All Bets Are Off

Chapter Thirty-Four - Ella Fordman & Phoenix Adams: Deep Trouble

~Chapter Thirty-Four - Ella Fordman & Phoenix Adams: Deep Trouble~

Ella’s POV –

Phoenix didn't approach me over the next twenty-four hours.

Honestly, I was still trying to figure out if this was a good thing or not.

On the one hand, I knew this was a good thing, because I still wasn't sure what I would say to him if he approached me again. And also, what really was there left to say between us? I'd told him how I felt in the heat of the moment, and I was already sure that he didn't reciprocate my feelings. He’d damned near said as much. End of story.

But part of me also felt like his silence was a bad thing. Despite his best attempts the previous afternoon at mediating the situation, we'd still reverted back to the calm silence we'd had going on beforehand. Except now there was even more awkward tension, because he had to deal with the thought of me being in love with him when it was obvious he didn't feel the same way. Either way, I was destined for a lose-lose situation.

A silver lining that came from this situation, however, was the way Carter had stepped up to the plate and fulfilled his role as faithful boyfriend. This morning, upon entering the schoolyard with my usual lack of vigor, I'd been greeted with a large bouquet of orange lilies—my favorite flower and color. Behind the tall mass of sweet-smelling flowers was a smiling Carter, who'd kissed me lovingly on the cheek and told me how beautiful I looked today. Although this didn't exactly ring true—really all I was wearing was an off-the-shoulder gray top and jeans—I still felt slightly flattered by his kind words, and couldn’t help the blush that filtered onto my cheeks. 

We ate lunch together, spent free period studying algebra together, and he carried my books around with him from class to class—just like in the movies. Despite my numerous attempts at freeing him of the effort of lugging around my books by assuring him I did, in fact, have two hands perfectly capable of carrying a stack of paper themselves, he was relentless. I'd be lying if I said I didn't indulge in being treated like a princess the way he was treating me.

It was almost as if Carter could sense my heartbreak and was trying to do everything he possibly could to make me feel better. I did appreciate it a lot more than he knew. After the past crappy week, I could really use something like that.

Which was why I wanted this afternoon to be extra special. The date with Carter was still a surprise, but I wanted to at least make the effort to look nice. After everything Carter had done to cheer me up today, I felt like I owed him something in return.

I took special care planning my outfit. I went through my whole closet until I found the best casual clothes I owned. In the end I decided on a light-blue halter-neck summery dress that I owned, and dressed it up with some minimal white jewelry and a necklace. It wasn't much, but with Carter's dates I never knew what to expect, and decided to play it safe.

Despite my best efforts to stop myself, my eyes found their way over to my phone, which had remained silent over the past day. No calls or texts from Phoenix. Maybe I'd scared him off from ever wanting to talk to me again.