Bad Boy's Game

[32] Falling For You

B A D
B O Y ' S
G A M E

***Ellie's pov***

It's the sound of a door clanking open that startles me, it's Archer's face that scares me.

Archer walks up to me with a serious look, his eyes look straight past me. His aura is unlike ever before, his expression is equally as unreadable.

"Is everything okay?" I ask him, standing myself up from a waiting room seat.

We're still at the hospital and we've been here for a couple of hours, Archer's been with his mom catching up while I've been catching up with the latest in popular culture with the magazines scattered across the waiting room.

Archer shakes his head no but then shakes it to indicate yes, his gestures contradicting themselves.

"Archer, what's wrong?"

He exhales before saying, "We need to talk."

It's not even a second later before my eyes divert themselves from his to towards the ground.

He wants to talk but what about and why was he being so serious.

He said the four words that any girl surely dreads. It's the four words that usually start a breakup, something that is seemingly impossible in my case because Archer and I aren't actually dating. Unless he wants to end our fake dating situation and our little game.

It could also be the four words that begin another unfortunate conversation, he could have news about his mother's condition. I could only hope that it wasn't the latter, Archer and his mom truly deserve good news.

"Grey?"

I look up just to see Archer's eyes stare at me with uncertainty.

"Let's talk outside, the hospital atmosphere isn't exactly ideal for what I have to say," he says, taking one of my hands into his.

I follow him out of the hospital's sliding doors and mimic his footsteps until we're a fair distance away from the hospital.

He lets my hand go, I give him my undivided attention.

"I'm going to tell you something, but you're not allowed to freak out. Okay?"

I raise an eyebrow but agree to his proposition. His eyes stare deeply into mine.

"I think I'm falling... Falling for you."

He thinks he's falling for me? He thinks he's falling for me.

My eyes widen, a smile finds its way onto my face.

He gives a sigh of relief, evidently satisfied by my response.

"Why would I freak out about that?" I question, genuinely curious for the answer.

"Because you're weird, Grey," he says, not even having to think about it.

I give a small snort.

"Well, you're the one who's falling for a weirdo. I think that would make you equally as weird, not saying that I'm weird or anything," I say in my defense.

He gives a little laugh.

"Why did you look so ghostly before telling me? You scared me, I thought you were going to deliver some bad news," I state, genuinely curious for as to why he had a grave look on his face.

"Because I was nervous to tell you, scared of a reaction," he says slowly, looking down at the ground after.

"I told you pretty blatantly that I liked you five hours and yet you still were scared for a reaction?" I question, getting a response I would never expect.

He was nervous and scared. Archer West was nervous and scared to tell me how he feels.

"Yeah, I really was scared to tell you. I mean, feelings can always change. I forgot to tell you earlier and I thought that maybe I messed up there," he corrects.

I sigh before saying, "it's okay that you didn't say it back earlier, what matters is that you said it now."

I thought I made it obvious that I like him, unconditionally. I mean I bailed him out, kissed him back at midnight, and told him that I couldn't help but like him.

If he needs to hear the three words, I'll happily say them again and again. I'll say them until he has no doubts about how I feel about him.

"Archer, I like you," I say quite loudly so there is no confusion.

"Good, because I like you," he says, not even a second later.

I wrap my arms around his neck, closing the distance in between us.

"Elliot, I like you," he whispers into my right ear, his arms making their way around my waist.

I say nothing and just smile, staying at a close distance to him.

"We should head home soon," he suggests, beginning to move his arms away.

I stop them and place my hands over his on my waist.

"Can we stay like this for a little longer?" I ask.

"Would that make you happy?" he asks in return.

"Yes."

"You're so weird, Grey," he says, giving me a dimpled smile.

"Call me weird one more time, I triple dog dare you," I reply as seriously as I can.

"What is this, kindergarten?" he exclaims.

"You're such an ass," I say, rolling my eyes.

"Whatever you say, weirdo," he mumbles.

"One more time, say it one more time."

"What are you going to do? Kiss me if I keep saying it?" he asks, a smirk on his face.

"No, I'm not going to ever kiss you again if you keep calling me weird."

"Like you could even resist these lips forever, you're obsessed with the feeling of my lips against yours," he says, pointing at his lips.

I lean in closer to his lips and say, "you wish."

Archer closes the gap, pressing his lips against mine. It's a nice feeling I can't deny, his lips fit perfectly with mine.

He backs away from the kiss after a bit of lip lock.

"First one to say I love you loses?" he asks.

I give a grin.

"First one to say I love you loses."