Falling for Stupid

Day 30 - Monday

Candice

When the alarm went off at 6 am, I sprang out of bed with a clear plan for the day ahead. After talking with my cousin, I came to all my senses. Mario is Mario, and the damn boy has pushed all his charm onto me. I let him taste my goodies and slide into my paradise. He's probably bragging about how he finally hit me. Ugh . . . Thoughts of him disgust me.

I walk into the school early in the morning with my plan. I see Kevin, Angela, and Spirit standing against a row of lockers, chatting it up. Elliot isn't too far from them, staring at . . . Me? Mario and his crew are standing by a classroom door. Great. The whole audience is here because that's the only way for me to kick this off.

I keep a straight face as I walk past Angela and Spirit, barely giving them a wave.

"Hey, Candice. I tried calling you over the weekend." Spirit says as I breeze by her, keeping my full attention on Elliot.

"We will talk later on today." I give her a short and fast reply, brushing her off.

I keep my eyes on my target. Elliot. Elliot stands at attention as I make my way towards him. My heart suddenly picked up speed, realizing that Mario was staring me down. From the corner of my eyes, I can see him quieting his friends by putting his hand up. He keeps his attention on me. Good.

"Elliot," I say, walking up to Elliot. Elliot looks down at me but offers nothing more than a simple nod. I take a deep breath, trying to avoid looking in Mario's direction. "My phone was off all weekend."

"I asked you to dinner. Maybe we could talk?" he says, darting his eyes between Mario and me. Mario has walked away from his friends and is walking towards me.

"As friends?" I question, smiling too hard. "We can do dinner as friends," I say the word friend again, hoping he hears how silly it sounds.

Elliot nervously backs up but nods his head. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you are trying to do."

Interestingly, he says whatever I am trying to do. What an idiot. Why must every boy in my life require immediate attention on their brain cells?

I take steps toward him, but I'm caught off guard by Mario grabbing me by the elbow. When our eyes lock, I can see clearly how he is pissed off at me.

Elliot looks between Mario and me before walking off. His smirk is priceless.

"You are going to stop playing with me, Candy," Mario says quietly.

I snatched myself from his hold and walked down the hall with a very noticeable attitude. Just like I had already planned, Mario followed behind me.

"Oh, so you think this is a game, huh? You couldn't wait to get back in town and hit him up, huh? You are so worried about me playing games, but look at you." He stops walking, causing me to stop too.

I finally turn around to face him. Mario makes eye contact with me, waiting for me to say something or give him some explanation about why I'm talking to Elliot. There is none, except this is my game, and I set the rules. I walk up to Mario and kiss him gently on the lips.

"You act like I'm cheating," I say after brushing my lips against his.

Mario doesn't react to my words or even try to kiss me back. He stands in his spot, towering over me. I lick my lips nervously before taking a step backward. Mario grabs my hand and pulls me back to his chest. Suddenly, it feels so hot as I lower my eyelids, afraid to look into his eyes. I slowly gaze at his face, seeing a slow smile playing on his lips. Confusion sweeps over me as I raise an eyebrow in question. Mario leans into me and kisses me on the lips. I close my eyes, refusing to kiss him back, like he did moments ago to me. I feel his lips against my ear, and a soft breath escapes me.

"Keep playing with me, Candice. You are going to get Elliot fucked up."

I swallow hard, opening my eyes. Oh. I try not to smile but give the creep a tiny, flirty smile. "You talking like I'm yours, Mario." Before he responds, I turn on my heels and walk away. I look over my shoulder to find him still in his stance, watching me.

Mario can still have me until I'm officially with Elliot. Mario is sexy, but Mario is not my end goal. Elliot is. Mario has taken control of the games we play for a while now, so I'm taking over now.

*****

Angela rushes up to me and takes a seat across from me. I'm sitting in the learning center, trying to read a book for a class assignment. I look over the book at her as she watches me. I already know she has too many questions; hopefully, I have some decent answers.

"What is the deal between you and Mario? Are you cheating on him with Elliot? Oh my God, girl, everyone is talking about how you embarrassed Mario earlier this morning. I thought you two were good."

I set my book down, waiting for her to finish her line of questioning.

"I can't believe that you are cheating on him. Two weeks ago, you guys were taking pictures and looking cute. Mario posted a couple of pictures of you two over the weekend. You disappeared and didn't tell me you were going to the Florida Keys."

I raise an eyebrow in question. I had no idea Mario put pictures of us on a social network site. I grab my phone off the table to check his posted images.

"Is the honeymoon stage over? You should have known that Mario can't be with one girl anyway, girl." She smacks her lips, shaking her head sadly.

I peek at her from my phone, wanting to throw my book at her. I roll my eyes, return to my phone, quickly search for Mario's name, and look him up.

"In case you missed the episode this morning, Angela, I am talking to Elliot." I take my eyes off my phone and bring my gaze to her. Mario isn't cheating on me." She and I share eye contact before she finally looks away from me.

I returned to my phone and found the pictures she was talking about. There's a picture of me sitting on a horse, smiling wide. There's another picture of us holding hands and me kissing his cheek. A couple walking by took a picture of us. We look so damn adorable. We almost look like we are in like. Ugh. I finally look back up to Angela and find her leaning back in her seat, looking as though she is waiting for me to say something.

"Um . . . Do you plan on answering any of my questions?" She crosses her arms, studying my every move.

I press my lips together, aggravated by my friend. "Mario and I are good. He just pissed me off a little this morning. The Keys were great. We are great." I say in a dull tone on purpose. I want her to realize that the honeymoon stage is over.

"Well, Kevin asked me to prom."

I hope I don't react to her words as I watch her. I am going to kill Kevin. I have to get rid of his ass. I have to put a girl in this fool's eyesight.

"Your response?" I try to keep my tone level, not wanting to alert her that I am remotely interested in her and Kevin.

"I don't know yet." She says quietly. "I kind of want something that you and Mario have." I quickly note how she sounds jealous of my relationship with him. "That is so sweet that he took you to the Keys for a getaway." She looks off into the distance with a dreamy look in her eyes. I clear my throat to bring her back. "How was it? Did you enjoy yourself?"

I smile wide at her questions. "It was amazing! Girl . . . "

I tell her about everything Mario did for me, watching her eyes light up with envy and happiness. Angela is finally seeing that Mario is a romantic and sweet guy. I replayed the events in my head, smiling at how he kissed me and held me all night and how we constantly stayed into it.

"Wow, that's incredibly romantic," she exclaims with a small giggle escaping her lips.

"I'm not done yet, girl." I want her to get every drop of how romantic he could be.

Angela leans against the table, her eyes wide and glistening with happiness as she eagerly asks, "Is there more to this wonderful surprise?"

"Of course, Lil' baby is so romantic," I say, grinning from ear to ear. I bait the hook, and she took the bait. Mario will be too excited to hear of my good deed.