Chapter 13 DUSTIN
My eyes widened in shock, and I almost choked on my own saliva.
He knew.
Dustin knew it was me all along.
He smiled and walked over to me. He bent down so our faces were at the same level. Our noses were inches apart. My heart pounded against my chest crazily as he inched closer. Not the way it would beat for Axel, but it was beating with anxiety.
“Have anything to say?” he asked.
His hot breath tickled my lips as I shook my head. He pulled back and crossed his arms across his chest. He then laughed and shook his head.
“Actually, I don't know what you’re talking about?” My reply came out as a question. Why couldn’t I lie?
I knew exactly what he was talking about.
He caught me.
Who was I trying to kid? He knew it was me. It was obvious I wasn’t going to be able to convince him otherwise.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down on the bed making it dip down.
“I might not have sixth sense, but I know you’re lying.”
I decided to give in, “H-How?”
“You forgot this at the dance,” he pulled out something from his pocket and waved it in my face.
MY PHONE. It was in the same condition as before but it had fingerprints all over it…which meant that someone was trying to figure out the password. I snatched the phone from his hands quickly and tried unlocking it, but it was switched off.
Weird… I never remembered turning it off when I was at the dance. I pressed the power button to turn it on. There was still battery, which meant it didn’t die. That’s odd…
Dustin peeked over my shoulder and watched me closely.
“Did you mess with it?”
“No… well, I kinda’ tried, but your pattern password is damn hard,” he admitted.
“There’s this thing called privacy,” I muttered.
“Well, I didn’t know who it belonged to at first, so I had to at least try! Mrs. Puessy said it was probably yours.”
I was too nice, “Thanks for keeping it for me.”
“You are very welcome my dear lady!” He was such a cheerful soul.
I turned the phone away from him and unlocked it. My mouth dropped to the floor when I saw the number of missed calls on there. Seventy four missed calls from Cleo, from Kasay and of course, from my very best friend Jaxon.
“You’re popular.”
“With three people.”
I tossed my phone aside and crossed my arms over chest. The ice pack was still on my ankle and it was so cold, it was burning my skin. I closed my eyes for a moment wishing the pain could go away.
“So,” he started, “what’s the whole Cinderella thing you’re trying to pull?”
My eyes were still closed, I just wanted time to think, “I’m not trying to pull anything.”
“Then explain.”
I sighed, “It’s a long story.”
“I have time.”
Did he have to be as annoying as Kasay? I opened my eyes to him grinning on my phone.
“DUSTIN!” I tried snatching the phone from him, but he just leaped away.
He looked up with an evil sparkle in his eyes. He stood up slowly, pacing around me like a tiger circling its prey. His grin was so playful… After tapping on it a few times, he showed me the screen.
“I didn’t know you were a stalker!”
On full display was a photo of Axel in his swimming trunks.
“GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE!” I tried getting up, but it was so painful I fell to the ground. “FRICK!” I hissed.
He placed the phone on a shelf far away from me, and helped me back up on the bed, “I didn’t know you had a crush on Axel Storm Spencer! Interesting choice by the way, I wouldn’t have guessed that was your type.”
“I don’t have a crush on him!” I protested.
“Looks like it’s more than a crush now,” he grabbed my phone and started scrolling through it again.
“Please… give me my phone,” I begged, “My life sucks enough!”
“Why don’t you just go up to him and tell him you’re obsessed with him?” He kept scrolling through my phone, “If anyone was this crazy about me, I’d be damn flattered.”
“Please-”
“WOAH! You even have photos of him as a kid!”
I hid my face with my hands.
“You stalker!” he teased.
“I swear I’m not!”
“Then explain why you have hundreds of photos of him on your phone.”
I felt my face flare up even more than before. I glared at him as he smiled at me showing his dimple on his left cheek. It was so hard not to smile when he was looking that adorable. It truly wasn’t fair on my behalf.
“Is that why you pretended to be the Rose at the dance?”
I stayed quiet.
“You pretended to be someone else, so he could notice you?” He questioned, serious this time.
“It's not only that-”
“I won't tell anyone, I promise.”
