Undignified

One Shot

-

"The greatest thing that you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."

-Moulin Rouge

-

When you're about to lose someone you love, what do you do?

-

-

It's not a crush. It's definitely not a crush. It can't be one when the same one boy likes the same one girl, right?

But still. It can't be a relationship either when neither the boy nor the girl acknowledges it, right? It's not like they don't know that they like one another, because they do. But the thing is, neither of them really bothered to make it into an official status. They were 'best friends', so they claimed. However, they're closer to be considered just that. Way, way closer.

Love… love is just a very complicated thing.

-

-

-

"Have you heard?" Kathy asked, digging her elbows into my ribs.

I hadn't seen her coming. I was contentedly walking home alone from school while listening to my iPod when she jumped on me.

"Ow!" I protested when the pain shot through me. She, however, just rolled her eyes at me and continued to prod.

"So? So, so, so? Have you heard? Everybody has. Don't you think it's just adorable?!" she squealed.

I rubbed my ribs and winced. That's going to leave a mark. And she didn't even apologize!

"God, slow down. One, never, I repeat," I pointed a finger at her face, making it a point to glare at her, "never elbow me in the ribs again. It hurts like hell. And two. I have no idea what you're talking about. What's so adorable?"

"Okay, firstly, sorry about that. And how on earth couldn't you have heard?! Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! It's damn adorable! How couldn't you have heard?!"

I rolled my eyes. Kathy was awesome at being dramatic.

"I just haven't, period. Now, what is it?"

"Noah Williams," she informed me, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. I could see it in her eyes that she expected me to gasp and immediately understand what she's talking about. But I'm not psychic. I can't read her mind even if I wanted to.

"What about him?"

Noah Williams was one of the basketball players. He had a reputation of getting whatever he wanted. He was rich, everybody knew that. He was also the Student Body President and was nice to just about everyone.

"Oh my gosh, Callie! Gosh. I can't believe you haven't heard! He likes you!" she squealed.

I stared at her for a moment or two before the words registered in my head.

"What did you say?"

"Yes! You heard me right. He likes you," she grinned while I gawked at her with bewilderment.

"Oh, c'mon, you can't be ser-"

"I am! He told me himself," she smiled proudly.

"Why didn't he tell me then?" I asked her, refusing to believe it. We were approaching my house by now.

"He's going to. Trust me. Just wait," she winked, "I'll see you tomorrow. Tell me when he does."

I watched her skip off in the direction of her house and sighed. Hugging my books tighter to myself, I walked up the pathway slowly towards my empty house.

-

-

-

It wasn't as empty as I thought it would be. I pushed open the door to my room to find Jayden sprawled over my bed.

I didn't need to freak out. Jayden has been my best friend for as long as I could remember. He always dropped by without warning me. I didn't mind, he knew that. I didn't need to ask how he got in either. He always came through the window.

"Hey," he grinned at me. His gorgeous blue eyes sparkled when he saw me.

"Hey," I smiled back at him, forgetting about Noah Williams completely.

I love you, Jayden Adams.

"Come here," he told me, scooting over and making space for me on the bed. I laid down next to him, breathing in his soapy smell mixed with his cologne.

He wrapped his hand around mine, intertwining our fingers together. I laid my head against his shoulder and sighed in contentment.

It was normal for us to snuggle up against each other. We only did it when we're alone though.

I know what you're thinking. You're probably really confused or wondering what the hell is wrong with me, right? Well, Jayden has always been there for me. He was there to share my joy when I was happy. He was there to hug me close when I cried. And somewhere along the way, I fell for him. I knew he liked me too. We talked about it once but we just left that bit of information there. We didn't work on it. No labels, no stress. It was easier for us – leaving it just at that.

Jayden went to the same school as I did. He was a year older than me which meant that I barely spent any time with him in school since our classes never did coincide. But having him here – now – it was enough to make my day.

I felt him press his lips into my hair and I moved to lie on my side, moving closer to him. Using his free hand – the one not intertwined with mine- he wrapped it around my waist, pulling me even closer.

