She Will Be Loved

Chapter 21: Nancy Drew

"Ouch!" I immediately stopped and turn to check on Hanna. She wasn't curled down or seems to be in any pain. She only has her arms crossed on her chest with raised brows. "Finally!" She spoke in annoyance.

"What's wrong?" I walk towards her.

"I should be the one asking you that." My brows meeting in confusion. "What's wrong? What's wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong." I caught on what she was talking about but I just pretended to not know.

"I might not be the best friend of the year, but I know that something's wrong. You've been distant and you zone out like every 5 seconds in the conversation lately, so don't you dare tell me nothing is wrong." She said with such aggression.

"Chill!" I tap her shoulder. "I'm fine."

"Bullshit." She pushes my hand away.

"Really, I'm fine Hanna." I fixed a smile at her.

"That's your fake smile." She just knows me too well that it's hard to convince her. "Tell me, please. Are you mad that we went to the car theater without you?"

"What? No. You can both go there without me anytime you want." I told her.

"Then what is it about?" She stomps her foot in frustration earning a few glances from other students.

"It's nothing really." I try to assure her.

"No!" She protested.

"Just trust me okay? I'm fine. I've been just so busy and tired from practice these days, that's all." I try to assure her, I told her only the truth about everything.

"Really?" I nodded.

"How about we go to that cafe you skipped last time? Just to make it up to you." I link my arm with hers.

"You're willing to cut practice for me?" A huge smile formed on her lips.

"Nope." I shook my head. "We'll go after practice. Vega will kill me if I miss practice."

"Fine, fine. I'll wait for you there then." She said happily.

"Okay." I nodded.

"This will be amazing! I'm excited, we hadn't had a girls day for so long." She gladly claps her hands.

***

Hanna and I ordered two cakes, she ordered a chocolate mousse cake and I chose some blueberry cheesecake then paired it with vanilla shakes to add up more sugar.

"This is so good." She says as she sips on her vanilla shake. "This one too." Eating some of her cake. I smile at her amazed expression. "Can I have some of that?" She digs right into my dessert before I could even reply. "Delightful!" She happily nodded at me with a thumbs up.

"I get that." As I took my shake and sip a bit.

"Oh, I remember." She said snapping her fingers. "So how's Liam?"

"Why are you asking me about him?" It sounded like I was offended by her question and I know she noticed it.

"Is it wrong to ask? Because I'm pretty sure you two have been pretty close lately." She said sipping on her shake again.

"We're just friends." I told her looking down at my ordered cake.

"But you wanted to be more." I snap my head and saw her with her knowing expression. She has a smirk carved on her lips and a brow raised.

"No, that's absolutely ridiculous." I shook my head intensely trying to be more convincing.

She rolls her eyes at me. "May I remind you, that I'm your bestfriend." She places both her elbows on the table. "I can notice the way you look at him with heart eyes like every single time and..." she rested her chin on one of her palms. "I think you got stranded at the friend zone, that's why you've been sulking up these past few days."

"Psh, that-that's absurd." I lean back to my seat. "I am so not."

"Whatever you say that makes you sleep at night." She mimics my position with a smirk.

"It's not like I told him I liked him." I said biting my inner cheek.

"I knew you like him." She snaps her finger like she's Nancy Drew and finally solved the case she has been investigating. "I'll take my 50 dollars from Dean later." Clapping her hands ecstatically.

"You bet on it?" I said with disbelief.

"Yes." She nodded cheekily.

"Such great friends you two are." I roll my eyes at her. "You better pay for this." Pointing out at the food we ordered.

"Fine." Now it's her time to roll her eyes at me. "Enough of that. Could you now tell me about Liam?"

At first, I hesitated to tell Hanna about my one-sided love affair, but I actually wanted to talk about it to someone and who is better than your best friend.

I told Hanna about how I caught feelings toward Liam, about our almost kiss, how he gets along with the family, and how I finally realized that I am nothing but just a friend. I left out the fact that I know why because I promised Liam I wouldn't tell anyone about his secret romance with Astrid.

"Honey, you should fight for your right to be loved. You are gorgeous inside and out. What more could he possibly not want from you?" She said with such a supporting tone.

"Maybe we aren't meant to be. Like isn't a popular guy falling for a nerdy girl like me to cliche." I try to laugh at my own misfortune.

"Cliche but romantic. Many people love those kinds of plots, I do." She pointed at herself. "Tell him you like him and if he rejects you then give up at least at the end of the day you won't have any regrets."

"It's really unnecessary." I shook my head at her idea.

"But what if he does feel the same? What if it is worth the try?" She slams her palm on the table.

Because Hanna I already know he doesn't.

"No." I told her.

"The hell what you said. I won't let you throw your chance away because you think of yourself lowly, which you absolutely are not." She stands up from her chair. She didn't answer me but instead called for the bill and paid.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"I know damn well that you should not give up with a fight." She held her fist up to the air. "Let's go plan how you'd get your man."

All I could do was mentally and physically slap my face. We came to her house, she took an unused notebook and plan out OPERATION: MAKE LIAM FALL FOR ELLIE. All I could do was sat next to her stupidly as she plots out every single thing.