OOC Note:: For creative flair, this thread has been written from the perspective of 'Bethany', with Jester playing the role of James.
The first time she saw him was during an unexpected bathroom break. One too many juices during her breakfast debate with her brother Archie had dragged on for longer than she’d expected. So much so that she’d needed to rush off to school before a lavatory break. Unable to hold it, she had frustratingly asked to be excused and so received the pass required to excuse her. After a quick relief of her bowels and washing of her hands, she stepped out of the toilets when she would run face first into the toned chest. Stumbling slightly, firm hands would catch her elbows, preventing her from toppling back through the bathroom door completely.
Collecting herself she mumbled a thanks before looking up to meet the most piercing set of honey-gold eyes she’d ever seen. They were mesmerising, capturing them in his piercing gaze. She remained frozen as she locked eyes with the delicious stranger, he was to put it lightly beautifully sculpted. His creamy pale skin without blemish, a full set of lips that practically to be kissed. He was almost androgynous in his features, his long red lashes defines enough to capture the envy of any self-assured woman. And when he spoke, his voice was like silk, resonating through her in a way that practically made her tremble.
“Are you okay?” He would ask, enlightening Bethany to the fact she was staring, she blushed dragging her gaze away in embarrassment. The only shame that could have been greater was if she had actually drooled. She cleared her throat, offering him a weak smile. “Yeah, sorry I was in such a rush that I didn’t pay attention. That’s the girls bathroom though, just so you know.” He glanced past her for a moment as though to double-check, arching a brow he lowered his eyes to hers once more. “Actually I think you’ll find it’s the mens.” He replied, correcting her. Scowling she turned, looking up at the lavatory door. Her eyes travelling up it’s messily painted wood surface to the little gender-based symbol that was emblazoned upon at. And as she stared at it she realised that the silver shape that was positioned there was in fact the sign for the male-inhabited bathroom.
Her skin flushed an even deeper red as humiliation set in, it would seem that in her rush to empty her bladder she hadn’t double checked the sign. As she remembered seeing the U-bends in the toilet suddenly it registered, of course it was a boy’s toilet, the girls toilets didn’t have those. She brought her face to her hands, “Well that’s totally mortifying.” She uttered under her breath, earning a laugh from the red-head. He would reach up, lifting her chin with his knuckles, forcing her to meet his soul-exploring eyes.
“Hey, it’s not a big deal. Toilets are unisex until you slap a label on them.” He told her, before letting go. She stared for a moment , relief spreading through her at the strangers words. Somehow he’d managed to ease her shame, albeit only slightly. “Thank you,” She responded warmly. “I’m Bethany.” She told him, he smiled, exposing his neat line of pearly whites.
“James.” He replied before side-stepping her, “Now if you’ll excuse me Beth, I have some business to attend to.” He glanced at the bathroom door suggestively, to which she made an ‘oh’ sound before moving out of his way. “See you around, Bethany.” He remarked before stepping inside the bathroom, throwing her a quick wink before the door shut behind him. She stared for a few moments, taking in what had just happened. It was something like out of a movie, nerdy girl next door clumsily uses the wrong bathroom, only to run into her dream guy and share a cute funny moment. And despite all her longings for an excellent track record that would sail her into the path of higher education. She was still a teenager and after several years of rom-coms and ogling guys she could never get, it was undeniable that she still wanted a boyfriend. Not to mention, James, was super hot.
She considered for a moment that maybe this was fate, maybe she was meant to go into the wrong bathroom. To come out and bump into the ultra-attractive red-head, that this random and almost cinematic experience could lead her to her first love story. It was all very exciting for the blonde, and containing the urge to squeal, she spun in the other direction, skipping down the halls excited in her return to class. Running the little tete a tete through her mind repeatedly for the rest of the day. Looking forward to her potential love story without any clue that what was actually in store for the perky seventeen year old, was something much more suitable to a tale of horror.
