by Lili Lam
"Do you really think it was all meant to be a joke?" Anya questioned as her baby blues gazed up towards the ceiling thoughtfully. She was sprawled out across my bed with her arms folded underneath her head, while I moved around my room trying to tidy up. The way her voice rose up a slight octave made me believe she didn't think this was some sort of bet; that the joke wasn't on me this time.
My hand was frozen midair ready to put a book back in its place on my bookshelf, when I turned around to face her. I stared over at her with an uneasy expression. "C'mon Anya, really? Before yesterday I didn't exist to Tristan, now all of a sudden by some miracle, he's interested in me? Something's not right here and I'm not that gullible."
"It's just, you didn't see the poor guy's expression, Lise." Anya insisted, sitting straight up on the bed slapping her palms down on the mattress. "He seemed so distraught!"
I snorted, yea I know how attractive of me. "Tristan distraught over me? Yea right!" I barked with a laugh as I rolled my eyes and went back to arranging my bookshelf. "Can we talk about something else?"
I didn't want to discuss this anymore. The more we speak of it, the more I wanted to march myself across the lawn and bang on his door demanding an explanation. I at least deserve that much don't I? We got home from the beach a few minutes prior after only spending a half-hour there. I tried to stay as long as I felt comfortable, but being under Tristan's constant scrutiny was not my idea of a good time.
How was I supposed to get a tan if I couldn't even lay out without feeling like I was under surveillance? The paleness of my skin isn't doing my newly blond hair any justice. After our little incident, I threw myself down on my towel next to Anya. She didn't question me about what happened right away, because she somehow grasped the fact that I was on the verge of bursting into tears.
I was grateful she knew me well enough to not pry until I had enough time to calm down. At first, Tristan seemed hesitant to leave the side of the beach we were on. Anya told me he stood there for a good five minutes with a torn expression plastered to his face. That Tristan mumbled something that seemed a lot like he was cursing himself out before making his way over to join his friends.
A while after he went away, I finally swallowed the lump in my throat and told her everything that occurred. "I almost died when he grabbed your face and planted one right smack on your lips." Anya sighed dreamily. "If it counts for anything it looked like he really wanted to kiss you."
"Tristan Evans doesn't just go around kissing random nerds." I reassured her. "There's an ulterior motive to all this and I don't even want to know what it is."
"He hasn't taken his eyes off you." Anya whispered leaning in closer to me as she propped herself up on her elbows.
I didn't need her to tell me this; I could literally feel the intensity of his gaze burning into my skin. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of even looking his way. I meant what I said when I told him to leave me alone. I’m perfectly content with living my life drama and hater free.
Surely I don't want to develop a fan base from a hate club created in my name by the popular girls who feel as though I’m trying to step on their toes. Shrugging my shoulders in an 'I don't care' response, I stood up and brushed some sand off my legs. I began to fold up my towel, not really in the mood to be here anymore.
"What do you say we get out of here?" I suggested calmly, but my eyes were pleading with her to say yes.
If we stayed here any longer I was sure to hurl chunks with the way the contents of my stomach were turning violently in circles. I felt physically sick as I thought of Tristan and his boys laughing at my expense. Being the understanding friend that she is Anya agreed, which is why we're currently back at my house.
"What do you want to do tonight?" Anya asked standing up from the bed to stretch. "Any ideas?"
I pulled my mouth up to one side as I thought of something fun to do to keep us occupied. My best friend was only here for two days and I wasn't going to waste it worrying about Tristan.
"Well, we could go roller-skating. There's a rink where a lot of the teens go to hang out." I recommended, hoping Anya didn't think I was a total geek for coming up with that idea.
The place was pretty cool and it is huge, I've only been over there once for my cousin's sixteenth birthday party. One area was like dance club except you skated to the music, the other side was a bowling alley, and then there was an arcade/pool table area.
I had a blast at my cousin's party, but that was over a year ago. I never went back after that, didn't have anyone to go there with. I knew it was still a trendy place to go, it's all I hear people talk about at school when the weekend was over.
"I love roller skating!" Anya shrieked excitedly. "Going to go shower and get ready!" She yelled skipping her way into my bathroom and shutting the door behind her.
We were having an awesome time as we skated around the rink shaking our booties to Dance Again by JLo. I’m proud to say; at least I know how to roller-skate. It has to be the most athletic thing I can do. I can skate forwards, backwards, and I know a few tricks.
Skates were permanently attached to my feet as a young child, I thought I'd be a professional roller skater when I grew up. Shush up, I know what you're thinking…that I’m a weirdo.
This place is packed tonight with a lot of teens from school. Laughing uncontrollably as Anya started attempting her own personal version of the cabbage patch, I managed to gasp out. "I need to stop and get a drink before I collapse."
"Me too." She answered using her hand to fan herself to cool down. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out the rink towards the concession stand.
"What can I get for you girls?" One of the girls I recognized as a senior from school asked from behind the counter.
"A medium raspberry iced tea and a medium cola slushy." I answered for both Anya and myself.
Standing there waiting for our drinks, I heard it before I saw it. "Cheater, you didn't even call that shot!" A guy's voice screamed in outrage.
Shaking my head in displeasure at my crap luck, I turned my head slightly to the side to see surprise, oh surprise. Luke, Tristan, Sam, Max, Jordan, and Gabe were playing a game of pool at one of the tables. The one who screamed in outrage was Max; he seemed to be the drama queen of the group. Always calling foul play when it came to his turn. He thought there was a big conspiracy against him. Were these six joined at the hip? You never saw one without the other, it's like they all shared a brain and couldn't function properly without the entire group.
"Ah, crap!" Anya mumbled when she caught a glimpse of what held my attention.
