Changing Mr. Popular

Twenty Four | Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Twenty four
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"I think I'm in love with you."

Did he really just say that? Is he playing a cruel joke on me right now. Love. Not even like, but love.

"I..um..what?" I stammered, taking a step back from him and mentally cursing at myself.

The guy might or might not have just confessed his love for you and you say that?

"Don't make me say it again," he groaned while not meeting my eyes, his cheeks lightly tinged with pink.

My breath caught at the sincerity of his tone, and I stared at him. He just might've actually been serious. His dark hair was falling into his eyes as he continued to look at me, and his rare show of vulnerability prompted me to move.
I took a deep breath and lightly punched his shoulder, causing him to look at me instantly.

"Are you shitting me right now?" I mumbled, wanting to believe that he was serious.

Now I was the one looking down, my face warming up as I clenched my fists and waited for his response. If he laughed in my face right now, like a small part of me seriously believed he would, I don't even know what I would do.

He groaned again, this time louder, and tilted my chin up, forcing me to look at him. I met his eyes, inhaling sharply when his thumb grazed over my cheekbone.

"I'm being serious, Lauren." An embarrassed—but sincere, nonetheless— grin started to overtake his face. "This is the first time I've ever done anything like this, so it's hard for me to say, but...I, Tyler Morris, have fallen for you," he finally spoke.

Somewhere in the middle of his speech, Tyler's hand found its way around the back of my neck and into my hair, tilting my head up so he could study my expression.

I raised an eyebrow at the earnest expression he still wore before I slowly grinned. I deduced suddenly threw my arms around his neck, latching on to him tightly, because I was afraid this perfect moment would end all too soon.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him passionately, and as our lips met for the third time, it seemed so much better now that our feelings were out in the open. I hitched my leg up around his waist without meaning to, instinctively drawing us closer, and Tyler groaned, any remaining nerves he may have had disappearing. He multitasked excellently, his tongue slipping into my mouth while his hands moved to the backs of my thighs to lift me up. My legs wrapped completely around him as he carried me all the way to the kitchen counter. He slammed me down slightly rough, but I didn't mind, too wrapped up in the moment.

He pulled away a centimeter, causing me to let out a noise of discontent. Tyler must have noticed my eagerness because he smiled against my lips as he moved to kiss me again. It made me smile back, because it was so rare to see Tyler genuinely happy, and not in a cocky or devious way.

A thought occurred to me that I really should finish that homework I had been working on, but it was too difficult anyway, so I internally shrugged and promised myself I'd do it later.

After a few more minutes, I pulled away from what was likely to soon turn into third base and  slipped off the counter. I walked back to the living room and plopped down on the couch, raising an eyebrow when Tyler stood at the edge of the room with a confused expression.

I smiled before I spoke. "You just gonna stand there all day, or..." I acted nonchalant, even kicking my feet up.

Tyler unfroze, laughing as he came to settle down next to me. "You're so fucking weird."

...

After halfheartedly watching some movie for an hour or so, my eyelids started drooping and I slumped against Tyler's shoulder, knowing I was about to be asleep.

"Oh, and by the way?" I murmured.

"Hmm?" Tyler asked without looking at me, sounding uninterested.

"I love you, too."

His arms tightened around me, and I could almost feel his smile through my closed eyes.

...

The next day at school, I arrived at school in a sickly sweet bubble of happiness. When I told him over the phone the night before, Brandon had been pleased to hear that after two long weeks, our "relationship" was coming to an end.

Stepping out of Tyler's car, I managed to ignore all the curious and even envious looks people were giving to me.

As we started walking together to the entrance of the school, Tyler entwined our fingers together and gave me a knowing smile. I was somewhat nervous of what peoples' reactions would be to this—to us—but I knew it would be okay.

"Hey, Tyler," said some girl in a tone that could only be described as flirty. I studied her and my eyes widened when realized it was the red head from the party. Without realizing it, my fingers tightened around Tyler's.

She stood at the bottom of the steps that led to the school's entrance, so we had no choice but to acknowledge her. "Beth," Tyler said in a voice that was both a greeting and a warning as we approached.

She twisted a chunk of red hair around her finger, stepping toward us. "It's Becca" She corrected him with annoyance. Her eyes zeroed in on our linked hands before moving to me.

While Becca scrutinized me, Tyler spoke again. "There's a reason I didn't call you. Go away."

Her face contorted in anger, overly glossy mouth opening in surprise. "I...you..." she fumbled with what to say before before abruptly spinning around and stomping up the stairs in her pink sandals. They slapped noisily against the concrete steps until she finally threw open the door and disappeared inside the school.

Well if that wasn't a wake up call to reality, then I didn't know what was. I had almost forgotten about Tyler's tendency to use girls and then dispose of them like garbage.

Seeing my solemn look, Tyler placed his hands on my shoulders and forced me to look at him.
"I know what you're thinking," he said in a low voice.

I sighed, and looked up at him, feeling tears welling up in my eyes, embarrassingly enough. "How am I ever going to trust you, Tyler? everyday, I see and hear different girls talking about how good you are in bed or how much of a player you are. How am I supposed to just ignore that?"

He looked both sad and frustrated, but then pulled out his wallet, which made me shoot him a confused frown.

"Look," he said, pulling out a folded and creased piece of paper.

He handed it to me and I unfolded it. I gasped in surprise; it was our photo booth strip from so long ago. I tried to fight it, but couldn't help the smile that appeared as I looked and remembered how shocked I was in the pictures when he kissed my cheek, and how so much has changed since then.

"I've changed, Lauren. You have no reason to believe me, but you can let me prove it to you. I want to be with you and you want to be with me, right? So give me a chance." A cheeky smile started spreading on his face, but I could still tell he was being sincere.

Oh, fuck it. I sighed, giving in as he cupped my cheek and brought me in for a long lasting kiss that I couldn't help but respond to eagerly.

The bell rang, signaling that we had two minutes to get to class, but we ignored it, happily to revel in each other for at least right now.

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So yeah. Woop woop! This is really short, but I don't think I needed much more than this to wrap up the book, (besides the epilogue, which I will do soon).

Thank you so so sooo much for all the reads, votes & comments on this book! I love all of you. And I know this book was shorter than most, but it was my first story, so hopefully my next one will be longer and better!

Epilogue coming soon. <3
Xoxo