My Geeky Boyfriend

Chapter Fifteen

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight."  

I drew out a breath.

"Cara, try not being overly focused on getting the steps right. Your being too focused on getting it right is making your movements seem robotic. Try relaxing a little, it'll help you come off as more natural."  

She nodded.

"I'll work on that."  

I betrayed a small smile at that. That was Cara for you - always eager to accept any Guidance that'd help her give her best. That's why to me, she'd always be a vital player on the team. 

Satisfied, I turned my attention away from her, twisting my face into a mock glare as my eyes landed on that bright blonde hair.

"Sam, if you try sneaking a twerk into those steps again, I swear, I'm going to prick your a*s with a pen."  

She chuckled in reply, mouthing, "sorry."  Sam could be too playful for her own good sometimes.  

"And Lena, stop turning to watch what the others are doing. It makes you distracted, and you just end up messing the steps up."  

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to."

And sure enough, her eyes were already filled with tears, with her voice cracking slightly. That's the thing about Lena - she could be overly emotional. No kidding, the girl was practically a life-sized watermelon. 

Sometimes, when I felt like screaming my head off at her, I'd rather settle for using the patience of a nun to explain things calmly to her. Trust me, you wouldn't want to have to deal with one of her crying sessions which could last for as long as twenty minutes.  And don't even consider yelling at her to shut up, that only seemed to make her cry more. And yeah, I was speaking from experience. 

So, before she got into a full-blown crying session, I added, "your rhythm is great so far. You just need to match your steps correctly, okay?"  

That seemed to appease her because she nodded between a small sniffle.  

"Ok, girls, we'll take five. When we come back, we're going combine these steps with the ones we learnt before, and then perfect it. Okay?"  

"Ok," they chorused. A bustle of chatters followed, as the girls scattered to go refresh themselves. 

I went over to my bag and grabbed my water bottle, almost emptying the contents in one go. 

Cheer practice could be so exhausting, but then at the same time, it was also fun. I really enjoyed cheer leading, and I was pretty good at it. Ok, screw the humility; I totally rocked at it. So, it didn't come as much of a surprise when I was chosen as the team's captain, with Juliette as co-captain. 

Now, however, I was sliding my phone open only to find two new messages from Hawk. One was a sticker of a pouty face, and the other read: I give up.  I chuckled to myself as I read that. Hawk really wasn't lying about those whole fourteen more videos thing.

He did send them, each of them more emotional than the preceding one, and Hawk more hopeful. But yet, no tears.  My hands worked on the screen now, a soft grin spreading on my lips as I texted a reply. 

Me: Aww, don't be too disappointed. I did give you a heads up. 

I stopped to stare at the screen, trying to decide which emoji to add. Was I the only one who always got stuck trying to find the right emojis? Maybe I should just add a sticker instead.  Just when I finally set my eyes on the right sticker to use, I felt someone wrap their hands around me from behind.

"Texting lover boy again, huh?"

Startled, I jumped a little, pressing the send button on my phone in the process. s**t! I didn't even add the sticker.  I turned to my side to find a grinning Juliette.

"Jesus, Juliette! You scared me."  

"Well, you might have noticed me sneaking up on you if you weren't so busy grinning to your phone," she singsong.  

"What? I wasn't grinning I was uh...you know...I was stretching my lips." I mentally face palmed myself the moment the words escaped my lips.

But it was too late to take them back now. 

Juliette was already laughing.

"You do know that's what a grin is, right?" She remarked between giggles.  

"Hahaha," I mimicked, but it wasn't long before my lips betrayed me in a giggle as well.  

"Maybe I'm learning from you though. Don't think I've not been seeing your smiley-faced chats with Axel," I singsong.  

"Axel? Oh...y-yeah Axel. We're totally chatting," she said with a chuckle which sounded pretty nervous to me. 

Strange. 

 Something seemed off. I was just about to comment on it when Beck and Sam came over to us. And soon, I was caught up in a string of laughter; with Juliette's weird behavior from earlier, totally driven to the back of my mind.

"I feel like I was run over by a truck," Beck remarked with a small groan.  

"Tell me about it," Juliette said, her voice equally tired. 

We just finished cheer practice, and to say I was exhausted, would be an understatement.  If I'd known it'd take about a gazillion tries before the girls finally perfected the routine, I'd have not told them that no one was going home until we perfected it. And to make matters worse, Lena ended up crying.  Now, all I wanted to do was crash on my bed.  But as we walked past the basketball court, my eyes caught a familiar figure dribbling expertly at a ball. 

I knew Bryce loved his sport, but staying behind long after his teammates had left, wasn't exactly his thing.  Curious, I told my friends to go on without me. Too exhausted themselves, they didn't even bother asking many questions.  

"Hey, you."  

He stopped from shooting the ball into a basket, turning to stare at me instead.  

"Stephanie," he said, his features morphing into a soft smile which I soon mirrored.  

"What's up? Is there like a State championship I'm not aware of?" I said, gesturing to the ball in his hands as I settled myself on a bench. 

He chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

"Just wanted to practice a little more," he chimed, taking the seat beside me so that we were now sitting barely inches apart. 

I c****d a brow.

"Really?"  

"And maybe I also wanted to take my mind off things."  

