Talia Hearts Who?!

Chapter 3

"I hate you." 

"Ouch. I know you love me really, honey." 

"I hate you." 

"Oh come on sweetheart, it wasn't that bad!" 

"I hate you." 

"Seriously, you need to let it go." 

"I hate you." 

"It wasn't even my fault, you guys shouldn't have been so late in the first place. Then you might never have tripped and we wouldn't be in this situation." 

"I hate you." 

That was how our conversation went after the Traumatic-And-Highly-Embarrassing-Mall-Trippage-Incident. Apparently splatting your face straight onto one of the formica tables in the middle of the mall's food court, even if it wasn't your fault and you were tripped by your best friend's jerkface of a brother, is reason enough to get you and said brother kicked out of and banned from the mall for a month. 

We were sitting outside the mall's parking lot, waiting for John and Keira to finish sorting out our paperwork. Which was taking a ridiculously long time, since Keira kept on having to text me to ask questions. The security department in that place is seriously lacking in the brain cell department. 

I had my arms folded, studiously ignoring Drew's attempts at conversation. He had not only completely humiliated me, but he had also gotten me banned from the mall, which meant no That Music Place for a whole month! I couldn't survive without a fresh dose of music for that long, not to mention that was really the only time I got to see Toby these days. I would never admit this to anyone, but I really missed seeing him nearly every day, back when we were both in high school together. Since he graduated, school's just become that unfortunate time in between weekends. 

"Look, will you please just get over it already? It is seriously not as big of a deal as you're making out," complained Drew, probably annoyed because his usual "charm" wasn't working and making me fall at his feet in adoration. 

"All I've said is that I hate you. How is that an overreaction? My hatred of you is 100% deserved." I replied evenly, watching the cars whip past us and avoiding his face. I knew what I would find. 

"That is completely an overreaction!" Drew exclaimed, throwing his hands up, his slightly-too-small t-shirt riding up to reveal a hint of perfect abs. Not that I noticed. 

"It is so. You got me banned from the one thing I love. Therefore, I hate you. It's a linear relationship. No anomalies." 

"Since when do you love the mall?" he snorted. 

"That's not what I was referring to." 

"Oh, so you're mad at me because you can't see your little boyfriend, is that it?" Drew sneered. 

I was so surprised at both what he said and the venom in his voice as he said it that I turned around and faced him. "What are you talking about? Toby?! He's not my.. We're not.. What do you have against Toby?!" I asked, his question throwing me off balance. 

As soon as I (basically) said that Toby and I weren't a couple, Drew visibly relaxed, and his trademark, lopsided grin reappeared. "Nothing. You're just too good for him." He leaned in, the stupid smile still on his face. 

I found myself involuntarily leaning in towards him, my eyelashes stupidly fluttering, a blush dumping itself across my cheeks (my blushes aren't pretty - they don't bloom, or spread. They just appear, all in one go, reddening my entire face). We kept leaning even closer to each other, heads tilting to opposite sides, his eyes trained intently on mine, sexy smirk replacing the smile. I'm pretty sure I looked like a stunned deer, unable to stop whatever it was we were doing. 

Our lips were centimetres apart, eyes closed. As much as my mind hated Drew, my body appeared to be in complete disagreement when it came to kissing him. I was all but in his lap, we were so close to each other. 

"Hey guys! Oh, sorry, I'll just, um, go, can see you're, erm, busy, sorry, going now.." 

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Hey, hope you liked it :3 xx Tamy