The Tables Have Turned

Chapter 23

“When are we going to get there?” I asked Alex as we drove.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” he replied, smiling knowingly. I’m getting impatient here.

“It better be worth it,” I muttered but he heard me.

“Trust me, it is,” he said.

“If this is a prank like that one time you said you were taking me to an amusement park and we ended up in that crappy burger restaurant that doesn’t even serve burgers, I’m going to kill you,” I said and he burst out laughing.

“It was April Fools!” He defended and I scowled at him.

“I didn’t sleep the night before because of how excited I was!” I said, remembering that day. Alex had said that he was taking me to an amusement park and after driving for no less than four hours, he confessed that it was all a prank and then our date ended up in the worst restaurant ever.

“You didn’t speak to me for three days,” he said, pouting.

“You’re lucky I didn’t dump you!” I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest. As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. I’m sure he would’ve preferred if I dumped him like that than the way I did.

“Uh…” I started but he cut me off.

“We’re here!” He said, shooting me a grin.

I smiled back and was grateful that he didn’t comment on my previous words.

It was now dark outside so I couldn’t see clearly where we were. Actually, I wasn’t able to see anything.

“Where are we?” I asked him, confused.

“You’ll see,” was his reply as he jumped out of the car. I did the same and went out of the car.

“Give me your hand,” he ordered and I did as he said. I smiled when his hand held mine protectively. His hands were something I really loved about him. Weird, I know, but they were always warm no matter how cold the weather was and when my hand touches his, I instantly feel calmer and happier.

“Alex, I can’t see a thing,” I told him. I was walking blindly since I couldn’t see anything. I only knew that there were leaves and grass underneath my feet because of the crunching noise. Suddenly, my arm bumped into something and that’s when I noticed that there were trees too.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked worriedly when he noticed what happened.

“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “But are we in a forest?”

“Maybe,” he replied and I rolled my eyes at him.

“We’re almost there,” he declared.

I walked patiently with him and if you’re wondering, no, I wasn’t scared of being in the middle of a forest at night. I trusted Alex. I trusted him a lot. I knew that he would never do anything to hurt me. He was a great guy, an amazing guy, a guy that I’m very lucky to have.

“We’re here,” Alex said, stopping my train of thoughts.

I was about to ask him where exactly was ‘here’ but I stopped short when I saw the moon’s light illuminating the area we were in. I gasped at how bright it was. I never thought that the moon’s light could be that bright.

I looked around and noticed that there were trees everywhere and there was only one spot without trees above it so the moon was able to light it up. That was the spot where we were standing.

“Wow,” I murmured, not knowing what else to say. I was awestruck by the beauty of nature at night.

“It won’t be as beautiful soon because the weather will change and clouds would cover the moon and stars,” Alex explained as he sat on the grass. “So that’s why I took you here tonight.”

I sat down next to him looked around. The shadows of the swaying trees were clear on the grass and the sound of crickets was comforting more than annoying.

Alex lay down on the grass and then pulled me down too so that I was lying next to him. I rested my head next to his and we both looked up at the million shining stars.

“It’s amazing,” I whispered. I don’t know exactly why I was whispering but it was just one of those places where you feel that talking in a normal voice will seem too loud and annoying.

“I know,” he replied in a quiet voice. “I come here a lot, especially during summer.”

“How did you find it in the first place?” I asked curiously.

“I went for a midnight run once when I first moved here,” he started and I cut him off before he could carry on.

“How many times have I told you to stop doing this? Midnight runs? Seriously, Alex? Do you want someone to kidnap you? You’re really stupid sometimes,” I said.

He burst out laughing and pulled me closer to him, giving me a somewhat awkward hug.

“I’ve been doing that for years so stop worrying about me,” he replied.

“I can’t help it,” I said. “What if something happened to you?”

“Do you want to hear the story or not?” He said.

I sighed and nodded for him to carry on.

“Well during my walk, I passed by here and I noticed a path between the trees so I thought I could walk there,” he said and I cut him off again.

“Seriously?! What the hell is wrong with you? You find a path in the middle of the forest and you decide to go there alone in the middle of the night?” I said. “What if there was a bear with an axe waiting to kill you?!”

He chuckled again and said, “You sound like an old lady. Live a little. And I don’t think that bears with axes exist in the real world.”

