Unexpected Connection

CHAPTER 6

    "Why Me?!!"

The morning sun is full on hitting my eyes. Why did I not close the blinds last night? Why did I sleep so late? 

Arrrggg!!

I roll of my bed and hit the floor with a thud. That early morning sun is not the best way to wake up. Thank goodness I do not have class this early morning, I still have a few hours before class. I crawl to my bathroom and while kneeling, I look at myself in my sink mirror. I look like a crazy person. My hair is all weird because I slept with my hair still damp. 

Why?!

I am going to take this day back, I can turn it around. I get up off the floor, play loud music while I lay my bed. There is no better way to wake up than to exercise. I wash my face and brush my teeth and go to my closet and get ready for the gym. I wear a black sports b*a and matching black leggings with my trainers. I strap my phone to my arm and put on my air pods. I think I'd for a run before hitting the gym. I send a text to Asher to let him know where I am before walking out the door. 

Do not forget to stretch guys, it's important.

I stretch a while before running out the gate, I run past Ian's house. I haven't run five miles when I feel like I'm being followed. I watch the shadow in front of me and when I see the person get close, I stop suddenly and throw a punch.

    "Woah" Ian says dodging my blow.

    "Ian, my goodness, why were you following me?" I ask.

    "Were you going to punch me?" he asks smirking.

    "Well, I didn't spend all those years learning to defend myself just so I'd get mugged or attacked on the streets. If I'm going to get attacked, I wouldn't go down with a fight" I tell him. Ian looks at me and is that admiration I see in his eyes?

    "Wow" is all he says.

    "How did you know I was running?" I ask.

    "Well, I saw you stretching in your compound and then you ran past my house so I decided to follow you" he says.

    "Creep" I say smiling.

    "Only for you, sweetheart" he says winking. I shake my head at him and start jogging. 

We run for a and extra one and a half mile before running back home. Thirteen miles done and dusted.

    "Thanks for the company" I say when we get to Ian's house.

    "My pleasure, let me know when you are running again. I promise to be a good company" he tells me.

    "Alright" I answer and walk towards my house.

    "Wait, Lily" Ian calls and I look back.

    "Yeah"

    "Call me anytime you want to work out, I am your fitness buddy from now on" he says and goes inside. I guess I do not get a say.

I get home and walk to the fitness room. I do my squats and pull ups and sit ups, let's just say I did all my cardio. I go back to my room and shower, my body feels so sore. I don't much time before school so I do my makeup, as minimal as possible and get dressed. I chose a lime green sports b*a and black joggers with black and cream sneakers and cream jacket. I put my hair in a ponytail, my bag over my shoulder and I walk out my room. 

Asher is in the kitchen when I get down, he's making breakfast because mum and dad had to leave early for work.

    "Morning" I greet.

    "Just in time" Asher says and hands me my breakfast before kissing my forehead. Asher started kissing my forehead when we were little because he didn't want me to feel like I was missing something when dad isn't around. He's the sweetest. 

    "How was your thing last night?" I ask as we sit down to eat.

    "Nice, the guys and I played video game all night" he says stuffing his mouth with oatmeal.

    "Let me get this straight, you snuck out the house because you wanted to play video game with your friends?" I ask and he nods. 

    "It's a new game and I just had to play" he explains. I do not think I'd understand boys. "How was your thing with Ian?" he asks nudging me. 

    "Fine, I told him what happened with Brad and Hailey" 

    "Wow, aren't you guys moving too fast?" Ash teases and it's my turn to nudge him, he laughs. "How was your run?" he asks after a while.

    "T'was great, Ian came along?" I tell him.

    "Ian, huh? How did that happen?" he asks and I explain. "Did you like that Ian was there?" he asks and I look away. I refuse to answer and I refuse to blush.

    "Let's eat" I say instead.

    "So that's a yes" he says looking at me. I stiff toast in his mouth and get back to my food. 

At school, I park my car next to Asher's. We drove to school separately because I have to stay back for archery practice and Asher apparently still has some more video game to play. 

    "See you at home" Asher says as he walks away with his friend.

    "Hey" Ian says standing beside me.

    "Hey" I greet and we walk into the building.

We are at our locker and Heather walks up to us and I stifle a laugh. Her face has this red hue definitely from the dye of yesterday. She is wearing a turtle neck and I can only suppose it's because her body is still covered in red dye.

