Chapter 2 Boy From LA

• "Hey is anybody there?" It was Tucker, peeping inside with his whole body leaning ahead. He joked and laughed, smiling as he watched my face. "I knew you will be hiding there from me, aren't you excited to see me?" he raised his brow and faked a wave of anger. I rubbed my hands together and held my breath, he looked gorgeous. He would always tease me because of how shy I was. He knew I have always hidden from him as his presence made me nervous, awkward? Yeah, I was awkward.
• "Stop teasing her." Mr. Ben voiced from downstairs. Tucker rolled his eyes playfully and stormed inside.
• "Hey Miss Giselle," he said, scanning my room, showing his Jock attitude. He was always good at football, and we all know how popular, good looks, and being a jock make them confident. He was a dream guy of every girl in the town and I was absolutely jealous of that.
• "Hi!" I shyly replied and he watched my face for a second before bursting out in laughter.
• "Why are you blushing from me?" He laughed, shaking his head unbelievably and laying in my bed with his hands spread like an eagle. The minute he laughed, I felt something breaking inside my chest, it was my heart. It felt awful when he joked about me or my actions. I wasn't very confident and bold like other girls, but most importantly, I cared about my image and people judging me.
• "This is how I am." For my rescue, I mumbled in shame. I didn't want anyone to know my feelings for him, especially Ivory who walked inside just to spy on us. She wouldn't ever leave us alone for a minute, she was too scared of me stealing him or him falling for me.
• "Oh! I almost forgot how girls with no confidence look like," he commented very casually like it wasn't going to hurt my feelings. But I had a reason to have a good sleep tonight, he was in my bed and it just blessed me to feel his presence for the night.
• "So, did you make girlfriends there?" Ivory, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed on her chest, enthusiastically asked, her motives clear. Sometimes I had a feeling that they all knew my feelings for Tucker, including him and they purposely tried to hurt me except for Lauren.
• "I made friends, but I had no time for girlfriends." Tucker pulled out his cell phone and began searching for something, he showed us the screen and there was a girl's picture on it. "She is my friend Lilly," He announced. The girl looked like a model from Victoria's secret, I felt a burning sensation in my heart. But the good point was that he hasn't made any girlfriends there. Besides everyone calling him a perfect guy, there was another tag for him * FuckBoy* which I didn't agree with. I have never seen him with anyone except for Monica, his ex.
• "She is so pretty." Ivory, totally impressed, ran and took the phone out of his hands. I gritted my teeth and raised my brow in anger.
• "She is all makeup and I'm sure she has spent time in Photoshoping it as well" The petty me commented, Ivory rolled her eyes while Tucker shrugged.
• "I have seen her in real and she looks exactly like this." Tucker defended in a mild tone. He grabbed his phone back and put it back in his jacket. "You haven't changed a bit." He stated, scanning me from head to toe, was it a good thing or he expected me to change because he wanted a change me?
• "She pretty much downgraded from her own self." Ivory folded her arms again and sputtered in pure hate. They kept joking about my appearance like I wasn't even there, but Tucker has no fault in that, he was just kidding childishly.
• "Don't be so rude," Tucker, changing his side to us, scolded his sister. He defended me, I couldn't breathe due to happiness. A wide smile wanted to be drawn on my lips, but I had to control it. "Giselle do not take her words to heart." he apologized, getting up from the bed and walking past us outside, why didn't he notice how I looked? Or maybe I didn't look satisfied enough for him to compliment me. Why was it so hard to get the attention of someone I love.
• We two followed him to the lounge and sat by his side for a moment before I saw Lauren working in the kitchen.
• "Excuse me, I will go and help Aunt Lauren." I excused, getting up and walking away from them. Tucker wasn't very much interested in having a conversation with any one of us, he had held the remote and was now switching between channels.
• "Did you two talk?" Lauren, who was cutting some fruits now, questioned with a pleasant smile covering her lips. She had some high expectations from a born failure like me.
• "Yeah! We did a little." I replied, microwaving the food I have made for him before. "Did you see his friend Lily, she is so beautiful," I added, to let her know that I was not his type. It wasn't like Loren and I had ever discussed openly that she wanted me to be with him, but she would always hint it to me that she wanted to see me with him. But sometimes words are not required to tell someone how you feel, Lauren just knew me.
• "Who?" She halted, "these LA girls are not wife material, my son knows the difference between a good girl and girls like them." of course she was his mother and was going to defend him but sadly, It looked like those types of girls were his type and I was just a nerd who had a crush on him and we can't deny the fact that LA girls were gorgeous but Lauren kept telling me that beside me, there was no girl who has kept her dignity safe.
• "Maybe," I murmured in my mouth, I have waited so long for his arrival, I thought he will notice me that I have grown up as well. When you are in your teens, even one year changes you a lot and until his arrival, I really thought I had changed into a grown-up girl but his ignorance just crushed my confidence.