—-
It was a few weeks before Bethany encountered James again, she had snooped around her school in hopes of finding him. She had began taking extra bathroom breaks in hopes of rubbing into him, she had checked all of the after school clubs to see if he was in one of them. She had even explored the areas of the school she never ventured. The hang-out zones of the cliques where she would never fit; the jokes, the burnouts and so on. None of them had seen or heard of the mysterious golden eyes hottie she was talking about. And so, she had fallen into dejected disappointment. Whilst she knew she couldn’t have made it up, it was possible that he waa a visiting student or someone who recently transferred out. Either way, it was looking like she wasn’t going to see him again and that was just something she had to come to terms with.
Did she pine? Of course. She sat in, unable to focus as she day dreamed of him entering her class as a surprise ‘new boy’, he would sit next to her and throw her that devilish wink of his. One day he would forget his textbook so they would have to share, and as time went by they would get closer. He would pass her a note with two boxes labeled ‘yes’ and ‘no’, above which would be a question of whether she wanted to be his girlfriend. She would tick yes and so they would begin their romantic coupledom together, like a teen movie. It was very elementary of her to imagine it this way, but as the inexperienced girl as she was. Her daydreams were still somewhat parentally guided. After all, she’s only ever kissed two boys in her lifetime and any other touching had only surmounted to hand-holding. Little did she know that this was far from the reality of her future.
She had almost started to give up on the prospect of seeing him again when she spotted his flaming red-hair across the school's courtyard. Crouched down next to the bike-ranch, examining the lock on one of the bikes. “James!” She cried out in her excitement, covering her mouth as she quickly realised that she was perhaps a little too happy to see him. Still her cry caught his attention, he would glance around suddenly wearing an uncertain frown on his face. Until he spotted her, she would see it dawn on him that she had called him, and he would visibly relax, offering her a friendly wave. She took this as permission to approach, crossing the grounds between them, she stepped up to the red-head.
“Bethany.” He said in greeting, a flush of happiness rushing through her as she registered the fact he had remembered her name. She paused, frozen, it dawned on her that despite running this scenario through her head a million times, she didn’t know what to say. After a moment of internal screeching, finally she spouted out the first thing she could think of, “What you up to?” She asked in an almost garbled manner. He grinned, looking back at the bike-lock.
“I lost the key to my lock and now I can’t get my bike out, I’m just trying to figure out if I can work around it. My house is a bit of a trek so I’d rather not walk if I have to.” He answered her, she turned her gaze from him to the lock, stepping forward .She reached out, taking the lock off him, she examined it. “Oh it’s tubular, yeah, you’re so blessed you ran into me. I totally got this.” She remarked smugly, handing him back the lock, she swung her satchel round, reaching inside the bag, she clasped onto her fluffy purple pencil case. Her fingers found the zipper, pulling it open she fondled the inside of one of her spare Bic pens. Once she found one, she lifted it out, zipping the pencil case back up as she did so. She ran her fingers down the length of the pen, twisting the non-writing end until it opened. All the while James watched her curiously, intrigued to see what she would do with the random pen. She pulled out the ink-containing tube along with its tip, pocketing that part before taking the hollow pen tube in her hand. She grabbed the lock once more, pressing it into the keyway. Once it was in, she turned it, applying a reasonable amount of pressure when doing so. After a moment, it gave turning in the unlocking direction, it would click and the bike-lock would come undone.
“Amazing!” James gushed, causing Bethany to blush slightly, pleased with her own knowledge of bike locks. She only knew this because she used to bike to her old school and an ex-bully of hersalways used to steal her key and throw it away. Eventually it became too annoying to buy new keys, so she taught herself how to open a lock without one. A random skill she never expected to come in handy, once she moved to a school within walking distance. “Oh, it’s nothing you know.” To which he shook his head. “Nah, you saved me a lot of hassle. I should reward you… how about I give you a lift home?” He offered, her green eyes widened excitedly, although as a thought came to mind her glee quickly faded. “Ah, we’re not really allowed to tandem ride a normal bike.” She told him dejectedly, he eyed her for a moment, before looking around. Then he leaned down, closing the distance between them a little, he adopted a devilish smirk. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
A ripple of exhilaration sang through her at his suggestion, her heart quickly began to race as she entertained the thought of breaking the rules. She wasn’t really one for rebellion, trying to keep a clean record for her future and all. But the thought of riding on the back of a bicycle with him was just so… romantic. And she didn’t really want to reject him and risk the possibility of losing his interest, this was her chance and she simply had to take it. “Okay.” She agreed, earning herself an appreciative chuckle from the guy. He reversed his bike out of the space, swinging his leg over and sitting himself on the seat. She turned, hopping onto the rear rack, hesitant she brought her hands around James waist. It was subtle, but for a moment he tensed up at her touch, although she was too caught up in the cuteness of the moment to notice his discomfort. After a moment, he relaxed, bringing his feet up unto the pegs, he began to cycle.
