He Will Never Choose You!

Peppermint and coke!

"It might be a little bit more than a small crush," I admitted to Tamah and Diya.

The three of us were sitting next to the decent bonfire, which James had built together with our other classmates. I was chewing on my veggie hot dog, which was definitely okayish. James had soaked it with a lot of ketchup before handing it over just a couple of minutes ago. He was currently being crowded, as he was also in charge of the beer, which he probably stole from his parents' stock. Since they don't do the shopping themselves, they will probably never find out about it. Bless the rich.

"What do you mean? Like a tingling kind of crush or a butterfly explosion kind of crush?"

"Not an explosion, but they are definitely evolving."

"But, like, how? You made out with him once and never showed any kind of interest before that third base thing that went down two weeks ago."

"I don't even know. It just happens whenever I see him. It's not like I have any kind of control over it."

"Over what?"

Corey and Ben grabbed some beers for us, which I happily declined after being offered one by Ben. I needed a serious break after my last hangover and pulled a bottle of sparkling water out of my beach bag.

"Over nothing."

Not that I am shy about my feelings in front of my friends, but discussing it in front of everyone would be tiresome. At least in my imagination, so I stared at Ben in silence and with a slight smile.

"Oh, so no tea for us, I guess? It's about Reed, right?"

"Why does everyone know? TAMAH...?"

"Nope, wasn't me this time!"

"Diya?"

"Girl, please, I would never. My name is not Tams."

"What did you just say?" Diya and Tamah instantly started throwing insults at each other.

"Here we go again. Anyway. Ben, who told you?"

"Got the details from Corey, but basically everyone kind of already knows, or rather everyone knows what happened, so...."

"I figured that out, but I thought it was not a big deal, as no one seemed to give a fuck when I showed up earlier today."

"Oh, yes, that's because...."

I made eye contact with Jacob at that exact moment, who was sitting on the other side of the fire, talking to an excited-looking Brianna.

He swiftly tilted his head towards the shore and slightly pointed his chin in my direction, questioning my current availability with his movements.

Ben's voice literally faded the second I made eye contact with Jacob. I wasn't even able to remember what he was talking about.

I slightly nodded, answering Jacob's nonverbal question.

"Sorry, I'll be right back."

I stood up and handed Diya, who was still quarreling with Tamah, my veggie hot dog, took a sip out of my water bottle, and stuffed a peppermint into my mouth, which I quickly pulled out of Tamah's bag. Bless her and her bag, which is truly stocked with everything one needs in case of an emergency.

I started trailing slowly towards the shore, making sure that I was not too obvious. This was not supposed to be a secret, but still, due to that specific situation, let's call it 'the vodka shot incident,' I prefer to stay under the radar for some time, not wanting to fuel simmering embers.

I made my way down to the shore, not too far away, so that the voices were still within earshot, but I was basically invisible, as the bonfire was too far away to be seen. I inhaled the fresh air to calm myself down, as I was kind of nervous and accidentally breathed in the small piece of peppermint that was still left in my mouth.