***Chapter Seventy-One***
2 days later, we were all studying in my room for finals coming up next week. We've been at it since we finished with our classes for the day. It was rather quiet as we all immersed ourselves in headphones with our eyes between textbooks. It wasn't much of a study group but we felt better being in each other's presence. I know sure did.
On my bed, there was Cameron Kayla, and myself while Dillon housed Dre and Drew on hers. Julie was on her way as she was saying goodbye to her dance family until after the break. The vibes were always a lot more relaxed when she wasn't around. I don't think I'd be able to study with her sitting across from me. Especially not after encouraging her to express herself to Drew.
Speaking of which, I'm still unsure if he gave her a response. He hadn't come to me and said anything about it. I also didn't want to ask him because I didn't want to come across as jealous. Which I very much was! Despite having to be friends and being happy for Julie, my heart couldn't let him go. No matter how hard I tried.
Luckily, there always seemed to be someone looking out for me. It wasn't my idea of getting over Drew. I tried that last time and it backfired. This was simply my mom and ironically Mrs. Tate looking out for me. It was quite comical if you ask me. Dillon and Drew didn't find it very funny.
As I spaced out for a bit, my phone began to ring. Looking down, it was my mom video-calling me. Little did I know, my mom and Mrs. Tate's faces popped up in the camera. I immediately took my headphones out so everyone could hear what they were planning on doing. These women we call our moms were wild.
"Anna, sweetie we have some news for you," my mom's sweet-sounding voice echoed through the phone.
This told me they were up to no good. "What is it this time?" I loathe hearing their idea.
Mrs Tate took over to the shock of Dillon and especially Drew. "Since you'll be staying with us for Christmas, your mom and I thought we'd set you up on a date!" She sounded thrilled.
Dillon and Drew heard that looking more shocked than I was. "A date!" They both yelled.
It did seem odd that they were trying to set me up with someone. My mom never cared too much about who I was dating. She did express to me that I should get over Drew because he was dating Juliana. This was probably her way of helping with that quest. Her sudden interest still surprised me and I've had enough of using people to let go of Drew. It will never work.
Before I could say anything though, Drew threw his stuff down coming over to sit next to me. He snatched the phone out of my hands furious with his mother. Anytime Drew felt jealous it made me secretly smile. It sounds insane of me to be happy about it but these were the consequences of his actions. If we all weren't so scared of what Julie could do he wouldn't have to worry about me dating other people.
Visibly angry, Drew wasted no time getting information out of his mom. "Who the hell is she going on a date with?" His voice had venom in it.
His mom was taken aback by his hostility. "If you must know, Logan Cartwell has agreed to go on a blind date with her."
That only made Drew and Dillon more angry. "Logan Cartwell! You may as well be handing her over to a pack of ravenous animals." Dillon groaned.
"And who even said she wanted this?" Drew was more focused on the dating aspect. "What if she's already seeing someone?"
My mom knew I wasn't but it was hysterical seeing Drew get worked up. All of us couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to shut this down. For someone wanting to be friends, he was doing a bad job at doing just that. We didn't need his mom getting suspicious of anything. Or even my mom for that matter. Who knows what she would think of me seeing Drew while having a girlfriend?
My mom stepped in looking confused. "You're seeing someone, Anna?" She asked me.
I take the phone back from Drew. "No Mom I'm not seeing anyone," I admit much to Drew's dismay.
Her eyes lit up again. "Great! I think you'll like Logan. He's perfect."
My head nods wanting to end this conversation. "Yeah okay, Mom. This was fun but I need to study."
"Fine okay, see you in another week!"
With that, we hang up the phone trying to process what just happened. Our parents were nosey and didn't have the slightest clue of what was going on. From the sounds of it, Logan didn't seem like someone I should be going on a date with. Though Drew could just be exaggerating like he did with Keegan and Cameron. However, I'm more inclined to take Dillon's word for it. She wasn't too happy about it either.
Dillon's eyes rolled. "I can't believe they're doing this." She said. "Do parents always have to be like this?"
Drew scoffed. "Forget that, are you seriously going on a date with this guy?" Drew immediately asked me.
Cameron and Dre laughed. "Are you jealous?" Cameron teased.
Drew frowned. "I'm not jealous!" He responded.
"I don't know, seems like it to me," Kayla laughed as well.
Drew wasn't going to admit it but he very obviously was jealous. Even if he was right about Logan, which I doubt, he was getting way too worked up. It's not like I'm going to stop feeling the way I do about him by going on one simple date. Feelings don't just change overnight. That kind of stuff takes time and with the amount that we're around each other, it's going to take more than Logan to change that.
Date aside, Drew continued to groan over-explaining his reasons for being upset. No one but him was buying what he was trying to sell. His justifications were meaningless when everyone already knew what was going on between us. Good thing Juliana wasn't here to witness this. She would've been so pissed off. He needed to work on controlling his emotions better.
"I'm not jealous," he continued to spout looking
back at me. "I just want the best for you."
Dillon giggled. "And that would be?" She asked him to get the answer she was looking for.
He didn't give it to her though. "Not Logan!" He yelled.
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "He could be great for me," I tease. "Dill, is he cute?"
Now I'm just having a bit of fun at his expense. The look on his face was so priceless. Whenever there was a guy involved it would always get under his skin. He was stupid to think I'd be won over by some random guy so easily. My eyes were only drawn to him. Even if he was a jealous prick at times. That just let me know he still wanted me to.
Dillon laughed as Drew caught on to what I was doing rather quickly. His arms wrapped around me pulling me into his chest. He playfully ruffled my hair with a smile on his face. I'd do anything to see him smile at me like this more often. Especially when it's in front of everyone. It was times like this that I wish Juliana was never in the picture. The thought of her alone always made her appear out of thin air, ruining my moment with him.
Amid our laughing, the door opened to Juliana walking in. She caught us being closer than usual. I fully expected her to lose her cool. To yell at me and at Drew like she did over my hat. She was unpredictable in the way she handled things. This time wasn't any different because the way we thought she would react, she did otherwise.
Smiling at all of us. "Hey guys...Drew," she says his name sweetly. "Sorry, I'm late. The girls didn't want to say goodbye."
Much to my dismay, Drew untangled himself from me to then go over to Julie. "It's alright. All we were doing was studying." He shrugged off before kissing her.
That was the moment for me to put my headphones on. It’s not like I haven’t seen them do this before. I should have been used it too by now. They were a couple dating and Julie didn’t lose her shit when she saw how close we were. I think they’ll be moving in the right direction. Now where does that leave me?
We filled Juliana in on what happened with the phone call regarding the date. We left out the details of Drew being jealous because it wasn’t important. It didn’t take long for us to get distracted from studying and spend the rest of the time goofing off. It was nice to do this now as I didn’t know what our winter break would have in store.
Something tells me this break was going to be very chaotic.