Chapter 7:

Lorin:

I felt his hands leave my face and I realize he had fallen asleep already. I looked at him, still shocked. Then I quickly scrambled off him.
I mean, one second he was fighting me and the next, he was going to kiss me. And he didn’t finish what he was going to say!

I left his room, going back to mine still feeling my cheeks, where just a minute ago I was slapped by a guy I didn’t know. But when Marcus cupped it, the pain seemed to disappear.

When I entered the room we were staying in, Annie was already sleeping. I quickly changed my clothes into my nightclothes, a t-shirt. Yes, a large T-shirt that reached my knees. That’s the only thing I wear. But I feel comfortable anyway.

With what just happened in my mind, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to find that I have already woken up late and Annie wasn’t in the other bed anymore. I yawned and stretched. Just my usual morning routine. I stood up, preparing to get ready. Hey, I was only in a t-shirt…with underwear of course, but I couldn’t risk going out like this. There were 2 guys in the house.
I opened my bag, which was in the end of my bed and took out a nice top and jeans. I stood up, admiring the top when I felt the door open.

“Hey Lorrie…” a voice said and it trailed off.

I saw Marcus and I stood staring, shocked. He seemed shocked too. Then I went out of my shock and covered my front.

“Don’t you ever knock?!” I screamed. “Pervert! Get out! GET OUT!” I threw all the pillows on him and he quickly went out, red faced. I sat on my bed, also red in the face.
Then one thing popped into my mind.

Oh my God.

Marcus:

“Marcus, can you go see if Lorin’s up?” Annie asked me that morning. I gave a small grunt. I was still having a little bit of a hangover and I still remembered that I got into a fight because of her.
I guess she was still sleeping anyway so I didn’t bother knocking. Which was a big mistake.

“Hey, Lorrie…” I started but trailed off, seeing Lorin in just a T-shirt. I stood staring, transfixed and mesmerized by her beauty. I mean, she looked so…hot.
Lorin, who was shocked too, covered her front. It wasn’t like I can see through it.

“Don’t you ever knock?!” she screamed. “Pervert! Get out! GET OUT!” She threw what was nearest to her, which thank goodness were pillows, and threw them at me. I quickly got out and closed the door.

When I went down, Alexander and Annie were looking at me questioningly.
“Girls!” I muttered, sitting down with them and eating breakfast.

Lorin came down later on, ignoring me. Hey, I can live with that anyway. When Alexander and Annie had gone off somewhere, she finally talked to me.
“Thank you…for last night.” She said.
“No problem.” I said, annoyed and remembering about last night. “Next time, don’t go there alone!”
“Hey!” she shouted, angry. “It’s your fault for not going home! We can’t just leave you there!”
“Oh yeah?” I shouted back. “Maybe if you didn’t be so over reactive, I wouldn’t have stayed there!”
“You started it all! You shouldn’t have invited us if you didn’t have fun with us!” she screamed. We stared at each other, red at the same time from all the screaming.
“Fine” I said. “Be that way.”
“I will!” she replied stubbornly.
“Fine!”
“Fine!”

She took a plate and started to eat. I stood up and went to the living room to watch. If she wants war, I’ll give her war.

Why the heck do we always end up fighting?!

Lorin:

“Guys!” I heard Alex come in the room. “Hey, let’s go play volleyball!”
“Oh wow,” I said, standing up from my book. “That’s great. Count me in!”

Marcus came out of the kitchen where he was just eating lunch and I glared at him. He glared back and looked at Alex, who looked confusingly at both of us.

“Sure, but do you mind if I team up with Annie? She’s more better to get along with,” Marcus said, implying it on me.

“Oh yeah? I’ll team up with Alexander because he’s a better guy to hang out with!” I said.

“Fine!” he said. “I’ll be with Annie, Alexander.” He left the house we were staying in. Alex with a big question mark on his face, looked at me.
“You don’t want to know,” I growled.

Alex and I went to the beach after I had changed. It was a beautiful cloudy day and it was windy. It was autumn already and I didn’t want to swim. The water was so cold!
I tied my hair and went onto one side of the net where Alex was warming up. Annie and Marcus were talking to one another on the other side.
“Let’s start!” Annie said. She threw the ball in the air. I went forward hitting it on my wrist. Marcus hit the ball back at our side where Alex managed to hit it back to theirs. We spent the whole afternoon playing the volleyball where, sadly to say, Annie’s team was winning.

I ran to hit the last serve of the ball but I found myself slipping and falling, face first, in the sand. I heard Marcus roar with laughter.
“Lorin, are you alright?” Alex asked, helping me up. I saw Annie looking with irritation at Marcus, who was rolling in the sand with laughter.

