Lavinia B. 

Hating You Sweetly

© 2011, Romolavinia91

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/ publisher. 

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This book was inspired by one of my favorite songs. "I hate everything about you" by Three Days Grace. If you haven't heard it you are missing out.

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The dark depressing clouds were drooping closer and closer to the earth bringing with it the unwanted splendors of rain. The heavy tapping of water hitting my windshield only slightly distracted me from the troubling subject at hand. Yet there was no avoiding it. I had tried everything.

"So when exactly is the engagement party starting?" I asked my best friend and bride to be.

Sarah was anxiously fiddling with her phone and clicking her home screen to check the time every ten seconds. I knew we were going to be late.

"In five minutes," she said in a tone conveying her helpless annoyance.

I didn't blame her for being irritated; after all it was her engagement party. She was also OCD about everything so punctuality was practically priority.

"Hey it's not my fault," I had to clear my name since it was she who wanted me to help her with her hair and make-up. "You were the one that wanted to look perfect. And perfection takes time...in this case a lot of time."

Sarah twisted in her seat and smacked my arm playfully. I only laughed but I had to admit she did look amazing. I didn't have to do much to her eyes because her long luscious lashes had always complimented her dark brown eyes. They gave her an appealing allure and natural eyeliner. Her light brown sometimes gold looking shoulder length hair was a pain to curl. It never wanted to stay in place, but of course, I was a wand curling master from all my feeble attempts on my own hair.

"So I was thinking I'd just drop you off and head to the–"

She cut me off before I could even finish my sentence.

"No!" She raised her voice at me like a mother yelling at her child. I should have been used to her sharp demanding tone but yet I still cringed back in fear. "You're my Maid of Honor, Laura. You're supposed to be there. You were actually supposed to have been setting up for this party."

I snickered in silence. I totally got out of decorating the event because I was helping Sarah put her face on. That left the job to Dania who was a bridesmaid in the wedding and a total control freak. We had been friends since as long as I could remember. Dania had a knack for organizing and taking charge. It was an annoying habit of hers that I graciously grew accustomed to ignore. I didn't take well to authority.

"Sarah, you know my mouth has no filter," I tried reasoning with her. "Your friends are not exactly my kind of people."

I wasn't antisocial or anything; I just had the tendency to speak my mind, which never led me to good places. I didn't want to embarrass her or end up ruining her night because I couldn't keep my comments to myself. Most of the people coming were her old friends from school.

"At least make an appearance," she pleaded.

She shouldn't have to use the puppy eyes on me. I was the maid of honor. She shouldn't have to beg me to go. I was really starting to feel guilty and selfish. I was a horrible maid of honor but a wonderful best friend.

"Of course I will. I'm sorry I'm being a diva."

The relieved look on her face would get me through the rest of the night. She wanted and needed me there. I had no choice. I'd suck it up and be an angel for the next few hours. Sarah had always been a good friend of mine and there wasn't much I wouldn't do for her. When she first told me she was dating Michael Compton, I was in no way shocked. He was a complete book worm who was studying to be a doctor and played music as a hobby.

Who plays music for fun? I guess a lot of people, including Sarah. I used to hate practicing the piano especially since my parents forced me into it.

Sarah was also a book fanatic, wanted to be a nurse, and played music on the side because she loved it. So Michael was basically the male version of Sarah, which was a bit creepy. They were like this perfect nerd/music-playing couple.

As soon as Michael proposed, Sarah called me up. How couldn't I be happy for them? Sarah was crazy about him and Michael was so obviously madly in love with my best friend. They were such a cute couple. Not to mention he was easy on the eyes.

Michael was quite literally one of the most attractive guys I had ever met, actually every male member in his family was. They all had this creamy tan complexion that resembled a caramel macchiato swirl of deliciousness. They probably tasted just as good too.

Mmmm. Focus Laura.

