Loving A Deformity

Chapter 24

Alec drove Cera home-again. Every day they had class, he'd pick her up and take her home... and he's been doing it for about two weeks.

Don't get it wrong. Cera wasn't bothered by it, but mostly concerned. Didn't he get tired of her? He's been spending more time with her than usual and she was starting to worry he was going to get tired of being around her. Still, she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want him thinking she didn't want to see him.
"What're you thinking about?" Alec randomly asked with a grin. Caught of guard, Cera looks at him.
"Umm... I just..." she felt a need to come up with something. Something that wasn't a lie but wasn't the full truth. "I talked to that girl that hit on you your first day- Ashley- and... I don't know. She was strange." What was really strange was that got her mind off her troubles.
"Strange how?"
"Well, a couple days ago we had a... discussion... and I ended up offering your phone number to get her to leave me alone which she responded with, 'he's not interested anyway' and 'I think we both know who he's into' and stuff like that." Cera shrugged. Alec was a little shocked himself. He noticed that girl tried to flirt with him but apparently she had already given up.
"Huh... that is weird..." he admitted. A couple seconds later, he realized something he should've before. "Wait, you almost gave her my phone number?" He glanced her way. Cera blushed.
"Sorry! I just wanted to end our conversation- I swear!"
"Cera!" Alec groaned.
"I mean, I figured you could have blocked her if you really didn't want to talk to her but, honestly, I don't think she's a bad person and would it kill you to go on a date once in a while?!" Cera spoke all at once and sighed. Alec looked at her with a raised eyebrow as he kept checking the road. He was hurt. She wants him going on dates?
"You think I should date?" He asked.
"Alec, you're a seventeen year old guy with his own car. Not to mention, you're very single. I mean, you always hang out with me and I'm starting to worry about you! You used to go to parties and go out drinking with friends- get wasted- something!" Cera ended up unintentionally exploding and confessing her feelings.
"You know about all that?" Alec blushed.
"According to Chris, you are a legend at beer pong." She chuckled. "Look, I love hanging out with you. Quite frankly, I didn't want to talk about this because I didn't want you to stop taking the self defense classes with me. You're a great friend and I love spending time with you but I don't want you loosing out on anything because of me." As much as he hated to admit, he did miss going to parties. He didn't stop going because of Cera, though. As much as Kiley liked parties, she didn't like the combination of Alec, alcohol, and other girls. Soon after they started dating, he stopped going and just never went back.
"I told you, I'm not friends with the same people anymore. They don't want to see me at a party." He murmured.
"Actually, you're wrong." Cera said. "I talked to Gabe. They'd love to see you again. In fact, there's a party this Friday. You're already invited." Cera spilled. She had a half a mind, before spilling everything, to not tell him and just shove him in the party but this was better for him. Now she didn't feel like she was keeping secrets or hiding something from him. She voiced her concerns and, hopefully, is going to get him to go out and enjoy life. Alec felt uneasy though.
"Are you going?"
"It's not my thing- you know that. But you used to love going out and I feel some what responsible for you not going out... please, go have fun... for me?" She looked at him, pleading. She had scrunched up her face to make it clear she was begging as he glanced her way and sighed.
"Sure. Sounds fun." He agreed. Really, he wanted to go but he still felt uneasy. I won't drink a lot, he decided to make himself feel better. A couple drinks at most.

***

Friday came oddly quickly. Alec still felt oddly nervous. He hadn't been to a party in a while and didn't really know what to expect. He wanted to be able to just sit on a random couch and talk to Cera all night while everyone else partied but she wouldn't go for that. He knew she'd just tell him to go and enjoy himself. At first, he loved the idea of going to a party after so long but the more he thought about it, the more he dreaded it. At this point, he was mostly going for Cera's benifit rather than his.
"Alec, you coming?" Gabe asked through the phone while Alec was searching for something in his room.
"Yeah, just looking for my keys..."
"Second drawer of your desk. I think Chris tried to hide them from you again."
"Hey! You ruined it!" Chris yelled. Gabe smirked at him as Alec got his keys from the drawer.
"Found them. I'm on my way." Alec started out of his room to his car.
"Alright... hey, Cera said to hook you up with a girl if we could. You interested?" Gabe asked, making Alec grimace. Did she seriously care that little? The idea of hooking up wasn't terrible but he didn't find himself interested.
"Uh, no thanks. I'm good." Alec started fumbling with his keys to get the car key.
"You sure? Chris and I are pretty good at match making. In fact, I think we could set Cera up-"
"What?!" Alec dropped his keys and widened his eyes.
"Chill. I was kidding. She's still on that dating strike... I'm starting to wonder how long this will last."
"Geez, you gave me a heart attack." Alec groaned and picked up his keys to get in his car.
"But, you know, if you care so much, maybe you can get her off the strike."
"Ha ha. Very funny." Alec said monotone, getting in his car and closing his door.
"I'm serious! What if, one of these days, she starts dating again and she doesn't date you? What if she finds some other guy and you end up sitting in the front pew at her wedding? Huh?"
"Oh, stop. You're being dramatic."
"I'm just saying, man." Gabe sighed, obviously not reaching him.
"I'll see you at the party." Alec hung up the phone. Damn. Gabe is really rooting for them. Too bad it'll never happen, Alec sighed and started driving away.