“Not yet” I growled. I stood up, picked the volleyball up and went to Marcus. When he saw me, he laughed harder.
“That was so darn funny!” he said through laughter, “It was classic!”

I smiled at him with sarcasm.
“So you liked that? How about this?” I threw the volleyball down at him, hard, and it hit his stomach squarely. He groaned a little and glared up at me.
“Then how do you like this?” he said, suddenly pulling my legs from below me and I fell…on him.

Alex and Annie bursted into laughter.

I glared at Marcus and I got off him quickly. Alex and Annie were hugging each other and were laughing so hard that they were sinking slowly into the sand. I sighed. Sometimes, life has its nasty bits.

Marcus:

“Pass the honey please.” Annie told me later that day while we were having a barbecue in the beach. I slowly extended my hand and reached for the honey. I felt something soft and warm and I realized that Lorin also reached for the honey and I got her hand instead. She glared at me. I released her hand

“My honey!” I growled, reaching fast for the honey bottle and holding it tightly.
“Mine” she growled back and tried pulling it from my grasp. I pulled it back and she pulled it as well and we were stuck on a Honey bottle tug-of-war.

Alexander quickly took the honey from our hands with a sigh and passed it on to Annie.
“Seriously…” Annie said to us, squirting honey on the meat. “You guys are like kids, fighting over small things!”
“Hey, don’t blame me.” I said, pointing to Lorin. “It’s all her fault.”
“Not mine, it’s yours!” Lorin snapped back. They sighed again.

◊
“Marcus, can I have a word?” Annie asked me while I was eating my 8th barbecue. Hey, playing volleyball is tiring!

I nodded and we walked out of earshot.
“You know Marcus,” Annie said. “The reason you came here was to propose properly to Lorin right?” I nodded, taking another bite of my food.

“Well what you guys are doing instead is fighting. At this point, I’m sure she’ll say no to you. You have to apologize to her later. Alexander and I found out that there’s a party tonight here at the beach. And it’s only for teens. There are going to be performances on a stage too.”
“What the ‘ell does that have to do with me proposing?” I asked, my eyebrows raised.
“Well…Since you have the ‘ring’ with you…Xander and I reserved a moment on the stage for you.” She said. One moment I was peacefully eating my barbecue, the next I was choking on it. Annie helped me by hitting me on the back, hard. It took a few minutes before I can breathe normally again.

“WHAT?!” I shouted. Annie rolled her eyes.
“You, Marcus Brown, will go on that stage tonight and apologize. Then you will give that box to her and pop the question.” Annie said.
“BUT-” I protested but Annie only cut me off.
“No buts.” She said.
“You’re insane woman!” I shouted at her and that earned me a smack on the head.
“You are doing it tonight. Be thankful that Xander and I actually help you or you’ve already lost Lorin.” She said. I nodded. What could I do? I really wanted to be all right with Lorin again and I had to do what they told me.

Only I hope Lorin will say yes. Then out of the blues, I saw a familiar figure waving at me…

No! It can’t be!

Lorin:

I looked at my clothes uneasily. We were going to a party and all I can wear are jeans. Well, I still have all my jeans and those are the only clothes I have for now. Nobody told me we were going to a party while on this holiday! Anyway, we were leaving tomorrow night so I guess it’s better to enjoy now.

“Lorin!”

I looked up to find Annie beaming at me from the doorway. She and Alex had been smiling all night I was wondering if they were hiding something.

“Are you sure this is fine?” I asked.
“Yes, it’s good.” She said. “Come on, let’s get going!”

Annie grabbed my hand and dragged me all the way to the beach where Alex and Marcus were waiting.
“Lorin!” Alex said, also beaming. Seriously, I think they are hiding something. “Glad you could make it! Let’s go party!”
Annie hooked her arm around Alex and they went ahead, leaving me with Marcus. He was unusually quiet tonight.

The beach was packed with teenagers and I hoped we wouldn’t run into that wacko guy who tried to harass me the night before.
When we arrived, there was a guy and a girl doing a duet, which looked so sweet.
Then a guy who did some breakdancing came next. To tell you the truth, I was actually enjoying myself. It was fun singing and dancing with the performers.

“Right, guys!” A teen guy, who was the MC for the night said. “Tonight, we’ll see a guy express his love to the girl he loves. Give it up for, Marcus Brown!”

What? You have got to be kidding me! To who will he express his love? He came here with only Alex, Annie and…me. Marcus grinned at the audience as he climb up the stage.

“Right guys, This will only take a short while. So bear with me.” He said and everyone around us laughed.

