Our Story So Far

Chapter 17

Immediately I dropped my hand to my side and pinched my thigh, hard. Nope, I definitely wasn't dreaming. I could still feel his lips pressed against mine- the memory caused a slight chill to run up my spine. Les had kissed me. He had kissed me. I'm pretty sure kissing does not happen between best friends.

I ripped the blindfold off my eyes, my hands shaking. As my eyes readjusted to the light I looked out at the crowd that was cheering excitedly at what had just happened. But I couldn't help but feel the exact opposite. My best friend had just kissed me, and I didn't kiss him back. Sure I was surprised, but if I had enough time I'm pretty positive that I wouldn't kiss him back. I just didn't like him like that. But did he like me like that? God, why did everything have to be so complicated.

I looked around to see that everyone else was only just removing their blindfolds. I saw Alex and Roman glancing over at all the girls, confused. The Yellow Hate was glancing around at everyone as well.

"And that officially concludes our session." Smith smiled broadly at the crowd. I could have sworn he winked in my direction as well. I narrowed my eyes back at him. In no way did I just enjoy what happened. I saw Tucker give us the cue to exit the stage. I power-walked off the stage and took off running as soon as I was out of view of the audience.

"Mac!" I heard Les calling my name but I didn't turn around. How dare he. How dare he chase after me after what he just did. I was about a hundred feet away from the bus at this point and had no plan of stopping. "Mac, please." He reached out to touch my elbow lightly.

"Don't." I shrugged his hand away.

"Just let me explain."

"Explain what? How you just kissed me in front of over a thousand people?" I tried to sound angry, but I'm pretty sure it came out more embarrassed than anything. I could feel my cheeks flushing.

"Mac, I'm sorry." Les said, reaching out to touch my arm. This time I didn't shy away.

"You're supposed to be my best friend." I whispered.

"I know, Mac. I know. But lately, I can't stop thinking about you." Les told me. I froze up.

"Les, I- I don't-"

"You don't feel the same way." He stated as if he had known all along.

"You're my best friend, I don't want to risk anything." I breathed out. He looked at me and nodded.

"Okay, that's cool. I respect that." He finally responded. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I smiled at him as everyone else crowded around the buses.

"Hey... what's going on here?" Luke's usually bored tone sounded slightly curious. I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. I didn't want to draw any more attention to an already awkward situation. I cleared my throat.

"Nothing. We're good. Let's go inside, we got a song to finish." I lied, herding my brothers onto the tour bus. I'm pretty sure none of them knew yet. Who knows, maybe they thought nothing happened, that Les just decided to play a trick on them by getting the crowd to make noise.

Will was the first one inside the bus: he kicked off his shoes and flopped down on the sofa- taking up all the space. I narrowed my eyes and organized his shoes neatly.

"Seriously, you guys just cleaned this bus up. Don't screw it up again." I laughed, taking a seat on the floor- my back resting up against the couch on the other wall. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the creamy leather.

"Hey Mac, you alright?" Drake asked, sitting down next to me.

"Yeah. I feel fine. No sore throat or anything." I answered. But I knew he wasn't referring to my physical well-being.