    "Ian" she calls and waves at him and glares at me when she sees me. Hailey and other H is with her, I think her name is Helen, I don't know.

    "What do you want?" Ian asks.

    "I want to invite you to a party on Saturday" she says.

    "No"

    "Can we talk in private?" she asks

    "No" Ian repeats and Heather glares at me.

    "Why are you glaring at me? You cannot get any redder than this" I tell her and Ian snickers.

    "Lil-" I look at her, "Liliana!" she growls.

    "Woah, don't pull a muscle, I'm leaving" I say with my hand raised up. "See you in class" I tell Ian. I should have left it there right but no, I go ahead and do something weird. I stand on my tip toe and peck his cheeks. Ian looks at me surprised, Heather looks at me with hate. Way to go. I leave them behind and walk to class. I am telling Asher what happened when Ian walks in. He just slumps in his seat and doesn't say anything and I know not to disturb him. 

    "That reminds me, we are going to a party on Saturday" Asher says. 

    "I'm not interested" I tell him.

    "I am not asking" he says and faces front. The lecturer walks in.

I have archery lesson, it is the end of the day. I only had two classes today. I am on my way to the field and I am ready, I got my long sleeve shirt on to protect me from the sun, my hat to protect my head, glasses to prevent glare, shoes to keep me comfortable while I stand, my bow, arrows, chest guard and quiver. I join my teammates on the field, there are only six of them. 

    "Thanks for joining us, Lily" Mr Sanders, my coach says.

    "Thanks for having me" I say with a smile.

He gives his pep talk which kind of puts us to sleep rather than pep us up, he gives the same speech word for word every single time. Let me you something while Mr Sanders gives his talk. I love archery, I have always found it fascinating. I practice a lot in the wood between Ian and I's home, I love shooting target and I am good at it. Back to it.

After his pep talk, Mr Sanders says I'm next and I stand ready to shoot the target. I shoot my arrow and I miss. I look around searching for what made me miss and I see it. Ian is talking to Heather and she's got her arm on him and laughing. I know he is not mine but still, I think I am going to throw up.

    "Concentrate, Lily" Mr Sanders tell me. 

I turn to the target, imagine Heather's face and I fire. Bulls eye.

    "Good, again" my coach says and I shoot again. Her laughter did not escape my ears. After shooting for a long time, I walk over to the tent and rest. My attention is drawn back to Ian and Heather, what could be so funny that she is laughing so hard. I am going to ignore it, whatever it is, it's not my business. I look over at them again, I raise my bow and set the target at the floor between Ian and Heather. 

I shouldn't.

    "What the heck, who did that?" Heather screams. Ian pulls the arrow from the floor.

I did.  

Heather walks towards the tent, "Someone shoot this at me" she says collecting the arrow from Ian. I don't like that they are standing together.

    "Lily?" Mr Sanders call having recognized my arrow.

    "It was an accident, I was just cleaning it and it fired. I am so sorry" I say with sadness.

    "You could have killed me!" Heather shouts.

    "I swear it was an accident" I say crying now.

    "I want you to kick her off the team immediately" Heather screeches at my coach.

    "No, don't do that" I say to Mr Sanders holding his arm and looking pitiful, "It really was an accident" I repeat.

    "It's fine, Lily. You are not off the team" Mr Sanders says to me. "Nobody tell me what to do with my team" he says to Heather. "It was an accident, besides she apologized" he adds.

    "I am sorry" I repeat. Ian looks her her and she sighs.

    "Fine whatever" Heather says and crosses her arm.

    "Would it be weird to ask for a hug?" I ask quietly.

    "I think she would agree" Mr Sanders says looking at Heather.

    "Let's get this over with" she says and opens her arms. I walk into them and hug her. Mr Sanders goes back to meet my team mate leaving me with Ian and Heather.

    "Thanks for accepting my apology, it really was an accident" I say and she looks away. "Maybe next time, I accidentally  you in the foot" I add and she and Ian look at me with shock. 

    "What a-re you sa-ying?" he asks her voice cracking.

I start crying, "'Oh my gosh, Heather. I didn't mean to, it was an accident, I swear it was. Your foot, there's so much blood. What should I do, somebody help, we need to get her to the clinic or maybe the hospital. Oh no, Heather, I am sorry. I swear the arrow got away from me. I didn't even know anyone was there, I swear it was an accident'" I say. I wipe my tears and smile. 

