I Choose You | ✓

Chapter 29: "Lost her."

A N D R E W   D A L T O N

As I near my locker, a hand taps on my shoulder. I look down and see Bree walking alongside me, her expression full of agitation and concern.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" She asks. Before I can open my mouth to say something, she grips on my forearm and pulls me with her. "Great," she said, her lips pulled in a tight smile.

We enter a hallway that isn't as crowded with many people and she spins around, suspiciously eyeing me.

"What did you say to Sophie?" She questions with a slight decrease in volume as she takes a tiny step forward, trying to be intimidating.

"When she entered History class today, she had a nobody-talk-to-me look on her face, and when I asked what happened, she said it was because she ran into you," she declares, pointing a finger at me.

"I told her that I wanted to talk about the incident from a couple of weeks ago, but she said that she didn't want to. Then, I brought up the fact that she shouldn't be angry at me when she was busy flirting with some guy at the party," I insist, making flailing motions with my arms.

"She wasn't flirting with him, you dipshit!" Bree's voice raises and we receive a few glances. She brings her voice down a notch and resumes, "He was trying to flirt with her, but she shut him down for you," she declares, poking lightly at my chest.

"And for the record, his name is Colton, not some guy," Bree imitates, making her voice dip down to a lower octave.

Colton. That name sounds familiar, where have I heard that name before?

Then, the puzzle pieces slowly come together and I realize that the person Jacob wanted to introduce to me was the same guy that had been with Shortcake. My jaw tenses at the thought of him, but Bree snaps me out of my thoughts.

"As soon as Sophie told him about your...complicated thing the two of you have going on, he backed off and just wanted to be friends," she defends, frustration mixing in. An instant pang of guilt twists tight knots in my stomach.

I grunt and rub my eyes before running a hand through my hair. This was all my fault. If I had communicated with Shortcake, none of this would've happened.  She could've been with me, in my arms, but instead, she wanted to be as far away from me as possible.

When she said she wanted to take a break, it really hit me hard, a feeling of turmoil beginning to slosh within me at those words. At this moment, I realized that it would be nearly impossible to give her the space she wanted, but I had to respect her wishes.

"Fuck, I really messed shit up," I sigh, shaking my head.

"Yeah you did," she sighs, "So what are you going to do now?" Bree asks.

"Well, I guess I'm going to do what she asked and give her some space, let her calm down a bit. After our whole bombshell at lunch, I'm sure as hell that she won't want to talk to me anytime soon." Bree listened intently, hoping to hear some good news, but didn't respond. She simply nodded and gave me a disappointed look before walking away.

I head in the opposite direction and when I turn the corner, I see Shortcake kneeling on the ground. All of her papers are sprawled out on the floor and people walk by and continue conversing around her without helping. Assholes.

They step over or on her notes as she picks them up. I walk over and squat down, quickly picking up the papers off the ground so that they don't earn any more dirty footprints.

"I'm such a fucking idiot," I mumble under my breath. I can feel her eyes boring into me, but the feeling of guilt lingers and I pretend as if I don't notice and quickly snatch the last paper off the ground.

We both stand up and I hand her the papers. I gaze into her beautiful brown eyes and a look of hurt and anger dwells in them. Pain swells in my chest as I feel distraught for being the reason those doe eyes are filled with pain and agitation instead of awe and joy.

Our gazes meet for a couple seconds, sparking hope that maybe we could continue our talk from earlier. Instead of arguing, I would apologize for assuming that she was flirting with Colton and tell her about
how I'm a complete idiot who needs to get his shit straight first before doing something stupid.

She tears her gaze away and a feeling of despair seeps into my veins. She mumbles a thanks before shuffling away. I stand there, frozen like an idiot, and watch her walk away from me. The farther her steps take her, the deeper the pain sets in. I might've just lost her, the girl that had flipped my world.

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Hello again! We're gonna be skipping a couple of weeks ahead for the next chapter! Just thought I'd let you know. :)

I'm sorry this chapter was so short, I've been a little busy, but I promise the next chapter will be longer!

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See you soon! ~Karlee 💛