Chapter 13

A/N: Just wanted to say hi to you all!!! Glad to hear you're enjoying this story!! It's definitely one of my faves!!

The little things, you do to me are
Taking me over, I wanna show ya
Everything inside of me
Like a nervous heart that, is crazy beating
My feet are stuck here, against the pavement
I wanna break free, I wanna make it
Closer to your eyes, get your attention
Before you pass me by

The Little Things – Colbie Caillat

Ch. 13

Anger and jealousy rose in my throat like bile as I watched Biz walk into the bowling alley hand in hand with Ari.  I had no clue she was going to be here and it killed me to see her laughing with him like he was the best thing since sliced bread.  She looked hot, in a dorky, punk way with pig tails, tight band-shirt and capri’s.  Biz just looked like, well, Biz and I was going to kill him for doing this to me even though he had no clue she was my problem.

Thankfully it was my turn to bowl a couple practice shots, so I concentrated on that as Biz introduced her to Turris and Lepisto.  Unfortunately when I was done, I turned around to find her standing behind the fixed bowling chairs with her hands on her hips, lips pursed and a worried look as she stared at me.

“Hey, Ari!” I said, failing miserably to sound excited to see her even though my heart was beating 100 times faster as I couldn’t get over how much I missed her.

“Hey yourself, Mister I don’t call my best friend!” she chirped back as I reluctantly walked over to her, noticing Biz over at the shoe rental desk.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled quietly as I looked down at the floor, afraid to meet her hazel eyes.  She sensed my hesitancy and touched my arm, forcing me to look up at her.  I’m lost now.

“Taylor, please, what’s wrong.  I’ve been so worried about you,” she whispered in a scared voice as she wrapped her arms around me.  I wanted to wrap my arms around her and hold her close to me forever.  Instead, I embraced her with one arm, weakly.

“I have a lot on my mind right now and I didn’t want to burden you with them,” I said, trying to get off easy. 

“Um, you have never been a burden to me and shame on you for even worrying about that.  We are here for each other, remember?” she looked at me sincerely, her colorful eyes sparkling.

Just like the other week, I became lost in her eyes and everything stopped until I heard Biz’s loud voice coming closer to us.  I pulled my arm back from her and stood stiffly, trying not to show much emotion.  “I’m fine, Ari.  Just a little stressed with the upcoming season; glad to see you here tonight,” I said, attempting to sound chipper and plastering a fake smile on my face to cover-up my rotting insides.

He was acting really weird and I couldn’t get the fake smile out of my head all night.  I hated the feeling I got when he hugged me, he barely touched me and I felt like I had some sort of contagious disease.  Every time I looked at him when he wasn’t aware, he looked like a sad puppy that was hurting immensely.  My heart broke.  I wasn’t sure how my best friend could go from so fun and loving to this cold, statue of a man.

I tried my best to ignore his sulking figure, downing beer like it was water, but it got harder and harder.  By the time we were bowled out, Taylor had a decent buzz going on.

“How are you getting home?” I asked as I walked over to him.

He just looked up at me with bloodshot, blue eyes and shrugged.

“I’ll take you home.  I just need to drop off Paul first.”

“I might get sick,” he mumbled.

“I’ll get a bag or bucket before we leave,” I said, attempting to get my arm around him to help him up.  It was futile trying to lift a 230lb. drunk man, so after two tries I called Paul over to help.

“Py! Your dead weight might squish my little woman, here!” he laughed as he took my place and attempted to help him.

“She’s not your woman,” Taylor hissed, actually stumbling to his feet under his own power.  “And I don’t need your fucking help!”  I watched in horror as he began walking and tripped over one of the bolted down benches, falling face first onto the hard, tiled floor.

Upshall and Turris came over and helped him up, even though he was flailing around, also trying to push them off.  Paul just stood there with a shocked look on his face.  Scottie yelled over his shoulder before they got outside, “I’ll take him home!  You guys finish your date.”  I heard Taylor grumble out something inaudible from where we were standing, but Scottie just turned around and gave me a sheepish smile that said, “Sorry.”

Both Paul and I were left standing in the busy bowling alley, staring at the door, trying to figure out what just happened.  Of course people were looking at us strangely, but I didn’t care.  I felt like my world was turning into a hurricane and for the life of me, I did not know why.

I didn’t realize tears were coming down my face until I felt the pad of Paul’s big thumb brush the wetness from me cheeks.  He put his arm around me and led me out to my car.

“Ssh, Arianna.  Please don’t cry.  I’m sure whatever is bothering him will roll over.  We all have tempers sometimes,” he said quietly as he helped me get into the passenger side of my car.

I couldn’t help but smile a little as I watched the big hockey player get behind the wheel of my Jetta.  It would have been quite the comical scene if the circumstances had been different.

He looked over at me with a one breath laugh, “Heh, guess this type of car was not made for me.”

I left out a giggle, “No, doesn’t seem that way, does it?  Hope you can drive stick.”

“Yup!  My first car was manual, so we are set to at least make it back to my place.”

He did well, only grinding the gears twice.  However, by the time we got back to his parking lot, I already made up my mind that I had something else I had to take care of, than getting myself in trouble with Paul.

We met in front of the car as he handed me the keys with a small grin.  “You want to come in?” he asked.

“No, not tonight Paul.  I’ve had a great time, but I don’t think I will be good company tonight,” I answered honestly.

