Being Watched

Chapter 16

I told my mom that my friends are coming over for a movie night on Saturday so she got all excited and bought all kinds of snacks for us.

She also said that we could put some mattresses and sheets on the living room floor and all sleep there for the night if we decided to sleep.

I told all my friends to get their pajamas with them and they all agreed. We’ve been talking about it all week and we’re all excited for it.

Jeremy and I didn’t have any intense or awkward moments anymore. There were some surprising moments though because he talked to me a bit sometimes and that was something I wasn’t expecting.

His attitude changed a bit by the end of the week but of course it wasn’t like before. Not even close.

He didn’t bring up the Friday night meeting and I didn’t either. I did go, though and I had a nice time. He was there but he didn’t acknowledge me much. I didn’t mind though because the purpose of the Friday meetings wasn’t Jeremy. It was finding answers.

“Steph, your dad and I will be upstairs if you and your friends need anything,” my mom says. I glance at my watch and see that it’s almost eight. They should be here any minute.

“Okay, thanks mom,” I say and she smiles before going upstairs.

I open my Facebook on my phone as I wait for my friends to arrive. A few minutes later, the doorbell rings.

I open the door and find Emma and Janna. I smile at them and tell them to come in. They put their bags in the right corner of the room before sitting on the couch facing the TV.

“So who’s coming tonight?” Janna asks.

“Henry and Gavin,” I reply and they nod.

Emma then starts looking through the movies I have on the coffee table. We comment on a few movies and start deciding what we should watch first.

At around 8:15, the doorbell rings and I jump out of the couch and walk to the front door.

I swing it open and smile at Gavin and Henry.

“Hey,” I say, stepping aside to let them in. That is when I notice a flash of blond.

My eyebrows shoot up when I see Jeremy standing behind the two guys, scowling.

“We brought Jeremy with us,” Henry says. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Forced me to come,” I hear Jeremy grumble and Gavin rolls his eyes at him.

“Shut up, dude, you’ve been moping for a week so you’re here to have fun!” Henry says. Jeremy’s been moping all week? Does this have to do with my confession?

“Whatever,” Jeremy grumbles as they walk into the living room.

They greet the girls and sit down on the couches.

“We’re watching ‘Taken’ first!” Gavin says as soon as he sees the movies and I chuckle.

“Okay,” I say as I put in the DVD. When the movie starts playing, I go to the kitchen and get the bowls of popcorn and chips.

I put them on the coffee table and Henry suddenly yells. “FOOD!”

I burst out laughing at him as he grabs a handful of popcorn and shoves them into his mouth.

“Sit down,” Gavin tells me, after rolling his eyes at Henry.

He moves to the right, closer to Janna and pats the seat between him and Jeremy.

I hesitate at first, scared of Jeremy’s reaction but when I look at him, I see his face blank so I take a seat between the two guys.

When the movie ends, Janna asks, “Can we change into our PJs now?”

“Sure,” I reply.

“There’s a bathroom down the hall to the left,” I say and as soon as the words escape my mouth Emma stands up and yells “Shotgun!”

I jump, surprised by her sudden outburst then start laughing as she runs to the bathroom with her bag in her arms.

“Janna you can change in my room and you guys change here,” I tell them and Janna grabs her bag as she follows me upstairs.

She goes into my bathroom to change and I grab my pajamas from my closet and put them on.

Janna chuckles when she comes out of the bathroom. “Cute PJs,” she comments and I look down at my pajamas. Jack bought them for me on my last birthday. They’re light blue cotton pants and a white long-sleeved shirt with an opened pack of skittles and some candies flying out of the bag and the sentence ‘It’s all about Skittles’ printed on top. He even got me the colorful slipper-boots that match the skittles on the t-shirt.

“Thanks,” I tell her, smiling at the memory.

We then walk back downstairs to join the rest, as I think of what movie we should watch next.

When we get to the bottom of the stairs Janna says, “Can I get a glass of water?”

“Me too,” Emma appears at the end of the hallway.

I show them to the kitchen and give them two glasses. They talk a bit as they drink their water. I walk back to the living room to ask the guys if they want anything to drink.

I freeze when I enter the room and my eyes land on Jeremy who is currently shirtless. I have seen him shirtless before but that was behind a camera not right in front of my eyes!

I clear my throat awkwardly, catching their attention. I blush when their gazes land on me.