Not to mention their full head of hair. That thick, shiny, jet black mane could rule the shampoo world. They were basically a bunch of models. Was it even fair to have that much gorgeousness come from one family? I bet they didn't even have an ugly duckling or black sheep in the family. Well I hadn't seen one yet. Let's just say they were a blessed family.

"Plus," Sarah said applying more lip balm to her already glossed lips. "Chris is going to be there so you need to come and make friends with him. You're walking down the aisle together."

And there she went, ruining my day. Now I really didn't want to go.

"Seriously? Why do you hate me so? Why can't I walk down with one of Michael's other cousins like Clark or Aaron?"

It wasn't that Chris was unattractive. Oh no, it wasn't that. Like I said before the Compton men were incredibly blessed with growl worthy good looks. Chris, you could say, was in every girl's dream fantasy. He was tall, had lean chiseled muscles, sun kissed olive skin, and memorizing green orbs that could cause a girl to forget her name for at least 40 seconds.

It was his personality and attitude that over the years had made me dislike him so much.

"Because, my dear Laura, Chris is Michael's best man and you are my MOH. It's just the way things work. Blame tradition if you must." Sarah's excuse was totally ridiculous in my eyes but of course she was all for tradition and the classics. She was a sucker for old romantics.

"If you make me walk down the aisle with him I might just accidently cause him to trip." I was foreshadowing what would most likely happen at her wedding. Hey, at least I was warning her.

Chris was a jerk and I'd find great pleasure in seeing him face plant onto the floor.

Sarah was giving me a dirty look. I didn't even have to look at her to see it. I felt it.

"What do you have against him? As long as I can remember, you've held some small vendetta against him."

Maybe it was the fact that the first words that came out of his mouth when he met me were 'Are you going to be standing there all day because some of us would like to pass'. I was standing next to the church entrance waiting for my sister to arrive. It wasn't like I was blocking the entire doorway. He wasn't joking about it either. Chris was mad, pissed I was there.

I knew from then on I wouldn't like him even if he was one of the top ten most gorgeous men on the planet. After that he never even said hello or acknowledged my existence unless one of his cousins were talking to me in a group circle.

I wasn't even certain we ever had a proper introduction before. I wondered if he even knew my name.

"Just admit it; you have a crush on him."

I frowned. "Who hasn't had a crush on him? That's not even the point. He's so...he's so rude."

"How? What's he done to you?"

I wasn't about to spill my little story. Thinking about it now made me look pathetic. It was a small encounter. Maybe he was having an off day.

"Everyone thinks he's so kind and blah, blah, blah. He's hiding something really dark under that Christian image."

Of course I didn't know him well enough to prove my theory. To the outside world Chris Compton was a saint. He went to church every Sunday and actually enjoyed worship; or so I've calculated from watching him.

"We all have our flaws."

"Fine, I don't think he likes me. I don't know what I did but I swear he hates me."

Sarah looked at me like I was a liar. "I can't see Chris hating anyone. You're over exaggerating."

I should have kept my mouth shut. "Whatever."

Chris left for college two years ago and hadn't come back until now. Maybe the time away changed him. My fingers were crossed.

The fancy restaurant was packed with guests when we finally got there. Sarah jumped out of the car like I was holding her hostage and was finally setting her free. She kept glancing back at me probably to see if I was following and not heading for the woods like I wanted to.

As soon as we opened the door we were greeted with familiar faces from church and also old school classmates that Sarah still kept in touch with. I had long ago stopped communication with most of my fellow classmates. High school was definitely just a blur that I really didn't want to remember.

Sarah went straight into Michael's arms and their sweet little moment when they looked deeply into each other's eyes almost made me gag. Yes, it was completely romantic in all sense of the word, but watching something like that and not having it myself only made it sting more. I guess I was a bit selfish when it came to things like that.

The aroma of buttercream frosting suddenly hitting my nostrils made me aware of the glorious food. Perhaps this little shindig wasn't going to be that terrible after all. Who doesn't enjoy free food?