We laid there without saying a word for what seems like years. And I didn't care.

That is, until my phone had to ring.

I pulled myself away from him and dug into my bag, hunting for it. When I finally found it, I pressed the green button and lifted it to my ear without even bothering to see who it was.

"Uh, h-hey."

"Noah?" I asked, bewildered. Beside me, Jayden raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you free? Can we meet up? I-I need to talk to you."

"Uh, I'm kinda busy now," I told him, my eyes flickering to Jayden, "Can't you just tell me over the phone?"

He laughed nervously, "I could but then you might hate me for it."

What the hell is he talking about?

"No, I won't," I laughed, hoping it'll calm him down a bit. He sounded as tense as he would be if he was at gunpoint.

"Well, uh, I, uh, ikindalikeyou," he told me, rushing through his words.

Ohhh, so this is what it's about. He likes m-Wait, what?!

Crap. Crap! I totally forgot about that.

"Oh, uh," came my genius reply.

My eyes flickered to Jayden again. I must have looked tense because he pushed himself up and reached for me. I mouthed to him that everything's okay and stood up and started to pace around my room.

"So, uh, I was wondering if you'd g-go out with me?"

"Noah," I said softly, "I-I don't know. Give me some time to think about it, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Call me once you've made up your mind," he told me before hanging up.

I shut my phone closed and sat on the floor. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed.

Well, what do I do now?

"Noah? As in Noah Williams?" Jayden asked me. He looked worried.

"Yeah," I whispered, staring into space.

"What did he want?"

"Kathy. Kathy wasn't kidding," I replied, lost in my own thoughts.

"About what? Callie, seriously. What's up? You're scaring me," he told me, coming over to sit in front of me.

"Noah. He likes me. Kathy told me while I was walking home. I thought she was kidding."

"And he asked you out?" he frowned.

"Yeah," I replied.

"And you said you'd think about it?"

Was it just me, or did he sound, sort of, furious?

"Yeah."

"Why do you even have to?"

"Because, he's a nice guy, Jayden. I mean, why not? There's nothing wrong if I go on a date with him, right?"

His reaction shocked me. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

"Are you insane? If you go on a date with the guy, you're practically saying yes to him. He'd think that you accepted him. He'd start calling you his girlfriend."

I smacked his hands away from my shoulder. What's with people and bruising me today?

"Ow! That hurts! And so what if he calls me his girlfriend? It's not like it matters."

He looked as though I slapped him.

"It matters, Callie. It matters a lot," he pushed himself off the floor and walked out my room door. A moment later, I heard the front door slam close.

-

-

-

"Callie! Hurry," Kathy grabbed my arm and yanked me away from my locker. I barely had time to shut it close before she rushed down the hallway towards the front doors of the school with me in tow.

"Kathy, slow down. What's wrong?"

"Jayden and Noah," she told me, as she pushed the front doors open and dragged me out.

Before I could ask her what does dragging me around have to do with them both, I saw it.

There was a crowd of people. Then I saw them in the middle of the crowd. Jayden came into view first and he was throwing punches directed at Noah who was lying on the floor.

Oh no. No way.

I pushed my way frantically to reach them and when I finally did, I could see the bruises that covered them both.

"Stop it!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Jayden stopped hitting Noah and turned his head towards me. When he saw that it was me, guilt covered his features for a moment. It disappeared soon enough and turned into anger. He started punching Noah all over again.

I rushed to them and grabbed Jayden's hand which was aimed to throw another punch at Noah.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

"Stay out of this," he growled at me, trying to yank his hand away from my grip but I held it in place firmly. I've known Jayden for a long time but never had I seen him this angry.

I glared at him and his eyes softened. I searched the crowd frantically and found Kathy across from me. When her eyes met mine, she rushed to my side.

"Bring Jayden to my house for me. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere," I told her, passing her the keys to my house.

