Love Him

Part 10

At the park near school the following day, after our second to last exam, we all hung around, like the usual routine. The boys were on the spiderweb thingy, trying to push one another off while Mariah judged them for their idiotic behavior. I was facing them from my spot on the grass, next to Crystal and Ned. It wasn't as sunny as it had been the other days, but the weather was nice. "I don't get people who like walnuts in their chocolate," Ned was saying, making a disgusted face.

"I know right?" I agreed, planting both my hands in the grass and leaning back.

"Aw," Crystal said. "That's surprising. I love walnuts. They're so good."

Ned looked at her with evil eyes. "You're. A. Disgrace," he said slowly.

I laughed. He was so extra. I looked at Crystal. "What's your favourite kind of chocolate anyway?" I asked curiously.

"Um, just regular chocolate. I really like M&M's."

"I'd say milk chocolate," Ned answered.

Crystal looked at me. "What about you?"

Milk chocolate also. I went for a different answer though. I looked her up and down, takin' in her creamy skin and licked my lips. "Vanilla."

Crystal blushed to my satisfaction and just like I knew she would. She was so adorable. Ned observed the exchange between us, like the nosy guy that he was. "You guys really must think that I cannot see the undeniable chemistry that just went down between y'all. Y'all may as well kiss at this point."

Um. Crystal's cheeks went from bright pink to bright red real quick. "Already tried that..." she said softly.

"What?" Ned basically shouted. "You and Carm kissed?!"

"Huh?" All eyes were on us now and the boys had stopped fussing on the spiderweb thingy. Great.

"No!" Crystal corrected. "We didn't, but um," she hesitated and lowered her voice. "I wanted to, and I asked her."

Ned seemed offended. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Crystal lowered her head and shrugged guiltily. "I-"

"Hold up." Nick was now in front of us. "Will someone tell me if they kissed or not?" Nosy. The others came up behind him, staring down at us curiously.

"No," Ned answered, sounding annoyed. "They almost did, apparently, but nothing happened."

Crystal kept her eyes lowered. Mariah's eyes were wide. Nick and Trevor seemed interested. I felt my skin getting hot. This was awkward. "Damn," Trevor said. "When was this?"

"Like, last week," I said. "Nothing even-"

"Are you guys into each other?" Lance asked.

Crystal answered quietly. "We've decided to stay friends. Carm isn't really into girls like that." Sorry babe.

"Damnnn." Nick sounded so amused. I looked up at Josh, who hadn't said a word, searching for a facial expression. No success. His face was like a blank canvas. Uh-oh. Bad sign. Was he mad about this? I hoped not.

"So," Mariah said. "You guys are like, still cool and all?"

I glanced at Crystal and smiled. "Yeah, still closer than ever." The guys finally got over this piece of information, and we were able to move on and have fun acting crazy in the empty park. I tried to hang near Josh, but he was acting real closed off. That for sure told me that he must've been mad. Ugh. Shortly after, he announced that he was heading home to study for our last exam the next day. He left abruptly with Lance and barely said a proper goodbye to me. I didn't even get a call from him later in the afternoon. I texted him, but he told me he was busy even though I had seen him active on Messenger. It didn't feel good having him mad at me like this. I kept my thoughts positive and figured he'd talk to me the next day - our last official examination day. *