    "You are crazy" she says stepping back.

    "You have no idea" I say walking towards her.

    "Lily, come" Mr Sanders calls.

    "See you around, Heather" I say and walk away. I turn around and see them still staring at me, I blow a kiss and smile at her and then wink at Ian.

***

    "You are going" Asher says from my bedroom.

    "Why?" I ask.

    "Because you said you are a social butterfly again and the old you would not miss this party" he answers back. He as a point though, I would never have missed this party before.

    "Fine" I call back. I am in my closet picking out my sleep wear but I guess I have to get ready for a party.

    "See you in thirty" Asher says and leaves my room.

What to wear... what to wear.

I walk through my closet, it's my first party in a while and I know Hailey and Brad would be there so I have to dress to basically kill. I wonder if Ian would be there? Heather did invite him. I haven't spoken to him since what happened at school on Thursday, I think he's been avoiding me. I walk over to my balcony and look through my binoculars, his house is dark and it looks really dark because it is past ten at night. I wonder where he is. Ash and I do not have to sneak out at night because our parents would gladly let us go. I know you are thinking; why do you and Ash have to sneak out of the house normally but are allowed to go to a night party and your parents are okay with that. Let me explain. 

A party at Trinity University is more like networking, every one is in the elite class and you want to make the connections that would last a lifetime. My parents went to Trinity and they said it's at parties like this that they met friends and business partners and they are not wrong. I have been to my share of this kind of parties and as much as everyone drinks and have fun, connections for the future are also made. Does that explain it? I hope.

I finally pick an outfit for the night but I first put on my make up and pack my hair in a low bun leaving two curls in front. Perfect. I put on my dress and heels. I am wearing a short red dress with spaghetti straps, a open back, my back is open all the way to my waist. The front shows a bit of cleavage and there are two slits in front. I pair the dress with my silver strappy heels. I think I look great and I feel great. 

    "You ready?" Asher asks walking into my room. I walk out to meet him and twirl.

    "What do you think?" I ask smiling.

    "You look beautiful" he answers. Ash is putting on a simple Light blue shirt and navy pants with a deep blue dress shoe. A simple look.

    "You can say that again" Eli says walking into my room. I didn't know when he got here but I knew he was coming with us. Eli has on a white shirt and black pants with black dress shoes. I wonder why guys get to dress so simply and still look good but we girls have to dress all the way up. Not fair if you ask me.

    "Thanks, let's go" I tell them smiling. I quickly put on perfume before leaving my room. 

The whole place is loud and noisy when we arrive at the venue. They always change venue of this party and this venue seems okay, I hate to say it but Heather picked a good place. Did I forget to mention Heather is the one hosting? Well, she is. We all exit the car when it comes to a stop, Asher hired a designated driver for the party, he says he doesn't want to be designated driver. I offer to be but he says he wants me to drink and be free, I rolled my eyes at him.

    "Ready?" Eli asks and offers his arm. I take it and we walk in together. 

The inside is pretty cool too. There is a dance floor in the middle of the hall and the standing tables are arranged to the left. In a corner at the front, the dj is set up and you can see some people already dancing. On the right is the drink zone, so many kind of drinks. There are spot lights going round the hall at random and they just happened to stop on Eli and I. 

    "Look like Lily is back?" a random person says from behind and I smile internally. Looks like I am back. I am about to walk into the party when I see Ian with... Heather? Did they come together and why his her arms on him? For the last time Liliana, Ian doesn't belong to you. Why does he look so hot though? He is wearing a simple black button down shirt and black pants and I am guessing back shoes as well. Those shirt hug his body so well, you can see his muscles budging out of the shirt. How does he make a simple shirt look so good? 

Ian and I make eye contact then his eyes move to Eli and then to our linked arm. He looks back at me but now he looks mad and he only got angrier when Eli leaned into me and whispers in my ear.

    "Are you ready to party?" he asks. I break eye contact with Ian and smile at Eli.

    "You know it" I say smiling. Eli unlinks our arms and put his hand on my waist guiding me to a table. I find a place to seat and he goes to get me a drink. I see Ian walk towards me.

    "Eli, huh?" he says. 