The ride itself was completely blissful, never had a journey home felt so wonderful in her life. The feel of his slender waist beneath her arms, the warmth of his back against her side, it took all her will not to lean her head against him but to keep herself at a respectable distance. They didn’t talk much aside from Bethany guiding him in the direction of her house, it occurred to her that he might be going out of his way to thank her, that his home could be in the opposite direction and yet he was still taking her home regardless. She gushed over how kind he was, just another perk to his overall hotness. Alas it would soon come to an end, as together they rolled down her road, pulling up outside of her home. He allowed the bike to come to a natural slow, before putting his foot out against the pavement to come to a complete stop. Bethany pushed herself off, turning towards him. “Thanks so much.” She told him happily, to which he shrugged. “No big deal, you helped me so.”
There was another pause, longer this time as they looked at eachother unsure what to say, Bethany looked down. She didn’t want to go in, she wanted to stay here and talk to him for a little longer. So long had she gone without seeing his last time, she didn’t want such a long wait between their next reunion. His sudden soft laughter broke the silence, “I’ll see you around, Bethany.” He said in that oh-so-smooth tone of his, she smiled back at him. “Yeah, see you." She commented softly, watching as he kicked off the ground once more and began to cycle away. Not in the direction they came in but onwards the way they were going, she watched him disappear around the corner of the street before sighing. Letting out a groan, as she made her way into her house.
--
Bethany slouched over the armchair of her living room, her brothers borrowed fidget spinner twisting around her finger as she stared at the ceiling. A girlish smile on her lips as she went over in her head the breakdown of what had happened earlier that day. The sound of her brother talking down the headset to his friend Joseph, in the background. “Did you find it?” He asked down the microphone, although Beth was paying little attention to the conversation. Her own mind reeling with happy fantasies of his bike-ride with James, wondering whether this was a sign that he was going to appear in her life more frequently. There was an inkling of regret that she felt, wishing she’d asked for his number. In today’s modern society, she knew that there was no better way to get to know someone socially than through social media. But not only did she not know his number, she didn’t even know his surname. So there was no way to search him throughout the internet, to track down her MyPlace page and see what hobbies he had. There were so many unanswered questions about the enigmatic James, what music did he like? Did he have any siblings? Did he do any sports? Maybe he was a beautiful, brooding artist. She could only speculate at this point and be hopeful that something would happen between them. She sighed deeply, earning a glance from her brother.
“Huh?... Oh… what? Oh no, I just got distracted, my sister’s being all googly eyed over this boy she met.” Archie remarked, he laughed at whatever reaction he heard. “I don’t know, why do you care Jo, huh? Bothered?” He teased, all the while Bethany pulled herself out of her daydream. Glancing over at her younger sibling, she could only assume he was talking to Jo. Her younger brother’s best friend had a little bit of a school-boy crush on her, one she’d known about for years. It was cute, but any capacity for any emotional desire for the dweeby mate of her kid brother was at zero. Even after they hit puberty, she just didn’t feel anything. Not like with James, she knew she fancied James, a friggin’ lot. Swinging her legs off the armchair, she stood up, walking around from the sounds of her brother teasing his smitten friend and towards the bathroom for a shower before bed.
---
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Bethany peeled her eyes open, wincing into the darkness of her bedroom. She hadn’t been asleep long, this much she could tell, just long enough that the dregs of tire would cling to her eyes as she rubbed them for a moment. She sat up in her bed, listening to the quiet of her room until she heard it. Tap. She jumped, it was light but she wasn’t imagining it. Bethany turned on the mattress, eyeing the greenish glow of her alarm clock illuminating the time. It was quarter to midnight, which brought the question, what on earth was making such a noise. Tap. She turned to the window, the source of the side, pulling her blankets aside, she stood up. Taking careful strides across the floors of her chamber, peering outside to see what it was tapping on her window.
