The One I was looking for

Chapter 8

Aiden Agreste ⬆️
Emily's POV
...
I looked inside the house to find my friends goofing around, I smiled at their childishness. The time was 9:00 pm already, and the wind was very calming, I tried to intake a deep breath but was interrupted by someone. She cleared her throat, I turned to my right side to see Arabella standing in front of me with her hands on her hip and a knowing smile. Standing next to her was the infamous Bad boy, Adrian. I smiled nervously at the both of them. Arabella stepped forward "so...why are you standing here all alone?" She asked me smirking "did your friends ditch you or something?" She asked.
I frowned "I just came here to get some fresh air, and no, my friends are loyal unlike someone's"
She sneered at me and rolled her eyes, believe me, that combo was just hideous!
Throughout this exchange of words, Adrian was looking at me amused. Once I caught him looking at me, he looked away. I shrugged it off.
"So Emily, This is Adrian. Adrian, this is Emily" she introduced us.
I nodded my head and smiled, which he gradually returned.
"Ok, come on now Adrian, we are gonna play a game" she turned around and pulled Adrian by his wrist, leaving me there like a dumb person.
"Wait!" He said making me look up at them.
"What?" Arabella asked slightly annoyed. His eyes caught mine for a second and he hesitantly asked "Can Emily join us too?"
Arabella rolled her eyes and huffed "yeah sure, if you insist"
"Emily?" He asked me.
I thought for a second and shrugged "umm... ok, I think. I mean..I'm not doing anything right now, so... yeah!" I cringed internally at my inability to reply properly. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Arabella roll her eyes at me. I sighed and followed them into the crowded house.
"Hey! Everyone!" Arabella cried, getting the attention of a handful. She stomped her leg and screamed even louder this time, making almost everyone look at her.
She immediately turned the angry look into a sickly sweet smile, "would you guys like to play a game?" She asked.
Many people cheered and shouted in agreement. I found my group of friends next to the punch bowl, they waved at me. I smiled and waved in return.
"But, I'm not including all of you. Only the people I pick will be playing with us." She smirked smugly getting back my attention and making my smile fall instantly.
"I want... Peyton! Samantha, Nina, Anastasia, Helen, Susan, and"
She kept calling out everyone's name except for my friends and the other unfortunate girls and guys.
Adrian must've sensed the change in my face, so he said something that shocked me, a LOT.
"umm., Arabella, would it be much easier if you just let everyone join the game?"
Her head whipped to his direction and she looked at him as if he grew out a horn or two on his forehead. Then she shrugged and nodded "your right actuall, everyone can join the game, infact I am the one who invited you guys"
" So, What game?" People asked her.
"Truth or dare!" She smirked to herself. I rolled my eyes, someone will ALWAYS get hurt in this game.
We obeyed the words of Arabella and sat in a circle. I sat next to Alaska and Daisy.
I saw that the popular girls too were in the game, Nicole and her group were sitting next to the guys, flirting of course.
I saw Adrian talking with Nina, the PERFECT angel, and Samantha, the school slut (not literally). I felt a pang of jealousy. But he invited me to play the game with them, that means he likes me.....NAH! He maybe felt pity for me, yeah, that was it. I would've looked like a lonely looser, so he must've felt pity. Plus, he made Arabella include everyone.
I sighed and tried to clear my mind. Soon Arabella joined with a beer bottle in hand. So much for a Non-alcohol party....
she spun the bottle around, we all looked eagerly at it. It slowly stopped, pointing Samantha and Jake. Samantha giggled stupidly making a couple of people roll their eyes, I chucked silently at their reaction.
Jake shrugged "Truth or Dare?" He asked.
Everyone chanted 'dare', Samantha giggled and nodded.
Jake's friend, Gary whispered something in his ear which made him smile secretively.
"Ok, I dare you to kiss me" he said daringly. I heard some gasps. I rolled my eyes.
How more desperate can he get? Stupid hormonal teenagers!
Samantha's friends nudged her and snickered, she giggled and nodded her head.
Uhhhh! Why am I not surprised?!
They both got to the middle of the circle and started making out, eww....
I mean, what's so nice in exchanging saliva? Yuck! And most of their friends were cheering LOUDLY. some where even looking at them like perverts.
I heard Alaska making gagging sounds beside me, making me chuckle.
Someone shouted at the couple to get a room, and I couldn't agree less because the kiss was getting a bit steamy and above PG-13.
They stopped kissing and returned back to their places.
Arabella spun the bottle again and this time it landed on Hailey. Her eyes were huge, like really huge. I frowned and looked up to see what made her react like that. It was none other than Greyson. I smirked at her.
"Hmm... so, Truth or Dare?" He asked her cluelessly.
"Uhh.. D-dare....no truth! yeah truth." She stuttered blushing hard, although I was the only one who saw her blush, since the lights weren't that bright and I sat closer to her.
People rolled their eyes at her, I gritted my teeth. I am very overprotective of my friends and family. So it was my natural instinct.
Greyson looked bored, even annoyed. "Ok, who is your crush?"
