❤️THE SPACE IN BETWEEN❤️
?Age is just a number?
✍️ Written By Precious Pinky✍️
?Chapter Fourteen (14)?
#NOT EDITED.
Theme: True feelings…?.
?Malby’s Pov?
“What do you want?”
“You have to listen to me, Mal. I said I was sorry.”
“Well, fu-ck that!” I spat angrily.
Okay, you guys might be wondering what the hell was going on right now. I will tell you.
Apparently, we were still in school. It’s not everyone that’s present so we were still waiting for the students that are yet to come.
Manuel was part of those students that are yet to come.
I’d tried calling his number but it wasn’t going throu-ghand I’m a bit worried because this was exactly what happened that day when I received a call that he was in the hospital.
God, I hope everything was okay with and he will soon be here.
Okay, back to the matter at hand.
When I arrived at school, I saw Xander and Tricky at a corner, talking and laughing.
It was very obvious that she was flirting with him and Xander on the other hand was also flirting with her!
Yeah, let’s say I’m jealous…in fact, I’m damn jealous and angry.
And that’s for two reasons…
….One, Xander didn’t come over at my house to pick me up which meant that he was mad at me.
Like really, who was suppose to be mad at the other??
I admit. I was the one who snapped out at him and that was so rude of me but come on, he started it.
How could he be so blind and not notice my feelings for him?
Two, why didn’t he talk to me when he saw me this morning?
Oh, I think I know why…he was busy flirting with that bi-tch !
Arrrrgh!
I was so excited this morning until now and all thanks to my best friend/crush.
But what I don’t seem to understand was his reason for coming to talk to me now.
Like hello, what about his bi-tch , Tricky?
Saying her name alone is making me want to puke.
“I don’t get it. Why exactly are you mad at me? Because it’s clearly not because of what I said yesterday.”
He was right.
Why was I mad at him?
He had only asked a simple question that required a simple answer so why exactly did I snap out like that?
Maybe it’s because I was angry for the fact that he didn’t like me the way i like him.
Or because i came to realize that there was no way Xander and i could be together.
Or maybe it’s because of the both.
I don’t know…?.
But I was mad.
“Just leave me alone and go continue flirting with your bi-tch .” I say and walked out.
Okay, that was mean.
But who cares? Because I clearly don’t care.
Xander and i have never fought for this long before.
Whenever we have any misunderstanding, we try to sort it out as soon as possible but now was different.
I was just being so difficult.
I walked into the hall and suddenly bumped into someone.
Dang it!
I look up at the person and suddenly a smile appeared on my face.
“Manuel.”
“Hi. I’m late, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “If you are then you wouldn’t see me here now. Why are you so late, by the way?”
He sighed. “I had a fight with my dad.” He says after hesitating.
Oh, my.
I opened my mouth to talk but I couldn’t think of anything to say.
I mean, what was i suppose to say now?
Do I say sorry for that?
Or how dare your father hurt you?
Or really? what happened?
Arrrrgh!
I honestly don’t know what to say to that.
“You are okay, right?” That was what I said instead.
It doesn’t sound stupid, right??.
He smiled and nodded his head yes. “It’s no big deal. I’m so used to my father and i fighting all the time.”
“Here.” I handed him the list. This was the best time to change the subject or I say something I wasn’t suppose to say.
And trust me, i do not want to embarras-smyself or say something that will hurt Manuel instead of helping him.
I was very bad at comforting someone.
He collected the list and gave me a why-are-you-giving-me-this? look.
I smiled and point at hashtag number two.
He read it and started smiling as well.
Yeah, yeah. he gets it now.
“We could cross that out.” I say.
“Yeah.” He smiled.
“You don’t have to think about you and your father fight, Manuel. You need to be happy and focus on this camp out. Let’s make this camp out fun.” I raised my hand up for a high five.
He laughs softly and raised his hand up as well and we both high five each other, smiling.
I was going to pull my hand away but Manuel had other plans because he suddenly intertwined our hands.
“Thanks for comforting me.” He says.
I comforted him?
Really?
This was unbelievable!
And here i was thinking I was bad at comforting someone when in reality I just comforted Manuel.
I will make a great counselor or therapist.
“You’re welcome. And stop thanking me. We are friends and friends help each other.”
He nods his head and before I knew it, Manuel leaned towards me and ki-ssed me on my forehead.
Okay, I shouldn’t take this to heart.
I guess he was just being friendly and nothing else.
Gosh, Malby, what are you thinking?!?
“What was that for?” I ask as he pulled away.
“Friends can do that, right?” He ask instead of giving me a reply to my question.
But anyway, that still gave me the answer I needed.
He only see me as a friend and nothing more.
Wait, why do I feel bad about it? It’s not like I like Manuel that way.
fu-ck you for being so right!
??????????