“I want to express my love to the girl of my dreams and I have prepared a poem for her too.”

I didn’t want to hope much but I think it’s me. I mean who else will Marcus tell his love to? The other night…what he was going to say…I think it was for me.

Marcus then started his poem…I didn’t even know he knew how to make poems!



“You are in my dreams,

I can’t breath when you’re with me.
My heart skips a beat when you are there.
I love you…only if you can see.

I have kept my love for you,
the way my heart beats fast.
Or when I want to touch your face,
or when I wish for a moment with you to last.”

My breath was stuck in my throat and I just gaze up at him. I felt like I was the one saying the poem because what I felt was exactly the same! I…I was in love with him.
He left his eyes off the paper and he gazed onto mine, sending chills down my spine. It was as if he was telling that to me.

“So baby, I want to say
How much I love you.
Tonight I will confess of my love
And you know all I said was true.” He finished, his eyes never leaving mine.

There were enthusiastic claps from the audience and I felt my face heat up as I realize, maybe it was actually for me.

“Wow!” I heard the MC say. “That was one heck of a love poem! Give it up everybody for Marcus Brown!” Marcus gave a low bow.

“But he isn’t finished yet. Whomever he loves, will be revealed!” The MC said and everyone cheered. I felt my heart beat really, really fast. Alex smiled at me and took my hand actually leading me to the front of the audience. WE stopped right at the front.

“I want to say I’m sorry for acting like a real jerk and I want to give this ring to you to say that I love you,” Marcus said and everything started to go so slow at that moment.
“I love you…Lo-” he was about to say my name…or I think it was when this girl went on stage. She had this straight honey blond hair which swayed along with her movements.
“Marcus!” she said.
“Hazel!” he said, surprised.
“I’m sorry too and I want to say that what you did for me tonight was so sweet. I Love you too!” with that she went forward…and kissed him on the lips.
The crowd went wild. Annie and Alex looked at me, shocked as well.

Only I couldn’t see their faces. Everything went blurry and all I felt was my heart breaking into pieces. I made my way through the crowd, ignoring the calls that Alex and Annie were shouting and ran.

Marcus:

“Hazel!” I said surprised. I was hoping she wasn’t here and I was trying to avoid her all day.
“I’m sorry too and I want to say that what you did for me tonight was so sweet. I Love you too!” she said, smiling at me. I looked at her confused, about to protest that it wasn’t for her. Only I couldn’t because she kissed me.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Alex and Annie shouting and Lorin…was gone. Damn, Damn, DAMN! Everything was going wrong!
I pulled away from Hazel and led her backstage, which the crowd thought was part of the act. I could hear the MC presenting the next performance. I led Hazel far from the party, out of earshot from the audience. Annie reached me, glaring daggers at Hazel.

“Marcus” Hazel said, like I was still her boyfriend. Well, I used to be but not anymore. She two-timed me and I’ve had enough of her. Each second, I remembered what she did and anger boiled up inside me. “Baby, I’m so happy of what you did. If you are asking me to marry you I’ll-”
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?” I shouted at her, unable to control my anger any longer. Hazel looked taken aback.
“But, baby, I thought-” she started.
“Don’t call me baby, Hazel. Why are you here?! To hurt me again? Who told you where I was?” I shouted.
“Marcus…I left my ex. I realized, I love you more and when you came here, I asked your friends and followed you. The superstar, Ted Roans told me that you were here and…” She said. “Baby, I thought-”
“Well you thought wrong.” I told her icily. “I don’t love you anymore. You aren’t even a part of my life anymore.”
“You can’t do this to me!” Hazel said, in the verge of tears. But she couldn’t fool me anymore. I knew that she was just faking it.
“Watch Me,” I said. “Tell that Roans jerk to watch out cause he’s in for a huge hell.”
“Marcus!” she screamed as I took Annie’s hand and left Hazel there. “Damn you Marcus you can’t do this to me!”
But I left her without another word. For Ted Roans, He’ll see what its like to mess with me. Only I hope Lorin will understand.

I told Annie the whole story of what happened between Hazel and me while we were going back. Annie told me how Lorin cried when Hazel kissed me and I felt bad but at least I know she loves me.
“Xander followed her. I’m sure he’ll be able to cheer her up in no time!” Annie said but it didn’t feel reassuring. When we reached the summerhouse, I saw the lights on and I quickly went inside, eager to see Lorin and comfort her.

Only I saw Alexander first and he had a grim expression on his face.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Annie asked.
“Lorin…” Alexander said grimly.
“Is she alright?” I asked, worried that maybe something happened to her.
“Lorin’s gone.” Alexander said. “She had packed her bags and left.”