***Chapter Forty-Three***
The following morning, I woke to the sound of my alarm going off. Normally, I would ignore it, but something felt different. It didn’t feel like I was in my bed that wasn’t very comfortable, but better than this. My hand reached out to see if I could feel my night stand where my phone usually was, but that didn’t happen either. All I felt was leather, and that’s when my eyes shot open.
Looking around, I realized I was still in Drew’s car, with him missing. I did not know where he went or why he let me sleep in his car. Did he leave me here all night by myself or something? That was pretty messed up if he did, but kind of sweet that he at least left me with a blanket. Last night was hazy, but I knew that Drew and I were ok. That’s all that mattered to me in the end.
Grabbing my phone, I shut my alarm off, only to see a bunch of texts from Keegan. The one that caught my attention was the number unsaved in my phone. To my surprise, it was Drew telling me he went to class and to lock the door when I left his car. He also informed me he got my favorite drink from the Coffee-House and left it up front for me. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as I grabbed my drink. It was also wild for me to think about having Drew’s number. Even after all this time, I couldn’t help but feel giddy. So giddy that when I saved it, my instincts were to put a cute heart at the end like a schoolgirl. No one would ever see it.
Without anymore delay, I rushed back inside my dorm to get myself ready for these dreadful morning classes. We had about 2 more days left in the week before they were over and the talent show. That was going to be the most exciting thing happening while we wait for Halloween to come. It didn’t put a pep in my step, but it made me more eager to get this day over with.
After getting dressed, I went to all my classes, sort of focusing, but not really. I was thrilled when it was all over, getting to meet up with Dillon and Cameron. It’s just what I needed to take a breather, but would also avoid telling Cameron that he was right about anything.
“Could the day go any slower?” Cameron asked, sounding quite annoyed. I’m thinking we were all over school by this point.
We sat out in front of the main entrance of the campus. “Don’t ask that question. The universe will hear you and make it go even more slowly.” I whined.
Dillon laughed. “I don’t think that’s possible, but the day has been off.” She says.
Cameron shrugged. “We just have nothing going on like we usually do,” he was right.
Normally, we’d have some exciting thing happening even if it were little. Today, that wasn’t the case. Instead, we were bored out of our minds making idle conversation with one another to avoid doing any sort of work. There were still a few classes we each had to go to today, but this break was nice. Even if it were only us sitting on the stairs talking.
The energy soon changed as Dre and Drew found their way over to us. My favorite part of any day is seeing Drew’s smiling face. Now that we had such a goodnight last night, our relationship was better than ever. So much better that when he got closer to us, he opened my legs and sat in between them. It sounded wrong, but he literally just sat there without a care in the world. It caught me by surprise as my cheeks flushed with him leaning back into me. Like he didn’t realize what he was doing, but I knew better than that.
Looking up at me, his green eyes capture me with that sweet smile accompanying it. “Hey, Annabelle,” he says sweetly and calmly.
I rolled my eyes, trying to show that any of this did not affect me. “What are you doing, you baboon?” I had to banter with him a bit.
I can feel him shrug, snuggling his head into my lap even more. “Sitting down. What does it look like?” He was taunting me.
“Like you’re trying to get us both killed,” I remarked. Juliana could walk out here at any moment.
That didn’t seem to phase Drew. “Dying with you doesn’t sound like a bad thing,” he winked. Was he openly flirting with me?
My response wouldn’t come, as I was too stunned by his flirting to speak. That didn’t stop the others from commenting on the matter.
“Just get married already, why don’t you?” Dre poked fun at us.
I almost forgot that they were there, getting so caught up in whatever Drew was doing. After confessing his crush to me, he didn’t seem to want to hold back. It would have been the safest thing to do, but I can’t say that I didn’t like it. The moment I’ve been yearning for was finally happening. Drew was acknowledging his feelings for me in ways that I could only dream of. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so thrilled about that. Juliana was still his girlfriend at the end of this. But even our friends couldn’t deny the chemistry that lies between us.
Drew lifted his head, looking at the lot of them. “Can we ever do anything without input from thing 1, 2, and 3?” He questioned all of them.
Dillon laughed, snuggling up against Dre herself. “When it comes to my best friend, no.” She smirked.
Drew nodded, understanding her point. This was the first they communicated where it wasn’t awkward for them. Their relationship was strained, but it wasn’t something unfixable. From that interaction alone, I could tell that they wanted to be closer. That they wanted to have that sibling bond you just couldn’t get anywhere else. What was it going to take for them to figure it out? While we were here, away from their parents, something needed to be done about it.
In the meantime, we shifted gears to talk about Halloween coming up and what everyone was going to dress up as. They all knew what Dillon and I were going to do after being roped in by Juliana. The boys weren’t interested in dresses up but knew they had to given that it’s a Halloween party. Everyone and their mother would be dressed in something at the bar. Even if they looked silly. I suggested they go dressed as ghost busters, but they were so reluctant about it.
“You’ve got to be joking?” Dre looked at me, baffled. “Do you know how silly we would look?”
I scoffed. “We have to go dressed as Charlie’s Angels.” I argued. “It doesn’t get more ridiculous than that.”
“Exactly, don’t be a bunch of babies.” Dillon backed me up.
They’re acting like a bunch of little babies, but they were all cute, so I guess they got a pass. It took some convincing, but eventually we got them to agree to do it. That only meant the girls, and I had more costumes to work on because we know they wouldn’t do it themselves. It made for much more work, but it would be worth it in the end. We were all going to be killer at this party, although Keegan and Kayla were left out. It would still be lots of fun.
Time continued to go by extra slow as we continued to talk, shifting from the stairs to under my favorite tree. Juliana still wasn’t around and I took full advantage of it. Even when we moved to the grass, Drew sat between my legs casually. Unlike on the stairs, I opted to wrap my arms around his shoulders, pulling him more into my chest. It didn’t take him long to settle into me as my hands rested on his lovely chest. Even with everyone around, it was hard to contain my emotions. The closeness that we were showing in front of everyone had me wanting to do more, but I wouldn’t.
Drew looked up at me, the sun making his eyes brighter than they were. “Someone’s holding me rather tight,” he teased with a flick of his tongue.
I rolled my eyes playfully. “Oh, shut up. I don’t…I don’t mean to be.” He made me nervous now.
His hand found its way up to my cheek as they warmed from the sensation. “It’s ok. Who said I didn’t like it?” He questioned, making my cheeks get even more red.
“Drew…” I trail off, taking his hand in mine.
“I know, I know. I won’t be too forward.” He then whispers. “But I hope our agreement still stands.”
The mention of our agreement threw me off, since I hadn’t thought about it. Truth be told, I didn’t think he would want to continue on. After everything we’ve been through, I thought maybe he would want to take a break from it. It would be harder to control ourselves knowing what we do now. His developing feelings for me would make me want to push further than I have before. It wasn’t a good thing in my eyes. He was still dating Juliana and I Keegan, but I couldn’t resist the urge to say it was off. I didn’t want it to be over.
Sadly, before I could answer him, my heart dropped at the sound of my name being called. It’s been forever since I’ve heard that voice and hearing it now sent a pain through my chest. So much so that I immediately stood up to look them in the eyes. My tears almost clouding my vision, but I pushed them back down before they could fall. There was no way I’d let them see me cry. Why did they even come here in the first place? I knew exactly who was up to this as well, and I didn’t like it, not one bit. Especially not when they brought her with them.
“Annabelle.”