~~~
“I think I am going to die.”
“You think? I KNOW!”
I scowled at Colton, slapping his arm. “Can you be a bit optimistic?”
He returned my scowl. “I am a realistic.”
“No, you are an arsehole.”
“Who even says that anymore?”
“Clearly me.”
He rolled his eyes. “Let’s go get some ice cream.” He started his car.
I stared at him in disbelief. “We just found out 27 packets of cocaine and heroin and god knows what other stuff and you want ice cream?”
He smirked at me, eyes dancing in amusement. “Are you suggesting that we have drugs instead?”
“I am not suggesting anything of that sort!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms heavenwards. “The least you could do is be a bit considerate. I am scared the shit out.”
Colton turned to me and encircled his arms around my waist. I huffed, pulling away but he didn’t loosen his grip, and instead, it tightened. “Racheal, how about we have ice cream and then think this through yeah?”
I inhaled deeply, his woody and familiar scent instantly calming me down. I leaned my forehead on his chest and suddenly felt safe, despite the situation I knew if he was there I would be safe. It scared me. Colton squeezed my waist lightly and I felt myself become a putty. “Okay but just one ice cream and then we solve this okay? I really don’t want to be anywhere where there are so many drugs at a touching distance.” I found myself surrendering to him.
He grinned. “Yes! Done, just relax for now. We’ll sort it out.”
I sighed, finally resting my back on the seat. Unconsciously I felt him draw circles on my wrist, the touch calming me down almost instantly. I was extremely aware of his large palm that fit mine perfectly. Weren’t people with perfect hand fits supposed to be soulmates?
I snorted at the thought receiving a questioning look from Colton. I silently shook my head, simply squeezing his hand. He smiled, embracing it right back.
“Eww, I hate vanilla.” I remarked when Colton ordered a mix of Vanilla and Chocolate chip with sprinkles on top.
“Try this one.” He suggested, licking his lips when he saw the girl scoop the two flavors and add extra sprinkles.
I felt myself staring at him, smiling softly, something tugging the strings of heart when he grinned like a 5-year-old as he grabbed his ice cream. Despite the whole twisted situation he managed to stay calm and keep me calm.
I wondered for the billionth time if somehow this whole fake fiasco had made me crazy and develop a crush on Colton Hastings, the incarnation of the devil himself.
“Uh, you would like – ?”
I jumped at the girl’s amused voice, blushing furiously. I blinked, clearing my throat urging my extreme embarrassment to go away. Colton stood, smirking at me with a twinkle in his eyes and the girl was pressing her lips from laughing out loud.
“I would like-” I glanced at the large display of ice creams. “Cotton candy and maple walnut.”
Colton twisted his lips. “I don’t think that’s going to taste good.”
I shrugged. “I think so too. Put them in different cups.” I told the girl who nodded and handed me the two cups.
“I’ll pay.”
I scowled. “I can pay for myself.”
Colton rolled his eyes. “That would make me a bad boyfriend then.”
I snorted. “Who said you are good anyways?”
“Please I am the best.” He gloated passing a $50 bill.
“From the bottom.” I retorted.
The girl grinned at us, returning the change. “He can’t beat my boyfriend, he’s the worst.”
I chuckled. “Maybe they have a tie then.”
She laughed. “I think so too.”
Colton glared at me. “Just because I refuse to have kinky sex with you doesn’t make me a bad boyfriend.”
I choked on air like literally the oxygen seemed to be playing peek-a-boo and refused to go down my esophagus. I gripped the counter, kneeling and coughing until after 10 seconds oxygen got tired and made its way down my throat.
I straightened glaring at Colton who was doubled over in laughter and even the counter girl was cupping her mouth barely containing her guffaws.
I slapped his shoulder. “As far as I remember you were having a raging hard on the night that I was having a red river.”
Colton choked on his laugh, turning red at the mention of monthly girl problems. “No! That’s not what happened.” He squeaked.
“That is exactly what happened. And when I wanted to do it you were having a problem, your snake just refused to hiss.”