He pouted his lip out but said, “I understand.  Go check on Py.  I think he needs you.  But I need you too, so go to dinner with me tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help but smile when he didn’t give me a chance to say no.  He pulled me against him and left me with a kiss that seemed to state that he had something to prove.  His lips were commanding and his tongue begged for my attention as his hands held me tight against his hard body.  I couldn’t but help but get turned on and I could feel he was too, but my head was screaming that this was not the right time.  I had to put my hands on his chest and push firmly against him to part.

“Goodnight, Paul.” I said, still breathing heavily.

“Night, Arianna,” he said with a cocky smile as he opened my driver’s side door.

I started the car and headed over to begin what was most likely going to be a long battle.

I was puking in the bathroom as Turris stood watching.  I never heard the doorbell ring, but the next thing I heard was Ari’s angelic voice asking Uppie questions.  I put my head back in the toilet and threw up some more.  When I looked up this time, I found Ari sitting up on my bathroom sink, with her arms crossed and looking down at me with raised eyebrows.  I’ve been caught.

“I sent the boys home.  Scottie put me on the phone with Shane and you don’t have to go to practice tomorrow morning,” she said quietly.  “Do you need some water?” she asked as she reached behind herself and picked up the water bottle she had brought in with her.

I shakily put my hand out and accepted it.  Took a couple swigs to rinse out my mouth and spit it into the toilet as I flushed down the liquid mess.  I jumped as I felt her put a cool, wet rag across my head, wiping the sweat from my forehead.  I took it from her, wiped the rest of my face and got up off the floor, almost falling over again.  Her warm hands steadied me as she now looked up at me and said, “You are soaked in sweat and smell like puke.  Let’s get you a shower.  I’ll standby to make sure you don’t fall or something stupid,” she said quietly.

I didn’t have the strength to fight her.  I lifted my heavy arms so that she could pull my t-shirt off and I watched in a daze as she undid my belt and pulled my clothing off, not batting an eye at my nakedness.  The water was already warm as I stepped in and left it run over me.  My mind was numb from the mixture of alcohol and lack of sleep.  I somehow washed myself and when I peaked around the curtain, I was sober enough to ensure Ari I would be fine getting dried off without her looking on.  She just nodded and walked out of the bathroom, leaving me alone.

When I came out of the bathroom, she already had a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt waiting for me on the edge of my bed.  I put them on thankfully and headed out to the kitchen to find her making hot water for tea. 

I thought I had been silent in my approach, but she looked up and a worried smile graced her beautiful face.  “You look somewhat better.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.  “What are you doing here?”

“Where else would I be?” she asked seriously.

“With Biz,” I said through my teeth, trying to keep my temper from flaring up.

“You were my friend first.”

“He’s your boyfriend,” I mouthed back, obviously unable to keep myself under control.

She sighed as she set my mug of tea in front of me and sat down next to me with her own.  “He’s not my boyfriend, Taylor.  I needed someone to hang out with since my best friend seems to not want anything to do with me,” she said patiently.

“I do want you,” I blurted out as I turned towards her to find tears cascading down her sweet face.  Instantly I felt smaller than an ant.  You are such a piece of shit, Taylor.

“Then what is going on?!  Why are you shutting me out, Taylor?” she demanded, raising her voice like I imagined she would do in the classroom to an unruly student.  “Last time I checked we were able to talk about anything.  What the fuck changed since you left for the away trip?”

“I realized something,” I mumbled.

“What? Did the punch in the head from Smyth loosen something in your head so that you suddenly decided that I’m no use to you anymore?” she cried on the verge of being hysterical.  “I can’t lose another person I love, Taylor.  I can’t go through that again.”

I knew all too well how she felt about not being able to lose another person, but I was so afraid she only meant the word love in a platonic way and all my fears came swarming back.  I just sat there, unable to say anything.  However, Ari was more perceptive than I would have ever given her credit for.

“Earth to Taylor.  Don’t you dare shut me out; I think you owe me an explanation.  Why did you flip out on Biz tonight when he called me his girl?  Do you have something to tell me?” she questioned harshly.

“I can’t be your friend.”

She sat back in the chair like the wind had been knocked out of her as she choked out, “Excuse me?”

“I can’t be your friend anymore.  I can’t look you in the eyes and tell you that my feelings for you haven’t changed and that I can stand by and watch you be happy with someone else when I want to be the person that makes you smile.  The jealousy I have right now has made me into a monster and I can’t handle it anymore…”

She interrupted me, “So what are you saying, Taylor?”

“I’m in love with you,” I sputtered.  I wanted to look away when I said it but her eyes wouldn’t let me look away.  “I’m in love with you, Arianna.”

Again another look of shock crossed her face as she sat there open mouthed, staring at me.  “You…you love me?  This is why you’ve pushed me away?  I don’t understand…” she stuttered angrily through.

I couldn’t help but reach out and touch her.  I needed something to hold on to.  I needed to feel her warmth as I tried to get her to understand.  “I’ve been fucking miserable because I don’t want to ruin our friendship, I don’t want to lose my friendship with Biz so I figured it was better to distance myself than to tell you.”

She looked down at my hand on her arm and stared as the wheels seemed to be turning in her head.  She then pulled back her arm and looked up at me with tears in her eyes again.  “Taylor, I don’t know what to say,” she said honestly as she sniffled.

“You don’t need to say anything right now, I guess,” I said as I felt my heart sink to my stomach.  We sat in silence for a while.  I jumped when I heard her chair scrape across the floor as she got up.  I looked up to watch her get up, put her mug in the sink and then walk down the hall towards my bedroom, without saying a word or looking back.