Chapter Thirty-Seven: With Him
The drive back was weird to say the least. If before it was heavy with tension because we weren't on speaking terms, now it was because we had no idea where we were at.
That embrace felt so different from the ones before.
Adam told the driver to let me down first so we passed by the apartment complex and went straight towards the university. It was rather late already but knowing those two, Meg and Julia were probably still awake and waiting for me.
Not once did I reach for my phone to ask for a bail out and that was telling.
The vehicle came to a stop right in front of the building and I knew it was time to say goodbye. Now I could approach this situation in several ways. One, I could ask him if we were good friends, but that was too heartbreaking for the both of us. Two, I could just make do with an awkward side hug and a thank you for the evening, yet that still didn't sound good to me. Or third, I could open the door and make a run for it.
Last one was definitely not an option.
Second one it is!
"I had a good time," I turned to face him, "Say thank you to Heart for me."
Now I just needed to commence the side hug and I could go. Of course, even this was something I had to overthink. I tried to look for least compromising position but I honestly looked like freak staring at him with this wondering expression on my face.
My eyebrows were scrunched up and my mouth was jutted into a small pout while I continuously swayed from side to side to see if there was an opening I could swoop into.
Then, out of nowhere, he let out a small laugh, "What are you doing?"
To be frank with you, I had no idea anymore.
Although this master plan was already formulating in my head, all thoughts flew right out when he leaned towards me and robbed me the pleasure of the one initiating the side hug.
My mouth tugged into a small smile, appreciating the small gesture because I honestly thought this would be more awkward than it was, "Good night."
At the very least, I didn't need to jump to the third option. With that, I opened the door and walked right out. I was actually impressed that after everything that had been said and done, I was rather calm.
When I got inside my room, Meg and Julia were both sitting on the floor with a laptop on top of a stack of pillows, playing a move they decided to watch. They heard the door opening and like a couple of dogs hearing the word squirrel, they turned their heads to me at the exact same time.
Meg reached forward to pause the movie while Julia stood up to guide me towards my bed, "What happened?"
"Well, everything was a surprise," I stated, falling onto my mattress, "Though I'm scarily calm about this whole thing."
"The last part is pretty obvious," Meg laughed, "So give us the details."
"First of all, it wasn't a dinner with Heart and Adam, but it was her ploy to get the two of us alone," I started off with the first tragedy of the evening, "Then she rented out the city's museum for our date."
Julia gasped in amazement, "Having a rich best friend must be nice."
Well, if I looked at things from Adam's perspective, not everything has been sunshine and rainbows.
"It was ridiculously uncomfortable because we couldn't even talk to each other and we barely touched the food," the part about the dozen pictures that Adam had secretly sent to Heart was exclusive for my memory, thank you very much, so I was skipping that part, "But we soon made an agreement to put whatever we went through behind us and enjoy the night."
We lasted a successful hour before all that stuff happened.
There was a long pause after that because even I had to think about it for a while. How even though I liked him, I had to reject him, "He asked me to be his girlfriend."
"And?!" they managed to both ask in unison.
And? And then I turned him down. That decision wasn't easy because all the events happened in such a short amount of time. People might be angry at me when I tell my reasons, but have they ever been in love? Do they know what it feels like to try your best and look at other people yet end up realizing that you just loved this one other person this whole time?
"I said no," I finally replied, my voice quiet and almost breathless. I didn't address that answer to them, but it felt like an apology that I hoped the wind would carry to Adam.
"Wait, but why?" Meg questioned, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
I stood up and sighed, "Because of what you said."
"Me?" she gaped.
"The thing about being moving on and being able to love again," I clarified, looking down on them, "He wasn't ready to love again and let's be honest, I haven't truly moved on yet."
I thought I did. But as the days go by and my head had only been occupied by thoughts of Justin, I've slowly come to the conclusion that I haven't. What I've moved on from was not being in a relationship with him, but I haven't moved on from loving him.
