ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴɢ,
ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴍᴇᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴍʏ ᴅᴇsᴛɪɴʏ.
ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sʟɪᴘᴘᴇᴅ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ
ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪɴʏ ᴄʀᴀᴄᴋs ɪɴ ᴍʏ ғɪɴɢᴇʀs

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I saw her standing in a corner, crying, silently. Her face was hidden by her hair looking like fire around her. The sun casted an orange hue inside the room. Everything was so peaceful except her. She looked like she was already broken, a long time ago.

I realized she was dripping wet. Everything from her head to toe was soaked in water. I remember her from class. But I was usually so busy to leave a second glance. All I remember was her flaming red hair.

I felt sorry for the guys who did this to her. They are surely gonna come to class tomorrow bruised. Pretty or not, boy or girl, I didn't like to see anyone being bullied. I had an idea of who must have done this. I saw some boys filling water in a bucket downstairs. They are definitely gonna feel the power of my hands.

It was Cade who ran towards her seeing her in that state. Noticing our presence, she just went numb. Cade tried talking to her, saying that it's gonna be okay.

But all I saw was her perfect angelic face. Her chubby cheeks and her sky blue eyes. Her rosy lips was down in a frown. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. She looked tall for her age. Even in that state, she was one of the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

I felt like I shouldn't be looking at her beauty but calming her down. But I was too afraid. I didn't know how to talk to such a beautiful girl. I felt embarrassed of myself.

That day, Cade took her home. He made sure she was safe. And by the time she got home, she was beaming. Cade was a charmer. Unlike me, he knew how to talk to girls. I went with them. But I felt like a third wheel dragging behind them. It would be an understatement if I said that hurts me.

I made sure that the pain she felt was also felt by the guys who did this to her. That was the last time she was bullied. And that was the day I fell in love for the first time.

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There were no one except us in the cafe. The mouthwatering smell of bakeries hit our nostrils the moment we entered. Different types of pastries were displayed by the aisle. Cade was already by her side. I saw his hands snaking behind her back, pulling her closer to him. He was smiling at her.

I felt like drowning. Like there was water under me trying to drag me into an abyss. I felt my throat tighten and I was gasping for air. There were veins dragging me down. But all of this was happening inside me. Outside I was calm and collected.

"Guys, this is Paige. Paige these are my friends. Brent, Jason and Marcus." Caden introduced pointing towards each of us.

After saying our hi's and hello's the three of us felt awkward just standing there. So we decided to take a seat by the window, the same place I saw her sitting when we got here.

There were only four chairs on each tables so I sat by the window opposite Paige and Jason was beside me while Cade sat beside her. Brent took a chair from the other table and sat on the other side.

"So should we order something? Or are we gonna stare at each other." Cade said after a while.

"We should order something before we get dirty looks. Wait she is already giving us the dirty look." Brent said and gave the women a charming smile. The women wavered slightly before frowning at our empty table.

Cade decided to go and order something. And I stole a glance at Paige. The whole time she was completely silent. She looked disturbed and deep in thought. Up close she had light freckles on her cheeks. Her eyes looked a little darker and I noticed she wasn't wearing any makeup. Her eyes were staring straight at me. Shit! Was I staring too much?

Thirsting over my best friends girlfriend was so wrong. I was breaking the bro code. But I can't help it. I've got these feeling's bottled up for so long it's gonna break somehow. Someway or another I had to forget about her. And it could break me. But this relationship could break me too.

While I was having this internal debate, Cade had already came back to the table. Jason was on his phone texting while Brent was staring at me with a sad expression. I always felt like Brent knows me more than anyone else does. Like he is just there watching and understanding you.

"Caden, I need to talk with you." That was the first real sentence Paige spoke until now.

"I'll be back." Then they both left to the back corner.

"Do you think they are doing the deed in the back?" After a while, Jason asked by looking at his phone.

"I don't think so. She looked pretty serious." Brent shrugged.

