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| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

It took a hell lot of convincing.

God this time he was just stubborn, stubborn.

I swear to god, I almost wanted to lunge at him and strangle his neck until he agreed.

I tried persuading him to come to the party when we met at school. I tried persuading him through texts when we were both at our houses and also through random notes I slipped into his locker.

It was when I finally threatened him that I'd take his mom with me that he agreed. I had planned to mom-nap his mom and keep her with me until he agreed.

It wouldn't exactly be mom-nap if his mom comes willingly, which I'm hundred percent sure she would.

I would've just taken her to ice cream or maybe some nice restaurant and enjoy my time with her while giving Castle the impression that I'm holding his mom hostage.

I guess the stubborn ass knows it too that his mom would willingly go anywhere with me.

End of the sentence: He finally agreed.

He set up a lot of rules though. Shocker.

"We can't be seen together." He says, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

I sigh. "I know."

I kick the gravel on the road as we make our way back home after school.

"If we're not gonna stay together then what's the point of me even coming?" He grumbles.

"We'll sneak off somewhere for a while," I say.

He raises an eyebrow. "And...?"

I shrug. "Talk? Drink? Watch people and make fun of them?"

"Oh right, I forgot to mention another rule. I'm not going to be drinking."

I raise my eyebrows at him. "Why not?"

He shakes his head. "Don't want to."

"Specific reason why?"

"Nope."

"Loser."

He elbows me on my arm.

"You're not gonna drink, you don't wanna dance, you don't wanna mingle with people." I count off. "What are you gonna do then?"

"Just walk and look around I gue—I don't even wanna come! You're making me do this." He narrows his eyes at me.

"Glad to know I have the power of making you do stuff." I grin.

He rolls his eyes but somewhere in between I hear him mutter 'You've always had.

"So Saturday there's the party and Sunday there's the barbeque at my house. Seems like we're gonna be spending some quality time during the weekend, Tutor." I smile.

He hums a 'Mmm'.

Castle proceeds to set up a few more rules until we reach my house. Before I enter the house, he makes me wait, ranting off a few more of his rules.

He pauses in between. His eyes are trained on me, then a scowl appears on his face. "You're not even listening to me, are you?"

I yawn. "Your rules, you listen to them. Why are you making me suffer? You know I hate rules."

He continues giving me his scowl.

"I heard most of it though." I offer.

He rolls his eyes.

"I heard the important ones?" I offer again.

"Go inside, Holly." Castle dismisses me, gesturing towards the front door of my house.

"But I did hear the important ones," I argue.

"And what were they?" He raises a challenging eyebrow at me.

"Basically the ones that make you seem like a boring grumpy old ass."

He rolls his eyes again. "Goodbye, Holly."

I give him a chuckle. "Bye, Castle."

He remains standing as I walk towards the front door. I turn around to wave my fingers at him. He waves back before I step inside my house and shut the door behind me.

Every part of me suddenly feels restless.

I want to throw open the door again just to take another look at Castle. I quickly dismiss the thought. What's wrong with me?

There was something wrong with me earlier too when I deliberately tried to slow down my steps so that we wouldn't reach home quicker. But Castle's long legs couldn't handle my slow ones. The walk home felt like it got over too fast.

Pushing myself off the door I was leaning against, I walk further into the house, dropping my bag on the couch before heading into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

The rest of the day goes by feeling dull and unmotivated. I'm lying on the couch, flipping through shows on the TV. When nothing catches my interest, I drag myself off the couch and walk around the house aimlessly touching random things.

I know there's something wrong with me when I'm wasting precious time by doing nothing. And also by how my thoughts continuously keep shifting to Castle. They're not even proper thoughts. There's just an image of him stuck in my head that I can't seem to shrug off.

Maybe I need to get laid?

A frustrated sigh comes out of my mouth when I get tired of being useless. I grab the stereo speaker from the garage and walk into the backyard after changing into high-waisted leggings and a cropped sweatshirt.

