After school I get to my car and open the door. When I get to swinging it open, a huge arm swings around and closes the door again.
"Hey! What the-" I start. Then my voice gives out. I turn around and my eyes go wide. "Baden! What the heck do you want?" My voice gets defensive. I look down and start to cross my arms across my chest and grab my shoulder blades until he grabs my chin and pulls my face up to look at him. His eyes lock on mine.
"You, Angela Suden, are beautiful." His eyes get those flecks of green that I love so much. My knees go weak and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I've been dreaming about this moment. I've missed this so much.
I get lost in his eyes again like I used to, I take in every detail of his face like I have to test over it later. The little space in his eyebrow when he ran into a branch hunting with his cousin, the way his eyebrows come together when he's concentrating, the little dimple on his left cheek that appears when he gets that smirk on his face.
"That stupid, stupid smirk . . ." I say.
He gives me a funny look. "What?" He chuckles.
Shit . . . Did I say that out loud? His hand is still on my chin, and he slides his other arms around my waist. His fingers trail up the middle of my back, sending shivers up my spine.
"Still gets you huh?" Again, that stupid, stupid smirk. I want to wipe it right off with a kiss.
A small noise escapes my mouth, I want to speak, but I'm speechless.
"Cat got your tongue, kitten?" His face keeps getting closer and closer. I finally can't take it anymore, I close the distance between us by grabbing his face and kissing him. I get memories exploding through my mind. It's night and my friends are following Baden and I to his cousin's truck. He was supposed to kiss me but something was holding him back. I had had a crush on him for so fucking long, I just wanted him to kiss me. So I whipped around, grabbed his face, and kissed him. Just like this, only his hands didn't know where to go back then. Now he's got this move in the bag. Holding onto me and pulling me closer as I deepen the kiss.
It seems like the whole world has disappeared, it's just Baden and I, just like our first kiss.
"Can we start over?" He asks when the world comes back. I have tears in my eyes. "What's wrong?"
"I- I've just been hurting so much and now you're asking for another chance. Why do you always think that I'll just let you keep running back?" I ask.
He looks down, hands in pockets now, and looks awkwardly back up at my eyes.
"Well?" I prompt.
"These past couple of months I've noticed things that I didn't notice before." He stares into my eyes now, those flecks of green never going away. "Every time we talk I try to remember everything about the moment. The smell, the sounds, the way you're dressed, the way you look at me, your simple touch on my arm when you're trying to tell me something that you care about. When you post pictures on social media I always notice the slight rise of your left eyebrow, always the left. Every time you walk by I wait for the smell of your perfume to waft by me. I notice everything now. Even your quirkiness has got me in a trance. I love you Ang. I was stupid for leaving you, especially since you needed me the most in that time. I'm so so sorry. Please . . ." He grabs my hands now, "Forgive me?"
I can't speak, all of the things he just said is exactly what I do, I notice everything. I love him, I never stopped loving him.
"Yes. I forgive you."
"Will you give me a second chance? Give US a second chance?" He asks.
I nod, no words can express how happy I feel.
*****
"Baden asked me out again."
"Finally . . ." Runey whispers.
"What?" I ask, not sure if I heard her right.
"NOTHING! I meant . . . He did?" She says, trying to cover what she just said.
"Well, kind of. He asked for a second chance," I say.
"And you said . . .?" She gestures for me to go on.
"I didn't SAY anything, I nodded my head though." I shift in my seat, uncomfortable under her stare. Annie finally comes back with our ice cream and Runey tells her what I just told her.
"I'm happy for you Ang, but . . . How do you know if he's telling the truth?" Annie asks.
"I don't," I say. "But I'm not gonna get attached like I did last time, in case he is lying again." I grab the glass my ice cream is in and start eating it. "He told me to dress nice on Saturday and meet him at the lake."
Runey smiles at me the smile that she knows something is up. I squint my eyes at her, knowing she knows what he has planned.
"Runey . . . What's he gonna do?" I ask.
"I don't know . . ." She tries to hide her smile.
"Runey . . . I know you know something, you've got that look on your face," I say.
"I can't tell you! I want to sooooooo bad because it's so cute but I just CAN'T." She shoves her nose into her ice cream.
"Umm . . . Runey? You good?" I ask.
She pulls her nose out, "That's cold . . ."
Annie and I start to laugh. Runey joins in after she wipes the ice cream off of her nose.
"Rune, you're so fucking weird," Annie says between laughs.
"I tend to do weird things when I'm trying to keep quiet," Runey says.
"Like Pinkie Pie!" I say.
"Exactly!" She says.
*****
Later that night when I get home I lay on my bed and think about the day. I can't believe I have my Baden back. Mine.
My phone starts to ring. It's the ringtone "They don't know about us". That's Baden's ringtone, I haven't heard it in so long. I pick up my phone and click the accept button.
"Hello?" I say into the phone.
"Hey beautiful, I was hoping this was still your number. Sorry, it's been a long time," I hear a voice I don't recognize.
"Who is this?" I ask. My insides are starting to shake.
"You don't remember? Oh Ang, we had that special moment . . ." says the voice.
Then I remember, "Where's Baden, Rick?" I ask.
"Oh, now you remember me . . . He's in the basement. I heard you two are trying out your relationship again." Rick says.
I hang up. Baden's in the basement? I think, there's a door that's like a storm shelter that I can get to. I hope he doesn't catch me, I can't let that happen again.
When I get to Baden's house I go around back and try the door.
Locked.
I go back around front and open the front door, unlocked.
He's waiting for me. I walk inside as quietly as I can and walk down the hallway and pass the kitchen and the staircase that leads to his room upstairs.
I walk over to the door that leads to the basement, open it, and walk onto the steps leading down into what seems like my eternal darkness . . .
YOU ARE READING
Never About Me
Teen Fiction"It's a bad day, not a bad life." That's what Angela Suden thought before her life got turned upside down. Her friends are great, but are they hiding secrets? Her family SEEMS normal, but maybe it's just HER normal. Normality isn't always what you...
