Not Another Fairytale Romance

Chapter 3: St-st-stuttering

"Derek... h-hi" Leila replied to the amused Derek Hamilton.

"Didn't think I'd bump into you so soon. How are you? You look just like I thought you would... not that I haven't seen your pictures already." Derek said to Leila who stared at him emotionless, mouth slightly open, not actually absorbing that the man of her dreams was already right in front of her.

"Uhh... I... I got to go to class. Sorry..." Leila said as she left without another word, leaving a puzzled Derek walking to his own class.

"W-what just happened? Wait... he browsed through my photos? Why'd I talk like that in front of him? It's like I couldn't get my words straight... that hasn't happened to me before..." Leila told herself, when a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, making her heart almost jump out of her chest. She turned around to see two blue orbs for eyes looking at her.

"Jacob. Oh my god. You scared me..." She said, breathing heavily.

"So... I saw you." Jacob said to her.

"What? What're you talking about?" Leila nervously asked.

"Come on Leila. You can play dumb with Zed, but don't do that with me. You can trust me. Besides, I saw you with my own eyes. Unless you can remove the memory from my head, I cannot believe any denial you're going to throw at me even if I wanted to," Jacob explained.

"Well, I'm not denying anything. What exactly did you see anyway?" Leila asked, already calming down.

"I saw you... talking to Mr. Doucheville" Jacob said, eyebrow raised at her.

"So? I just bumbed into him..." She explained.

"Oh yeah? Well okay. But wait... I'd understand if you bumped into him and quickly left, but why'd you stay for more than a minute talking?" He asked, trying to break through her glass wall.

"Huh? W-well... I... he just said sorry, and said who he was. That's all..." Leila explained, trying to get out of the situation her guy friend is putting her in by lying.

"Really?" Jacob said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Really." Leila answered.

"Well, okay." Jacob said, raising both his arms. "But remember. You could tell me anything." He finally said before squeezing Leila's shoulder and leaving.

"Sigh... great. Now I'm lying to my friends. What else is in store for me?" Leila sighed to herself, walking straight to class.

..........

"You didn't tell me ANYTHING yesterday. Now spill. What is up with you miss Leila Richmonde?" Alex asked me, cornering me to a wall while the professor was out.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Leila told Alex, looking down on the ground.

"What?? Come on. I'd believe you." Alex said with puppy dog eyes. "Now SPILL." She added, further pushing Leila to the wall, being a little aggressive.

"Ow. Okay, okay... I... uhh.. you know how you told me stories about Derek Hamilton before? I didn't know I was sort of interested in him... until I saw him walk in the cafeteria yesterday... Zed and Jacob even noticed that... the way I just stared into him. 'I' didn't even notice it until one of them slapped me in the face..." Leila explained.

"Okay..." Alex giggled as she listened intently, interested on what Leila was telling her.

"But you wouldn't believe what happened later that night... I don't know if fate is playing its harsh game on me, or testing me of some sort, but... Derek messaged me on Fluffbook, and I found out that... we had a lot in common..." Leila said, her eyes showed embarassment and sadness to her friend.

"*Then what the hell are you moping about?? You like him, and he approached you FIRST. I actually think that's great news for you since, if you like him and he didn't do that, you might've kept on drooling at the sight of him 'til the ends of the earth without any progress whatsoever." Alex lectured her friend, smirking.

"You don't understand! I DON'T know what I feel about him... it's like I like him... but I don't know why because I told myself I'd NEVER like a guy before graduation... I don't want this to happen. I... want a non-complicated college life... I... wish I'd never seen him in the first place..." Leila explained to her friend who looked puzzled and felt a little remorse for Leila.

"Sigh... well... Leila... love isn't planned. You can't tell yourself 'I won't fall in love'. It's impossible. Sometimes, things we don't wish just... happen. We don't have control in destiny... we can just push it a little to our advantage." Alex said, comforting Leila, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I... guess you're right. I just wish you weren't..."

..........

"Leila!" Jacob called to her, Zed walking beside him. Leila waved at her friends, yelling out a "Oh hey!" before walking towards them.

"So, Leila... you and Derek huh?" Zed taunted.

"Sigh... you told him." Leila said looking at Jacob with her arms crossed.

"What? There was nothing to tell. I just told him what you told me... unless there's a deeper meaning to what happened that you would like to tell us." Jacob said to her.

"Well there's none." Leila said before the three of them started walking to the school exit.

"Well, I don't give a shit. Let's just go to my place and play videogames. It's Friday night, bitches!" Zed exclaimed.

"Alright. Let's go" Jacob and Leila said simultaneously, Leila laughing at her friend's statement.

They were playing and as usual, Leila kicked their asses while playing CoD.

"Oh my god Leila. Jacob! This is what I'm telling you. She could not possibly be a girl! A girl ain't that good in playing videogames!!!" Zed explained, joking around, semi-pissed that he just lost to a lady.

"Give it up Zed, be a sport. You guys have known me since we were kindergarten. I am a natural at this. Suck it up," Leila said to him, smirking.

"Hahaha! Yeah Zed. I got my ass kicked as well but you don't see me complaining." Jacob said, letting out a chuckle.

"Fine," Zed replied. "But I refuse to believe that you don't have a countless amount of testosterone in your body." He added.

"Hahaha! Well, maybe I do." Leila said, laughing.

"Well, I'll just be in the kitchen and make some snacks." Said Jacob before getting out of the chair headed straight to the kitchen.

"Ooh, ooh! I'll help." Leila asked jumping out of the couch following Jacob.

"Fine. Leave me..." Zed said with a pout. "But don't forget to bring my favorite nachos!!! And pour some extra cheese!!!!" Zed shouted at them both who were now inside the kitchen.

Jacob was cutting the tomatoes for their nacho supreme when he caught a glimpse of Leila, preparing their traditional alcohol mix for their gaming sessions. He looked at her who was on the other side of the room, and he just stared for a second at how beautiful she was, even with just a pair of sneakers, some old jeans and an AC/DC band shirt on... hair all messed up in a sexy way. She had changed clothing after school because she wasn't comfortable with the dress she was wearing. It wasn't a problem because her house was just a block away from both Zed and Jacob's houses.

"She's so beautiful and she doesn't even know it," Jacob said to himself, letting out a chuckle. Finally looking back at the chopping board.

"What're you laughing about?" Leila said noticing him, putting her hand on her waist and smirking.

"Ohh... nothing important. I was just thinking 'bout this amazing girl I've liked for a long time now... how beautiful she is and all that. Don't ask" He said with a warm smile.

"Well, don't let me stop you~" Leila said in a singing voice, sending a wink at him, then turning around, walking to the living room holding a bowl of the drink she made.

"If you only knew who I was talking about," Jacob whispered to himself, smiling.