It's almost five in the evening as I'm setting up the speaker and choosing a song. After a couple of minutes of stretching, I press play on the speaker and let the music fill my ears.

My movements are sharp and jerky, exerting more effort than necessary. My splits are extended, and my jumps are higher. I forget the moves of the dance in the middle of the song and decide to freestyle it. My body is still in sync with the music, but my brain and thoughts are somewhere far away.

Within twenty minutes, my lungs start constricting and my chest hurts, but I don't stop. I continue to move in the backyard, feeling the muscles of my thighs, calf and arms starting to cramp.

Sweat drips down my forehead and into my eyes, my muscles start to burn, and I know for sure they're gonna be sore for a while.

I perform a motion of rapid Pirouettes to end the dance in a different way. I'm mostly superior with Hip-hop, but I like to add other types of dances into my freestyles. My body keeps spinning on my feet as much as it can before it finally reaches its limit. My legs quake and before I know it, I'm dropping to the ground in the middle of a spin.

I lie on my back, gasping as I suck in air into my lungs. Maybe I pushed myself too hard for a while there. The song cuts off on its own when it comes to an end, plunging my surroundings into silence. My body's trembling and burning, and I reek of sweat.

I look around, observing the darkening sky and the clouds. When I look towards my house, I see Castle standing at the doorway of the backyard door.

I almost jump out of my skin. He's watching me, a hesitant look on his face as he stands there awkwardly. There's something else in his expression too. A hint of fascination shines in his eyes, as he looks at me.

I roll over onto my side, feeling my chest hurt as I do.

"When...did you...get here?" I ask, between light gasps, still in the process of filling oxygen back into my body.

Castle seems to take a moment to form words because he keeps opening and closing his mouth. "I came a few minutes ago. Your mom let me in."

I wave him over, and he steps out into the backyard. His eyes flicker to my stereo speaker before glancing back at me. The amazement in his eyes doesn't fade.

"Give me...a moment...then we can...go inside."

He shakes his head. "It's alright." Saying that he walks towards me and lowers himself beside my body on the grass.

I roll back onto my back.

He looks at me. "That was amazing, by the way."

"The dance?" I ask.

He nods. "You looked...fierce." He fidgets with his fingers. "I've never seen you actually dance before." He admits.

My eyebrows raise. "Never?"

He shakes his head. "Never got to."

"You've never seen me dance as a cheerleader in a football match?"

He picks at the grass. "I've never been to any football matches."

My mouth drops open. "Castle Jaxon Jace, you've officially hurt my feelings."

His lips tug up the slightest. "To be honest, I don't even like sports."

A huge gasp comes out of my mouth. "Oh my god! Are you kidding me?"

He gives me a sheepish look.

"Why didn't you tell me that before we became friends? How am I supposed to get rid of you now?"

A small laugh leaves his mouth.

I freeze.

Did Castle just...

His mouth is stretched into a beautiful smile, and I can't help but stare in amazement at the smile lines that make him look even more perfect. He's still picking at the grass not knowing that his laugh caught my complete attention. I bet there's a look of awe or some shit on my face.

"I've just never been into sports." He shrugs. "I'm more of a stay-in-home or desk kinda guy."

"Boringgg." I sing-song.

He flicks grass at my face.

I huff, moving my face away.

"What physical activity do you do then?" I ask.

"Mostly playing with Will. He's a pretty energetic dog."

A bird flying by in the sky catches our attention. We gaze at the white and black pigeon until it disappears from our sight.

I stretch my arms and legs out, my limbs are shaky as I test them. "Do you mind if we stay here for a while longer? I'll drop down in a second if I try to stand up."

He shakes his head. "I don't mind."

"Lie down." I pat the spot beside me.

He stiffens.

"I'm only asking you to lie down." I clarify.

Hesitating, he unfolds his legs, stretches them out in front of him and lies back. There's at least a foot in between us.

"I can practically feel the heat coming from your body." Castle comments.