Once they were gone – after some angry protest for Jayden – I turned back to Noah who was struggling to get up. The crowd had dispersed.

I offered him a hand which he took. I pulled him up and examined his bruises. My eyes welled up with tears.

"Oh my gosh. Why didn't you fight back?"

"I did," he told me, examining his bruises for himself and wincing as he poked at them, "But he's much stronger than me."

"Wh-Why did he hit you for?"

He met my gaze and smiled softly, "I think you know why."

"Because of me?"

He nodded, "He likes you a lot, you know."

I didn't know what to say. I just stared at him. He reached over and brushed away a tear from my cheek.

"Go talk to him," he smiled sadly.

"But you're hurt," I informed him as if he didn't already know that.

"It's okay. I can handle it myself. Go," he prompted me.

I just continued staring at him with guilt.

"It's okay. I'll call you later, I promise. Now go," he told me.

I nodded and started off. He called me out to me and I whirled around.

"We're still friends right?"

"Of course," I told him, choking on my words before I ran as fast as I could.

-

-

-

"You stupid, idiotic jerk," I screamed as I pushed open the door to my room.

Kathy had been waiting for me in my living room. Once I reached, she told me that Jayden was in my room. She hugged me before leaving me to deal with him.

"That's how you greet me? Really? I'm bruised and that's all you have to say?"

He was sitting on my bed, as I expected.

"And whose stupid fault is that?" I asked him, crossing my arms across my chest.

He dropped his gaze.

"You hit him because of me?" I asked. I blinked my eyes vigorously, trying to push back the tears

"He thought he could have you as a girlfriend," he answered back defensively.

"And you hit him?" I asked him again, my voice rising.

Again, he lowered his gaze. I walked over to him and pressed my hands to the side of his face, forcing him to look at me.

"Why?" I asked, my voice shaking from the tears I was forcing back. He looked pained.

"Don't cry," he whispered, pulling me to his chest.

"Stop avoiding the question!" I whined and he laughed. Sobs escaped from me before I could stop them.

"Shhh," he murmured. I pulled away from him and raised my eyebrows, crossing my arms across my chest, hating how much I missed his warmth.

"You're mine. Not his. I wasn't going to let him have you just like that," he told me.

I stared at him, mouth agape. He grinned and reached over, closing my jaw for me.

"Don't stare at me like that. It's unattractive," he winked.

Before I could shoot him back with an awesome comeback – trust me, it is awesome, okay? – he pulled me towards his chest and kissed me. On the mouth.

He has hugged me, held my hand, kissed my hair, kissed my cheek but he has never – never – kissed me on the mouth.

I stood against him, frozen with shock. He started to pull away reluctantly, as though he was being rejected.

It crashed on me then. I love him. I've known that for so long. But I never did realize how much I yearned for him to treat me more than just he usually does. I realized how much I wanted him to call me his.

I was jolted back to reality when I felt his hands slipping from my waist. I shocked him by wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him back to me.

"Wait, don't stop," I murmured.

"Good. I don't want to either," he replied, his breath ticklish against my skin.

He wrapped one of his arms around me again, pulling me even tighter to him as he pressed his lips softly against mine. With his other hand, he knotted his fingers in my hair.

I pushed him back and he groaned. I laughed.

"What now?" he asked impatiently, brushing his lips against my cheek.

"I love you, Jayden," I said the words aloud, finally.

"I love you too," he breathed into my ear before pressing his lips against mine again.

-

-

-

When you're about to lose someone you love, what do you do?

You fight for it. Even if it drags you down, if it tears you apart and even if it kills you. Because love?

Love is every beautiful thing you can dream of.

-

-

-

A.N It's pretty short, i know. But i just had the inspiration so i had to get it down.

It's the first time i'm posting something up without having a friend of mine to check the mistakes out for me so i'm pretty worried. Tell me if there's any mistakes, yeah? :D

Tell me what you think? Thanks(:

P.S. I know the title doesn't really fit but i got stuck to it xD