From the corner of my eyes I saw Dania zooming in my direction. She had a smile on her face as she maneuvered through the room flagging people down. That was a good sign; I guess she was in a decent mood.

"You would be the one to be late," that was the first thing out of her mouth.

"We would have been here sooner but someone's face took a bit longer than expected."

"Or you made it longer than expected so you wouldn't have to help," Dania scuffed out. She knew me so well.

"Well it seems you made it without me." I turned and grabbed a glass full of punch off a random table. I guess whoever poured it didn't need it anymore since it was left unguarded. "I must say you made the place look marvelous."

Complements always distracted her.

The place looked vintage inspired. I suppose all those boards on Pinterest finally came in handy. There were candles in every corner and gold table cloths accenting the subtle rose centerpieces.

"I did, didn't I?" Dania smiled proudly while she gazed at her masterpiece.

"Laura, I thought it was you." I could recognize that deep playful voice anywhere. I turned and found Clark giving me that million dollar grin he gave every girl when he wanted to sweep her off her feet.

"Clark, where have you been, you handsome devil?" He opened his arms and I was taken in by his bear like grip. The best part about Clark was he was a hugger and his hugs always made my day.

"Waiting for you of course."

I rolled my eyes as I pulled away. Clark was such a flirt, and if it wasn't for the slight age difference I would totally have snagged him by now. But I wasn't going cougar any time soon.

"Sure you were."

The corners of his lips went up. "I was. Laura, have you forgotten you are the life of almost every party. I was honestly getting bored. I'm so glad you're finally here."

He believed I somehow had the ability to transform a dull event into one of the most memorable nights ever; whether good or bad, depended on my mood. But tonight was not about me.

"Yes finally," Dania butted in.

We started talking about random stuff after that. Clark had to mention the new girl that caught his eye, and Dania and I made fun of him while he tried to explain his interesting attempts at impressing the poor girl. Clark was way too handsome to not have the girl's attention; it was his cockiness that would most likely make the girl head the other way. I think that was a common problem for all the guys in his family.

When I took the last sip of my drink I started to look around the room again. People were engrossed in conversation and no one seemed out of the loop. Then with just my luck a bleach blonde from the corner of the room spotted me.

Damn, I turned my gaze the other direction. Maybe if I acted like I didn't see her she won't come over. Oh no, of course nothing goes as I plan and the skanky hooker in six inch heels came straight towards me.

God must really want to punish me for something. I never understood why she wore such high heels when she couldn't even walk in them. She was trampling her way over like a baby giraffe. The tight silk dress she was wearing was giving everyone a perfect view of her fake silicon boobs.

O gosh I was surprised they hadn't fallen out yet. Be nice Laura, be nice. I was typically a nice person, I promise. The only reason I had difficulty with prostitute Barbie was because she was truly a witch. She thought I wanted her man, aka Sarah's brother, so she made it her mission to spit on me every chance she got.

"Laura," the blonde with too much make-up said my name like it was the plague or something. "Did no one give you the memo on the dress code? Now seriously what are you wearing?"

You would think I was used to her stupid questions by now. Her insults had no effect on me.

"Black jeans and a dress shirt. Why? Have you gone temporarily blind or something?" I waved my hand in front of her face just so I could piss her off. "Can you see me? How many fingers am I holding up?"

I even had the pleasure of flickering her off. Dania and Clark were laughing hysterically while Malibu Hooker smacked my hand away.

"No but obviously you are. Did you dress yourself in the dark again?" She snickered, pursing her lips and everything.

Like I said nothing that came out of her mouth could offend me.

"Yeah maybe it was a bit dark. But um...I think you got the place mixed up. Dickerson's street is five blocks down."

Dickerson's street was crawling with hookers. She probably called it home for all I knew.

Tiffany narrowed her eyes at me, a look I've received many times before from her. I wasn't just making fun of her for the heck of it. She started it all when she thought I had a thing for her man.

We were talking about my best friend's brother. He was like automatically off limits. It wasn't that Sarah wouldn't give me her blessing; she loved me and being sisters would be icing on the cake.