“Let’s sit over there.” I point at the seat at the back of the bus.
Manuel shrugged and we both walked over to the seat and sat down.
After a lot of warning from the principal on not wandering off during the camp out and not to fight one another but to rather stick to each other and all that shit, we were finally left to go to our various groups and bus.
Yeah, each group has its own bus.
Manuel and i were both talking and laughing while we listened to one of Manuel’s favorite song.
God’s plan by Drake.
I’m not a huge fan of Drake but I still do enjoy his music.
Hey, don’t judge me?.
“Who is your favorite musician?” I now ask.
“Your dad.”
“Really?” I ask in disbelief.
He laughs. “Yeah. your dad is amazing and he is also my role model.”
I smiled.
Of course, dad was amazing and awesome. Everyone loves him. And that’s one reason why I want to be like him. He wasn’t just Manuel’s role model, he was also my role model.
I’m very proud of my father and i hope that one day he would be proud of me as well.
…. Especially mom?.
“Yeah.” I whispered.
“Why do you want to be a musician? Is it because of your dad?”
Why do i want to be a musician?
Honestly I haven’t thought of that before.
I just enjoy the attention my dad gets from people. I admire him. I wanted to be like him. I wanted people to know my name and love me.
Was that enough reason?
Even a stupid person will know that that wasn’t enough reason. And i wasn’t stupid.
So no, that wasn’t a good reply but a stupid one.
Damn, I don’t even know why I want to be a musician aside from I wanted to be like my dad.
“I…i don’t know.” I say sincerely.
“Whoa. Never expected that answer.”
I sighed but said nothing as i leaned my head against the window and shut my eyes close.
Why exactly do I want to be a musician?
Why?
I kept asking myself that simple question but yet difficult.
I started fiddling with my fingers.
Is being a musician really my dream?
What if it isn’t?
But music do make me happy and when you are happy about something then that makes that thing your dream.
Right?
??????????
?Ruby’s Pov?
“Hey.” We both embraced each other, grinning. “How are you?” I ask as we pulled out of the embrace.
“Fine. And you?”
“Great. Please have your seat.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop treating me like a guest, Ruby. This is practically my second home.”
I laughed at that but truth be told, she was right.
This was her second home and she’s welcome anytime here.
She wasn’t my sister or cousin, we weren’t even related by blood but she was more like a sister to me.
A sister from another mother.
She has been with me throu-ghmy ups and downs.
She loved and cared for me.
She makes me happy whenever I’m sad.
She was my best friend during my childhood days and down to my teenage hood and to my adulthood…And she was still my best friend.
And no matter what happens, I can never love Cherry less.
“Yeah right.”
We both chuckled and walked over to the kitchen.
“So how is Malcolm? By the way, where is he?”
“At work. And yeah, he’s fine.” I replied. “How about Vincent?”
“He’s good. But he’s always busy with work and makes me miss him all the time.”
I laugh. “Really?”
“Like seriously.”
I served her drink and we both talked about random stuff that doesn’t really matter.
We even talked about our past life and laughed about the funny things we might have done during those past time.
It was fun talking to my friend and i must say, I miss her like crazy.
“So…what college is Xander going to?”
“He hasn’t really talked about it. But I guess it’s either Yale or Harvard.”
“But they are far from home.” I reasoned.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. And besides I’m fine with whatever decision he makes but I will really want him to go to Yale.”
“You literally want to separate him from his best friend. And you know how much Malby loves Xander and can’t do without him.”
Cherry chuckles over that. “I know that. But I’m sure Malby would be fine with it.”
“So have you talked to your son about it?”
She shook her head no. “He hasn’t bring it up yet. I guess it’s until he graduate.”
“Yeah.”
??????????
?Malby’s Pov?
“Okay everyone, we’ve finally arrived to our destination.”
“Whoo!!!” We yelled in excitement, jamming our hands while some were drumming.
Everyone were so excited about this camp out. Especially me!
Like come on, this was the only activity i love about school.
We got out of the bus with smiles on our faces.
“So guys…you all have to stick together and be each other’s backbone. No one, I repeat, no one should wander off without telling someone about where he or she is going. We are in the woods and everyone have to be very careful. Is that clear?”
“Yes miss Tasha.” We said in unison.
“Good. Now collect your bags and follow me.” She instructed.
We did as we were told and followed her from behind, quietly.
After walking for God knows how long, we finally got to an open area.
Damn. It was beautiful and spacious.
There was a place where we could build our tents and still gather around a fire to warm ourselves up.
I grinned as I look around my surroundings.
The cool breeze hit me and I find myself twirling around in excitement.
This was amazing and…
“Beautiful.”
I stopped twirling and snapped my head to the direction of where the person just spoke from.
It was Tricky.
Arrrrgh, why do fate have to be so mean to put me in the same group as this bi-tch ?
