Secret obsession

CHAPTER 5

We have been sitting here looking at each other for some time now. Actually, I guess it has been just five minutes, but judging by the dense vibe that my friend is giving me, it feels like hours.

“So, what's going on Jackie?” I ask, trying to cut the silence between us.

“What was Henry doing here?” he avoids my question again. “I thought I told you what kind of person he is” his angry now, and he might try to lecture me. I hate it when he treats me like a child.

“He came to listen to some music with me.” For some reason I think I have to explain that to him. “Is there something wrong about that?” I ask, getting a little upset by his anger.

“He couldn’t wait until Monday? Why did he come at this time of the night? And what was he doing inside your bedroom?!” his voice is getting louder progressively that I’m sure we don’t need phones anymore. My blood is running through my veins very fast because I’m getting angry. I just can’t believe he is upset because Henry was here, that doesn’t have anything to do with him. I can take care of myself.

“I’m sorry Jake, but that’s none of your business!” I answer, raising my voice too, forgetting that my parents might wake up. We stayed quiet again, the situation is getting more tense between us. I sigh desperately, trying to hold back everything I want to say. “How was your anniversary with Kim? "Did you guys have fun?” I ask trying to change the subject.

“I don’t want to talk about that, Erin!” He’s still mad, and he is not looking at me anymore. After a few minutes, he sighs “I just wanted to see you. I was looking to have a nice conversation with you, so I can have a good end of this night” he says, standing up, putting the log in its place, he hangs up the phone and turns back looking at me again “Have a good night, cruel princess” he says without expression raising his voice a bit so I can hear him “we’ll talk tomorrow” he sends me a sad look and start walking to his car, he didn’t wait for me to wave or answer, he just turns on the engine and drives.

“Good night Jake” I say just to myself while I see how his car disappear in the night.

I enter my bedroom again, thinking about everything that happened in these last hours. I was so happy that Henry came, but now Jake put in me more doubts than I needed. I don’t think I am that stupid to not notice when someone is trying to play with me. It is just that Jake has always been so overprotective that maybe he doesn’t know when to stop. Also, it looks like he was sad from the beginning. I guess things didn’t go the way he planned. I will text Kim tomorrow too.

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It is Sunday and, like always, I spend the whole day in my pajamas. I like Sundays because is the day that I can freely sleep the whole day if I want to, because my parents do the same thing. The only one going out is my sister Lisa, since she has a date with her new boyfriend, Paul. I haven’t met the guy, but knowing my sister I’m pretty sure he is the prince-charming type. I spend most of the time in my room looking for some more rock music on my laptop. I guess Henry left that sparkle in me because the more I listen to those songs, the more I like them, I even find out a way to dance to them too. It is funny that listening to rock music, the only thing I can think of is about last night with Henry. My heart starts to run like crazy every time he runs in my mind (which is a lot lately).

I decided to go down to the kitchen and get some snacks before we order some pizza later, another tradition of my family. I am in the kitchen looking for something to eat in the fridge. Because of the pizza, my mom never cooks on Sundays. I decide to eat some Oreo cookies and some almond milk, but first I will drink some water. I am sipping the water like if I have never drank it before when someone enters the kitchen.

“Hi! You must be Erin, right?” a handsome blonde guy with big blue eyes is at the door looking at me. I stop sipping and freeze while thinking who is this guy? “Nice pajamas” he says, pointing at my house outfit a little bit embarrassed. I open my eyes so scared because I realize there is a stranger guy in the kitchen, and I am just wearing pajamas which, by the way, I always wear without a bra, so I’m pretty sure this guy can notice more of my body than he should. I turn around and cross my arms trying to hide my breasts, thinking about what just happened when suddenly I remember ‘and, by the way, ‘Sexy,’ you should close your curtains or turn off the light when you decide to change’ Oh my God! Henry saw me yesterday when I was putting on my pajamas. I was so surprised by his visit that I completely forgot about what he texted me.

I turn around and there is this guy now sitting at the table playing with his fingers, looking at nothing. I can hear my sister humming, so now I remember Paul was supposed to pick her up.

“I’m sorry Paul” I say blushing and walking out the kitchen slowly. “Make yourself comfortable!” I shout while going upstairs. I remember him smiling kindly, he seemed nice. I just hope my sister doesn’t screw this one up too.