“But-”
“Come on,” he practically begged me. “You’re not the only one needing to get something off your chest.”
I didn't know what to say, so I just gave him a questioning look.
He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Look, do you know how it feels to have a secret you can't tell any of your friends about? You know they’d laugh and judge you for it?”
His genuine ocean blue eyes stared into mine. They looked so peaceful, so calm, so innocent… I got lost in them for a moment, before I nodding my head slowly.
“We've got the same problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Same issues with our love lives.”
I didn’t believe him, “I don’t think so.”
“I’m serious-”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Then tell me. Tell me what your situation is; tell me how you truly feel.” He pleaded.
He seemed like a trusting person, but I didn't know him that well. I had a few classes with him through the years, but never had a full conversation with him before. I saw him so often I felt like I knew him really well for some reason. Or maybe it was just the way he was.
He must've felt the same way from the way he was talking to me. He conversed with me the way long lasting friends talked. I smiled at the thought of having him as a friend. I really needed more of them. At least someone besides Jaxon and Kasay wanted to get to know me in my nerdy Rosaline form.
I felt like I could trust the guy with my life. I blamed it on his eyes; I had a thing for beautiful eyes, and his were just too warm and too trusting.
“I'll tell you my situation if you tell me yours,” I finally said.
He snatched my right hand and shook it right away, “deal!”
~*~
“Wow!” He said at the end of my story.
Yep… I just trusted someone I wasn’t even close to with my entire life…
I told him the whole situation about Axel and I.
I spilt feelings I wouldn’t dare tell Jaxon or Kasay.
Thankfully, no one had bothered us while we were in the nurse's office, so we had privacy. The nurse was busy outdoors arguing with some school secretary about a paycheck.
Dustin had a sympathetic look on his face. He forced a smile as he reached over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear then he looked down. He was staring down onto the floor. It looked like he was lost in his own thoughts.
“So… how bad is my situation?” I asked.
I was obviously afraid of the answer, but I was willing to hear it. I needed to know what he thought of me. An outsider’s opinion on the entire situation would give me a clearer picture of how messed up it may have been. Hell- I just wanted to know if Axel had noticed me at all. If he even acknowledged my existence!
Dustin slowly looked up and gave me a smile, “You call yours bad?! All I hear is assumptions from you. You assume he’s never noticed you, or he’s never acknowledged your presence!”
“Well I assume because I know the truth! He’s never looked in my direction!”
“You’ve never considered maybe every time he looks at you, you look away?
I stopped to register what he just said, “do you know something I don’t know?”
He avoided my eye contact, “Please just know that your situation is not as bad as you make it out to be.”
“You do know something I don’t know.”
“I don’t know any facts,” he said. “Like I said, your situation is nowhere near bad. You’re just oblivious to things around you.
“How am I oblivious?!”
He ignored my question, “Just know that mine’s way worse.”
Worse my ass. Any girl would’ve fallen for Dustin. Messy hair, ocean blue eyes, caramel skin, and a cute dimple.
But then again, he did have an identical twin brother, and no one could tell them apart if they weren’t speaking. They did have quite different personalities. One was tough and mean while one was always playful and nice.
But some girls probably wouldn’t have liked the nice and playful one and would go for the tough and mean one. Aggressive trouble makers were hot… at least to me they were…
Talking about aggressive…
I saw a few of Axel’s fights before. He looked so cold every time he threw punches at his opponents. It scared me, but I was so attracted to it. I hate to admit it, but he looked damn sexy after he fought. He would sometimes have a bruise on his cheekbone or a busted lip.
Somehow, I found that extremely irresistible.
“How could your situation be any harder than mine?”
“It just is,” he replied simply.
“I’m all ears.”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time,” I smirked, using his own words against him.
He groaned and buried his face in his hands. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
His eyes met mine, “I think I’m in love with your best friend.”
I froze. My best friend.
“JAXON?!”
“Uh, no.”
It took me a few moments to process in my head who he meant by my best friend.
“You’re in love with… Kasay?”
He nodded slowly.
