by Riley Ross, Sally Slayer, Kaydence Rayne, & Dovey Mayali Cralk
Chapter Two
The next morning Alyssa woke up, not entirely convinced that all of yesterday was more than a dream. She had Seth’s number, stolen off of Rachel shortly after he had gotten a cell phone, but she had never used it before. Part of her wanted to call him, or at least leave a quick text. Then another part was still convinced yesterday was either a joke or he had realized she was the wrong choice.
Grabbing the pillow, she held it against her face and screamed into it. Not even a second later she heard a ping from the nightstand next to her. While tossing the pillow aside, she scrambled to grab for her phone with the hope that it was him – even though she knew there was no way it could be. Seth didn't even have her phone number. He never asked her for it and the only other person who could have given it to him was Rachel, and she would have said something.
Despite that fact, Alyssa struggled on whether or not to check the message. If it was him, that would be great. Wonderful even. But if it wasn't... she would be so disappointed. It was the fear of the let down that was keeping her from checking.
"Quit being stupid," she hissed at herself and grabbed the damn thing, opening up the text screen – but only looking at it with one eye. That way if it wasn't him she could just shut both of her eyes and pretend like it didn't happen. But if it was, she could squeal in excitement because she wasn't expecting it. Not really.
It was from her mom.
We're going to be late coming home tonight. You can order Chinese or pizza if you'd like.
Sighing, she plopped back onto her bed – disappointed. It was stupid. Her heart actually hurt because it wasn't him and she hated it.
"Stupid phone," she grumbled, shoving it under her pillow in an attempt to suffocate it for making her feel this way. Even though it was actually Seth that was doing this to her – it felt better to blame and punish an inanimate object.
While she was shoving her pillow on to it, and grunting out obscenities in the process, her phone had vibrated with an incoming call. Without noticing, she managed to accidentally answer it during the assault.
It took her a couple of moments to realize there was a voice under her pillow and that whomever was on the line could have heard any number of curse words or other obscene phrases she may have just used.
"Hello?" she picked up her phone, hoping it wasn't one of her parents.
"There you are," the familiar voice laughed, "I was waiting for you to finish your attack. Figured it was important.”
Her heart started pounding violently in her chest while she sank into the bed, trying to shrink down in embarrassment. "You heard that?"
"Heard what?" Seth asked innocently, "That you were taking your aggression out on something in your room because of a stupid boy with gorgeous eyes, thank you by the way, who is making everything too confusing?"
"It's worse than I thought!" She whined, covering her head with the devil pillow. "If you don't mind, I plan on dying in a couple moments. It'll be the only way to end this embarrassment."
"Nah, there are other ways to relieve such pains and they're much more fun than dying. You should try those first."
"How fun?" Her interest was peaked, "And what sort of ways?"
"How about I come over there and we can find out."
"Are you threatening me, Seth?"
"More like propositioning."
She squeaked, unsure of how to reply. Sure she was attracted to him, but she wasn't ready for something like that, especially not now while she was so confused.
"Oh, my god!" He started laughing really hard, trying to choke out words between breaths. "Did you think I was serious? I was just teasing you."
"That's not funny," she hissed, but couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach knowing that he thought of them together in such a way was a joke to him. She wasn't opposed to it, but it just wasn't the time.
It took him a second to figure out why she had replied so defensively.
"Oh, that's not what I meant. I mean, I do... I would like to..."
Now he was the one that felt stupid as he stumbled over his words, "I just meant that's not what I was talking about. I just wanted to hang out with you today because I have some free time now and would like to spend it with you."
She checked the clock and realized it was still pretty early. "What time would you like to come over?"
"Now."
Alyssa smiled, feeling warmth spreading through her. She liked this much better than what she was experiencing earlier. "I'm still in my PJs. Can you give me like, half an hour? Meet me by the back door."
He agreed to the time and she got off the phone so she could get herself ready. Today was already full of too many conflicting emotions. She didn't know how much more she could take and still claim to be sane.