Her eyes grew wide, followed by the sharp intake of her breath. She blinked a few times to make sure he was real. Only to find that he did not fade from her vision and that he was actually there. Standing outside her window, metres below on her front lawn was James. Looking up at her with a sheepish grin, a hand for a small pebbles that he was carefully pinging onto her window pane. She made a gesture for him to wait, before spinning across her room, grabbing her nightgown as she crept out. She wrapped the gown around herself as she snuck down her steps, careful of the creaky steps she’d grown accustomed to avoiding. She didn’t sneak out of her room often anymore, but there was a time when she’d snuck out often to avoid visitations from a certain ex-lover of her mothers. She plucked the front door key off of the keyholder, and cautiously unlocked the door. Stepping out into the cold night, before shutting the door behind her with a soft click. She looked around for him once more, panicking for the briefest of moments as she suspected she might have imagined him. But then as she turned, he was suddenly there, standing in front of her. She met his gaze, unable to help the smile that grew across her lips. “Hi.” He whispered softly to her, to which she mirrored him with her own softly-spoken “Hi.”
There was a pause, filled with shyness of quiet uncertainty as they debated how to proceed.“Um...why did...why are you here?” She asked, breaking the silence between them. He smiled in that attractive way of his. “I wanted to hang out with you.” He said simply. Such an honest phrase, so easy and so fluid. Yet powerful enough to cause her to swell with joy, he had wanted to hang out with her, to spend time in her company. Feelings of hope flooded the girl, inflaming her crush to newer levels. She didn’t know if she could be any more pleased with this moment, it was both baffling and riveting to hear. “You did huh?” She answered rhetorically, before adding. “So you decided to throw stones at my window, What made you so sure you wouldn’t break it?”
He chuckled before opening his palm to show her the stones, they were especially small, no bigger than fingernails. Which meant, it would’ve taken an incredible amount of force to even damage the window with such stones. “Okay… so how did you know it was my room?” She challenged, raising a brow to which he shrugged. “Honestly, that was just wishful thinking.” He turned, relaxing his palm and allowing the stones to fall to the ground. He would walk over to where his bike was parked, taking off the footbrake. He turned to look back at her, “So, you want to hang out?” She didn’t need any time to contemplate her answer, nodding she hurried over, hopping onto the back of his bike. After he straddled the seat, once again her hands would find his waist. The wheels would spin and they would ride together, this time shrouded in the quiet night.
The cold might have bothered her on another night, but she was so excited about their little escapade that it didn’t bother her. In fact, she felt warm with exhilaration as she rode on the back of his back, holding onto his waist lightly. There were such a mixture of feelings going through her right now, the first of which being the fact that the guy she was crushing on had turned up at her house and asked to hang with her privately. Which obviously meant there was something about her that he was interested in, although she couldn’t assume what it was yet. A part of her hoped that he shared in her infatuation, and that it could lead in that direction. But for now, she would only assume that he thought she’d be a cool hang, not wanting to get her hopes up.
They rode out to the outskirts of town, towards the raising slopes that lead towards the main road. It was before coming off onto the main round that James diverted onto a dirt track, a dark path illuminated only by moonlight. He seemed to know where he was going though, as after a short while he came to a stop, hopping off the bike and putting on it’s brake. Bethany hopped onto the ground, turning to face him as he scooted off. He would nod his head in a way that indicated for her to follow him, which she would do so gladly. Moving from the dirt path into the trees, they would walk for a short while before stepping out into a clearing, where there was a tipped tree that was formed in such a way that it looked like seating and a few short metres in front of it was the edge of a cliff overlooking the town at night. “This is kind of a special place for me.” He told her softly, “I found it a few months back and now I come here every night just to… get away you know.” He reached up, scratching the back of his head. She took a few steps forward, peering over the edge of the cliff. It wasn’t too high that it was especially dangerous, but high enough to provide a nice view. She turned back to him, beaming in a content manner, responding to him earnestly. “I love it.”