I was shocked. Dustin having a crush on Jaxon would’ve been less surprising than him liking Kasay. The more I thought of it, the worse I felt about the situation. Did she even notice him? Did she even know who he was?
She had never liked the jocks or cheerleaders, but she did occasionally exchange bodily fluids with a few of the football and basketball players. I doubt she knew who Dustin even was…
Maybe his situation was just as hard as mine.
What shocked me most was Dustin falling for someone like Kasay. The perfect jock, falling for the tough pessimistic gal’ who usually viewed the world as her enemy.
Well… I guess I fell for the opposite too.
I was the nerd who always followed orders, who almost never spoke against anything… and I fell for the guy who rebelled against everyone and anything.
I felt really bad for Dustin.
I mean, Kasay was one of my best friends- one of my only friends, but she was the type of girl just looking for a quick high, not something serious.
I understood the feeling of having a crush on someone who didn’t acknowledge your presence. Yet, you noticed every single detail about them; from their smile, their eyes, their face, and how they chose to dress, how they acted during certain situations-
“You’ve been silent…” He looked worried, “so, what do you think?”
I looked up at him and tried my best to give him a reassuring smile.
“Does she even notice me?”
His ocean blue eyes held a sliver of hope. Did I tell the truth about her hating jocks and not wanting to settle, or did I tell him a sweet lie on how she did notice him?
Being the coward I was, I avoided doing either.
“I don’t really talk to her about her love life, she’s quite a closed person,” I told him part of the truth, “I’ll find out for you.”
“Thanks Rose! You’re great!”
I nodded.
“Still think your situation is worse?”
I nodded again, “I’ve liked him way longer.”
“When did you fall?”
“Middle school…”
He was in shock, “d-didn’t you go out with Ricky though?”
“I did, but-”
“You were pressured. To be honest, I could tell you didn’t really like him.”
“I mean, I guess there was a point I genuinely did… but it faded pretty fast.”
“I get it,” he ran a hand through his hair, “but since middle school? That’s damn long!”
“Concludes why my situation is worse.”
“At least he’s never told you to ‘fuck off’.”
My eyes widened, “she told you to?”
He nodded sadly. His trace of playfulness was completely gone. I knew straight away he couldn’t be bluffing, because that truly something Kasay would do.”
I couldn’t stand seeing him sad, “She probably thought you were Justin.”
That visibly cheered him up, “never thought of that,” he took it into consideration.
“And at least she noticed you! Unlike with me-”
He shook his head, “you’ve talked to him. You know him, he knows you. I saw you both leaving the ISS room side by side.”
“That was Rose, not me- Rosaline-”
“Let me repeat that, he knows you. Kasay told me to fuck off the first time I tried talking to her.”
“He may know I exist in Rose form, but he doesn’t know ME! Rosaline Arlene Winnefred!”
“What if he does know-”
“He doesn’t. If he did, he would’ve came straight up to me and talked to me about that night. But he hasn’t. He doesn’t know Rose is me.”
“That’s true…” he frowned, “but my situation is still worse. You still have a chance if you tell him the truth! Reveal that you’re Cinderella-”
“No! You could still go to Kasay and explain how your twin brother is the jerk, and you’re the nice one. Plus, I have an influence on who she likes, so you’ve got a better chance than I do. I’ll introduce you two, and bam, you’ll take her to prom at the end of the year!”
“Easier said than done.”
“Just talk to her! She doesn’t like shy guys-”
“I am shy. It’s who I am.”
“Just DO IT! For her, for your future!”
“I’ll consider it-”
The door suddenly flew open, Jaxon rushed in panting crazily. “ROSIE! Everything’s going downhill,” he breathed out as he clutched his chest, still panting. The kid really needed to exercise more… said the girl who couldn’t even hit a single volleyball.
His red hair was messy, and he was sweating up a storm. He wiped away his sweat and looked surprised by the fact that Dustin was in the same room at me, but ignored it. He sat down on the edge of my bed while whispering to himself.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, “Jaxon?”
“Kasay…” he turned to me with wide eyes. Uh oh… “got expelled.”
“WHAT?!” Dustin and I yelled at the same time in horror.
~*~