don't exactly know what he meant by that.

"I'm in love with you, Joe!" he said, and then I froze.

Tears started falling down on my cheeks afterwards, because I never really saw him as anything, but a brother.

"Since that night you arrived in Britain. I've never felt anything like that about anyone before," he said "And that night, alright! I lied! I did! It was Luke who saved you from Hines, Charlie and Warren!"

I was shaking my head, because I couldn't believe him!

"Why would you do that?!" I asked.

Callum turned around and wiped the tears coming out of his eyes.

He shrugged.

"I wanted you to think that I was the one there for you, not Luke, because I've been involved in a lot of competition against him and lost all the time!"

"So that's how you see me?!" I yelled "You see me as something to compete for?!"

"With Luke, I saw everything as a competition!" he yelled "But not you!"

I stayed quiet after that. I thought that maybe I should shut up and listen to him first before I yell at him or something.

"Luke took everything away from me, and I just got really mad when I knew that he liked you, because I thought you were something he can't take from me."

I froze.

"You're with April, aren't you?" I asked.

"April and I only did that to piss you off," he said "But, honestly, we're not together."

"And Bernie?" I asked.

"Bernie's nothing but a friend to me!"

He bit his lower lip, thinking of something else to say.

"Remember the dance at school last October?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I was the one who put that corsage on top of your book," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"But you decided to go with Luke," he said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Tanga mo rin, ano?!" I yelled "If I knew it was you, I would've said yes! I liked you more than Luke!"

He turned to me in surprise.

"Really!" I said "How stupid do you think I am to accept a corsage from an anonymous person?!"

He shook his head in disbelief.

"Just as stupid as you were when you got drunk, also as stupid as you were that time when you accepted Luke's corsage?" he was walking towards me "Or running away with him to London for your birthday, and then running away with him to Knaresborough two weeks later?!"

He was crying.

"Right, I'm a coward! I know that!" he said "I just can't believe you've hardly noticed me for the past eight months."

I cried.

"For the past few weeks, I learned that you're not that person whom I thought you were: arrogant, spoiled, confident," I was stuttering "Instead; I learned that you are someone. I learned that you are someone I couldn't live without. "

He looked at me.

"But, we can't go further," I said "I'm sorry,"

Seemed that Callum got pissed afterwards.

"Alright, you know what?! You're not in love with Luke, and he's not in love with you!" he said.

"You don't know anything!" I said.

"If he were in love with you, and if he does see you as his girlfriend, then he wouldn't be afraid to expose your relationship to everyone, most especially Steve," he said "But instead, he decides to hide in the shadows!"

"It's honestly your fault why we couldn't tell my dad about us!" I said.

"And if you were really in love with him-"

"What!" I said.

Callum was walking away, shaking his head in disbelief.

"What!" I yelled at the top of my throat, and he stopped walking.

"If you're really in love with him, if you're really his girlfriend, and if you're really thinking about him all the time, then you shouldn't have kissed me on midnight!"

I've had enough, and I ran to him, about to give him a piece of my mind, when suddenly Ralph pulled me and held me tight in his arms...

"Ralph, let go of me!" I was yelling at him "Let go!"

Callum walked away, but he didn't go inside the house.

He just walked away.

***

"You shouldn't have stopped me from getting my hands on him!" I said, walking back to my room with Ralph by my side "Besides, how'd you know we were in the front yard?"

"Well, I heard yelling from the front yard when I went to get something for Luigi in the front room." he said "You and Callum got into a fight?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because it's none of your business!" I yelled.

"I was listening to some of it though," he said.

"Just, don't tell dad or anyone else in the house, okay?" I said "I don't want to ruin the McCarthys' last New Year in Ireland.".