Not So Complicated

Chapter seven(part 2)

Carmen's POV

It was so suffocating. The silence that followed after I told him.

As if to break the silence, my phone in my pocket buzzed, causing me to secretly sigh a breath of relief.

Esme: Come over to the guys' place whenever it is that you're done. Sorry for the interruption;)

"We'll leave? Its almost nine." He asked me, trying to sound okay. But he sounded nowhere near to that.

"Um, I'm actually headed towards my friend's place. I'll take the other route."

"Are you sure you won't be lost?" He giggled a little.

That killed me more.

"No, I won't get lost." I managed to plaster a smile.

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?" He asked again.

"Yeah."

Even before I could ask him something, he smiled and rocked on his heels before turning around and leaving.

I was rude to him, yes, but it hurt me more to see him already trying to be alright and pretending as if nothing had happened at all.

Getting lost in these thoughts, I made my way towards the bus terminal and hopped into the one which took me to the street in which Dan and Arlo lived.

"Why do you look so dead, Carmen Rey?" Dan questioned me and began to examine me like a doctor.

I was a little annoyed but I brushed it off, thinking about how they were unaware of all the things that had happened a few minutes ago. 

"And how was it? Ice skating and all huh?" Esme teased me.

How was I supposed to tell her that he actually considered it as a date and told me that he liked me since the day we met which led me to tell him to move on?

"It was good." I managed to say it with a smile.

"Just good? Or was it great? Or was it excellent?" Dan asked, causing both of them to chuckle.

"Or was it exotic?" Arlo added, screaming from the kitchen.

"It. Was. Good. I'm not saying anything more than that. Now tell me what's for dinner. I'm very, very, very, hungry." I deviated the topic and walked towards the kitchen, to see what Arlo was doing.

"Welcome to Arlo's kitchen!" He opened his arms and grinned at me.

His apron hugged his body and his hair was messier than usual, tiny beads of sweat resided on the sides of his neck, making him look, uh, you know it, right?

Okay, I admit it, he looked Hot.

"Done drooling over me?" He questioned.

"Huh. You wish, Arlo, you wish." I replied, trying to brush off the guilty feeling of lying to him.

"Lie to me all you want, Carmen. Its alright, I can live with that." He smirked.

Rolling my eyes at him, I went ahead to check what he had cooked for dinner.

"Paella, potato and mozzarella croquettes, open faced Jamòn iberico sandwiches and churros. Are you-"

"Yes, I'm a hardcore Spanish. Thanks for recognizing my Spanish ancestry." He stated.

By that time, Dan and Esme had already settled at the dining table, finishing with arranging all the cutlery and everything.

When Arlo announced that he was Spanish, Esme locked eyes with me, trying to say something but I immediately broke the eye contact, walking further to grab the dishes and place it on the dining table.

Why do I always go back to those terrible memories when someone mentions that they're Spanish? Is it just me or the bullying I faced  which is making me feel this way?

Why can't I just get out of it?

And this whole Flint thing is eating me up, to top all of that.

Though it was a heavenly dinner, I couldn't enjoy it to my heart's content.

For obvious reasons.

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"Now tell me. What actually happened with Flint?" Esme plopped on my bed, as I was about to call it a day.

"Tell what, Esme? I already told you that it was good. What else you wanna know about?" I bluntly asked her.

"Come on, Carmen. I think you know it better." She urged me to tell her.

"Okay, so, we went ice skating and it was damn fun. Until-"

"Ah hah! I knew there was that kinda moment. Sorry for the interruption. You may continue now."

"Until we were having cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes and he told me that it was more than something nice according to him. He asked me how I would feel if he called it a date."

Her expression changed. It completely changed. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips before adjusting herself on my bed with her legs crossed, looking all eager to listen to the rest of the story.

"I-I told him that I don't see him that way and he was a real good friend of mine. I told him that I didn't have any intentions of hurting him or rejecting him on his face." I gave her the gist.

The next moment she grabbed me into a tight squeeze before rubbing my back, trying to make me feel better.

"Its alright, Carmen. I understand. He'll get it, eventually. Lets give him some time, shall we? Don't worry, yeah?" She tried to console me.

All I could do was nod before she gently let me go and headed towards her room, wishing me good night.

Tossing and turning for god knows how many times, I tried to sleep. But failed.

Grabbing my phone from my night stand, I went to Flint's chat box. 

He was online. Taking that as an opportunity, I typed out a text.

Me: Hey. I'm truly sorry for all those things I said to you. I didn't mean to put it out that harshly and ruin your day. You've been a great friend to me, Flint. I am going to give you as much space as you want. if you don't acknowledge it, I can completely understand. I'm so sorry, Flint. Thank you so much for the day and for everything.

Message sent. 

Message delivered. 

Blue ticks appeared.

But a reply didn't.

My heart sunk to my gut.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and silent sobs escaped my lips, soaking my pillow.

My intuition told me that I'd lost a friend. And it was of no use hoping that my intuitions would be wrong.

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Author's note:

Hey guys.

I don't know how good this chapter is. I just didn't want to leave y'all hanging for a long time, since I won't be able to update for a while from today.

Yes, I have tests coming up. Shit. I need to open my texbooks atleast now.

Anyways, happy reading!

Don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Until next time folks,

Love,

Peaches;)