He moved forward, sitting down into the dip of the log, she would move to join him. “So what do we do now?” She asked, not really sure how to proceed. He reached into his backpack, unzipping it, he pulled out an old-fashioned portable music player. Reaching over he offered her a headphone, which she took before popping the bud into her ear. He put in his own earphone before pressing play, a soft melody began to play, an indie tune something she was actually pretty into. And so they sat there, listening to music, which eventually divulged into talking about music, which then transformed into general conversation which went on and on, until they lost themselves in conversation until the soft rise of the sun began to seep over the town.
---
The hot water pouring from the shower head seeped over her tired body, waking up the teenager. She only managed to catch a few hours of sleep after sneaking back into the house before everyone woke up. Luckily, it was Saturday now, which meant the entire house was taking in the benefit of the weekend and the permission to sleep in instead of getting up for work. She had stayed into bed until past eleven, before finally dragging herself out for a morning shower, hoping that the water would wake her up enough to cover up any signs of lack of sleep. After finishing her wash, she returned to her room, dressing herself in some casual jogging bottoms and a purple hoodie. She made her way down to the kitchen, where her brother was sat at their kitchens island, his best friend Joseph straddling the stool next to him. As he spotted Beth, he stopped talking, dropping his spoon with a sudden clatter. He awkwardly swallowed his bite of cereal before greeting her. “H-Hey Beth!”
She waved in response, before moving over to the cupboard, she grabbed herself a bowl and moved over to join them on the island. Reaching across the counter where the milk and cheerios sat, she made herself up a bowl, her actions still slightly sluggish despite her shower. “I’m telling you bruh, it’s already been sold for parts.” Archie told Jo, not bothering to swallow his bite as he spoke, earning a disgusted glance from his sister. Jo groaned, “This blows man, my mum went ballistic when I told her. Starting going on about how I’m irresponsible and that it’s probably my own fault because I didn’t lock it up properly.”
“Well, did you?” Arch asked with a raised brow, Joseph’s face sunk into an irritated scowl. “Mate, I checked it twice before I went in, it was locked.” He replied defensively. Beth scooped a spoonful of cereal into her mouth, not really sure what they were talking about and not really caring. Joseph was pretty clumsy and was always getting into some trouble with his mum for something or other. It really didn’t interest her enough to ask what it was they were nattering about. Instead, she would reach into the side pocket of her hoodie, pulling out her phone. She eyed the screen, she had exchanged James’s number last night, but hadn’t got up the courage to text him yet. She didn’t want to seem too eager and put him off, she was fairly certain magazines told you to play it cool or something along those lines. So she was trying to resist the urge to message him, even though every fibre of her being really wanted to text him. As she stared at the screen, her heart sank at the lack of his name under her new messages. She scrolled through the few she had, and noticed an invite from Fiona to go see a film. She smiled, cinema might be a good shout to take her mind off of texting James too soon. Texting Fiona back confirming, she eagerly returned to her breakfast, a smug smile on her face and she remembered last night's conversations.
---
The reception hall of the cinema was as packed as it always was on a Saturday, a soft hum of excited nattering as those inside eagerly awaited the films they were going to see. Bethany stood in the queue of the popcorn line, double checking her allowance as she estimated how much she would be treating herself to. She had always been quite good at saving her pennies, unlike her younger sibling who would splash his cash within the first day of getting it. Bethany spread herself a little more efficient, only taking out a limited amount of spending money wherever she went so that she wouldn’t overindulge. With what she had she could treat herself to a medium popcorn and soda which was plenty all things considered. Fiona, her best friend nattered along next to her, excitable babbling about the film they were going to see.
