Kisses, Crushes, and Fro-Yo

Chapter 8 - I was stalking you, obviously

"Shane?!" I yelled, completely exasperated. I had stopped in my tracks but he was still heading towards me. A sticky situation.

"Beena? What are you doing here?" Shane said. Huh. So I guess he wasn't stalking me. Or he's just playing dumb. Boys are confusing.

"Uhmm...I," I hesitated. What was I gonna say? That I was just in the house of your arch-nemesis? And oh, by the way, that I almost kissed him? Something tells me that wouldn't go over too smoothly.

"Spit it out, shortcake," He said, smirking - always the smirk! By this point, he was standing a foot from me.

I placed my hands on my hips, thinking of Scarlet. Why should he get to interrogate me? He was the one mysteriously waltzing through the neighborhood. "Well what are you doing here, Shane?" I said with all the confidence I could muster. That was a little difficult when he was nearly a foot taller than me. Where was a step stool when you needed one?

He laughed, looking away and shoving his hands in his pockets. I tried not to focus on the fact that he was wearing a muscle tee (which I always thought were trashy, until I saw Shane in one), or the fact that he had a slight dimple on his left cheek when he smiled normally, which I personally thought was much more attractive than his stupid, cocky bad-boy smirk. Not that Shane's attractive. Relatively speaking.

He tilted his head back up, looking down at me. Why do I feel like he got tanner since the last time I saw him? I will never understand people who can tan without even trying. Kinda unfair to those of us who just burn. Even with SPF 100.

"Well, I asked you first Beena." He crossed his arms. Rats. He was right.

"I was....on a walk. Just...around," I stuttered out. I mentally cringed.

He rolled his eyes, but smiling all the while. "Then why is your car right there?" He pointed behind me, where about 5 feet away my old, crappy car was parked at the curb.

I slowly turned, seeing the car, and then turned back. He was clearly holding in a laugh. I debated saying something like Oh! When did that get there?!, but I quickly realized that would make me sound pretty dumb.

I sighed in defeat. "Okay, you got me. I was at Dash's house," I pointed up at the mansion, "because I was babysitting his little sister. Are you happy now?" I admitted, albeit somewhat defensively. That was all I was saying. I mean, I didn't owe him anything. It wasn't like we were dating. I did nothing wrong by being a little flirty with Dash.

"Oh," he looked down at his feet. I felt a pinch in my heart. He looked so sad upon hearing that, like a tiny puppy. "That reminds me. I got your text, about agreeing to talk. I assume now would be a good time?" He said tentatively.

I nodded. "Yeah, absolutely," I mentioned. "We can walk, and then I'll just walk back to my car later."

"So..." he began, scratching the back of his head. I've never seen him be uncomfortable before. "I know you saw my text saying sorry, but I wanted to say it in person, too. So, I'm sorry," he said, looking ahead.

I didn't respond. I really had no idea what to say. It seemed so unlike him, to sacrifice his pride for me, a girl he's known for about a week.

He continued, still not looking at me. "I'm sorry for being a total asshole. It was uncalled for, I know that now. What you do with Dash is none of my business," he said, talking with his hands a little bit. A part of me felt like I got punched in the gut. Even though I just said myself that I didn't have to tell Shane anything about what I did with Dash, I guess secretly, a part of me wanted him to know that we almost kissed. To see if he'd be angry, like he was at Sweet Scoops, or if he'd be cool and nonchalant about it, like he is right now. Why did being with Shane make me feel so indecisive?!