𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 - 𝙀𝙅 𝘾𝙖𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡

↳ 16

Gina was taken aback as she entered Autumn's bedroom, frowning at the sight of her best friend sprawled in her bed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Gina questioned, quickly walking towards the other teen.

Autumn sighed, shifting into a sitting position before finally lifting her head to greet her best friend.

"Yes. Kind of..." She answered, trailing off. "There's something I have to tell you, G. I have a problem."

"Is this about you liking EJ?" Gina deadpanned, taking a seat beside Autumn on the king-sized bed.

Autumn's eyes widened at her friend's question. She had planned to tell Gina about her feelings for the senior, yes, but she didn't expect Gina to have figured it out. "Wait, you knew? How?"

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ᴀᴜᴛᴜᴍɴ ᴄᴀᴍᴘʙᴇʟʟ, ᴊᴜɴɪᴏʀ

Well, I didn't see this coming. Is it that obvious? I mean, if it is, maybe he figured it out too! Oh my god, what if he doesn't feel the same way, and our friendship is ruined? And he has a girlfriend! I'm in such a deep hole here.

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"It's practically painted on both of your faces. EJ is always a big smiling mess around you, and you're always throwing each other glances when you think nobody is looking." Gina lists, throwing her arm around Autumn's shoulders for comfort.

"What? No. G, I'm pretty sure you're misinterpreting the whole thing." Autumn says, sighing once again. "He doesn't like me that way. Besides, let's not forget he has a girlfriend."

"Well, all I'm saying is, I've never seen him look at his girlfriend the way he looks at you," Gina speaks.

"Let's... Let's just drop this for now, okay?" The Campbell girl requested, leaning her head on Gina's shoulder.

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Gɪɴᴀ Pᴏʀᴛᴇʀ, Sᴏᴘʜᴏᴍᴏʀᴇ

I wish these two weren't so oblivious. Autumn may not see it, but everyone else does. These dorks are clearly in love, and neither of them wants to admit it. It seems it's up to me to give them a little push.

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﹏﹏﹏

"She showed me one of the costumes, and I loved it!" Ashlyn exclaimed, making Seb and Autumn giggle.

"Yes, Kourtney's very talented. I can't wait to see the rest of the pieces she'll put together for the show." Autumn comments.

The trio, as well as the rest of the theater crew, was standing in front of the bomb shelter, waiting for rehearsal to begin.

Before Seb could say anything, Nini and EJ appeared on the stairs. The tension between the couple was thick enough to shut down every conversation amongst their peers, who were watching the pair, curious for the outcome.

"Why haven't you answered my texts?" EJ questioned, confused, as his girlfriend stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him.

"Can we not do this right now? Please?" Nini asked, her grip tightening on the notebook in her hand.

"Do what? Are you mad at me?" The senior inquired, chuckling nervously as his eyes fell upon their friends standing only a few meters away.

Nini scoffed, and EJ nodded, already knowing her answer. "You're mad at me. Look, there was no fitting at lunch."

"Fine. Wanna know where I was at lunch?" Nini asked harshly, stepping closer to EJ.

"Oh boy," Autumn muttered under her breath, already having a feeling of where the conversation was going.

"I was at the computer lab, bribing some hacker to crack into my phone to recover a message you deleted when you stole it," Nini spat, grabbing the attention of the few people who were still revising the script.

"Wait, why did you think that I-" The boy staggered on his words, his face falling at the accusation.

EJ knew he had to tell Nini the truth, and he was planning to do so. However, it was going to be in a much more private environment, and definitely without the presence of the only person he didn't want to disappoint – Autumn.

Now the truth was out. Nini knew. EJ guessed Ricky was the one to break the news to her, which made everything even worse. Now everyone knew the mistake he made, and he could sense the judging looks from his classmates.

Meanwhile, Autumn looked back and forth between the couple, her brown eyes finally fixating on the face of the boy she came to know so well.

Seeing EJ so broken, in front of everyone, she only wanted to pull him into her arms and tell him everything was going to be okay. She only wished to comfort him, to wipe out the tears that were threatening to fall from his glossing eyes.

"Oh, please." Nini interrupted him.

"Can we... Can we talk about this somewhere else?" The boy asked, his hand moving to Nini's shoulder.

However, before he could even touch her, Nini flinched away. Her face contorted in annoyance while she moved, putting some distance between herself and the senior.

"First of all, I didn't take your phone. You forgot it in my bag by accident." EJ tried to explain himself, keeping a surprisingly calm tone. "Nini, I was spiraling, ok? I see the way Ricky looks at you, and I know you guys have a lot more history than we do."

"Yeah, Ricky would never break into my phone," Nini replied coldly.

"No, I know, he just leaves sad voicemails on it, asking if you shared a moment over a song." EJ fires back.

"Don't make this about Ricky!" Nini raised her voice. "If you're talking about history, what about you and Autumn? You two have pet names and are basically glued together these days, and you don't see me complaining!"

"She's my best friend," EJ said, trying his best not to raise his voice as well. Autumn's heart tightened upon hearing his words, and she took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain she felt.

"I'm just trying to hold on to what we had over the summer." He continued, his eyes begging Nini to understand.

"I was too. But, you know what? Summer's over."