The Guy With The Diary

Chapter 8

BELLA

Jason, the guy who recruited me into a mental health awareness support group, ran his mouth to me and about thirty other people. Of course, he had recruited more than just thirty-something persons, but many seemed to have joined because their conscience hadn't permitted them room to refuse.

“This is hella boring,” a slim guy sitting next to me said, nearly grazing his face against mine as he whispered into my ears.

I smiled and continued listening to Jason. I didn't think Jason's speech was boring. If anything, maybe a little too intense, but even that didn't bother me. I loved people whose heart was big enough to care about more than just themselves, especially when they didn't have to.

After half an hour, the meeting was over and Jason stopped me before I could leave.

“Bella, these people don't seem interested in this cause and I don't blame them.”

“I see.”

“But I see that you're different. You actually understand how important all this is.”

I nodded, unaware of what he was getting at.

“You see there's one of our members that signed up his name but didn't show up today.”

“Okay,” I let out, wishing he could run his mouth a little faster. This b*tch got a life to live.

“I was thinking maybe we should go check on him, you know. Show that we are serious about all this. I know this is asking too much, but I would be happy if you went with me.”

“Sure thing,” I assured him. “When are we going?”

Jason told me he had some things to do and would call me in an hour. That was fine by me. It was already 2pm.

Maggy and I planned to have lunch, but when we met we couldn't get ourselves to eat anything. We were both just not hungry. Instead, we just sat on a park bench looking at our phones as we chatted.

I noticed something was different about Maggy. Come on. This girl has been my bestie since forever. I knew just about everything about her. I knew when something was up with her. And with the way she was smiling and straightening her collar every two minutes… something was definitely up.

“Maggy, you good?”

Maggy seemed surprised at first but shook her head without saying anything.

I pushed on. “You sure you are alright?”

“Yeah, I'm great. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted….”

Maggy cut in. “We kissed.”

Wait… what?

“You said what?” I inquired, smiling goofily at her. “You know that I want every bit of it all. Spit it all out. But wait, who did you kiss?”

Maggy bent her head to the ground, a smile of slight embarrassment all over her face.

Pulling her arm, I said, “You know you're going to tell me anyway, so just get on with it.”

“Phil,” she muttered.

Holy hippos of the Earth! What did I just hear?

“Phil who?” I said, being all the more invested in the story.

“Yeah,” she stated, shrugging. “The one you are thinking about.”

“I thought you said he was a little piece of sh*t.”

Maggy took off her gloves and began rubbing her palms together. “Well, I remember saying that and maybe I still think he's a piece of sh*t.”

“Do you really think he's a piece of sh*t? Little or otherwise,” I smiled, enjoying seeing Maggy in her feelings.

Giving me that baby face of hers, she said “I don't know anything right now.”

Maggy began to tell me everything. She had gone to meet Phil in his new bar and somehow she and Phil ended up kissing ‘aggressively’. It was unanticipated. They had literally never spoken before that day.

“Oh, this is terrific,” I let out, laughing as she spoke.

“No, Bella. This is chaotic. I don't want to catch feelings for a guy like Phil.”

“A guy like Phil?”

“You know what I mean, Bella.”

“Frankly, I don't. What I do know is that it's very unfair to judge people by who we think they are, rather than who they are.”

“How am I supposed to know who he truly is?”

I dropped my phone and gave her my full attention. “By talking to him. Trying to know him, but that's only if you want to, you know.”

“How am I supposed to know if I want to, I don't know, be with him? This is stupid, girl. It was just a weak moment. The dude probably kisses everything he sees in a skirt.”

“That could be true, but you and I don't know, now do we?”

“Yeah, you're right.”

“The golden question is ‘do you think the kiss was merely a result of a weak moment?”

The phone rang and it was Jason. He said he couldn't meet up because something came up. Fine by me. I told him to text me the address and name of this person so I could deliver the message. Barely two minutes after getting off the phone, I received the text from Jason. He sent me the address and the person's name was Niklas.

Oh, that bloody name.

Now I wasn't sure Niklas was that guy I saw with a diary, but Jason described him…nah, I was just being silly at this point. No way that guy and I were ever crossing paths and that was nothing but excellent news. People like that brought nothing but trouble to one's life. Imagine how silly I felt for days after coming across his silly little self.

“Catch you later,” I said to Maggy, as I left for the place. “Be sure that we will speak more on this.”

I took a bus and after asking one road walker, I got to the place, and well, I was bloody stunned.

“I would be damned,” I voiced, standing before Phil's compound.

So this Niklas fellow must be one of Phil's buddies. I sure wasn't expecting this, but here we are.

I got into the compound and walked straight to the back where the houses were. This was literally a dream home and I heard it was one of Phil parents’ properties that they no longer had any use for. Yes, you heard me… one of them.

As I got to the front of the house, I heard the sound of heavy breathing in the garden beside the house and curiosity made me go take a look. Well, maybe I shouldn't have.

It was the guy. Yeah, that one. He was in nothing but a very tight boxer sitting in the garden. While I couldn't see very much as he wasn't vertical, I was enthralled by how bloody good-looking he was.

Now this was getting old, wasn't it?

His hair seemed damp as it lay flat, seeming to glue with his skin. Just like the other time, he had a diary in his hands and all his attention was on the diary. He seemed wet with sweat and I guessed he was working out before sitting and writing into the diary.

“Jeez, look at that butt,” I whispered to myself, my whole stare fixated on him.

“He definitely has a very good butt,” a guy who pulled up beside me said. “He always had a very firm butt. Round and firm.”

To say I was embarrassed…

The guy speaking was also hella good-looking. He had very pale skin too but somehow looked like something stolen out of a teenage girl's dream. I mean he wasn't as breathtaking as the other guy, but was a jaw-dropping hottie on any standard.

What's it with hot guys being everywhere?

Finding my voice— and senses— I said, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

He shook his head. “Now that is unlikely since I just came here two days ago.”

“Oh, I see,” I said. “You won't happen to know who Niklas Dalima is.”

“There he is,” he said, pointing to the guy I had been thirsting at.

Damn. I was right after all. He really is Niklas.

Barely able to keep eye contact with the guy beside me, I said, “can you do me one solid?”

“I shouldn't tell Niklas that you were admiring his butt? Consider it done.”

It sounded super weird hearing him say it, but that was literally what I was about to ask him.

“Thank you, uhm… what's the name?”

“I‘m Cole Dalima.”

What the f*ck? Dalima? Are they fcking related?

“You guys are family?”

“Yeah, he's my brother.”

Why am I not surprised?

I summoned courage from God knows where and walked up to Niklas.

“Hi there, I'm Bella Thompson.”

I ran up to him and spat out all I had to as though I had memorized it all. Without looking at his face once, I told him all Jason wanted me to say and ran away. Yeah, I did that.

I didn't understand why I ran, but I just couldn't help myself. Once I said all I had to say, I couldn't bear having him look at me especially after I stupidly asked him for his name the other day and got a rather rude response. He probably thought I was one very cheap thirsty girl.

And who could blame him? Honestly, who could?