The Flower Children

Chapter Eight

To say the ride home was awkward would be an understatement. For some reason, Maia felt inexplicably uncomfortable as Ty drove her and Hayley home. Maia had initially felt relieved that they were dropping her off first because Hayley lived further, but Ty had insisted that she sit upfront with him because "it was the last time she would get the chance to do so."

Although it was a relatively understandable reasoning, Maia couldn't help but feel as if it was an excuse for Ty to keep sneaking glances at her, even when Hayley was the one initiating conversation. However, things began to get even more awkward when Hayley decided she to just pass out, letting out some light snores, leaving Maia and Ty to their own devices. At that point, Maia decided to reach over and turn up the radio and pretend that every song that came on was her favorite just to avoid making conversation because she wasn't sure where it was going to go. And honestly, she didn't want to find out either.

Maia let out a sigh of relief when they finally arrived at her house and she was reaching for the door when Ty reached out to grab her hand in his.

"Maia, please don't go yet. I still really need to talk to you," he whispered, the streetlights reflecting the sadness in his stormy grey eyes.

Maia let out an uncomfortable laugh while trying to wiggle out her fingers from his surprisingly tight grip.

"Um, whatever you have to say you can tell me over the phone Ty," she said nervously. Her eyes darting from him to her front door, wishing that for once her mom would come outside and put an end to Ty's shenanigans.

"No," he said firmly and Maia openly gawked at him in horror as he launched into a rant.

"Maia. I've had a crush on you since the first day you arrived in our school. I honestly thought you were the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on and I really wanted to get to know you better. And by sheer luck you made your way into our group and I managed to find out that you're not only beautiful but you're smart, funny, incredibly loyal and brave... all the qualities that I've been looking for in a girl. And well... I think you and I would be... perfect together. I feel like we have chemistry, something absolutely amazing. I've been wanting to tell you this for a long time and it just sucks that I've put this off for so long and couldn't let you go without you knowing."

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Was literally all Maia could think of when those words came out of Ty's mouth. Well that and "Oh my god!! Jaimie is going to be crushed. She's going to kill me. I unintentionally stole the love of her life! I don't even want him! What chemistry? I didn't feel any chemistry! What do I do?? How do I fix this? What? Is this a joke? Is he joking right now? This isn't funny! Jaimie, Jaimie, Jaimie!"

Actually, she was in such shock that she barely registered how close Ty's face was until he placed his lips on hers.

Not even a millisecond passed before she had pushed him away and sputtered, "What about Jaimie?"

Ty's face was absolutely blank when he said, "What about her?"

Maia's jaw literally almost hit the ground. He had no clue. No flipping clue whatsoever.

"You have no idea," Maia stated, shaking her head in disbelief.

"No idea about what?" He responded.

Maia was just about to spill all and tell him that Jaimie was in love with him and that Jaimie was the one but she felt bad about revealing her best friend's crush on him. Even though it was blatantly obvious that Jaimie was in love with him, as obvious as a big yellow school bus running over someone, Jaimie had asked Maia not to tell. Maia never liked spilling other people's secrets because she knew how that would feel due to having so many of her own.

"I'm sorry Ty but I'm not the girl for you. There's literally someone else who cares so much about you, who's perfect for you and it's not me."

Ty's whole expression crumbled and Maia felt bad for a few seconds but quickly recovered when Jaimie's face popped up in her mind.

"Why? Is this because you're moving away? Is it because I kissed you? Am I a bad kisser? We can always try the whole long distance thing, I don't mind, we can FaceTime -" he stammered, his words coming out quickly and desperately.

Maia didn't even have the heart to tell him that she'd barely kissed him for long enough to determine if he was a good kisser or not. Plus, it would probably make him determined to change her thoughts on that subject.

"No Ty. We can't be together. I'm not the one, I've only ever liked you as a friend and I'm sorry if I did anything to make you think otherwise. We can only ever be friends," Maia stated and watched in surprise as a tear rolled down Ty's cheek.

"I'm sorry," Maia whispered and with that, she reached over and squeezed his hand before grabbing all her things and unlocking the car door.

As soon as she got to the front door, Ty had already driven away and Maia had a sudden realization. While her and Ty had their little tête-a-tête, Hayley had stopped snoring.

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Poor Jaimie. Do you think she'll find out about this little incident? And will she be forgiving?😔

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and it may not seem like a lot but thank you for 50 reads. ✨

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Lots of love,
Wen❤️