I felt Hailey visibly stiffen, I was left wide eyed, while Alice gasped.
"Um.., no, I-I can't answer t-that one. C-can y-you ask me some other question?" She said softly.
He thought about it for a second and then nodded. "Is it ok if I give you a situation?"
She let out a breath, almost looking relieved and nodded her head. I let out a breathy laugh at her.
"Ok, so imagine this. You are wearing one of your 2 piece bikinis and are out for a swim-"
He was interrupted by Hailey "I don't wear 2 pieces!" She said flatly.
But he continued "and you dived into the swimming pool, but then your bikini top floats away-"
She was becoming flushed, I controlled my laughter, almost everyone in the circle was trying to control their laughter just like me.
"Your best friends have already gone to the changing room, and there are only a few guys in the pool with you, luckily no one notices this. But you have to get out of the pool, so who would you choose to help you? Your options are: Jake, Adrian and......Me"
I heard Hailey gulp down the saliva in her mouth. The situation was a bit awkward, no scratch that, it was VERY awkward! But we all knew who she would choose.
"Um.. can't I just, like, wait until everyone leaves or something?" She asked flustered.
"Nope" he popped the 'p'.
"Well...I mean...not that it would happen of course, but I-I think that i W-will choose to call Y-you...." she looked up at him to see his reaction.
His eyes widened and he looked flushed. OMG! Greyson, The Greyson Garfield looked flustered.
I looked at Alaska to see her reaction, she was holding in a laugh, suddenly she started cracking up like a mad woman, I couldn't control myself so I joined her. Soon after, all the others joined our crazy laughathon, even Hailey and Greyson chuckled a little.
This wasn't awkward at all, instead it was really fun! A thought popped into my head, maybe this time, no one is going to get hurt, MAYBE, just maybe.
Arabella wiped the imaginary tears off her face and stopped laughing, she then spun the bottle, fast!
This time I saw the Bottle point towards me, I looked across me to find Adrian. When did he get there? I thought that he was sitting with Nina and Samantha? My heart picked up its pace. This was actually the first time I noticed his eye colour, it was a warm chocolate brown, I held the breath inside of me, it was my turn to ask a question to him. Daisy coughed a couple of time, and that's when I realised that we were both staring at each other. I cleared my throat "um..Truth or dare?" I asked.
"Truth" he said with ease. His friends nudged him and said that he was a total dork and was afraid of facing a dare. He simply punched them playfully and shrugged it off. I almost felt like a total looser when comparing his confidence with mine.
Daisy leaned into my ear and whispered "this is the best chance to know who likes, so go on and ask him, who he thinks is the most attractive girl in this circle"
I let out a breath and started biting on my lip. I looked up at him to find him still focused on me and the question I am going to ask.
I sighed and gave one of my smiles, at least tried to smile. "So, Adrian! It's been what? Almost a month since you came to our school?" He shrugged.
"And you most definitely must think that someone is attractive, right? So I want you to tell us who looks the most prettiest in this circle to you" I almost hugged myself when I heard the confidence ooze out of my voice, it was nice to act confident once in your life.
This time everyone cheered and said that it was an amazing question. Adrian looked confused "I don't like anyone yet" he stated.
"We aren't asking you who you like, we just asked you who you think is attractive" Samantha stated but started batting her eyelashes like crazy.
He thought about it for a second and looked around at everyone, and his gaze passed past me, I felt my heart drop and I sighed. But once I looked up again, I found his eyes on me, my heart accelerated and I gulped.
I let out a shaky breath and looked away.
"I think the most attractive person is..... Nina." I felt like my heart was ripped apart while the others cheered for Nina. She blushed and blew a kiss towards Adrian. I bit the inside of my cheek to control my disappointment.
"A new story is here, I think" Daisy whispered to me.
I looked at her with a confused look on my face, "what? What do you mean?" I asked.
"I meant exactly what I said, this seems like the beginning of a new story" she smirked.
I looked in front of me and stared at nothing in particular.
"Um...can I say something else?" Adrian asked.
"Yeah, go on." Arabella said rolling her eyes. Huh! Did she expect him to say that she was the most prettiest girl here? Ha! She should be disappointed.
"I think someone else is also as pretty as Nina here, and I think it is.....Emily..."
I was caught off guard, my gasp was audible and my eyes almost popped out of my sockets. I was more than shocked! I looked up at all of them to see if they were kidding, oh no, he looked very serious. I averted my gaze and a blush slowly started creeping into my cheeks. I felt the room go very silent, it must be really very shocking for someone to call me pretty, but hey! I am surprised too. I mean, there are all these very pretty girls who are also very popular, he could've picked them, but he HAD to go on and pick ME! Now everyone was staring at me like I was one of those things in a museum. I looked up again to confirm I wasn't dreaming. I caught Adrian staring at me, I looked deep into his brown eyes and found myself getting lost in it. I snapped my head to my right averting my eyes from his and looked at Alaska, almost asking if this was a dream. She smiled at me slightly, I turned to my left and found Daisy smirking.