• "Don't be sad, he probably thinks you are not interested in him." She rubbed my arm, feeling bad for me. I would always causally deny my feelings for him in front of her because I didn't wanna make a fool of myself, but seeing him so ignorant towards me just hurt me that day. It felt like Lauren was forcing this relationship, and that was sweet of her, but it was meaningless as long as Tucker doesn't consider it.
• "But it's not like that." Not wanting to deny it completely, I just murmured to ease her up.
• "Come follow me." After thinking over it for a moment, she grabbed the tray and asked me to follow her determinedly. Having no idea of her intentions, I did as she asked me to do.
• "You should be talking to us than watching this TV." She grabbed the remote out of his hand and switched it off. Placing the tray in front of him, she too sat down. "come sit with us, Giselle." She saw me standing by their side and offered me a seat.
• "Ummmm, It's been so long that I haven't tasted food this good." Tucker complimented after taking a bite from the spring rolls. The satisfaction was written all over Ivory's face, but she was too sassy to compliment me.
• "Giselle made those." Lauren smiled, watching her son and then my face.
• "Wow, she improved so much." Tucker, who paid little attention to me, mumbled as he found the food more interesting than me.
• "You know Monica asked about you almost every day." Ivory, who was also friends with Tucker's childhood friend and ex, Monica, spoke. The mention of her made me uncomfortable. It was worse as Monica, even after the breakup, wasn't letting him go.
• "But why did she ask you about me, when we were always exchanging texts." He casually stated, breaking my heart very silently. I tried to focus on anything other than his eyes. They were drowning me in the ocean of love that has no end and no boundary.
• "Ohhhh! Am." Ivory teased, elbowing him playfully. She was forcing their relationship to begin again, even if his brother didn't want to.
• "What, you think we are back together?" Tucker, turned around and watched his sister's face in disgust, "hell no." He shook his head and picked up another spring roll. It was a victory that he liked my cooking, but I was just waiting for the day he starts liking me as well. Above all, he clearly confessed he has no feelings and no plans of getting back with that witch Monica.
• "Why not? She is popular for her beauty, the head of the cheerleading squad, so what's stopping you?" Ivory has started to get on my nerves, I was always polite to her, but she would never leave a chance to hook up her brother with some girl from the school and Monica was the worst to start with.
• "Ivory, your mother is still present here." Lauren, who was a savior, muttered. "Tucker doesn't need any girl to date or be with, he'll choose someone who loves him unconditionally." She added, making both of her kids look at her. I knew she had me in her mind, her smile and eyes on me were evidence.
• "Mom is right, I deserve someone special." Tucker, who didn't even bother looking at me for once, elbowed his sister to tease her more.
• "Mom, your definition of special and his definition of special is totally different so don't forget that." Ivory commented I can tell she would never like me for her brother and that wasn't even the issue, the issue was that Tucker wouldn't like me as well.
• They talked for another few minutes while I head back to the kitchen to wash the utensils and clean the kitchen. There was no use in sitting there when Tucker doesn't have his eyes on me.
• After finishing my chores, I climbed the stairs to my room and laid my back on the bed as I was tired too. Tucker has left with his friends and I couldn't stop thinking about how handsome he looked.
• Dina: Elle...
• Dina, Nineteen years old as me and Tucker, my bff and my classmate, was always by my side since I was little, but my and Tucker's beginning of conversations lessened to zero once he started dating Monica from the age of sixteen and they broke up after a year or something.
• Me: hey! What happened?
• Dina: where were you the whole day? Are you coming to school tomorrow?
• Me: I was busy because Tucker came back after finishing his one-year scholarship in LA and yup, I'll come.
• Actually, After winning a competition Tucker was awarded to study for a year in LA.
• Dina: oh, he is back.
• Me: yeah.
• Dina: Now he will never stop bragging about how awesome it was this and that.
• Me: hey calm down, he isn't that bad.
• Dina: well, he is.
• I don't know why Dina used to hate Tucker so much but they were always fighting and arguing.
• Me: anyway, please don't be disrespectful to him tomorrow.
• Knowing that he was back, I knew he would be dropping me and Ivory along as he goes to school. We all went to the same school, but our sections were different while Ivory was about to turn eighteen so she was behind us.
• Dina: I will try if he keeps his mouth shut.
• Me: Dina :/
• Dina: Fine.
• Thinking about tomorrow, I almost forgot about Tucker's friends, who have been bullying me after he left. What will happen if he sees them bullying me? Will he stand up for me or he will just ignore it? His friends would always make fun of me for not having my first kiss or my first boyfriend at this age, but I never snapped back at any of them because I didn't want anyone to think I was a rude person, I cared a lot about what will everyone...
• I was in the middle of a mess, but one thing was for sure that I was madly in love with Tucker.