I am in my room looking for my cellphone when I hear it beep. A text. I unlock it and there it is, ‘Hi beautiful, how is your day going? – The Most Handsome’ great, I was planning to text him about yesterday.

‘Hi, is going a little bit boring, but it might get interesting soon?’ I text him leaving a question so he can answer or at least know if he saw me naked while changing last night.

‘Interesting? Do you want me to make it interesting?’ he texts back. I decide to play a little with him.

‘You can try if you want 😉’ I answer him, hoping he might keep playing with me but he never answers back. I am waiting, and waiting in my room thinking that maybe he got busy with something. I stand in front of the balcony doors, checking out the curtains to see if he saw something yesterday, but the truth is that the curtains are very thick, so the only thing he might actually saw was the shape of me changing. While I’m thinking about what exactly he saw yesterday, I hear a scream outside the doors.

“ERIN!” Henry’s shouting outside my house. I open the curtains and look outside and there he is with both his hands in his mouth, trying to give a stronger sound. “ERIN!” he shouts again. Oh my God, why is he screaming? He can use the doorbell, he is so weird. I am planning on going out the balcony, but I remember ‘my pajamas’ and I cross my arms, hiding my breasts again. It would be better if I put on a hoodie or something. I go to the closet and I grab the most oversize hoodie that I found “ERIN!” Henry keeps shouting, it is so weird and annoying that my mom comes to my room.

“Erin, honey, there is someone outside looking for you”, my mom says with a curious tone. She should know that I don’t know either why this weird guy is shouting outside home instead of ringing the doorbell.

“I know mom I’m coming”, I answer, getting out of my room finding my mom at the door, looking at me with a big question mark on her face. I guess that runs on the family.

“He can ring the doorbell you know?” she adds, looking at me while I tie my hair up.

“Sorry mom, I will let him know”, I answer, running downstairs, hoping that Henry will stop screaming, so my dad doesn’t come out. I open the front door and Henry is standing at the front steps. When he looks at me, his eyes widened very surprise. I don’t blame him, the hoodie was so oversize that it covers my entire pajamas and makes it look like I have nothing under except the hoodie. Even when I blush at his reaction, I kind of like the idea of making him react that way. That triumph lasts only a few minutes because once I am in front of him he does his adorable expression that melts my whole body; he raises an eyebrow, tilts his head and smiles widely.

“What a big surprise babe, don’t tell me you change like that just for me?!” he asks playfully, enjoying the moment.

“Sure!” I answer sarcastically “Do you like it?” I ask holding my hoodie as if it is a dress and giving him my best doll eyes with my innocent smile.

“Hmm?” he looks me in the eyes with an embarrassed face. Oh my God! He is blushing! This handsome weird guy is blushing. He looks so nervous that he is not looking at me anymore, it is obvious that he is trying to distract himself with his shoes. Maybe I should explain to change his mood.

“It is just a really big hoodie silly, I have my pajamas under it” I chuckle while sitting on one of the front steps.

“I know that” he lies after a small laugh, then he sits next to me. We sit together covering our moment in a very comfortable silence, then it occurs to me that this is my chance to ask about last night.

“By the way, I wanted to ask you… did you see me naked yesterday?” I turn to him to study his reaction, if any. He starts laughing with so much fun, he looks at me still smiling, leaning a little towards me.

“What do you think?” he raises both eyebrows twice, perversely making me blush again. Now it’s me the one that cannot stop looking at the ground nervously. “I’m kidding! I just saw the shadows. It was hard to identify what you were doing, so I just guessed you were changing… judging by your question, it means that I really caught you doing it” he tilts his head again with a relaxed and warm look in his eyes. I look down at the ground again, not knowing what to do. I know that if I look at him I will blush, and I cannot control that “tell me baby… what do you want to do today?” he asks changing the subject for me. I guess he had enough of me blushing today.

“I-I didn’t have plans for today. It is Sunday and, normally, on Sundays I stay home the whole day.” I answer apologizing in some way, thinking that maybe I am too boring for him. “Do you have any plans?”