I gaped at him. “Live a little?! You wouldn’t be able to live if something happened to you in that forest, and I’m pretty sure they do exist!”

“But nothing happened so it’s fine,” he replied, shrugging casually.

“I can’t believe you,” I muttered.

He rolled his eyes at me and then said, “Anyway, I kept on walking till I reached this spot here. I sat there and watched the stars for hours. I’ve been coming here ever since.”

“Does anyone else know about this place?” I asked.

“Not that I know of,” he said. “You’re the first person I brought here.”

I smiled, feeling special. But then another question popped in my mind.

“Where did you take all the girls on dates?” I asked.

He cleared his throat and then said, “Mostly movies or dinner at a classy restaurant.”

“Oh,” I said, not knowing if I should feel happy or sad. I mean he took me to a nachos place and a forest while he took other girls to movies and elegant restaurants.

Why didn’t he take me to an elegant restaurant? Or to watch a cute movie?

As if hearing my thoughts, he said, “I didn’t take you somewhere fancy or to the movies because I wanted a more meaningful date. I took you to that nachos place because I know you’d pick good nachos over steak any day and I took you here now because it’s a place no one knows about; it’s a secret of mine and I know you like knowing things about me that no one else does.”

I was left speechless. I think he was one of the few people who could ever leave me speechless and surprisingly, I loved it.

I felt my heart squeeze at his sincere words and didn’t know how to react. I turned my head to the left to look at him. His blue eyes were shining in the moonlight and his black hair looked so soft and shiny.

I did the first think I could think of. I hugged him. I hugged him tightly as if I was falling and he was the only thing I could hold onto.

He hugged me back and I wished that this moment would last forever. It was just nature and us. Without worries, without pain. Only peace and love.

We then sat in silence, gazing at the stars. After several minutes, Alex spoke, hesitantly.

“Did you… Did you ever think of me, Hailey? You know, after I left?” He asked.

“Yes,” I answered, truthfully.

He stayed silent and I mustered up the courage to tell him what I was thinking.

“Do you see those stars in the sky?” I started and he nodded.

“I don’t know how many they are but I know that they are less than the number of times I thought about you,” I said while blushing. I was hoping he wouldn’t notice my red cheeks. Either it was too dark for him to see my blush or he decided not to comment on it.

“So are you indirectly saying that you thought of me countless times?” He said and I nodded.

“But you never called,” he said quietly.

“Would you have answered?” I asked, and he remained silent.

“I knew that you wouldn’t answer and I didn’t blame you. You had every right to hate me,” I said.

Suddenly he sat up and I mimicked him so that I can look into his blue eyes.

“I couldn’t hate you. I wanted to, I really did, but I wasn’t able to. I wanted to hate you for hurting me. I wanted to hate you for humiliating me.” His blue eyes stared intently at me as he continued talking. “But I couldn’t. Every time I thought of you, I thought of our time together, I thought of your smile, I thought of your funny expressions. I didn’t think of the day you broke up with me, of the humiliation, of your cold eyes. I remembered the good things and our good times.”

I didn’t know what to say. For the second time in one night, Alex left me speechless.

All this time I thought that Alex would be mad at me for what I did to him. I thought that he would hate me and only think of me as the girl who broke his heart and humiliated him. But he didn’t. And hearing him saying those words was extremely shocking.

“Y-you never hated me?” I croaked out.

“No, Hailey,” he said sincerely. “I couldn’t hate you. I loved you too much. I still love you that much.”

I stopped breathing when he told me that he still loved me as much as he used to. I felt my heart flutter in my chest as his words replayed in my head over and over again.

“I love you more than I ever did,” I said, honestly and he gave me a beautiful smile that showed his two dimples.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked.

“No,” I replied seriously and he was taken aback slightly.

He then raised an eyebrow at me and moved his face closer to mine, giving me a challenging look.

“But I know you never do as you’re told,” I said and he smirked.

“And you’re my girlfriend so I don’t need permission to kiss you,” he said.

“Then why did you ask in the first place?” I questioned.

“Because I was hoping you’d say yes and we’d share a cliché, romantic moment,” he answered, making me laugh.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” I said and he grinned before kissing me softly.

“Fun enough for you?” He asked when he pulled away.

“It was okay,” I said, shrugging, and he laughed.