    "Heather" is all I say.

    "It just happened" he says. 

    "So did Eli and I" I say. 

    "I don't like you with him" Ian blurts out.

    "What?!" I say laughing.

    "I don't like you with him" he repeats. 

    "Well, I don't like you with her as well but here we are" I say slightly raising my voice. "Besides, you don't get to ignore me for two days and just come over now as though everything is fine, it's not" I add. Since he spoke to Heather at school on Thursday, he hasn't spoken to me at all and today is Saturday. He didn't text me even though he has my number and I felt even worse because I then realized I didn't have his number. Two whole days he goes off the grid, I even go to his house but isn't home. Yes, I might have broken in but that isn't the point. 

    "I was busy" he simply says avoiding eye contact.

    "Do you know how worried I was? The least you could have done is send me a text, did you think nobody would care if you just fell off the face of earth?" I ask getting upset. Ian looks at me with soft eyes. I guess he wasn't expecting anyone to be worried. "Care to tell me where you were?" I ask. He looks away.

    "If you don't want to share, fine, I don't care" I lie. "You can do whatever you like and be with whoever you like but you don't get to tell me what I should do or who I should be with" I say through my teeth.

    "I don't care who you are with as long as it's not Eli" he emphasis on 'Eli' forcefully. I glare at him.

    "Eli is my friend and you are going to have to accept that" I tell him.

    "Does he know he's just a friend?" Ian asks folding his arms. The movement makes his biceps protrude. Focus, Liliana. Focus

    "Is everything fine?" Eli asks giving me my drink. 

    "It's fine" I answer. He looks at Ian and then gently places his hand on my waist. Okay, that's weird. When he first kept his hand there when we were walking in, I thought, 'Oh, maybe he'd just being a gentle man' but I don't think so. He never places his hand on my back much less my lower back. It's nothing right? I'm just overreacting beside he has a girlfriend. I'm just gonna chug it under 'friendly gesture'. Moving on. Ian notices this movement and his face hardens as he looks at Eli. 

    "Your date is coming over" Eli says, emphasis on date and I don't hear Ian deny it. I guess she's his date. "Wanna dance?" Eli asks and I see Ian eyes react to the question. 

    "Sure" I say and he leads me to the dance floor. I see Ash dancing with a girl, I know her but can't place her, maybe I've seen her at school. I place my hand on Eli's shoulder while his stay on my back. We move slowly to the music.

    "Were you and Ian fighting?" Eli asks.

    "No, why?" I ask.

    "That's what it looked like from where I was standing" he answers,

    "No, we're fine" I say.

    "I think he and Heather are dating" he says. 

    "Why do you say so?" I ask. Did he hear something?

    "She is his date" he says with a shrug.

    "We are here together but we are not together" I say and he doesn't seem happy about that. "Besides, you have a girlfriend" I add.

    "Had" he says. I stop dancing.

    "What do you mean? Did you break up with her?' I ask.

    "No"

    "She broke up with you, didn't she?"

    "Yes"

    "Sorry" I say.

    "It's fine"

    "I guess so and I'm sure you'd have another girl before the end of next week" I say smiling.

    "Why do you think so?" he asks looking curious.

    "Because you've never not had a girlfriend, as you break up with one or they break up with you, you always replace them. You are kind of a player" I say with a shrug. 

    "No" he says suddenly. "I'm not" he adds upset.

    "Woah chill, I didn't mean to upset you. I thought that is the title you are going for" I say. 

    "I'm not upset but don't think I am a player" he says looking me in the eye. "If anyone else thinks that, I don't mind but I don't want you thinking that I am a player" he says looking at me with intensity. This just got awkward.

    "What does it matter what I think" I say. He looks away from me rubbing his neck.

    "I don't know, just don't think that" he says and we start dancing.

    "Besides, why did she break up with you?" I ask.

    "Well... she said I like someone else" he says and I laugh. 

    "Oh, you serious. Did you correct her?" I ask.

    "No, she's not wrong" he says looking at me.

    "She's not?" I ask and he nods. "You like someone else?" 

    "Yes" 

    "Who? Do I know her?" 

    "Maybe"

    "Who is it? Who is the girl Eli Mason likes?" I ask.

Eli just looks at me, like he's seeing me for the first time. I don't know that many girls. 

I wonder who this girl is.