“Not really, my only plan was to spend some time with you” he stares at me with his sweet handsome face, so relaxed that makes me feel good. The weather is nice and so is his company. We spend a lot of time talking. He is also very funny, and I laugh a lot listening to his weird stories. After a few hours, he looks at the time and stands up, extending his hand to help me stand up too. “Is time for me to leave babe” he says while petting my head. I nod understanding that it might be late. He walks me to the door. I look up at him and smile, he raises both eyebrows, surprised at something I don’t know.

“I’ll see you tomorrow”. I turn around to go inside my house when he grabs me from my wrist to stop me and turns me around in one quick move. When I turn surprised, he hugs me so tight that I cannot resist hugging him back and smelling his addictive perfume.

“I’ll miss you princess” he whispers in my ear softly, then he releases me from his arms and starts walking away without turning back, leaving me speechless and with my heart racing like crazy.

I walk inside my house and I see my parents watching TV in the living room. They don’t ask any questions, they are putting more attention to the documentary than to who is entering the house. I go to the kitchen to grab the menu for the pizza and I find my sister and her boyfriend Paul, sitting at the table.

“I thought you guys were leaving hours ago” I say playing with the menu in my hand.

“That was the idea, but we started chatting and now it is too late to go out, so I invited Paul to eat dinner with us” my sister says hugging Paul’s arm. She smiles at him as if she is lost in his eyes, ‘That is new’ I think to myself. “By the way sis, your phone has been beeping the whole time you were outside.”

“Ok… Here” I give her the menu “You guys order the pizza; I will be upstairs. I enter my room and grab my cellphone. I have a lot of messages from Kim, some from Jake and a new one from Henry. Obviously, I open the message from Henry first.

‘For some reason, I feel very happy today – The Most Handsome.’ My mind instantly starts to imagine that he might be talking about me. I will answer him after reading all my messages.

‘OMG! Erin, yesterday was awesome! The most romantic night! You need to call me now -- Kim’

‘Seriously girl! I have a lot of things to tell you. Call me! – Kim’

‘I have to go visit grandma, but really you need to call me once I come back – Kim’

‘Hi minion… how is your day going? – Jake’

‘I guess you are still mad at me. I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened to me – Jake’

‘I will make it up to you little monster, I promise – Jake’

‘Why don’t we all three go to dance next Friday? – Jake’

After reading that last message, I am thinking, maybe going to dance is a great idea. I love to dance, and it occurred to me that maybe I could invite Henry to come with us. After all, Kim and Jake will be making out in front of me, so at least I can have some company while they are doing their business.

‘I’m not mad, Jackie, was just a little bit busy… going to dance sounds great. I will love it.’ Now I can answer Henry and invite him too. He said that he was suddenly very happy. I will play the dumb game just in case he is talking about something else. I don’t want to embarrass myself.

Me: ‘Happy, why is that?’

‘I started spending some time with this girl, and she is awesome – The Most Handsome’ he answered faster than I thought, and it seems he is playing along with my dumb game.

Me: ‘Awesome? Maybe you like her? …’ damn it! I thought I was going to play cool, the message is already sent. I look at the screen hoping I can get another chance to play in the safe zone.

‘Maybe, she is gorgeous, and has the sweetest innocent smile that makes me hug her – The Most Handsome.’ I smile like crazy, thinking that maybe that’s why he hugged me before. I decide to play more, going into a deeper area of the game.

Me: ‘I guess I am happy today too’

‘Really? Why is that baby? – The Most Handsome’

Me: ‘I received a hug today from the most handsome guy’. I bit my lower lip a bit after sending that.

‘Do you like him? – The Most Handsome’ he asks directly, putting me in a more dangerous area of my own game.

Me: ‘Maybe, I really enjoyed smelling his perfume while he was hugging me’ I answer blushing a little about my confession.

‘You shouldn’t trust any guy that hugs you baby, you might end up getting hurt – The Most Handsome’ his last text brings me down in a heartbeat. It is like he was playing my dumb game, but he was also playing his own at the same time without me knowing. He is so weird that it is getting hard to follow. I am thinking about how to answer that when I receive a message from Kim.

‘Call me – Kim’. She can be so demanding sometimes. I decide to call her, or she will get mad at me and angry texts from Kim are the worst nightmare. She answers quickly.