Fiona was a plump girl, she wore vintage clothes that included a set of bright red oversized specs and a green beret. The beret was supposed to be french chic, but Bethany knew it was really an attempt at hiding her dark roots, as though people would believe those rich-plum tones were her natural colour. At present she was prattling on about some incident in the debate club that Bethany was only partially interested in. Academically Fiona was one of the few students that fared better than Bethany and had an impressive collection of extracurriculars to boot. But she wasn’t very popular as an individual, she was argumentative and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. In the years that Bethany had known her, she didn’t know anything who could out-argue Fiona, and whilst Bethany didn’t mind. There were several individuals who were not as avid fan of ‘debating’ as Fiona was. She was often avoided for it, but that suited them just fine.
“I honestly can’t believe Ryder got a point for that one, his argument was completely unfounded and I haven’t found a shred of empirical evidence to support his point.” She berated irritably, Bethany gave her a bemused look. “I mean, is it really that big of an issue if you won the debate anyway?” She asked tentatively, earning an eye-roll from her bestie. “It’s about principal Betney…” She began swiftly slipping into another tangent, although Bethany stopped listening, distracting by a sudden sound behind her. She glanced around, noticing the spilling of sweet packets that had accidentally been knocked off the shelf. Seeing someone kneeling down to pick them pack up, Bethany instinctively crouched down to help. Only to catch the face of the person who had caused the mess.
“James?” He glanced up at her, staring in apparent surprise before smiling. “Hey,” He replied, “Fancy catching you here.” She grinned in response, her heart racing in her chest at their sudden interaction. Awkwardly, she scrambled to collect the rest of the candied goods and place them back on the shelf. They two of them standing once more, they stood there without a word, looking at each other. A moment of quiet shared between them until finally Fiona cleared her throat loudly, causing Bethany to jump. “Oh! Er… Fi-Fiona, this is James. James this is Fiona, my best friend.” James offered her a friendly wave, to which she nodded curtly, hers narrow with uncertainty.
“Nice to meet you, what are you here to see?” He asked in his usual smooth tone, Fiona said nothing, allowing for another pause before Bethany decided to fill the silence. “Revengers, the latest one.” She immediately regretted saying the latter part, because it was obvious that was what she meant. However he showed no sign that he minded, “Cool, me too.” There was another moment of quiet before Bethany glanced at Fiona. Even if her friend didn’t always get on with people, normally she was a little less ‘socially challenged’ than this. Bethany shot her a look but Fiona didn’t notice, her eyes on James, her gaze speculative.
“Um...are you with anyone?” Bethany asked, he shook his head. “Nah, I was supposed to come with my cousin but he bailed on my last minute. I was already here so, figure I’d watch it anyway… that’s not weird right? Seeing a movie on your own? Ha, now that I say it out loud it seems more awkward than I realised.” He remarked sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Bethany resisted the urge to swoon over how cute he was, instead blustering out more words. “That’s not awkward at all, totally normal… but um, if you want you can always join us, right Fiona?” She asked, looking to her friend, her eyes pleading. Fiona finally pulled her gaze away from James, who seemed completely unfazed by her staring. As she looked at Bethany, she pursed her lips. “Sure, why not.” She commented dryly. Bethany beamed, her eyes darting back to James. “What do you say? Wanna join us?” She asked, trying desperately to contain to hope in her tone.
“Sounds great.” He remarked, causing Bethany’s heart to race further, butterflies fluttering happily inside her. The group proceeded to approach the counter, buying their tickets and snacks. Bethany was surprised by how much candy James treated himself to, “Sweet tooth huh?” She remarked, he grinned in response before throwing a gummy bear into the air and catching it in his mouth. As they made their way into the theatre, they made their way to their seats. Settling in swiftly, Fiona sat the furthest into the row, Bethany placed herself in the middle, whilst James sat on the end. As the lights soon dimmed, the adverts flickered on before them. Bethany noticed a strangeness with Fiona, who wouldn’t directly talk to James, at least not directly. If he said anything to her, she would direct the answer to Bethany, something that Bethany couldn’t help but find herself becoming irritated by it. Why was Fiona being so unfriendly?
She decided to talk to Fiona about it after, and focus on enjoying the movie along with Jame’s company. Although as the movie began she could barely find herself able to concentrate on it. All she could think about was him, sat next to her, so close. She could smell his aftershave, feel the warmth of his arm next to hers. Her heart wouldn’t calm down, and she was suddenly very conscious of her sweating. Had she put on deodorant before leaving the house? She couldn’t very well sniff her armpits to check. Gosh, it was just so tense, but also, exciting. To think she would run into him here, a welcome experience. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to text him yet, nor had he texted her. But this made that all okay.