Seriously though, her man was not all that. Plus I had heard he had been with more trashy looking girls than most guys could count. Who knew what kind of transmitted dieses he had. Not to mention the unwanted things Tiffany probably passed to him.

"Are you jealous because you can't wear silk like I can?"

I think I just barfed a little. "Tits...I mean Tiff; that silk is so tight around your silicon boobs. I'm afraid you'll give everyone a peep show any minute. So to answer your question no; no I am not jealous of you in any way, shape, or form," I scratched my chin, "Unless you get paid a fortune for showing off your 'goods'." No, not even then.

I think I hit a nerve because she flipped her bleached hair and stalked off in the other direction, probably looking for her boo.

"You sure know how to take out the trash," Clark said as all three of us watched Tiffany stumble about like a new born calf.

The next thirty minutes I did my best to keep a low profile. I didn't want to make a scene at my best friend's engagement party. It felt like each passing second was dragged out my boredom. I had already talked to most of the people I knew. The rest of the crowd was old classmates that I had nothing in common with.

I settled myself down on one of the side tables in the back. To my amazement it had an open window overlooking the sun which was setting. I pulled out my phone to check the time and only two hours had gone by. This time change was totally screwing with my schedule.

I wondered if Sarah would notice if I slipped out.

"What are you doing all alone?" Sarah snuck up behind me. Crazy how sometimes thinking of that person made them appear out of nowhere.

"You know...just hanging around, talking to myself. I tend to do that often when I know no one is looking."

"Well get up and mingle. Don't be so antisocial."

I scanned the faces in the room one last time before looking her dead in the eyes. "All I see is a bunch of old school band geeks."

Sarah was a major band member; she was first chair in the flute section and even conducted on occasions.

"Hey," she scrunched her face. "I resent that. Just get up and say something."

I shook my head; that was a bad idea. "Like what? The only person I really know would be Jessica Thomas. And what would I say to her? 'So Jessica I heard you blew Danny Strout's French horn sophomore year'." There were honestly no other words that would come to mind.

Sarah frowned and almost made me reconsider getting up to mingle. "Yeah maybe you're right but I still want you to say hi to Chris."

Could I really do it though? Could I walk up to Chris Compton and have a conversation? I wasn't sure if it was my nerves choking me or just dread from the possible rejection. I was 50% certain he would try to ignore me. It was this sick feeling I had.

"Fine, I'll say hi. Anything for the bride." I muttered.

Sarah's smile brightened. "Good and remember to be nice."

"I'll try not to bite."

I spotted him standing next to a group of his cousins. They were laughing and talking and yet he still looked a bit out of place, like he didn't want to be here. That made two of us. I could possibly stare at him all day and not get bored. That was how beautiful he was. He hadn't changed at all since the last time I saw him.

Chris slowly walked out of the crowd towards the bar where the coffee was set up. I guess this was my chance. Who knows the next time I'd catch him alone and in a decent mood.

He didn't see me approach because he was too occupied with putting creamer in his coffee. But I guess he heard my footsteps because he raised his long lashes at me and hit me with his deep evergreen eyes. Wow, I gawked at them for a brief moment. They were so enticing with specs of gold inside them. I found myself automatically leaning closer just so I could get a better look.

There were flakes of gold swirled in the deep pools of his alluring green eyes. I never noticed before then again I had never been this close before.

He eventually raised his brow at me when I didn't say anything. I wonder if he was used to people admiring his looks.

Open your mouth Laura and say something already.

"Hey." That was it. That was all I could come up with. Usually I could come up with something really witty but Chris was intimidating me.

"Hi," he dropped his stare back down to his coffee.

Okay, at least I got a reply from him. "So how was your trip?"

He took a sip from his cup. "Fine," his dull, flat voice was enough confirmation to know he was uninterested in conversation.

I pushed farther anyway. I was doing this for Sarah. I had to be nice and build some kind of relationship with the guy. "How's college life treating you?"

