Mr. Popular and I

Chapter Twenty - Pure Bliss

River

His hand was on her waist.

I repeat, his hand was on her waist.

Didn't catch that? HIS HAND WAS ON HER WAIST.

And here I was, about to walk through the door, as calmly as I could force myself to be, but seeing Conner and Lea's proximity made me freeze in my tracks, and the calmness diminish. 

I clear my throat loudly, trying - with much difficulty - not to let the flare of jealousy portray on my face. But due to the way Lea is staring at me right now with a hesitant stance, I'm pretty sure I look like Hulk just before his transformation into the green monster. That's because Conner over here was just feeling up Lea.

Calm down. His hand was only on her waist, no big deal.

No big deal...My ass.

"Here's the man," Conner greets me as I clutch onto the bottle of water in my right hand a little too tightly. It makes a slight cracking sound under the pressure of my fingers. "Alright, bro? Haven't seen you in a while." Conner continues.

"Let's hope we don't see each other for a while after today as well," I reply, sarcastically. I like Conner; I just don't like his hands on Lee. 

A message to all men out there, just because you see an attractive girl, does that mean you have to put your HAND ON HER WAIST? No.

"Uhm...Do you two know each other?" Lea glances from Conner to me, displaying a look of puzzlement.

"I was about to ask you the same question, you two seemed to be getting a little bit cozy," I say, not completely answering her question. Her eyebrows furrow at my response as she takes in what I've just said, and then the blush that I like too much appears on the apples of her cheeks.

That blush is adorable.

"Wow, dude. No need to get offended." Conner says as he steps away from Lea with his hands up in surrender, and soon my death grip on the water bottle in my hand loosens slightly...only slightly. "I was just trying to help her."

"Help her with what? Getting into your pants?" I smirk, catching Lea's eye roll.

"Um, River, shut up." She says quickly. "The curtain fell on me, and he was trying to help me out. Okay?"

"Sure, but seriously, don't mind me," I state.

It's been weird. This past week, ever since Lea quite literally fell into my life, everything has been strange - from the way I feel when I'm around her, to my thoughts of her when I'm not. Now, the jealousy I feel as these two stand together just complicates things further. 

Get her out of your head, River. Now.

Last week I went to a party, and the boys and I were walking home, we overheard a deafening crashing noise a couple of streets away. We ran as fast as we could until we reached a little road called Chew Street. In the middle of the road was the remains of a collapsed house. Around it stood a handful of people, who all looked very grumpy and tired since it was late at night, but they couldn't peel their shocked eyes off of the devastation that was before them. I assumed the damage belonged to them. It was a small family of the mother, father, and daughter – but little did I know at that time, that the family would come to live under my same roof. 

From my first glance at Lea that night, I couldn't exactly explain it then and neither can I now, but a foreign feeling overcame me as her eyes met mine on that dark street. I snap out of my trance at look at her now.