And Adam? While I did adore him to bits and pieces, I wasn't his golden ticket to forgetting that he had feelings for his best friend. While I knew he had no intentions of doing so, he made me feel like I always ranked second, that I was an afterthought.
I didn't want to be in a relationship like that. He'd find another girl that will be so right for him, but that girl isn't me.
"You're so right when you said our first impression of you was wrong," Julia piped in with a held back chuckle.
While I do appreciate the jab, I was not in the laughing mood.
"Julia, not now," I frowned, kicking her slightly so she would get off of my bed, "To be honest, I just want to sleep, this had been a long night."
Forget about my outfit or my makeup and hair, let me get out of this mental space. This day was so weird that I didn't want to believe that it was real.
And let me tell you a little lesson I learned the morning after – no matter how much you want the day to be over, wash your damn makeup off and wash your hair to get rid of all the products in. When I woke up, there was a variety of stains on my pillow and no matter how hard I tried to comb my hair, it wouldn't budge.
I spent more than an hour in the bathroom to get myself together. Needless to say, both Julia and Meg found my predicament hilarious.
"Now I'm really curious to know what your plan is now," Meg chuckled, taking a bite of the bread in her hand. I released another groan, taking my seat next to Julia and set my own plate of breakfast on the table, "Your story is far more interesting than the movie we watched last night."
Really, I've had enough of this.
"Well, I'm just thankful that last night was over. After I cool off, I'll call Adam and try to talk to him," I nodded with determination. Though the moment I picked up my fork, my phone that was next to the plate lit up. I peered over and I slumped against my seat, "And looks like the universe is not yet finished messing with me."
Heart Valentine: Come on out, I'm waiting in the car.
Just one day! Can't I have one day?
"You guys can have this," I sighed, pushing my plate away and standing up, "The princess is right outside and wants to see me."
Before either of them could voice out their excitement, I shut them down quickly, "Alone."
I quickly ran a hand through my hair to make it look like I didn't just tortured it and walked outside, there was the same vehicle that drove us around last night. I started to approach it but when I was at a good distance, the door opened and out came one sneaker-clad foot then followed by the other.
This certainly made me wonder because except for the times she was in the comfort of her own home, she was usually in heels. As if she ever needed them, she was already tall on her own, but I guess it did make her more intimidating and imposing.
She removed the sunglasses from hiding her blue eyes and she grinned towards me, "Sienna."
How much does she know?
"My best friend is studying here and I share a flat so close to it, yet I haven't been around the university yet," she told me, that sweet plastic smile on her face once again, "How about we walk around?"
Right now I was sincerely regretting my decision not to have Meg or Julia tag along. She wouldn't be able to kill me if there were witnesses.
"Sure," I replied an if it was possible, my voice cracked halfway. It was one damn word with one damn syllable.
We were quiet for the first few minutes because for one thing, I was hell sure that I wasn't going to be the one that started the conversation. Heart took her sweet time observing our surroundings and impressively ignoring all the obvious stares she was getting.
We did get stopped multiple times by others asking for a picture or an autograph. While she did say yes to the signing, she refused the photographs. She even goes as far as telling her fans not to post anywhere on social media where she was currently at.
"I don't want them to know where I am then suddenly hound me," she explained after a group of people waved her goodbye after thanking her for the autograph.
It was hard to believe at times that we were the same age. Then again, she was forced to grow up while I enjoyed my youth to the fullest.
"So how was your date with Adam last night?" she finally started the talk I was dreading.
At least she didn't beat around the bush so I was thankful for that.
"It went..." I paused for a moment to find the right word, "Interesting."
She raised a brow but continued walking nonetheless, "Just like how Adam described it."
Again, the lingering question: Does she know already?
"When I left back in January, I asked you to take care of Adam," she reminded and oh gosh, I should've prepared my will. At least let me publish the book that I wrote, "And almost every day, I got a play by play. I'm sure he left out the intimate parts but I could just see how quick and hard he was falling."
This was the one that made me stop my tracks. Adam, you were so open about me to Heart and sadly, you haven't been like that to me.