She whispered something under her breath, which I didn't quite catch. I felt myself get angry at everyone.
I picked up my clutch and got up " I-I gotta go.." and started walking towards the door.
My friends called behind me, but I ignored them and continued walking out the door. I looked behind me once again and notice that my friends were trying to get on their feet. Arabella was wide eyed, almost amused. Nina was scowling along with her other friends. And finally Adrian, Adrian..... he was staring at the floor, deeply in thought. The other guys were looking confused as to why I left instead of blushing and blurting out 'thank you'.
I walked towards the swing set, by which I was standing earlier and sat on one of them.
The wind seemed to calm down my racing heart, I heard the crunch of the dried crisp autumn leaves on the ground. I looked back to find Daisy, she looked worried.
"Hey...." I barely whispered.
"Hey" she responded.
She sat on the swing beside mine, and sighed.
"Do you think it was a dream?" I asked.
Her head snapped to my direction "huh?"
"What happened inside...do you think this is a dream?" I looked at her.
She smiled slowly, almost sadly "nope, what happened there was real, as real as Donald trump is the president of the United States" that made me laugh.
"Emily...look, we can leave if you want." She said.
I refused "no, I can not hold you guys back for my own sake. This is your first party, you must go in there and continue the party."
She shook her head "I can't do that to you Emily. After all you have done for me, I can't leave you here alone. We are going back, right guys?" She looked behind us.
I gave her a confused expression and turned back to find my other 3 friends nodding their head.
"I just can't believe this happened to me...this all seems so surreal, almost like a dream...."
They kept listening to me with out interrupting. "He is the first guy who made me blush, who made me look, who made me FEEL. He made me feel something inside me, a part that I never knew existed. I was feeling very confused, and JUST while I was trying to get rid of the stupid feelings I have, he just has to go on and tell that I look pretty and compare me with Nina. Just think what will happen once we go to school on Monday. All the gossip girls are going to spread rumours, they are going to make my life miserable, this is the only reason why I stayed out of their way."
"Never mind about all those little sluts, we got your back girl, we will be there for you always" Said Paige after placing a hand on my shoulder, the others nodded. I smiled and felt happy to have such supportive friends.
we all got inside the car, then I remembered something.
"Hey Alaska?" I called.
"Hmm?"
"Can I borrow your phone for a second?" I asked her.
"Yeah, sure? Did you even have to ask?" She said as she fished out her phone from her bag and handed it to me.
"Thank you!" I smiled and took the phone out of her hands.
I quickly dialled my phone number, after 3 rings the call was accepted.
"Hello?" Eva said.
"Hello Eva?"
"Oh! Hey sis, are you coming here to pick me up?" She asked.
"Yeah, we will be there in 5 minutes. I just got in the car."
"Oh, ok then." She sounded disappointed.
I laughed at her disappointment "bye"
"Bye..." she said and hung up.
Alaska put her phone back in her bag and saw me from the corner of her eyes.
"So... I have been dying to know what happened there...." she trailed of.
I shook my head and looked ahead of me at the seat in front of me. "Please don't ask me that, I just don't want to talk about it" I was grateful that it was Paige's Drivers who picked us up instead of her Father and brother. They would be asking a lot of questions that I would not like to answer.
...

Adrian's POV
...
I was humiliated, in front of everyone! This was the first ever time this has happened to me. I first felt empty and confused but later it turned into frustration. I got up and stormed out the room after a few people, whose I assume were her friends got up and ran behind her. I shut the door with a loud thud. I felt rejected, so I gritted my teeth and stomped my foot. I walked fast to the direction the 4 girls walked off to. They were all near the swings, where I found Emily standing earlier.
They were talking about something, the frown in my face softened as I tried to listen to their conversation. I barely heard anything so I got a little bit closer and hid behind a bush and kneeled. I felt something wet seep into my jeans. I looked down disgusted, it was the beer that I pour outside from the window earlier. I suppressed a groan and concentrated on listening to the conversation.
"Just think what will happen once we go to school on Monday. All the gossip girls are going to spread rumours, they are going to make my life miserable, this is the only reason why I stayed out of their way." So this was what she was thinking about. I actually felt bad for her since Arabella was treating her badly, but my frustration overthrew it.
"Never mind about all those little sluts, we got your back girl, we will be there for you always" the brown haired girl said.
Then they all hugged and started towards the exit. I bent further into the bushes to hide myself.
"Don't you smell something nasty here?" Someone asked, whose I assumed to be the blonde.
"This whole place smells like alcohol which IS nasty" the brown haired girl said.
"Yeah, you right" they giggled and got inside the cars.
Once the sound of the car faded away, I jumped out of the bushes and scowled at the beer on my jeans. Ugh! That was my new pair! Plus my Designer shoes smell like the sickly drink. Oh god! I sound like a teenage girl.
I calmed down a little bit thinking about what she said but she was being selfish and thought only about her reputation, mainly I felt rejected. This had happened to me only because I was the naive, young boy I am. I have to change, a LOT.
...