"Fair enough," he pursed his lips and finally dragged his eyes back up at me. Damn was he really that annoyed with me or was it because I was asking too many questions?

"What are you going for again?"

His eyes were blank and held no emotion. Was it just me he acted this way to? Sarah thought I was being judgmental about him but was she seeing this right now? He was totally being a jerk with his one answer replies.

"Biochemistry," he said looking around the room, obviously trying to send me a hint to get lost.

Really? Really? I was quickly getting offended. He couldn't even tell me what career path he wanted to take. Did he think I was too stupid to understand what field he was going in?

I took a step closer to get back his attention. I really didn't care if I was in his personal bubble. I was going to get him to talk to me like a human being some form or another. He stood straighter and his beautifully sculpted body was towering over me. He was a least a head taller than me and man was that attractive. I just loved tall guys.

Snap out of it Laura.

"Biochemistry is interesting. What are you studying to be exactly?"

His green orbs were giving me that look like why the hell would I ask. "A research scientist in the medical field of cancer."

Wow, I didn't know that. That was actually kind of cool. "I have a friend going in for that too. She says–"

I watched Chris' eyes dart passed me as he cut me off mid-sentence. "Excuse me," and with that he swiftly walked around me completely oblivious to the fumes coming out of my ears.

What a douche bag! I couldn't believe he had done that; just when I thought he couldn't get any more worse of a jerk than he already was.

His long, lean strides took him directly to a group of guys that were probably talking about cars. He didn't glance back. There was no wave of the hand; nothing. He made me feel like nothing. He dove perfectly into the conversation without a care in the world.

Okay did I just make that whole scene up in my head? What kind of person does that? Was I annoying him? Was it my appearance? What about me made him treat me like crap? I looked around to see if anyone else noticed my rude encounter. Of course no one did.

What did I ever do to him?

I was incredibly pissed. I blame Sarah for forcing me to strike up a conversation with the douche. Now it was definitely time to go before I popped a lid and took out my frustration on someone in the room.

I forced a weak smile on my face for the few people that noticed me walking by. I tried not stomping my feet too loudly but the rage was driving my blood to do things out of my control. I saw the frame of the door come into view and I mentally sighed. Almost there...

"Where do you think you're going?"

Great; again luck was not on my side today. I turned and was greeted with a very handsome grinning face. Aaron's contagious smile had this weird effect on me and I just had to smile back. At least it was Aaron who stopped me because if it was anybody else I probably would have just ran them over trying to get to the exit.

"Home."

Aaron placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You can't. Not so soon, Laura. You didn't even say hi to me today."

"You looked occupied." Every time I wanted to walk up to him he was crowded around his family or a group of girls.

"Well I'm not now so you can't go." His hazel eye bore into mine and I knew I couldn't refuse.

"It's a bit stuffy in here."

Aaron's smile lit up and he snuck his hand closer to lace his fingers through mine. He began pulling us through the crowd and I ignored all the unwanted stares from all the old people who had nothing better to do then look at what we were doing.

We walked out hand in hand while making our way towards the ice cream shop just two stores down. I spent the rest of the night catching up with Aaron and all the new things in his life. He was so easy to talk to and such a perfect distraction. He quickly made me forget about the horrible incident I had with his cousin Chris. My night actually turned out better than I planned.

Aaron was a childhood friend. I knew him practically my entire life but we weren't always so close. He was like that nerdy kid I had nothing in common with. During our high school years we ended up in a few of the same classes. I couldn't believe how cool and funny he was and honestly how hot he became.

He wasn't exactly ugly but he hit such a magical period where he skyrocketed in height and he started working out. Aaron was a major hottie with an amazing body. Girls at school would flock to him and the poor guy would try everything to dodge them. He was one of the really good guys.

I think I was the ugly duckling. I rarely got asked out but that might have been because of my resting bitch face. I've been told countless times how unapproachable I was to people.

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