“Do you want to go home?” Alex asked when he saw me yawning. It was getting late and I was feeling tired.

I actually didn’t want to go home. As cliché as it sounds, I wanted to stay with Alex. It was normal, though, to want to stay with the guy you loved for as long as possible.

“I don’t know,” I murmured sleepily.

He chuckled softly and kissed my cheek. He then stood up and held out a hand for me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.

“Let’s go,” He said. “Don’t worry, though. You’ll see me tomorrow morning!”

“Who told you I wanted to see you that bad?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I know you do,” he said. “That’s why you don’t want to leave.”

“No, that’s not it,” I denied even though we both knew I was lying. The next part wasn’t a complete lie, though. “I just wanted to enjoy the beauty of nature.”

He suddenly stopped me from walking and crashed his lips onto mine. I was so shocked at first but I couldn’t resist him for long. A minute later he pulled away from the heated kiss and asked, “Is it still about the nature?”

“No,” I murmured, my brain still fuzzy.

He grinned triumphantly and I realized what he just did.

“Hey!” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. He smiled innocently and I kept on scowling at him.

“Come on, Hailey, lighten up,” he said. “I know you enjoyed it.”

I scoffed and walked ahead of him. I kept on walking and ignoring him while he called my name. Suddenly, I tripped on something and yelped as I held onto one of the trees for support.

Alex was quickly by my side and he wrapped his arm around my waist, straightening me.

“Give me your hand, Hailey,” he said and I shook my head.

“I’m not a kid. I can walk out of a forest on my own,” I replied.

“Are you mad at me?” he asked after a few seconds of silence and I could imagine him pouting.

I didn’t reply, though, but I wasn’t mad at him. I was just plotting revenge.

He held my arm, stopping me from walking any more.

“Talk to me,” he begged and I turned around to face him. Suddenly, an idea hit me and I suppressed a smirk.

I just stared at him for the first few seconds.

“W-what?” he then asked and that was my cue. I pushed him backwards and he stumbled till his back was against a tree. His eyes widened in shock and I moved closer to him, but not close enough.

I kept on moving my face closer to his and just as our lips were about to touch, I would pull back. I kept on teasing him till he finally snapped and did exactly what I wanted him to do.

He spun us around so that I was the one with my back against the tree and his hands were on either sides of the tree, next to my face.

He quickly moved his face closer to mine to kiss me and at the perfect moment I crouched down and his face hit the tree. He pulled away, shocked and I burst out laughing as I stood up again.

I laughed so hard, I had to clutch my stomach and try hard to breathe.

When I was finally able to stop laughing, I looked up at Alex and saw him frowning at me.

I smiled innocently at him and his frown deepened. I ran up to him and wrapped my hands around his waist and hugged him tightly.

I heard him groaning and he wrapped his arms around me too.

I lifted my head to look at him and his eyes softened.

“I guess I’m forgiven, then?” I asked, smiling hopefully.

He sighed and nodded. I grinned widely and he smiled as well.

“But you have to give me a proper kiss,” he said.

“Okay, I will, but can we leave now? I’m getting cold,” I said and he nodded.

We walked the rest of the way out of the forest till we reached Alex’s car. I climbed in and he turned on the heat as he started driving home.

He stopped the car in front of the Walkers’ house and walked me to the front porch. I smiled at him and said, “Thanks for everything, Alex. I had a great time.”

I then gave him a proper kiss and he wished me a good night before I went in and he left.

I screamed when Chase appeared out of nowhere and said, “Where did he take you and what did he do?”

“Oh my God! You scared the crap out of me, Chase!” I yelled, putting a hand over my chest where my heart was beating wildly.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “But answer the questions.”

“Chase,” I started, rolling my eyes at him. “It was just a normal date. Calm down.”

He narrowed his eyes at my reply and that’s when Emily came in.

“How was it?!” She squealed and I chuckled.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” I said. “I’m tired now.”

“Fine,” Emily said, disappointed while Chase still had the angry/protective look.

“Good night,” I said as I went up to my room and slept with a smile on my face as I replayed in my mind parts of our date.

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Hello my lovelies! :)

So my exams started -.- I didn't do well in Math but hey I saw it coming. My teacher said it was going to be extremely hard and I'm not very good at math so yeah. But French and Civics were good! xD

I hope this chapter made up for the previous one! :)

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