The counter girl slapped the glass, falling down with laughter. I gave her a worried look but she just waved me off, snorting, guffawing, choking, clapping all at once.
Colton on the other hand seemed anything but amused. “I’ll show you how long my snake can hiss.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me outside.
The counter girl shouted from behind. “Good luck doing the snake dance.”
I nodded and winked at her as both my hands were full. We exited and Colton pushed me into the passenger seat. I gripped the cups tightly. “If my ice cream falls, I’ll kill you.”
He didn’t reply, walking over and entering the driver’s seat quietly eating his ice cream.
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you giving me the silent treatment?”
He didn’t reply but leaned back, closing his eyes and continuing to devour and relish his ice cream.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine be that way. Just know that I invented the silent treatment.” Turning back to cotton candy which was half-melted, I finished it and then started with a maple walnut.
Colton patiently waited until I had licked both the cups clean and then grabbed them, stepped out, and threw them in the bin.
I sighed, licking my lips savoring the taste of cold delight. Colton started the car going straight.
I squinted my eyes glancing out. “This isn’t the way to our home.”
“What happened to inventing silent treatment?”
I scowled, folding my arms, puffing out my cheeks, stamping childishly, and then staring outside.
It took me less than 10 minutes to realize we were nearing the beach, with drug packets. I wonder how Colton ever passed any exam. Logic and sense were clearly something he lacked.
“Get out.”
I leaned my head closer to the window, ignoring him.
“Racheal.”
I grinned and waved to a passing shirtless teenage guy who winked back at me. I heard Colton cuss and step out, glaring at the guy and opening my door. “Out.”
I turned my head away from him, tapping my feet.
“Fine, you win now come out before we attract attention.”
I finally looked up at him. “Say the special word.”
His eyebrows furrowed cutely. “Please?”
“Wrong.” I turned my head away again.
“Abracadabra?”
I shook my head.
“Ugh! Clue?”
“Harry Potter.”
“Avada Kedavra?”
I scowled at him. “Kill me, why don’t you?”
He pressed his fingers to his forehead. “That’s the only one I know.”
“VulneraSanentur.” I finally answered. “Because you wound me.”
Colton sent a flat look. “Get out.”
I huffed. “Don’t test me. I can sit here for days.”
“Fine. Sit.” He banged the door shut and turned around walking away.
I stared at his retreating back with my mouth hanging. He’s seriously leaving me alone with drugs? I narrowed my eyes, leaning outside the window.
“It is okay that you have a small pen! s, I won’t tell anyone. Please don’t kill yourself over it.” I shouted real loud, earning curious glances from everyone within a 100 m radius.
He turned to narrow his eyes furiously at me. I smiled but from the inside, I was shaking with fear. I vaguely heard an old woman mutter, “It’s okay son, my ex-husband had a small pen! s. Yes, it was a reason we had a divorce but not the main one. I am sure there’s no need to suicide.”
“I do not have a small pen! s. It is bigger than Anaconda.” He hissed, stomping towards me.
“Shit!” I cursed, crawling over to the other side and opening the door. I heard his pace increasing and I ran in the opposite direction.
“You can’t get away from me anymore. I have had enough jokes about my Jr. today.” He yelled after me.
I urged my legs to go faster not caring to waste my breath by retorting sarcastically. This is what happens when you skip the gym, I thought as I felt sweat drop and my feet start to feel tired.
“Haha, love gym don’t you?” Colton’s voice seemed closer and I yelped, picking up my pace.
“I am the basketball captain babe, you can’t run away from me.”
I tried searching for any place to hide but were at a beach and other than water and tall coconut trees that could barely hide my arm, there was nothing in sight.
I saw a small junk food shop but he would know I was there. After running for another two minutes I gave up. I rested my hands on my half-bent knees, breathing heavily. My top stuck to me due to sweat and I felt dirty. How can people run so much? And love it? Weirdos.
I slumped down on the sand, wiping the sweat off my forehead. Colton strolled casually towards me, his breathing pretty even and a huge smirk plastered on his face. “This is what happens when you don’t exercise.” He sat beside me, stretching his long legs.
I scowled at him. “I do exercise.”