“Do you guys want something to drink?” I ask, trying to avoid Jeremy and his naked torso as much as possible.

“Water please,” they answer and I nod. Just as I’m about to run out of there, Gavin speaks with an amused tone.

“Are you okay there, Steph?” He says amusedly. “You look a little red.”

My eyes widen slightly and my cheeks turn an even deeper shade red as Gavin’s smirk widens.

“I’m fine!” I snap and rush back to the kitchen.

I put my cold hands on my cheeks, trying to reduce the burning.

Emma and Janna don’t say anything when they see me so I’m guessing that my cheeks are returning back to normal.

I grab three glasses of water and return to the living room. I give Henry his glass then I give Jeremy, who is now wearing a t-shirt, his, and when I’m giving Gavin his glass he says, “Disappointed?”

The smirk on his face clearly explains that he is talking about Jeremy putting on his shirt.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say as calmly as I could, trying to force away the blush.

He chuckles. “I’m sure you don’t,” he says sarcastically as I sit between him and Jeremy again.

“Shut up, Gavin,” I finally say, scowling at him.

He snickers and Henry joins him.

“What shall we watch now?” I ask, changing the subject.

“This one!” Emma says, holding up the movie ‘A Walk to Remember’.

“Where did that come from?” I ask, frowning. I’m pretty sure I didn’t put that with the movies I got.

She smiles sheepishly. “I got it. I really want to watch that movie.”

“But it’s so sad,” I say. “It’ll put us in a bad mood.”

“Please?” She begs, giving us the puppy face and we reluctantly agree.

After the first twenty minutes of the movie, I hear Jeremy snoring. I chuckle and poke Gavin then point at Jeremy whose head is falling slightly to the right as he sleeps.

Gavin laughs at his friend then whispers something in my ear that makes me smile like a mad woman. I stand up and rush to my room, grabbing my makeup kit and a bright pink nail polish.

Gavin smirks while Henry, Janna, and Emma give me confused looks. I wave them off and the three continue to watch the movie, ignoring what Gavin and I were doing.

Gavin takes Jeremy’s right hand and puts it gently on the pillow. He then proceeds to paint his nails.

During this time, I gently apply some blush to his cheeks. He lifts his left hand several times to his face but I manage to remove mine before he can touch it.

I then take out my lip gloss and apply some to his lips. He grumbles something under his breath and then wipes his lips with his hand, smearing the lip gloss.

Gavin chuckles as he looks at his best friend with sparkly lip gloss all over his face.

I take Jeremy’s left hand and paint his nails as well.

When we’re done, I take the stuff back up to my room and when I come back, I see that the movie is over and Janna, Emma, and Henry are laughing their heads off while looking at Jeremy.

Suddenly, Gavin grabs a pillow and hits the back of Jeremy’s head with it. Jeremy gasps his eyes fly open.

I burst out laughing at his reaction.

“What the hell?” He yells at Gavin.

Gavin stares at him, his eyes traveling from his bright pink nails to the pink blush on his cheeks and finally to the smeared lip gloss on his face and he bursts out laughing and we all join him.

“What’s going on?” He asks but we don’t reply because we’re all busy laughing.

Jeremy angrily shoves Gavin and opens his mouth to yell at him but before he gets the chance to, he notices the pink nail polish on his nails.

“What is that?!” He yells horrified and he touches his fingers as if not believing that they belong to him.

“Nail polish,” Henry says in a ‘duh’ tone, making us laugh even harder.

Emma then grabs a mirror from her purse and puts it in front of his face.

“Who did that?!” He asks, rubbing furiously at the glittery lip gloss all over his face.

“Stephany!” Gavin immediately says and I punch him.

“It was you idea! And you did half of the work anyway!” I say.

“Prove it,” Gavin replies.

“Just look at the difference between his right hand and left hand,” I say smugly.

On the fingernails of his right hand, all the nail polish is smeared while on the left hand—the one I did— is perfect.

Gavin chuckles. “You got me there,” he says and I laugh.

“You two are dead,” Jeremy growls and I burst out laughing.

“Sorry,” I say between fits of laughter. “It’s hard to take you seriously with that makeup on your face.”

“How do I remove it?!” He yells at me. “Give me something to take it off.”

“Nope,” I say even though it will go off if he simply washes his face.

“Stephany!” He says warningly.

I shake my head at him, giving him a smirk.

Suddenly, he lunges at me and before I can run away, he grabs me and pulls me over his shoulder.