“OMG! Erin, where were you?” she asks desperately.

“I had a visit and left my phone in my room… so how was yesterday? Did you guys have fun?” I ask immediately before she asks questions.

“It was so romantic! Jake is the best boyfriend ever! I am so in love with him Erin! He is my prince!” she says with a cheesy voice that I can imagine her levitating on her own cloud. “He took me to this romantic place ‘The Terrace’ with a lot of candles. It was so sweet.”

“What about Jake, did he have fun?” I ask discreetly thinking about Jake’s attitude from yesterday.

“Honey, he was with me, the love of his life… what do you think?” she says very optimistic and confident.

“I’m so happy for you guys, I hope you can spend more time together” I say trying to hide my own thoughts.

“We are meant to be, so prepare yourself for more corny celebrations and conversations from us”. She sounds so happy that I just decide to let her be. Maybe it is not necessary to let her know what I see in Jake’s attitude lately.

We chatted more about how was their anniversary was and when she finished telling me all the details she asks.

“So, did something interesting happen to you, my friend?” she asks politely just to show me that she cares about me, but actually she knows how boring my life is at home. However, this time I have something interesting to tell her.

“Well, I have been texting a lot with Henry lately, and he even came to my house”, I say, failing to hide my excitement.

“Really?! That is new, I guess he likes you” she also failed hiding her surprised reaction.

“I don’t know Kim, I just look at him as a friend.” I lie “. By the way, Jake texted me a while ago, and he suggested that we should go to dance next Friday… do you think it would be a good idea if I invite Henry too?” I don’t know why I am asking. It is not like I need her approval, but there is a part of me worried that inviting him could be a mistake.

“Sounds good to me, maybe we can get to know him better, after all, he is the guy you like. That doesn’t happen frequently”, her sarcastic comment pierces my heart. After all, I have never had someone to like in a romantic way.

“Great, then I will see you tomorrow. My parents are calling me for dinner” I end the conversation knowing there is nothing else to add. After all, we will see each other tomorrow at school.

“Sure, say hi to your mom and dad for me.”

“I will, thanks”. We both hung up, and now I decide to text Henry about next Friday. Maybe if we spend more time together, I can finally c***k his weird attitude and understand him better. I open his messages folder and remember his last words, which I plan to ignore because after all, we were just playing dumb.

‘Would you like to go to dance with me and my friends? Just for fun’, I added the ‘fun’ part so he doesn’t misunderstand it for a date.

‘Nice playing princess, but you know I don’t like to dance – The Most Handsome’

Me: ‘Come on, it will be fun, plus it will be like you discovering something new just like me with your rock music, remember?’ I know it is a low move to use, but maybe he would like to come with us after that.

‘Alright, if you put it that way, I can go with you guys, but I have to let you know in advance. I don’t know how to dance – The Most Handsome’

Me: ‘Don’t worry, I have some easy moves that I can show you’ I feel so happy again.

‘Easy moves? That sounds promising, I can’t wait 😉 – The Most Handsome’ that last message made my smile fade a little bit. Is he playing with me again? Seriously, I cannot follow his rhythm, it will be safer for me if I don’t answer that. I will just go have dinner and roll with the situations when they happen.

I am having dinner with my family and Paul, who has suddenly became part of the family now. He is so easy to deal with that my parents and I feel comfortable with him at home. He treats my sister very nicely and my sister smiles like a fool to him. I bet she is falling hard for this one, which is great. She has those corny sheep eyes that I laughed mockingly at her when he went to the bathroom.

“Shut up!” she says to me, trying not to show her true colors in case he comes back quickly.

We ended our dinner and spent some time chatting still at the table, getting to know a little bit more about Paul. The time passed so fast and after Paul left, it was time for us to sleep. We say goodnight to each one of us and go to our respective rooms. Once in bed, I’m trying to set the alarm for tomorrow, fighting with my very sleepy eyes when I got one last message from Henry that coursed my night to not let me sleep.

‘Last message of the day Princess, after what you told me about the guy that hugged you, you left me thinking about the girl I like… maybe I will confess my love tomorrow at school. I just wanted to let you know. Sweet dreams baby – The Most Handsome’

What?! Suddenly, I’m not sleepy anymore.