“Picking up food from the plate and dropping it in the mouth isn’t exercise.”
My scowl deepened. “Is climbing considered?”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah, but you don’t climb.”
I smirked. “I do actually, more than 10 times a day.”
“Liar.”
“From my bedroom to the kitchen and back, there are 10 stairs and climbing is exercise. This means if I go down 10 times a day, I climb up 100 stairs, every day. Beat that!” I grinned proudly.
Colton sent me a flat stare. “Seriously?”
I nodded my head vigorously. “Yes, I do go down 10 times, the kitchen is downstairs.”
He rubbed his palm over his face in frustration. “You are so irritating.”
“And yet you are here, lying beside me.” I pointed out, wiggling my eyebrows.
He didn’t respond to that but changed the subject. “You left the car unlocked, I had to lock it so no one could see what was inside.”
The atmosphere changed and thickened. I felt worried grip him. “What do we do?”
“I think we should talk to your mom.”
I stared at him and then burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious. She’ll first scream louder than that screaming girl in X-men then slap us with a glass table. Then tie us to a chair, interrogate us Hitler style and then leave us there till we die.”
“Sounds fascinating.” He sassed.
“Don’t joke about this Colton.”
“I am not Racheal.” He pressed. “See your mother would know what to do, after all this is her case. Let her decide.”
I groaned. “I am going to be grounded and she’ll make sure you are too. We won’t be able to go to the beach with our friends.”
“Then we’ll sneak out.”
“For two days?” I grunted.
“Yes.”
I sighed, lying on my back, with hands under my head. “Whatever. Leave it, you go and tell.”
Colton looked down at me and I glanced away, gazing at the waves.
“Hey.” He put his forefinger under my chin, making me face him. “If you don’t want to tell her we won’t.”
I shook my head slowly. “No you’re right we should. Otherwise, we will be in deeper shit.”
“Or we could just sell it.” He joked.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know who you are.”
He chuckled softly. “Don’t worry I’ll use my charms.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Disgusting.”
“You are just jealous.”
“Sure I am. So we just stuff it all back in and take it to my mom saying ‘Hey we went to investigate Raul’s ex and she gave us a teddy filled with drugs? What’s for dinner?'”
“No. we tell her everything.” Colton replied.
“Everything?” I squeaked out. “Even about how we entered Raul’s apartment?”
“Yes.”
I covered my face, mentally weeping. “I am so dead. Can you tell everyone that I love them despite them being idiots?”
He lightly pried my hands away, I didn’t open my eyes. “She’s going to support us okay. If you don’t want we won’t tell about Nathan and Josh.”
I thought for a while then opened my eyes looking straight into his grey eyes. I blinked, when had he leaned so close? He coughed, tilting back still staring at me, his eyes wavering to my lips.
Unconsciously I licked them and blushed furiously when his grey eyes turned almost black. I gulped looking away. “Mom would know Josh was in this anyway. He’s the only one who can pick her office lock.”
“Still she doesn’t change?”
“She tried, three times he somehow picked them all. She finally gave up, there’s just files and folders in there anyway.” I shrugged.
“So can we go now?”
I exhaled worryingly. “We don’t have a lot of options, do we?”
He stood up, dusting the sand off his jeans before offering his hand. “We can always do True Romance style and run away to Hollywood to sell them.”
I grabbed his hand, letting him pull me. “Or I could hide it under your bed, call the police and throw a party after you are in jail.”
He promptly let my hand go and I stumbled back, falling back on my butt. “AW!” I winced as I went deeper into the soft sand. I glared up at the smirking Colton.
“That’s what you get for throwing me under the bus. We are crossing this road together, if a bus overruns me I am pulling you down with me.”
“Yay life for giving me such a lovely boyfriend.” I muttered deadpanned.
Colton merely grinned. “At least you are with someone who is hot, I can’t even say the same thing about me.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, clenching my fists. “I give you a 7-second head start.”
It took him 3 seconds to realize what I meant and 1 second to stick his tongue out me immaturely before turning on heels and running.
I counted till 3 and ran full speed – in the opposite direction.