I scream and kick. “Put me down!” I yell as he walks out of the living room and upstairs.

I stop screaming when we pass my parents’ bedroom because I don’t want to wake them up in case they’re sleeping.

“Is this your room?” Jeremy asks in a quiet voice as if noticing that my parents might be sleeping as he points to the white door of the guest room.

“No, the one next to it,” I say and he walks towards my bedroom.

He opens the door and walks in. He throws me on my bed then shuts the door.

“Remove this stuff. Now,” he says dangerously and I chuckle.

“Just go in there and wash your face,” I tell him, pointing to my bathroom.

“That’s it?” He says, blinking at me.

“Yes,” I reply amusedly. “It’s just lip gloss.”

“Oh,” he says then stands up and walks to my bathroom. A few minutes later, he comes back with a makeup free face.

“And these?” He says, lifting up his hands and grimacing.

“Here,” I say, giving him the nail polish remover and some cotton.

“It’s not working!” He says after a few minutes and I sigh dramatically. Guys.

“I’ll do it for you,” I say, taking the white cotton from him.

He gives me his hand and I take it in mine and start removing the pink nail polish.

I feel my heart beat increase at the simple touch of his warm hand.

I can feel him watching me as I work on his nails but I don’t dare to look up. I don’t want him to see how much he can affect me.

I swallow and take his other hand when I finish with the first one. The silence is so loud it’s suffocating me but it’s like I can’t even say a word.

I feel my cheeks burning but I try to ignore them.

When I’m done, I let go of his hand and he slowly retreats it.

“Wash your hands,” I tell him, my voice coming out a little squeaky.

He nods and walks into my bathroom again to wash his hands as I return the nail polish remover to my drawer.

When I close my drawer and turn around, I find Jeremy standing really close to me.

I jump and open my mouth to tell him that he scared me but no words come out because his lips meet mine, shutting me up.

I gasp, shocked at the sudden contact. But I won’t complain!

And I thought my heart was beating fast when I held his hand…

I kiss his him back, all the thoughts in my mind disappearing. I forgot about my parents in the next room, I forgot about my friends downstairs, and I forgot about the fight we had when he said I was a creep. Everything disappeared at that moment. It was just me and him.

But of course moments like these don’t last and reality hits you in the face too soon.

Suddenly, he pulls away and takes two steps away from me.

“That was a mistake,” he says quickly, his eyes scanning my face.

I feel my heart shattering for the second time.

But I’m not going to stay quiet this time. I’ve had enough.

“You know what? You’re being a jerk,” I say bluntly, catching him off guard. “What the hell do you want? Can you please just decide what you want and stop playing with my emotions?! I’ve had enough of this!”

“I don’t know what I want,” he snaps.

“Then keep me out of it till you decide!” I snap back.

“Fine! I’m sorry okay?” He says, a bit of anger in his voice.

Sorry won’t stop my heart from breaking now, I think but I don’t say it out loud. I just give him a nod and walk out of my room. Staying in there with him will not help at all. It’ll probably make me cry and I don’t want to cry in front of him.

“Wait, Stephany,” He calls, walking after me before I can descend the stairs. “Let’s talk about this.”

“What do you want to talk about?” I say then I continue very bluntly. “I like you. A lot. I told you I’ve been watching you for years. I told you how it all happened but you pushed me away. And now you kissed me and then you pushed me away again, saying it was a mistake. I don’t want to put up with that. If you like me, say it, and if you don’t, just let me go.”

His mouth opens and closes a few time as many emotions flash in his eyes. The one I can make out the most is indecision.

He finally shuts his mouth and doesn’t say anything.

“That’s what I thought,” I say. “Now that we cleared this up, we’ll just be friends and you’ll stop toying with my emotions.”

“How can we be friends if you like me?” He blurted out.

I roll my eyes at him and say, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll move on.”

I feel that the words are lies and that’s probably because they are. How can you get over a crush you’ve had on someone for three years?

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Hello! :)

I did not see that coming! :P Haha seriously I didn't plan this chapter ahead but it turned out like that xD I hope you guys liked it though :)

Anyway, I had my SAT today. So that removed a bit of the stress :P I just hope I did well. Next week I have eight tests in four days so you guys have to be a bit patient for the next upload.

Happy birthday to two of my close Wattpad friends, Febbie and Soumya. Have a wonderful year! <3

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Have a wonderful day/night everyone! <3