Suddenly she felt a tap against her fingers, she glanced down to where her hand was lying on the armrest. He had rested his hand next to hers, she glance up at him, his attractive features directed towards the screen. His eyes remained ahead, but she would feel his fingers nudge hers again, she would respond by inching her hand close, so that their hands were touching slightly. His warm fingers wrapping themselves around hers, her breathing hitching as they somehow were suddenly holding hands. Resisting the urge to grin like an idiot, they would stay like that for the remainder of the movie.
---
Bethany waved goodbye as James left the back in the main hall of the cinema, her face flushed with pink and her eyes glazed over. Slowly she turned to Fiona, unable to without her swooning expression. “Isn’t he so hot?” She asked her friend in an airy tone, only to earn an eye roll from Fiona. Bethany immediately scowled, reminded of her friends unwelcoming behaviour. “Seriously Fiona, what is up with you? Why the ice?” She barked, her pent up frustrations coming out in her tone. To which Fiona responded by inherently becoming defensive.
“What’s up with me? More like what’s up with you. Why are you inviting some random creep to join us on our movie day?” Whatever response Bethany had anticipated, this certainly hadn’t been it. “Random creep?! He is not random and nor is he a creep, I happen to know James, I happen to like James. Surely you of all people know me well enough to realise that.” She snapped in retort. Fiona crossed her arms over her chest, her expression turning quickly sour.
“Yeah, I could tell, it was incredibly obvious on your part. It was also obvious to me that he was totally playing on it, the guy is definitely trying to manipulate you. It wasn’t an accident those sweets got knocked off the shelf, he did that on purpose.” Bethany sighed in exasperation, “Maybe he likes me as much as I like him, maybe he was trying to get my attention. Heck, he held my hand during the film Fiona! I don’t know alot about dating but I’m pretty sure that’s a sign that a guy is crushing on you. Or is that too hard to believe?” Her voice was rising now, she found herself becoming increasingly flustered by her friend's bizarre accusations.
“I didn’t see a guy crushing on a girl, Betney. It was more like… a predator eyeing its prey. How can you not see it? His eyes, the way he carries himself, it’s subtle but it’s there… He’s just… weird. I have a bad feeling about him, and my gut is usually right. I don’t think you should see him anymore.” Bethany swelled with bewilderment, her eyes wide and her expression incredulous. She couldn’t believe that Fiona was asking something so ridiculous, James wasn’t weird in the slightest. Sure he was smooth and kind of silky in the way he did everything, but he was also kind and interesting to talk to. Bethany eyes narrowed, and the next words that would come out of her mouth would be laced with venom. “I see what this is, you’re jealous.” Now it was Fiona’s turn to look bewildered.
“WHAT?” She yapped, to which Bethany just shook her head, “Of course, you’re never supportive when I have a crush, you always have some criticism. This is just different because this time, a guy actually might like me back. Which is more than you can ever say for yourself because let’s face facts, Fiona, you’re not exactly dateable.” She was being harsh, harsher than normal, but she couldn’t help it. She was just so rattled by her friends behaviour, and for so long she had tolerated Fiona’s negativity without rebuttal but at this point, she’d just had enough. Fiona’s expression hardened, she shifted her grip on her back.
“You know what, fine. It’s your funeral, but don’t come crying to me when it all falls apart.” She spat, before turning on her heel and marching away. Bethany watched after her, a small part of her felt regret over her words. But that was soon squashed by her lingering rage, Fiona was jealous. Jealous of James, why else would she try to get Bethany to stop seeing him? Bethany turned and stormed off in the other direction, making her way out of the cinema. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and reached down to check it. A small text message lighting up her screen.
Had fun today - J.
Her scowl simmered quickly into a smile, distracted momentarily from her anger, she quickly set about texting him back; Me too x.
WC: 6,512
Dialogue Key : Jester/James, Bethany, Archie, Jo, Fiona