Luckily he hadn’t realized that he was running away from the parking area, I ran towards his car, sitting on his bonnet, taking out my phone, and casually checking all messages.
It took Colton exactly thirteen minutes and thirty-eight seconds to march towards the car with an awfully ferocious expression.
I smiled innocently. “Hey, honey how was your jog?”
He stood in front of me and then leaned ahead, pressing his palms on both sides of my crossed legs. He narrowed his eyes, coming closer to my face. I let out a small nervous laugh, bowing away and only stopping when the glass hit my back.
“My jog you ask?” he whispered right into my face. I could feel his breath fanning my face. “It was splendid. I ran for three minutes until I realized you weren’t behind me then I spent eight minutes, calling your name and trying to find you because I forgot my phone in the car. Then I saw you here and spend two minutes resisting the urge to march over here and throttle you until you become lifeless so I can dump you into the sea.” He paused, taking in my terrified, and then leaned back coolly like he hadn’t just confessed the urge to kill me. “Find your own way back home. I’ll be in the kitchen eating cookies with your mom.”
I felt my jaw drop and eyes widen. I blinked thrice taking in shaky breaths. “You can’t be serious.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like I am not serious?”
I took in his stiff face and emotionless eyes before nodding slowly and getting down, keeping my head down.
He didn’t spare a glance at me, just got in his car and started it. I jumped away when he horned. I looked at him through the glass with hope but he was looking behind as he backed the car.
I stood still simply staring at his car disappeared down the road. I didn’t even know why but tears threatened to fall down my eyes like Niagara Falls and I bit my lip, blinking them away. I sluggishly walked to where the car was there and then sat there Indian style pressing my face into my palms. I guess the stress finally caught up with me.
I was the type of person to bottle every emotion inside but then something stupid would cause them all to erupt like a freaking volcano. I hated it, feeling vulnerable.
I let a few tears fall and my breathing hitched. I sniffed wiping them off. I didn’t even know whom to call, this beach was around 45 minutes away and Simone was only permitted up to a 30-minute drive. Eva and Ira drove scooters and they were at their Aunt’s place which was almost two hours away. I could call the guys but I didn’t want them to know about what just happened.
I felt like screaming in madness, the painful tug in my heart seeming more and more prominent as the seconds passed. It was just a joke, maybe I did tease him a lot today but that didn’t give him the right to just leave me stranded with unknown people.
Once again I felt the tears drip and I did nothing to stop them. I simply gripped my phone and pressed my lip wondering why I was such a bad human being. Did I deserve this? I could die here. Maybe I got this because I didn’t forward those ‘send these to 10 more people or suffer’ chain messages in 8th grade.
I let out a small scream of pain, lightly banging my head on the ground. “I hate this.”
“Shit! Racheal, are you crying?”
I yelped and jumped up on my legs, turning back only to see Colton Hastings, my pathetic fake boyfriend standing there with a real worried look.
I felt anger, frustration, nonchalance, contentment, and finally happiness as I saw him staring with a genuinely guilty look.
I let my heart take over for the first time and ran to him, throwing my arms around his shoulder pulling him close. I sniffed ungraciously into his tee, resting my forehead under his heart. “Don’t do that. Ever.”
It took him mere seconds to get over the shock of me hugging him until he wrapped his arms around my waist, almost picking me up as he pulled me even closer. He let his head fall on my shoulders. “Never. Never. I am so sorry, it was just a joke. I didn’t know you would cry. I am so so sorry Racheal Smith, do whatever you want with these apologies but I mean them.”
I simply nodded, drowning in the feel of his body pressed against mine. His nose lightly rubbed against my neck and I felt the back of my hair rise. My heartbeat rose and I felt his rise too. And at that moment, with his arms around me and his lips gently grazing my neck as his heartbeat matched mine. I came to a conclusion that would change my whole life.
I had a crush on Colton Hastings, a huge, massive, undeniable, implausible, painful, unconditional, and irrevocable crush.
I am so fucking screwed.
Yet despite the unfortunate realization, I found myself whispering to him. “I still hate you.”
~~~