COURTNEY's POV

Surreal.

I couldn't think of a better word to describe this day other than that.

It was indeed surreal.

The kiss. The confession.

I didn't actually expect any o f these to happen.

I started this day with one mission in mind.

To ask him why he was being distant to me again, why he was back in ignoring me after giving that lovely birthday surprise. I just wanted to get to the bottom of all this—to let him know how his actions were affecting me.

And to finally confess and tell him how I really feel.

To confess my feeling and let him know that he has won this deal before I even realized it.

At some point today, I thought Chad didn't care about me. That he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I even considered the idea of giving up.

But then he showed up. He came.

And everything fell into place.

He told me he lost.

Then he kissed me.

And to make it much more unbelievable, he knew about my feelings, what I really feel about him, and that he felt the same, too.

I finally let out the squeal that I was suppressing since Chad left. Only god knows how long I had been standing here, still thinking—wondering even, how on earth this wonderful thing happened to someone like me!

But then again, upon recalling what Chad had said before he left, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of uncertainty.

Wait a minute.

Did I just assume that he loves me, too? Maybe he thought I was talking about me liking him? And that he only meant that he likes me too, not love? Because love was too big of a word to swallow.

Oh God!

I should have made it clearer, I should have made it more obvious and said it the way it should be!

Why, Courtney? Why?

All this time, I thought I finally made peace with myself and to stop worrying about these things. And then this happened?

I scoped out my phone—ready to send Chad a message to ask him if he got home safe, and to just be straightforward and ask if we were on the same page. It sounded so downright stupid and desperate!

But I am stupid and... I dare not say the other one.

Eventhough I was feeling determined, I didn't manage to send him a message. My attention was diverted to something else. I was stunned by the number of missed calls from my friends. It was a lot, and when I say it's a lot, there were tons!

Feeling uneasy and concerned, I called Terry first as she was the last one who rang me.

3 minutes ago, how come I didn't notice her calling me 3 minutes ago?

Isn't it obvious?

Okay, I ignored the inner voice in me as I already knew I wasn't myself during the time they were trying to get to me through my phone. I was worried, the amount of missed calls bothered me.

Maybe there was an emergency? I felt bad for not answering any of them right away.

There was one ring when I heard Terry shouted, "Where the hell are you!"

"Home. Where are you? What happened?" I inquired in a hurried tone, overwhelmed with panic. Then I added, "Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?" I was curious why she sounded so frustrated and eager at the same time.

"We'd been waiting for you here since forever!" I heard Lucy yelled at the background. That was the time I knew I was on loud speaker—that's for sure.

"What?"

"There she is!" I heard Fiona say, this time, the voice was too clear as if she's just nearby instead of over the phone. I turned around and saw all of them standing at the entrance of my house.

Terry was looking impatient, Fiona and Jenny were shaking their heads, and Lucy was heading towards me with her brows knitted together. "Where have you been?"

"I..."

I swallowed the rest of the words that I was about to say when I saw someone so familiar, yet quite unusual to be in here at this hour.

I was almost afraid to think what my best friends had done for this to happen.

Why is he here?

"Jackson?"

* * * *

"What did you do to him?" I hissed, feeling quite uneasy or even unsure if I wanted to hear the answer. Clearly, Jackson being here wasn't a coincidence. There was a story behind this.

"We didn't do anything." Fiona answered defensively.

"Then how did you convince him to come here then?" I challenged them, I crossed my arms and waited for them to respond.

Fiona, Terry, Jenny, and Lucy were exchanging glances, passing the responsibility back and forth to each other on who should tell me what really happened. I rolled my eyes at this.

I turned my attention to Jackson who was sitting quietly at the receiving area. When he saw me looking at him, he shook his head sideways and broke the eye contact.

"What did you do to him?" I reiterated the question again—demanding them to quit beating around the bush and to just talk already. "The guy looked traumatized!" I turned to Terry who I knew would be the one capable of doing this.

I know my best friends care about me, love me even! But I wouldn't want them to be in any trouble because of me.

"Nothing! We didn't do anything." Lucy insisted. Lucy, I know when she says it, she means it.

But this exchanges and lack of decent answers were wearing my patience thin. I was already on Jackson's bad side for god knows why, and I wouldn't want it to get bigger than it was.

I just need to get this over and done with. Besides, it's getting late already.

I rolled my eyes again and left them. I went towards Jackson's direction and straightforwardly ask, "Did they threaten you to come here?"

