Chapter 3
“Was he cute? Did he have gorgeous eyes? Was his hair…”
“Lena”, I replied, signalling my dad's presence in the kitchen.
“Good evening, sir”, Lena greeted.
My dad, per usual, ignored the greeting. My dad always looks like someone who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Chris dragged himself down the stairs.
“What's for dinner, Nell?”
“Leftovers.”
He had a happy expression on his face as he hurriedly took a seat at the table.
“Glad you weren't the one who cooked.” He muttered under his breath.
“Hey, I'm a good cook,” I said to my defence, looking at Lena for support.
The sarcastic raise of hands told me all I needed to know.
----
I tidied up the table after dinner and headed up to my room.
Lena was already perched on my bed with a novel in hand.
“You know we've got Chem test next tomorrow right?”
She turned to look at me and it seemed her thinking bulb clicked as she remembered.
I walked to my little worn-out shelf and selected a Chemistry textbook.
“Nell…”
I avoided her gaze. I already knew where this was headed.
“Nell…”
She pressed.
“What Lena?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
“Uh, have you forgotten about your hot boyfriend?”
“He's not my boyfriend. We're not even friends– more like acquaintances” I laughed at my own joke.
“Okay, so can we talk about him then?”
“No Lena”
Lena gave me a sad pout. She looked cute though.
“Okay fine. He approached me, I gave him my number. End of story.”
“You guys exchanged numbers?! This is more intense than I thought. You never give out your number Nell. What happened?”
‘I don't even know what happened. He was a cute guy, he was kind and I gave him my number. We mustn't date. We might just be good friends after all.’ I thought to myself.
“Not sure” I replied coldly.
“I'm just saying, Nell, be careful, though. You've never acted this way with anyone. Do you know how many boys have tried to ask you out? Well, I'm also kinda glad you found love.”
I swallowed hard. I don't have a particular way I feel about him. He just seems different. Not like Alex. Speaking of Alex, who is Alex? My life's so weird right now.
“Uh, earth to Nell?”
I snapped back to reality.
“Okay, Mom, thanks for the great and life-changing advice,” I replied sarcastically.
Lena rolled her eyes and got back to her novel.
My phone vibrated.
“Hey beautiful ( ;”
A small smile crossed my face, but of course, my best friend was sharp enough to pick it.
“Beautiful?”
I debated what to reply but just went with a casual ‘hi’.
He replied almost immediately.
“You busy?”
“Not really”, I replied, eager to know where this convo would head.
“Can I take you out for lunch? Say 1pm?”
“Got class”
“Oh, when’ll you be free?”
“Maybe weekend?”
“Are you sure I can wait that long?”
My stomach did four backflips together with Lena's teasing before I replied.
“You'll have to.”
“Okay, Nell. Saturday by 7pm?”
“See ya.”
----
“Bye, Lena,”, I said one last time before shutting the door.
Her teasing was still audible from a distance.
I walked back up, the chat still evident on my face. I sat down on my bed ready to tuck myself in. I remembered Alex. I felt like I'd known him for a while. I felt like I was cheating on the love of my life. But why don't I remember him?
I knew the moment I drifted off to sleep, I'd have another dream. Of Him. Of my Alex. My? It felt so real yet so distant.
A sentence lingered in my head.
“You can't forget me, Nell, we promised.”
‘Where have I heard that before?’
‘Am I losing my mind?’ ‘This is so freaking weird’ I tried to occupy my mind with thoughts of my new friend as I drifted off to sleep.
------
I woke up to the loud cry of Chris’ alarm clock.
I peeped the time, it was 6:30.
School starts at 8. Since I'm taking the bus, it'll take close to two hours to get there.
Worst of all, 3 missed calls from Lena.
I rushed through my morning routine remembering to organise my room after every step I take else I'd come home to a nagging mother.
------
“Did you guys finally go on a date last night?” Lena teased as we sat on the bus.
I was still trying to organize my bag and apply a little make-up before we got off. Lena was definitely not making it any easier with her difficult questions.
“I'm serious, Nell; why'd you keep me waiting? You know we have Prof. Collins by 8. This is 7:46!”
“Lena, I'm sorry, Okay? I overslept.”
I still wondered why I overslept. I don't remember having my usual dreams of Alex. At least not yesterday. I couldn't have woken up without a headache today if not for waking up in a hurry.
The bus stopping pulled me out of my thoughts, I quickly arranged everything back inside my bag and we set out to class.
------
It was lunch time.
I went to the cafeteria alone as I saw Lena talking with Mike- no, laughing with him so I couldn't afford to spoil their moment.
I wasn't really hungry even though I hadn't eaten since morning. I was feeling rather sleepy. ‘Am I pregnant?’ I laughed silently at my ridiculous thought.
Well if I've been dreaming about a man I never met, I might as well be pregnant in my dreams as well.
I got to the cafeteria, thankfully it wasn't crowded.
I moved hastingly to the far end of the cafeteria so I'd be able to catch up on sleep before Miss Morris class.
I texted Lena to chat me up when it was time for Math class.
It was weekend.
I had period cramps the previous night which made me restless so I slept in the next morning.
I woke up to the smell of coffee and toasts.
My favourite.
I unwrapped my heating pad and freshened up before Alex walked in.
He had a frown on his face as he picked me up back into the bed.
“What's wrong?”
“I wanted to treat you to breakfast in bed. I should have locked the door so you wouldn't perceive anything. I know that's what woke you up. Right?”
I nodded smiling.
“Well I'm in bed and you've got breakfast, so they're pretty much same thing.” I laughed knowing that's not what he wanted.
I kissed the little pout he had on his face and he kissed me back intimately.
The desire between us increased and before we knew it, we were finding our breaths.
My stomach grumbling brought us back to reality. We smiled as he went to the kitchen to bring breakfast for us.
We ate together in bed.
“I LOVE YOU, NELL”
“I LOVE YOU MORE, ALEX.”