Chapter 2: Movie Night Missteps

"What took you so long?" He had his arms crossed. "I'm tired of waiting, let's watch a movie." He ushered me out of the bathroom and onto the couch. Why was he being so pushy? We're not even friends, and we don’t like each other. I sat in the corner of the couch, knowing there was too much room for him to sit next to me. But I was wrong. He plopped onto the couch right next to me.

"This is a long couch, y’know?" He looked at me with that gaze I couldn't quite describe. As I was looking at him, I remembered he had my hair tie. "Give me my hair tie back." I held my hand out, waiting for it. He looked at my hand and then back up at me. My cheeks got hot, and I couldn’t keep eye contact, so I looked away. "Hurry up and put on a movie," I said quickly.

He laughed and put on The Exorcist, getting up to turn off the lights. I hated him even more now. A horror movie? I’ll just have to bear it—I didn’t want him to think I was a scaredy cat. As the movie got creepier, I scooted a little closer to him. Without thinking, he wrapped an arm around me, and I jolted. I didn’t expect that.

"You okay?" he asked, sounding concerned. I didn’t want to be vulnerable and admit it, but if I didn’t, I’d have to keep watching the terrifying movie. "I’m scared, I don’t want to watch this." I sounded like a baby, and I hated that.

"Then we don’t have to watch this. We can watch something else," he suggested quickly, not wanting to see me upset. "You don’t need to cry. I’ll change it." My head snapped toward him.

"I’m not gonna cry!" I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest. I thought he would groan or roll his eyes, but instead, he changed the movie and put on a goofy action movie, my favorite.

"Well, I think tutoring time is up," he said abruptly, standing and stretching. He grabbed his things and walked toward the door. I hurried to my feet to tell him bye but paused. Why did I want to see him off? I sat back down and waited until I heard the door click. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Then I remembered he still had my hair tie. Great, now I’d have to get it from him at school in the morning. I thrashed around in frustration, silently throwing a tantrum, knowing no one could hear. The hair tie I still had snapped, making my hair fall around my face and onto the couch. I liked the inches, sue me.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, stood up, and started cleaning the living room. Just as I was about to finish, I froze. Isaiah was standing there, watching me.

"How long have you been standing there?" I gulped. He must’ve seen my silent tantrum.

"Since you started your little tantrum," he smiled, still wearing my hair tie. I sighed.

"Why are you still here? Go home." I was too exhausted to deal with him right now.

"Your parents texted me and asked me to stay until they get home. You know, so you wouldn’t be alone?" He had that smug grin again. I couldn’t believe they trusted him to be here. With me. Alone! Why were they so lenient about the wrong things?

"Stay in the living room and nowhere else," I glared, not ready for him to see or be in my room.

"I got it, I got it," he threw up his hands in mock surrender, a smug smirk on his face. "I hate that handsome face..." I muttered, immediately regretting it. I whipped my head around, my face burning. "I mean heinous!" I bolted upstairs, not wanting to see his reaction. I slammed the door and locked it, pressing my back against the door and slowly sliding to the floor. I was as red as a tomato. I stomped on the floor, grabbed my phone, and texted Jaiden what I had accidentally said to him. She called me right away.

I answered, bracing myself for a scream or squeal, but instead, she said, "Girl, might as well date him at this point."

I sucked my teeth, not trying to hear that. "Girl, shut up and tell me what I should do."

She Facetimed me, and when I answered, she had a serious expression on her face. "Always use protection."

I blushed and hung up on her, slamming my head on my bed. I looked at my phone and saw she had texted me a winky face emoji. I sighed and put my phone down.

I heard a knock at my door. I knew it was him but didn’t want to open it. I willed myself to open the door, and there he was, standing there with a dopey grin. I was pouting, not looking him in the eyes.

"What’d you say about my face?" he asked, leaning down to meet my eyes. He hooked his finger under my chin, making me look at him.

"I said it was heinous," I muttered, my face getting even hotter. I knew I was blushing, but I didn’t know why.

"No, you didn’t, you said handsome. Am I handsome to you?" He got insanely close to my face, looking at my lips. This was the first time I really looked at him this way, as ‘hot’ or ‘fine.’ He started to lean closer and closer to my face. I almost leaned toward him, too, until I heard the front door open.

My parents were home.

I pulled away immediately and pushed him out of my room into the hallway, running past him and down the stairs. I skipped like six steps, making it to my parents, who looked surprised to see me running toward them.

"What’s wrong with you?" my father asked, looking around for something wrong.

"Nothing, Mr. Brooks" he answered for me, showing up behind me. "She was just excited to tell you the tutoring went well, right?" He turned to me, his signature smirk on his face with his annoying dimple. All I could do was sit there, dazed, while he talked to my parents like we weren’t just about to kiss.

The word "kiss" echoed in my mind as he left my home, waving to me with that knowing smirk. I stood there, shocked, while my parents walked past me, acting like I was invisible. I walked like a zombie back to my room, still in a daze. I lay down in my bed, trying to go to sleep, but I couldn’t. Every time I closed my eyes, I relived the moment over and over again—how I almost kissed my rival, my enemy. I was supposed to hate him, and now look at me. I turned in my bed and tried to sleep, hoping I wouldn’t see him tomorrow.