First Love (David & Liza)

Chapter 22

October 28th / Wednesday

"Liza!" I jump a little when a familiar sqeaky voice shouts my name. I smile as I close my locker and turn around to face Gabbie. We haven't seen each other in three days and I have so much to tell her. But right now I'm just distracted by her new look.

"What did you do?" My eyes widen and my jaw almost hits the ground. She blushes and runs fingers through her hair with an embarrassing look on her face. Ever since I've known Gabbie her hair was always long and straight.

"I wanted to try something different." She lowers her head. "Do you like it?" She looks back at me and I chuckle in response.

"Are you kidding? Turn around!" Her face lights up again and she slowly starts turning. "It's short and purple! And blue! I love it! But why those colors exactly?"

"I don't know!" She shrugs and we start walking down the hall. "But I really like it. It's like a whole new me!"

"Do you know that most of the times women change their hairstyle when they're also changing their relationship status? Is everything all right between you and Zane?" She gasps and slightly hits my shoulder.

"How could you say that? Of course everyting is fine." She rolls her eyes. "I just wanted something new for my hairstyle, not someone new in my love life."

"Ok, ok, fine! I'm just asking." I put my hands up in defense. "But it really looks good on you!" We exit the school building and walk in silence for a few seconds.

"So, a little bird told me that you and David had spend the last 3 days together. Is it true? Is that why you didn't call me at all?" She wiggles her eyebrows and now I roll my eyes.

"You know that we are always together." I try to dodge the question, but she shakes her head. At least it was worth the try.

"Mhm, but that's not what I meant." She leans closer to me. "He spend not one, but four nights at your place. Did you...?"

"No! We didn't and that's so inappropriate to ask! But if you really want to know what happened..." I make a small pause to make the moment more intense. "He told me he loved me." I say, making her eyes instantly widen. A big smile appears on her face and she starts jumping and clapping her hands.

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! I knew it from day one! I knew you two are meant to be together. And I told him, but he wouldn't believe me." She says that without taking a breath, but quickly covers her mouth and looks down ashamed. I immediately stop walking.

"What did you say?" She shakes her head, still covering her mouth. "Gabbie! Spill it out! Now!" She looks at me and takes my hand. We sit on a nearby bench and she finally uncovers her mouth.

"I know David already told you that he had seen you several times during the summer." I slowly nod and she takes a deep breath. "I was the reason he knew where to find you. Well, not directly, because I told Zane and then he told David, but... Yeah! It's partly my fault that you two met." She tries to smile, but I give her an angry glance. "Seriously, Liza! How did you think we got "invited" to Zane's party or how David got your number? It was me." I stay silent, deciding how to react. "At first he thought that you wouldn't even speak to him, but I worked my magic and... Voila! The result now is that you love each other and that's all that matters! Right?" She lets a loud sigh. "Look, I just wanted for you to be happy and to have fun. You are always so busy with books and homeworks that you forget to actually live. I really didn't meant to lie to you, but it sort of happened and now it's too late to take it back. I'm truly sorry for not telling you earlier! Please, say something!" Her eyes start tearing up. I don't know if it would make me a bad person, but when would I have a better chance to tease my best friend than now.

"Gabbie, the only thing I can say right now is..." I try really hard to sound upset and she tenses up, waiting for my answer. Yes, I'm an awful person for doing this. "Thank you so much!" She gasps and pull me into a hug.

"You don't even know how hard was for me to keep such an enormous secret from you the whole time. Are you sure you're not mad at me?"

"I'm a 100% sure. How can I be mad at my best friend? You are like the other half of me. What will I do without you?!" I say and she smiles. "The truth is that we've had a really great time. We went to Target then to the beach..." The memories from that night rush into my mind and I can't help but smile. She sees the sudden change in my face and loudly gasps. "But it started raining and we got really wet. That's why I was sick for the last two days. He was such a gentleman. He was cooking and taking care of me the whole time." Gabbie lets a long "Aww!" and I smile even more. "I'm really happy and thankful that you encouraged him to stalk me." She quickly pulls me into another hug.

"And I'm really happy that you're happy!" She says as we pull away. "Did you tell him about the texts?" Her face immediately gets serious when she changes the subject and I just shake my head in response. "Have you received another one?"

"Thank God, I haven't. I decided to keep it to myself for now. And also it wasn't the right time to tell David. He was very upset when he came to my house on Sunday and I didn't wanted to worry him even more. He said he's got in a fight with his parents, but we haven't discussed it yet." I sigh and make a note to myself to ask him later.

"I understand." She nods. "Ok, no more serious talks! What is your costume for the Halloween party on Friday?" She says and I realize that I totally forgot about that.

"Ummm... I kind of don't have one." Her eyes widen and I try to come up with a good defense strategy. "But I have some ideas and two days to make a decision and make it happen."

"Liza, you know that if you don't have a costume you can't come to the party."

"I know and I promise I'll think of something good." I say and make another note to myself. Suddenly someone hugs me from behind. I sense a familiar aftershave and a big smile appears on my face.

"What are you two talking about?" David says, putting his head on my shoulder.

"They are talking about how little time they spend with their boyfriends, am I right?" Zane sits next to Gabbie and she rolls her eyes.

"And why do you think that we're always talking about you? That's such a weird assumption. There are much more interesting topics to discuss." Gabbie says and winks at me.

"We'll see about that!"David says and kisses my cheek, but I just shrug in response.