Contagious Chemistry, Sian Webster [good beach reads txt] 📗

a lift, right?"

I nodded.

"So you have no way of getting home. Unless I drop you there, that is."

I groaned. "I suppose I have no choice, right?"

He smiled. "Right. Come on."

He went to grab my hand but I jerked away. He brushed it off and we walked over to the elevator and waited for it to get to our level before hopping in.

I pressed the ground floor button and the elevator started to move downwards.

"This is the first and last time I'm being seen in public with you outside of school." I told him.

"I don't doubt that for a second." He winked.

The elevator shuddered and stopped, but the doors didn't open and something clattered above us. The light in the elvator went out next. I looked at Alex in the dim light, who had a perplexed look on his face, then to the doors and pressed the button to open them. They still didn't work.

"You've got to be kidding me." I said under my breath.

"What?"

"It looks like we're stuck." I announced.

"You're kidding."

"Do I look like I'm joking, Alex? Does it look like I want to be stuck in here? With you of all people?" I snapped.

He looked at the floor.

I sighed and sat down at the wall opposite him.

"I'm sorry." I muttered. "That was mean."

"You don't have to apologise. Haven't you heard 'treat others how you want to be treated'?"

"Are you implying that your an asshole to me because I hate you?" I asked sceptically.

He shook his head slightly. "I'm an asshole to you so you're allowed to be a bitch to me." He said. "It's only fair."

"You act like you hate me all the time... or you just like winding me up." I said slowly. "Emily doesn't think you hate me, though."

"What does Emily think?" He asked, sitting down against the wall.

"Emily has this utterly stupid theory that you like me." I rolled my eyes.

"Well I don't hate you if that's what she means." He pointed out.

I shook my head. "She thinks that you like like me."

He went quiet. I wondered what that was supposed to mean.

"Why didn't you talk to me after ancient history?" I asked him, giving in and showing that I was partially worried; he usually talked to me every period and fought with Emily and Stacy to get the seat next to me... but he hadn't after lunch. The only thing I could think of that had happened was when I bumped into Jeremy - literally. Was it possible that he was jealous of something that didn't even exist?

In the dim light I saw him lean his head back against the wall in defeat. He ignored my question.

"Look at me, Alex." I said sharply.

He did.

"Why didn't you talk to me today after ancient history?"

"You have a boyfriend. I respect that. And as long as your happy, even if its not with me - hell, even if its with someone I hate like him... than I can live with that, Absidy. But if he hurts you, I swear to god..." He trailed off at the end, not finishing his sentence.

I laughed slightly under my breath. "Today was the first time I've seen Jeremy Taylor in my life, Alex. I tripped over and he fell with me. That's all. Nothing happened."

"He likes you though. I can tell by the way he looks at you."

"Well I don't like him."

"That's what you always said about me." He whispered sadly.

I didn't have an answer to that. This was a new side of Alex - one I had never seen before.

One I might actually like.

"I like this side of you." I said quietly after a while.

He closed his eyes and leant his head back against the wall again.

"That doesn't change the fact that under any other circumstance you hate me. Or the fact that Jeremy likes you. Not only that, but he has every little thing in common with you, and I have nothing. Nothing at all!" He said quickly.

"Why do you care so much? So what if someone else likes me and has everything in common with me? So what if you don't? So what if you're the most popular guy in school? I can date who I want. I can't change who I am, and neither can you." I told him sharply.

"You don't understand, do you?" He burst out.

His outburst took me by surprise and I didn't answer.

He shook his head. "Of course you don't." He said quietly. "You think I want to be the most popular guy in school? You think I want to have pathetic little girls running around trying to get my attention every second of the day? You think I want to have nothing in common with you?"

I looked at the ground.

"I hate being the popular guy. I hate those girls who are always trying to get my attention." He told me. "...The girl I like doesn't even have to try. We may have nothing in common, but I don't care. She's all I want... and all I can't have. She's the most beautiful girl in the world."

I was quiet for a while.

"Then why are you telling me this? Tell her. She deserves to know." I said finally.

He laughed humourlessly. "You still don't get it, do you?"