Luke happened to look up at that exact Moment zoning straight in on Anya. "Hey Anya, Lise!" He waved frantically at us.
I murmured to Anya under my breath trying my hardest to not move my lips. "Let's just say hi, grab our drinks and go.”
"Hey!" I said in false excitement as I gave the group a little wave. Anya followed my lead except her entire smile lit up her face.
In a way I felt kind of guilty. I know she likes Luke and wants to get to know him better, but isn't because she does not want leave me alone. Grabbing our drinks, we quickly made our way back over to the side of the rink. We stood there slurping down our yummy beverages as we watched people whiz by us.
"God, I hope they don't come over here." I grumbled biting down on my straw.
"Highly doubt it, they don't look like the type of guys who know how to skate." Anya joked and at this we giggled at the thought of six husky guys on skates.
Dumping our empty cups in the trash we skated back into the rink. The song playing was Glad You Came by The Wanted. Woo-hoo those guys are hot! The DJ announced this was a backward skate song. Which meant, of course that you had to skate backwards to the entire song.
Anya and I stayed out on the floor; we're both pros at backward skating. It seems she had the same aspiring dream I did when she was younger. Except she wanted to be a waitress on skates, ha. As we came up on our second circle around, I noticed six guys standing at the mo
uth of the rink.
Great just great, so much for us thinking they couldn't skate. They all had rollerblades on. WTH! My eyes widened in disbelief just as my head snapped in Anya's direction. She was so entranced in swaying from side to side and singing along with the song, she didn't even notice my state of panic.
"Anya they're coming in here." I whisper yelled in distress. "Anya!" My goodness when this girl gets in her zone, she really gets in her zone. It's like she's in another world.
I was so busy trying to flail Anya down; I didn't even realize a curve approaching until I saw Anya drifting away from me as she followed the proper formation. Allowing a brief glance over my shoulder, I let out a slight groan when I came to the realization I was headed straight for the wall.
I came to the quick conclusion that I...Annalise Foster, am going to definitely run straight into this wall! There is absolutely no way in hell I'd stop in time. Just as I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and braced myself for impact, I felt two strong muscular arms wrap around my entire body pulling me forward into a hard chest and coming to a stop.
The warmth of his arms felt as though I was spun tight into a cocoon. Without opening my eyes and looking up, I could automatically tell whose arms I was entrapped in. If I had to describe it, I'd say it was a pins and needles sensation prickling at my entire body. An automatic sense of warmth filled me from head to toe.
Just that quickly, my song ended and the lights came on as the DJ announced it was time to play some fun games where you could win prizes. I pried my eyes open and allowed my gaze to become trapped in Tristan's.
"You ok?" He breathed softly, holding me away at arms length as his eyes roamed from my head to my toes examining me for any injuries.
"Um yea, thanks." I muttered shyly, expressing my gratitude for him saving my behind from becoming one with the wall. How embarrassing! I'm pretty sure at the speed I was going my body would have left a nice indent in the wall. Either that or I would have had a bruise from ramming the wall head on. The DJ announced one last time that if we weren't participating in the games then we needed to get off the floor. Looking up at Tristan through my lashes, I grumbled another "Thanks" before skating off.
"Lise, wait." Tristan's voice basically pleaded. For some odd reason I didn't like hearing him so unhappy. "I wanted to apologize to you about earlier. I'm sorry, about the kiss."
My eyebrows raised up on its on accord, I couldn't help it. He was sorry about the kiss. He regretted it, just like I knew he would. I won't lie; this admission managed to chip away at my heart. Deep down inside a girl never wants to hear that the person she has a crush on regrets kissing her. As a little girl, you always hope your first kiss will be magical and with someone who enjoyed it just as much as you did. This wasn't the case though. My first kiss was a stolen one.
"I should have done it properly, but I couldn't help myself." Tristan confessed as his hand shot out to tuck a few strands of hair that came loose from my ponytail behind my ear. What? Am I hearing things? I thought as I glanced around for Anya. Where the heck is this girl? I spotted her off to one side flirting shamelessly with Luke.
"I'm sorry what?" I inquired asking him to repeat himself. Not trusting that I heard him right the first time.
He chuckled at my reaction, "I said I'm sorry about stealing a kiss. I should've done it properly by asking you out on a date first, but I just couldn't help myself." He repeated very slowly this time assuring that I heard him loud and clear.
My mouth is probably dropped open and hanging on the floor. I'm sure there's some drool dribbling down the side of my mouth. Just what is Tristan playing at here? Finally coming back to my senses, I couldn't help the snarky retort that escaped my lips. "What makes you so confident that I'd even say yes to going out on a date with you?"
His eyes twinkled against the bright lights in the rink. They seemed to be filled with amusement as a smirk playfully spread across his lips. I had to glance away; I was getting lost in those eyes again! I felt his fingertips brush against my arm softly running a hot trail where they went. He let out a long sigh.
"I know you think I'm playing with your feelings Lise, but I can promise you I'm not." Tristan tilted my face towards his, making sure our eyes connected. "You can believe what you want for now, I want you to have doubt in me so that I have the chance to prove you completely wrong."
Bending his knees slightly so that he could be eye level with me, he continued. "Just please don't ask me to leave you alone or stay away from you again, because it's physically impossible for me to do so." With that last word, Tristan turned and skated off towards his friends. Immediately feeling the loss of his warmth I wrapped my arms around myself.
I stared after him in awe, shocked at his entire heartfelt confession. It was a side to Tristan I never thought I'd see his sensitive, caring, and compassionate side. Sometimes you think it's better to know exactly what's going on in one's mind that causes them to commit certain actions. Now I think that sometimes it's better to not know, because ignorance is bliss.
Chapter 4: Happiness