Why couldn't you have said anything?
"Then somehow, a week after my birthday, everything changed," she said, turning to me, "Do you know why?"
Oh because I shattered his heart?
Though with her tone I guessed all this time, she had it figured out.
"He would talk about his classes, his friends, and yet, not a word about you," she told me, "And I know Adam, enough to realize when he's not happy."
You know, I was expecting her to be angry at me or shout at me for the audacity of hurting her precious best friend. Instead, all I got was a sad frown, "I knew something was wrong but he wouldn't tell me. When I said I was coming back to the flat before I leave for America, I insisted that I wanted to see you, just an assurance that everything was still alright between you two."
And instead, she got a lie.
"But the moment I arrived, his body language was plain obvious so I thought of a plan," she explained, "Rent that museum, create the perfect romantic setting, and give you both that extra push. I printed out those pictures as a reminder to you that Adam deeply cares for you. I think I wasn't that successful in the end."
If it was any consolation, her idea with the pictures did work. It gave me a huge reminder that Adam thought about me that way. His pictures was my book. It was sweet when we were experiencing it in the moment, but rather bitter now that you look at it.
Now I just want it to turn into a beautiful memory.
"He wouldn't tell me anything so I thought about going to you for an explanation."
Alright, that at least answered my unspoken question.
But Adam didn't want to tell her anything so it wasn't my place to be the one to spout everything to her. Of course, now I knew the reason why he hid the whole story and while I didn't agree with him, I shouldn't be the one to blab.
So instead, I'd take this time to stop being so afraid of her and come clean. Essentially, I wasn't saying anything bad about him, but I was expressing my own side, "I like Adam, but I'm not in love with him."
"I don't expect you to be," she shook her head, "Especially since you just started dating and..."
I cut her off, "I'm not in love with him."
The special emphasis on the last word was enough for her to understand what I meant. I cared deeply for Adam, I adored him even, but I cannot force myself to love him, no matter how much I wanted to.
And I was sure that he felt the same way about me. He likes me, I'm not insecure about that part, but how much space did I occupy in his heart relative to his best friend?
Now, this was the time I really was expecting her to explode. But once again, she surprised me by flashing me an empathetic look, "I know what that feels like."
"Axel?" I dared to ask and she nodded.
"I admit it, I loved Adam more than as a friend back then, but Axel started to like me. I thought he was a good choice, but I couldn't give my all to him because I still loved someone else," when she came to me and expected that I was going to say my side to the story, I never expected her to say hers. While I did know a little bit because Adam told me the whole gist of things, this was the first for me to hear the history of the celebrity couple, "But you know what? Axel had this special way of making me turn to him and slowly but surely, I came to like him. To just put a final stamp to everything, I confessed to Adam and the only reason I did was because I wanted to be Axel's."
Hold on, wait a minute, stop for a second! This girl went on her way to tell her best friend, the love of her life for several years, her true feelings just so she could give her heart away to someone else?
And from what Adam had told me before, all of this occurred in one summer?
Geeze, if New York was fast, then what was California?
"He rejected me and he revealed that he helped Axel this whole time," ah, now that was the part that I knew, "Of course I was upset for a while but in the end, all the pieces went into place. I love Axel, he's my boyfriend, and yet that didn't remove the fact that there was a point that I loved somebody else while I liked him."
Although I had a huge doubt that things would smoothen themselves out like hers did, I found a bit of comfort that she experienced what I was currently experiencing.
"I don't fault you for being in that situation, but I hope you won't hurt him."
Your highness, it was too late for that.
"I'm leaving tonight so I won't be here to breathe down on your necks anymore," she sighed, "So do whatever you think is right."
The thing was, I had no idea what was right anymore
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So here's the thing, I basically gave you guys a very quick summary of Hollywood's Princess. My memory is a little faulty but I think I based this more on the published version as opposed to the wattpad version but I'm not sure. Anyways, we're so close to the ending and I'm so emotional!
You guys still think that Sienna did the right thing?
See you next chapter!
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