Changing Me

Chapter eleven

I take a seat in between Sadie and Wesley and I feel my heart start to race in my chest.

"Are you gonna talk to him?" whispers Sadie in my ear, and I hit her on the thigh under the table so Wesley doesn't notice.

She jumps a bit but smooths herself out before giving me a dirty look.

"Don't deny your feelings for him tonight." she says quietly and my stomach drops.

I know I shouldn't, but there's a lot of things to think about before I admit to anything. Yeah, I care about Wesley. Yes, I want to be with him, but I can't forget the fact that he pulled away from me when I tried to kiss him.

Now we're pretending like it never happened. It's nice. It was really nice. At least for awhile. Now I'm just getting impatient. I'm Anika freaking Rogers for heaven's sake. I'm supposed to be chasing who I want. I'm not the girl to just sit with her mouth shut and let things happen that she doesn't want to happen.

I'm gonna do it.

I am going to tell him.

Right now.

"Wesley," I say quietly once the table has come to a low hum of the different conversations. He looks me in the eyes and I feel like I could throw up. "Do you uh.. want some vegetables?"

I'm an idiot.

I'm a freaking idiot.

At the dinner table?

He smiles only a little, just a little crooked where some of his teeth are showing. It nearly takes my breath away, and I grin back to be polite while I pass the dish.

"Smooth." mutters Sadie and I give her a look. She's only snickering to herself as she shoves noodles in her mouth to keep the laughing at ease.

"So Anika, why don't you introduce us to your friends." suggests my grandpa, and I know this is just his polite way of asking me if Wesley and I are dating. Judging from the title I give him during the introduction, he'll have the answer he wants.

"Right sorry. This is Sadie one of my best friends for a couple years now, and this is Wesley, a friend of mine that I met this year in English. Both of them are great people." I say trying to hype them both up equally. I can't tell if it's working or not.

My grandpa looks like he approves. Probably because I referred to Wesley as my friend.

My grandma looks at me and smiles briefly before returning to her food. I raise an eyebrow at her as to silently question what it was all about and she just shakes her head.

The rest of dinner goes by peacefully. Actually the exact opposite of Wesley's dinner, and now everyone is making their way into the living room.

My grandma catches me on my way out and pulls me aside so it's just me and her.

"What's wrong?" I ask her and she looks at me and just giggles a bit.

"You have feelings for him don't you." she states and I stand here in aw, wondering how in the world she could've picked that up. Nothing even happened tonight to sway her in that direction.

"How did you know?" I ask her and she just smiles.

"Anika honey, I've had 68 years of experience. I pick up on things quick."

"I just don't get how everyone notices when I try so hard to not let it show. It seems like everyone picks up on it but him." I say as I cross my arms and lean against the wall. I can see him perfectly from where I stand. He's sitting down on the couch, a seat for me all ready in between him and Sadie. He looks so peaceful and beautiful just being his normal self as he makes small talk with Sadie.