Why did this scene feel so familiar? In the past, there were times Bryce's said stuff like this, but what was always my reply?  If it wasn't a plain, "oh," then it was, "that's normal. I'm also stressed out. I mean, can you believe what happened at cheer practice today?"

Or probably something else along those lines, with me diverting the issue to myself.  But for some reason, Hawk's words from yesterday floated into my head.

  '...when you love someone you make extra effort to make sure they're okay. You care about how they feel, and you try to show them you do; to show them that you're there for them.'  

How did one do all that stuff? This love thing sure was complicated.  

"Do you uhm," I started unsurely, the rest of the words sticking to my throat as he stared expectantly at me. Swallowing softly, I got on with it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"  

It might have been but a millisecond, but I could have sworn I saw a flash of surprise cross through his features.

 "Well, I... I guess."  

"Don't worry about boring me, I'm really good at stifling yawns," I offered with a chirpy smile, which he returned with a chortle.  

"You know my grandpa," he started. 

I didn't. Although I was pretty sure Bryce had mentioned him a few times before. But I nodded anyway, urging him to continue.  

"He is uh..." He paused then, swallowing hard; a clear sign that whatever he wanted to say next was pretty hard for him.  

"Well, he's sick. Actually, he's been sick for a long time now, but he's been managing it well. But now, things are out of control, and it's pretty serious."  

A long time? Wow! I never knew of it in all our time of dating. Not like that was a surprise; I wasn't the most inquisitive about his family. To me, talking about his family meant I'd have to talk about mine. And that wasn't my favorite topic of discussion.  

"I'm so sorry," I said, reaching for his hand in a small squeeze.

He smiled gratefully at me in return. And I wouldn't lie, it felt kind of strange. I realized then that he'd looked at me in many ways before - with adoration, desire, care, concern, but never with gratitude.  The thought that I'd never really done anything before now for him to be grateful to me for, didn't make me feel good. 

Thankfully, I was snapped out of those thoughts by the sound of Bryce's voice.  

"The doctors are saying they'll have to operate on him, but they have their concerns. They fear he might not be able to make it through because of his age. But not doing the operation would be even worse for him, and they can't take that risk. So, they're going to have to carry out the operation."

That must be horrible. Not knowing what to say, I chose to let him continue instead.  

"The operation is tomorrow. And everyone has been going to see him and spend time with him at the hospital. But I..." His voice quavered slightly now. 

Lost as to what to do to comfort him, I could only place my hand on his shoulder, rubbing it in small, soothing motions; the way Hawk did to my sore head the other day.  Although, I doubted it was of any help. Because the hurt in Bryce's case, was more of an emotional one than physical.  

"I can't bring myself to go there, I just can't bear to see him in that condition. He's such a strong man, you know. When I was much younger, he'd always carry me on his shoulders so I could make hoops. And we could do that for hours. So, for me to go the hospital and see him in the condition he is now, and then act like everything is okay, I'm not sure I can handle that."  

"That must be hard," I finally said after seconds of thinking of what to reply.

He nodded, smiling sadly at me.  A part of me wanted to leave it at that, but then those words rang in my ears again.

'You care about them, and you try to show them you do.'

"But aren't you worried that perhaps you might never get the chance to see him again after this?"  

I mentally face palmed myself.

That was the best I could think of. To remind him of the fact that his grandpa could die.

Way to go, Stephanie! 

But apparently, Bryce didn't seem to mind.

"I think about that every day, and it's really..."  

"Scary?" I offered, to which he nodded. 

I couldn't imagine what he was going through, but I knew how scared I felt when my parents announced their divorce. I was scared my mum would leave and forget all about me.  Before she boarded her flight to Louisiana, I remembered holding her in a tight hug for a long time. It was like I was scared that if I let go of her, then it was over. And I remembered what that what felt like. It wasn't pretty at all. 

Was this what my mum meant that time she talked about putting yourself in someone's shoes, and trying to relate to what they felt?  If it was, then I got to admit, she wasn't wrong.  My situation might seem less significant in relation to Bryce's, but on a level, I felt like I could understand how he felt.  And the next thing I knew, it was like my mouth developed a mind of its own.

I found myself saying, "Bryce, would you..."  I paused, hesitation clouding my voice before finally shaking it off and adding, "would you want me to come with you to see your grandpa?"  

For what seemed like a whole minute even though it was barely four seconds, he didn't say anything but just stared, stunned at me.  

"You'd do that for me?" He asked, his words coming out slowly and meaningfully. 

I wouldn't deny that I was asking myself the same question. But for some reason, it felt right. Like something I should do. No, like something I wanted to do. 

So, I nodded.

"I don't think you want to live knowing you missed out on a chance you might never get again. And your grandpa probably feels the same way. And I think both you and your grandpa deserve that chance."  

His next action surprised me. He engulfed me in a hug, his voice choked up as he said, "thanks, B. Thank you."  

Taken aback, I didn't respond at first. But then, I soon relaxed, my lips curling into a smile as I wrapped my hands around him too.  We stayed like that for a while, with me offering my silent comfort, and he, his silent appreciation. When we finally pulled apart, neither of us said anything. Things were just on the verge of getting awkward, but then thankfully, he spoke again.  

"We could leave now, visiting hours would still be on for another two to three hours."  

'You try...to show them that you're there for them.'  

With those words in mind, I smiled, saying, "sounds good to me."