I looked at him in perplexity.

"That girl is you, Absidy."

And then the doors opened. Thank god I didn't have to put up with him any longer. Especially now he turned our conversation awkward.

"I'll see you at school." I told him as I walked away.

"Absidy!" He called out.

I didn't want to turn around. I wanted to keep walking and pretend that we had never had that conversation. But I turned around anyway.

"I thought you wanted a lift home?" He asked me from across the lobby.

"I'll walk." I told him. He called out my name again, but this time I didn't look back.
4. Wasted Chances, Bad Romances

"Where the hell did you guys disappear to?!" Was the first thing I heard when I got on the bus the next morning.
"I walked out as soon as James' friend got there." I said simply.
"I'm guessing he wasn't attractive then? Hey, I saw Alex Parker there tonight. I bet he would've been jealous seeing you with James' friend whether he was attractive or not. Especially after your little episode with that hottie at lunch."
"Emily,"
"Yes?" She paused.
"James' friend was Alex Parker." I told her.
"What?!"
"That was exactly what I thought."
"And exactly why you walked out as soon as he got there." She finished my sentence for me.
"He followed me though."
"He wouldn't just let you leave, Absidy." She said.
"I said I wanted to go home and he said he'd give me a lift."
"What happened girl? Something happened. I can tell by the tone of your voice. What did he do in the car?" She asked.
"I didn't even get in his car."
"Why not?" She complained. "He has a Dodge Viper!"
"The elevator broke down." I told her.
"Sucks for the people inside," She laughed.
"That was us."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope."
"Jesus Christ. Tell that to all the sluts at school. You were stuck in an elevator with Alex Parker." She giggled.
"It wasn't very fun. It was more awkward." I muttered.
"How was it awkward? Did he confess his love for you?" She teased.
I didn't answer. She had guessed it right out. After a while it clicked in her head why I wasn't answering.
Her eyes widened. "He did?!"
I sighed. "Yes. And he said all this other stuff too. He said something like he hated being popular and hates the sluts who always try to get his attention. Then he goes 'the girl I like doesn't even have to try, blah blah blah, she's the most beautiful girl in the world but I have nothing in common with her, blah blah blah."
"He thinks you're beautiful? That's so cute!" Emily squealed.
I took a page out of Alex's book and ignored her comment. "Then I told him to tell her because she deserves to know, and he's just like, 'you are that girl, Absidy.' Then the doors opened and I told him I'd just walk home."
"He told you he likes you and thinks you're beautiful and you ignored him?!"
"Pretty much." I said.
"And you walked home? In the rain?"
"No, silly! I caught a bus at Clayton Avenue!" I said, rolling my eyes.
"I didn't think you'd walk home." She laughed.
I looked up as the bus rolled to a stop and Alex was outside at his bus stop.
"Shit! He's coming!" I whispered, grabbing my iPod and playing some random song as soon as I put the headphones in. I knew he'd try to talk to me after last night.
Emily was laughing at me when he walked on the bus. He didn't even walk past, though... didn't even look at me. Not even from the corner of his eye. He sat two rows in front us across the aisle.
"Looks like someone's ignoring you," Emily said in a sing-song voice.
I elbowed her and took out my headphones. "Shut up! Why would he be ignoring me?"
"I thought you'd be happy about that..?" She asked carefully.
"Of course I'm not! ...I mean, am..." I faltered. Alex had never had this type of affect on me before, but me saying that definitely got his attention. His head snapped up and he looked in my direction before looking down at the floor again when I corrected myself. He must've been listening to our conversation.
"I'm confused." Emily told me.
"I mean, I'm perfectly fine with him ignoring me, I just wanna know why." I snapped.
"It may have something to do with him-" I covered her mouth with my hand before she could say anything else because nearly everyone on the bus excluding Alex was staring at us. By the time she stopped struggling with me, everyone had turned back around.
"What?" She asked. "Don't you want anyone knowing what happened?"
I thought about this for a moment. I didn't want everyone knowing, and I had a feeling that Alex didn't either. People would know something had happened though, because