Jackson looked past me before shaking his head. I sighed in defeat. This is getting nowhere.

"He actually came here voluntarily." Jenny finally spilled. I glanced back at her—looking and feeling quite confused.

"He wanted to talk to you about Chad." Fiona added.

I redirected my attention back to Jackson who suddenly became determined and dead serious.

"He wants to tell you to stay away from Chad." Terry breathed out the words as if it was the most difficult thing to say in the world.

"What?" A shrill tone from both shock and confusion came out of my lips. I actually didn't see that one coming!

I wanted to remind him that he didn't have the right to tell me off. He didn't even have the power to say who his best friend should go out with and what.

I wanted him to understand that what Chad and I have was special. That he shouldn't meddle in our blossoming relationship.

But then, what he said next made those words dissolved in my mouth.

"He's been through a lot, Courtney. Whatever your plan is, just spare him, please." Jackson's face softened. He was imploring as if I was an executioner who sentenced Chad to his end.

This left me speechless, caught me off-guard even. Out of all the things or reasons I though he would say, this wasn't even on my list. I wonder, what did Chad say or what did I do for Jackson to think of me this way. For him to plead like this for his friend—best friend.

"You're talking as if Courtney has done something horrible to Chad!" Lucy intervened. She was looking furious.

"She bullied him! She even made the football team do horrible stuff to him!" Jackson spitted out without holding back.

"That was ages ago, move on! It's different now." Fiona rebutted.

"Oh yeah? So does that mean we should just forget about it because it's the past? How sure are you that she won't do it again, huh?" He countered back.

"She has changed, can't you see? She's not that mean anymore!"

"She made a deal with Chad! She will do everything just to get what she wants, even to destroy Chad in the process!" Jackson spite back furiously.

I wanted to stop them from their heated argument, and tell them that they should stop fighting because Chad and I had an understanding already. That we stopped the deal, and it's not a game for us anymore.

But every time I try to intervene, someone has already beaten me to it and start their bickering again.

It's my best friends vs his best friend.

I feel bad for Jackson as he was outnumbered. Fiona alone was too much, what more if you throw-in the other three. But I was quite impressed with Jackson's determination to defend his friend. The way he was protecting Chad, it made me wonder, what had Chad been through for him to be so protective like this?

"You're so ignorant you don't even know the whole story!"

"Yeah, Courtney likes Chad a lot, and all of a sudden, your so called best friend ignored her! It's killing her!"

"If someone was being so cruel, it's your friend, not Courtney!"

"Imagine, doing a lot of sweet things, and even setting up the perfect date, then all of sudden he will just ghost her!"

"What kind of guy is that!"

"Chad was just protecting his feelings! The way how he should be! Especially from the likes of her!" Jackson wasn't backing down, I feel bad for my girls, even though they have the number, Jackson was matching their ferocity without breaking any sweat.

"So you're saying Courtney doesn't have the right to protect hers?"

"Yeah, that Chad has the right to hurt her just like that?"

"Is this his form of revenge?"

"Stop it already!" I finally found the right timing to interrupt their non-stop fighting, but it was as if I wasn't even in the room. They never ever listened.

"You're talking as if Courtney is on the disadvantage here where in fact, it's Chad who is winning this deal that they made!"

"Courtney is in love with Chad. She loves him! And your friend is so heartless that he didn't even say why he stopped talking to her!"

And just like that, Jackson abruptly stopped. His face paled, as if the blood from his face drained. That sentence alone was enough to shut him down. He turned to me, looking confused and alarmed at the same time.

"You're in love with Chad?"

They all turned to me, waiting for me to confirm what Terry had said. She dropped those words like a bomb.

I straightened my spine and faced them proudly. "Yes, I am. I love him." I confirmed without any hesitations on my part.

I want Jackson to know that hurting Chad was the last thing I would do. That Courtney who played a game with Chad was already gone. And the Courtney standing in front of him truly and genuinely loves his best friend.

Jackson didn't change his expression despite my honest declaration of love towards Chad. He even looked more devastated and defeated. With his sad eyes, he turned to me and say, "You will just break his heart like what Olivia did to him."

—END OF CHAPTER 37—

A/N: My new mafia story is up! Lose You To Love Me. I hope you will like it, too! Enjoy >.<

Advance chapters are available in my patreon page notjustarandomgirl.

Steal My Girl is uploaded there too!

Soooo. What do you think of the flow of the story so far? What do you think will happen next? Share your thoughts!