"I'm still sweaty."

"Yeah, you stink."

I flick grass at him.

It gets stuck in his long dark hair.

I roll onto my side so I can face him. "Why are you here?"

He rolls onto his side too so he's facing me. "You told me to."

I furrow my eyebrows. "When?"

"You said I could come anytime."

"That's what she said." I grin.

He flicks grass at my face again.

One piece goes into my mouth.

"Ergh!" I quickly spit it out of my mouth.

A small smile of satisfaction appears on the corners of Castle's lips.

"You're smiling a lot today," I note.

"Do you want me to stop?" He peers at me.

I gaze at him. There's an easiness to his gestures today. It's like he's more comfortable with me than he was before. My heart beats a notch faster at that realization.

"You have a beautiful smile." I breathe out.

His face reddens in a second. "Holly—"

"I wasn't flirting with you." I blurt. "Just wanted to compliment your smile."

He stares at me. "You—okay..."

"When are you getting your results?" He asks after a while.

I shrug, biting my lip. "I honestly don't think I'm gonna get good grades..."

"Are you losing confidence, Holly?" He raises an eyebrow.

I groan. "I was so out of my head during those tests. I don't even remember what I wrote."

"You'll do good." He says, confidently.

"Maybe yeah." I nod.

"If they understand your shitty handwriting."

I throw grass at him. "My handwriting's just tiny."

"It looks like some two-grader attempted at drawing ants."

"Shut up." I throw grass at him again.

"Stop throwing grass at me." He throws grass at me.

I throw more in his direction. "You stop first."

"Why, because when Holly starts something, she never stops?" He taunts, throwing more grass at me.

"Exactly." I grin at him, flicking the last bunch of grass in his face.

He huffs out a breath to blow the grass out of his face.

A peaceful silence falls over us as we look at each other.

"So? Now that you're here, what do you wanna do?" I ask.

"How about the video games you told me about?" He suggests.

"Sure."

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

My face is probably gonna get longer by the time Castle leaves by how annoyed and pissed as fuck I am.

Right now, on the couch, sitting are my beloved dad and British Boy, playing against each other.

The moment Dad came home and saw the video game on, he practically dragged my kicking body from the couch and took my place to play with Castle.

And the lovely fucker that Castle is didn't object to it even once. Look at him playing with my dad so contently and enjoying himself.

I'm sitting on the other couch, glaring holes into my dad.

Both of them are leaned forward, elbows on their knees, video game controllers in their hands and with the most concentrated frowns on their faces.

I bet if I die of a heart attack right now, they won't even notice me dying.

"Can I play?" I ask for the seventh time now.

As usual, my words fall on deaf ears.

Grumbling every curse I know; I get up from the couch and march towards the kitchen where Mom is cooking.

"Dad took my place!" I whine to her.

She looks at me over her shoulder from where she's standing at the stove. "You know how he is with video games."

"Yeah, but he's supposed to get me to play along with him. He just came into the living room and kicked my ass out of the couch!"

She shakes her head. "Let them be. It's rare that I see your dad bonding with any of your guy friends."

"Yeah..."

"Are they coming to barbeque this weekend?" She asks.

"Yup. His mom's really fun."

She smiles. "I can't wait to meet her."

From the living room, a faint shout of victory echoes from Dad's mouth.

My glare is back on.

Mom rolls her eyes. "I don't get why does he have to act like a child when he plays games."

"I don't get why I had to be pushed out," I grumble.

She looks at me. "I guess it's gonna be the silent treatment after Castle leaves?"

"Oh yes." I narrow my eyes.

★・・・・・・★

Don't you just loveee grumps when they finally let out their beautiful smiles?

LET'S HEAR YOUR VOTES!
#teamdad or #teamholly
Who wins Castle's heart first?

Holly's is dancing. Castle's is cooking. Mine is reading. What are your hobbies??

Words: 2,400

Date of Publishing: 16th April 2023