~TIANA JACOBS' POV~
“Hey, buddy,” I smiled at West and he avoided my gaze. “What’s up?” I asked him and he just kept quiet. “West,” I called to him and he just ignored me again. I sighed and I stood up.
“What if I never find love?” he asked me and I turned back to him. Taking in his sad, broken features, I sat back down and wound my arm around his. “Ever since I’ve been diagnosed a year back, I didn’t really care about my love life. I figured that maybe I’m not someone who deserves the love. But then you, Blade and Julianne started to find someone who you guys care about and then, there’s me,” he sighed.
“I guess the right person just comes along. Maybe she’s not here yet, maybe you’ve not gone anywhere she might be at, but love takes a heck of a long time to find and it’s so worth it when you finally find the right one,” I smiled at him. “There’s always someone made for you, someone out there and she’ll love you for who you are, West.”
“Which brings us to our next outing, people!” Julianne hollered behind us. “We’re going to the Mall,” she grinned and West turned to me.
“I swear to God, she’s crazy,” he muttered.
“Not as crazy as your fishing and Water Park idea,” I said, standing up and brushing dirt from my shorts.
He groaned, “I’m never going to outlive that, will I?” he asked.
“Nope, not a chance, buddy,” I laughed.
West sighed from next to Blade and I. “Can we go home now?” he whined. “We’ve been here for three hours, assessed tons of girls and I don’t think it’s one of them,” he sighed again. “Let’s just,” he started, but he was cut off mid sentence.
I turned around to look at him and I followed his gaze to a girl sitting in one of the Ben and Jerry’s booth, reading a book by herself and scooping some ice cream into her mouth without even looking. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, tendrils of hair falling from it and framing her face.
I grinned up at Blade and he returned it. “You know, the first time I saw you, you were getting into a brawl with a senior for pissing you off and that was when we were juniors,” he chuckled.
“That was last year,” I pointed out.
“Oh, look, West has found his long lost love,” he avoided the topic and I rolled my eyes to myself, following them anyway.
We sat at a booth across from her. “West, take extra tissues. Looks like our Princess ran out of them,” I winked at him and he gave out a determined huff.
Striding over to her, he said a quick ‘hi’ before giving her an extra tissue. She smiled and she accepted it. He then made small talk and slipped into the seat opposite her, keeping constant conversation. Seeing the both of them chatting and smiling, I turned to Blade.
He gave me a puzzled look. “You have some explaining to do,” I said as sternly as I could.
“What did he do? Have a baby in Health class? Again?” Julianne asked, amused.
“Nope, it looks like I’ve had a stalker since junior year,” I told her and she barked out a laugh.
“For real, Jackson? You know, I’d pegged you to be the go-for-it kind of guy, but seriously? Tee since junior year? This is rich!” she chuckled.
“I’m not a stalker, plus, you were having a go at it with a senior,” he frowned. “You guys were drawing so much attention,” he added.
“And why were you so curious?” I raised my eyebrow at him.