“What do you want now?” I ask in distaste.
She laughs and folded her arms over her ch-est. How could someone be excited about pissing people off? This bi-tch was weird.
“Nothing. And besides it’s not like you can give me anything.”
I brushed a stray of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear and glared at her.
How dare her?
How dare her talk to me in that manners?
Have she forgotten so soon of where she belongs?
She was way, way below me.
And i have every goddamn right to trample her under my feet!
“You are right. What could I possibly give a church rat like you?” I say.
“What? Excuse me?”
“Clear off my path, Tricky or you won’t like what I will do to you and also, stop pushing yourself on Xander…he will never be yours and besides, you are way out of his league so stop trying to mingle with people like us when you are nothing but a church rat!”
Damn!
That was fu-cking mean.
But I don’t care. She brou-ght it upon herself and i don’t regret every word I’d just said to her.
Besides they were nothing but the truth.
I walked away, leaving Tricky in total shock as she tries to process everything i had just said.
Well, take that bi-tch !
??????????
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Where are you going to?”
“I’m looking for signal to call mom.”
“Hmm.”
“Why are you even here?” I ask as i stopped walking and turned to look at him.
“Just keeping you safe and also, Miss Tasha said we should be each other’s backbone.”
I rolled my eyes. “fu-ck that.”
“When did you start swearing like this?”
“i’ve always been like this, Xander.” I point out.
“Really?”
“You’ve forgotten?” I questioned, wide eyes.
How could he start forgetting about me only because we didn’t talk for like twelve hours or so?
Was I that worthless to him?
“Just kidding.” He says laughing.
Oh.
“Not funny.” I say throu-ghgritted teeth as i started walking again, Xander followed me from behind.
“I’m sorry.” He suddenly says.
I didn’t reply.
“I’m sorry, Malby. Even though I clearly don’t know the reason why you are mad at me.”
“Then stop apologizing!” I say angrily.
“What’s your problem, Malby. Like seriously, I don’t get why you are mad at me.”
“Then stop trying to understand why! Just leave me alone and go meet your bi-tch !”
“Can you stop being so mean to Tricky?!?” He practically yelled.
“What? Are you siding with her now?”
“i’m not siding with anyone but I just don’t understand you again.”
“You never will. Because if you can’t tell who I like and who i just see as a friend then you can never understand me!” I yelled.
He didn’t say anything after I said that so i took that as an opportunity to leave that place and be away from Xander but fate love me so much that I have to trip against a branch and fall.
Yay life!
Xander ran towards and tried to pull me up to my feet but I refused his help and try to help myself up only to fall down again.
fu-ck me!
I think I’ve sprained my ankle.
Dammit!
“Did you sprain your ankle?” Xander knelt down in front of me and placed my foot on his lap and started ma-ssaging it.
fu-ck! That hurts like a bi-tch .
“fu-ck!” I gro-aned.
“Just be calm.” He Instructed.
Shit.
How the hell can I be calm in a situation like this?
I think I’m going to die and I’m going to die without even forgiving Xander or telling him my true feelings or completing that list with Manuel.
“i’m fine.” I swatted Xander’s hand from my ankle and try to stand up, using a tree for help.
It worked but I couldn’t place that leg down so i was standing on one foot.
What’s going on?
This was only our first day for this camp out and I’ve already injured myself.
Why do life have to be so cruel to me?
“You are not fine, Malby?”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because I could tell and i could also see how you are struggling to stand on your both feet.”
“THEN WHY CAN’T YOU TELL THAT MY FEELINGS ARE FOR YOU AND NOT MANUEL!”
Pause.
I think I just said something i shouldn’t have say.
Xander was just staring me.
Okay, maybe that was only just one of my imagination and i didn’t actually say that.
“What? you like me?”
okay, that definitely wasn’t an imagination.
i just open up to my Best friend/crush. Xander.
I just told him my true feelings.
Holy crap! What do I do now?
I scratched the nape of my neck, nervously and cleared my throat.
“Just pretend like you didn’t hear anything.” I say and tried to leap away but he caught hold of my wrist even without taking any step.
Damn this stupid ankle of mine!
“You like me?” He repeated the question again, looking de-eply into my eyes.
Damn, why did I say it?
Now he will surely reject me and tell me that he sees me as nothing but his best friend or probably his little sis and i was so afraid of hearing those words from him.
I started fiddling with my fingers, holding his gaze.
“Yeah. And I know it’s stupid of me because you see me as nothing but your best friend and little sis but I couldn’t stop myself from liking you! And…”
He stopped me.
And no, he didn’t just stop me. He crashed his li-ps against mine, stopping me from ranting.
I stood there in total shock.
Was Xander ki-ssing me right now?
Wait, does this mean that… NO WAY!
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#To Be Continued…