Firefly

|Ch. 7|

The rest of the week drug on. My mind was perplexed with the thoughts of Alex at every waking moment. I was constantly trying to steal a glance at him any chance I could find. I couldn't understand what was wrong with me. I had Brian, why was I so focused on Alex?

Friday afternoon, I walked into the bustling cafeteria hand in hand with Brian. The aroma of nasty college food reached my nose as I gagged.

Brian laughed and said, "C'mon, isn't this your favorite food?"

I looked at over at him sticking my tongue out while making a gagging noise. People who were in the line ahead of us looked over at me confused .

"Okay, put it away," Brian stated still giggling.

I laughed, as I saw people piling gooey pasta on their plates with some kind of mystery meat on it. My eyes roamed the cafeteria and stopped on Alex picking up a sandwich and salad. I began to get googly eyed.

Suddenly, I was awoken from my fantasy when Brian handed me a plate and silverware. I stared at the pasta and reluctantly stuck some on my plate. I followed him as we went to sit down where his friends were.

I picked up some pasta on my fork looking at it disgusted. I stuck some in my mouth and gulped it down. Well, at least it wasn't horrible.

I saw Alex sit down, his back away from me, with a small group of guys. Would you look at that? Alex had friends.

I looked around at his friends as they all seemed engaged in a funny conversation and kept continuously laughing. I kept glancing over at Alex as Brian was talking with Matt.

"How does that sound, babe?" Brian said as he tapped me on the shoulder.

I quickly looked away from Alex and exclaimed, "Sounds great!"

I went back to eating my food, not even realizing what Brian and Matt were talking about. I just couldn't keep my eyes off Alex. I wondered what my life would've been like if I was sitting over there with Alex and his friends laughing up a storm about normal stuff. Instead, I'm sitting beside Brian trying to drown out the talk of yachts and parties.

I clenched my necklace and began listening into Brian's conversation.

"We can drive the boat out to this awesome cliff jumping spot, it's going to be chill," said Matt.

"Yeah man, Saturday is going to be awesome," said Brian.

Brian extended his arm around my shoulder, I smiled at him, and laid my head on his shoulder.

"Stop being so cute guys," Matt sarcastically said as put his hands up to his face making fun of us.

Brian and I chuckled. I glimpsed over and saw Alex getting up from his seat to leave the cafeteria. He weaved through the hundreds of chairs and made his way to the isle near us, heading in the direction of Brian and I.

I quickly glanced away from him and looked over at Brian. Just as I thought he had left, I looked over and caught eyes with Alex as he was passing our table. We locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity. I saw his emotionless face turn into a frown and he jerked his head away from me.

I looked down at my half eaten plate of pasta, replaying Alex's disappointed face in my head. Why was he so upset? Was it because of Brian and I? Was Alex jealous? No, he couldn't be, that's not possible.

I shoved these thoughts into the back of my brain as I lightly kissed Brian on the cheek.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Yeah, we can leave. Bye, man, we'll see you tomorrow." 

Brian took my plates and stuck them on the conveyor belt. We left the cafeteria hand in hand and stepped outside to see the beautiful sunset. I gazed around at the breathtaking mountains and breathed in the fresh air.

For a while, Brian and I walked silently back to the dorm.

I clinched Brian's hand and said, "Do you love me?"

Brian looked at me surprised and stopped in his tracks. I didn't really expect to have this conversation right now, but for some reason the question just came out of my mouth.

"Of course I do, why would you ever say that?" Brian said as he put his other hand on mine.

"Like really, do you wholeheartedly love me?" 

Gosh, why did he have to be so cute? His gorgeous eyes and brown hair was making this conversation even harder to have.

"Babe, I love you. If you ever think that I don't I do," He began as took his hand off mine and took my necklace in his hands, "this is enough for you to know that I love you and that we are meant to be together."

I looked at him speechless. I hadn't planned this far into the conversation so I just stood there staring at him.

"Hey everyone, I love this girl right here and I'm not afraid to admit it," Brian screamed.

My cheeks turned red as I said, "Brian, shush"

Brian and I started laughing as on-goers were still staring at him.

"Yeah that's right, I found my soulmate and I love her," Brian said to the people staring at us.

Brian let go of my necklace as I playfully pushed Brian saying, "Stop Brian, you're making a scene."

Brian placed his hands on the back of my head and gracefully gave me a kiss.

He slowly put his forehead on mine, staring at my face, and whispered, "I love you, Maddie."

"I love you too," I whispered back.

Brian went back to holding my hand as each of his fingers fit into mine perfectly. We slowly strolled back to my dorm. Before I knew it, we were at the dorm complex. I slowly let go of Brian's hand as each of our finger tips touched for an eternity before we finally let go.

"You want me to come up?" asked Brian as he gleamed his million dollar smile at me.

Brian had been trying for the past year every month to come up to my dorm but I always avoided the question or stopped short before he could ask. This was the first time he was able to get the question out and I was stumped on what to say.

It wouldn't be that bad if Brian came up right? I mean, what's the worst that could happen? My mind aimlessly wondered and stopped on Alex's disappointed face at dinner.

"No thanks, I'm good babe. I'm pretty tired," I said turning away from Brian.

I walked up to the double glass doors and scanned my I.D. As I was opening up the door, I turned around and viewed Brian. He stood there inarticulate looking at me. His expression was distraught as I turned around and let the glass door shut with a thud.

Did I just say no to Brian? The guy who got everything, was just told no tonight. I couldn't even imagine what was racing through his head once he heard no come off my lips. Maybe Alex did give me enough courage to finally stand up to Brian, and it felt incredible.

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So I'm still behind in writing my chapters so there still won't be a new "surprise" chapter this next week. But don't worry! I'll be making Chapter 8 amazing for next Friday ☺️☺️ So do you think Brian is coming around and is realizing that Maddie isn't happy with him? And do you think that Alex is jealous? Hmmm... Let me know in the comments ☺️☺️