"Pretty serious to do the deed?" Sometimes he is the bigger idiot. We both gave him a look which went unnoticed by him.

"Jace why is your account private? I thought you had a lot of followers. What happened?" Brent asked. Jason shrugged.

"He received a message few days back from a girl who wanted to be his girlfriend. She threatened him that she would kill him if he didn't obey her. So he blocked her and made his account private." It was me who replied even though I didn't want to talk. The thought of them kissing made my blood boil.

After that I tuned them out of my head and stared out the window. It looked like it was going to rain even though it was really sunny in the morning. It's going to be hard to forget someone you liked for years. But what I was doing wasn't right. I was a coward who couldn't even talk to his crush properly. Actually I didn't even know why all these girls at school likes me. They didn't even know the real me, all they saw were the guy with a bed head, all black attire and sometimes a leather jacket. They only saw what I needed them to see.

After a few minutes Cade came back with Paige trailing lazily behind him. He had an angry expression on his face.  His styled hair was all messy. And the question was what happened to him?

"Let's go." He said and dashed outside. Soon I heard the engine of the car starting while we all sat there surprised.

"We broke up." Paige said in a whisper.

"Wha.... It's okay. It's your thing. We just came because Caden called us here. It's okay." Brent blabbered on and on.

"Everything's cool. We are cool. No problem." And Jason said.

But I, I just stood there like Christmas came early. I know I wasn't supposed to feel happy but I was. And it was so wrong but I was, happy.

One by one we all exited the cafe. Brent went back to get the pastries. But my mind was constantly saying talk to her, talk to her. And talk to her I did.

"How did you get here?" I asked her, heart in my mouth.

"I walked here. I live nearby. Two blocks from there." Paige said pointing in the direction. I replied with a hmmm. We were standing beside the car right now and I bet Cade could hear whatever stupidity I was throwing from my mouth.

"I've seen you before. In 6th grade was it?" She asked me making a conversation.

"Yeah...I remember vaguely." I lied. I remember everything so clearly. She said hmmm.

"I remember your hair. It was so red and messy. You looked like Brave." I smiled at the memory.

She laughed. "Do you still remember that? Thank God Brave didn't exist then or I would have been turned into a meme." Her laughter wasn't perfect. But it made me like her more. By then I was sure that I was whipped for her.

"One of those blondes used to be a meme. That wannabe Barbie girl. I do recall seeing her face spreading around as a meme."

"Amber. She even had a ken. That rich senior dude who would always put too much jell in his hair. They were the it couple back then." She smiled. I stole a glance at her but she was already looking at me. She looked relaxed. Her brows were a dark red almost brown and her lashes were long touching her cheeks. Her eyes were the most beautiful up close. And her lips...

"Marcus, I got your favorite pastry. Guess what I got?" My thoughts were interrupted by a happy looking Brent. I wanted to groan at his face.

"Pies?" I pressed.

"No man. Croissants. How could you not get that one right?" Brent sighed.

The sudden honking of the car made all of us jump.

"Get your sorry ass's inside or I'm going without y'all." Caden warned instantly making us all get inside. I looked at Paige and gave her a nod to which she smiled back. She had such an angelic face. Then she looked at Caden and said she was sorry to which Cade didn't reply. He reversed the car in one swift move and sped the car into the road.

The rest of the day was spent lazily watching movies and eating at Jason's house. Since all of his siblings were out with his parents, we all decided to lounge there. Cade looked slightly depressed but nothing some beer can't overcome. It was the first time he got dumped.

That night all I could think were of her. How her every smiles would affect me. I wished I had a chance and this could be it. I wanted to try. Try and make her mine at least this time.

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This chapter was so long. I'm really sorry if I bored you. I'll try to make next chapter short and interesting. Maybe we should write in Paige's pov. Idk maybe. And I'll try to update every 2-3 days.

Question of the day: Do you have a crush?