Steal my Heart.

71

"Are you serious?" I ask, utterly shocked.

"No. I'm joking at 12:00 am in the night." She says. Heck, she doesn't lose her sarcasm even in her sad moments.
"Are you okay Melissa?" I ask her, using her full name so that she knows it's serious.

"I'm not Grace, I'm not." She says softly, so unlike her.
"Why did it happen?" I ask her.

"We had a fight. He was too much into his academics. And I, I wanted him to make some time for me too. It just spiralled out of control and we ended. I love him Grace, I love him." She started sobbing badly after that.

It hurt me to see my friend like that. Mel wasn't the type of person to cry over someone else. To cry over any guy in fact. It was the other way round. She really loved Albert it seems.

I didn't know how to comfort her. 'He doesn't deserve you Mel.' Ew, that's the worst thing you can say to a girl who's crying over a guy. After all, she's the one who has to decide who deserves her or not.

'You'll get better guys Mel." Ugh no. She may get better guys, but if she wants someone else, it's of no use.
Should I say 'He'll come back to you.' or 'Maybe there's something better in store for you'? In the end, I only say,"It will be okay Mel."

She laughs. "Grace, you don't really need stuff to tell me which will make me feel good. I share things with you because you're a great listener and I trust you."

I bite my lip. Am I really that naive and transparent? But for now, I've made up my mind. I'll go and settle that son of Albert. He broke my best friend's heart, I'll break his face. Though I highly doubt I'll do that, considering that I'm such a kitten.

•••

Next morning in school, I'm standing near the locker, shoving my stuff in that barely empty space, when I see a note in my locker which reads:
I can't even look at you without wanting to kiss you.

It is an unkempt, scrawly writing. Alastair's handwriting.

I smile to myself. He's really serious about courting me. It's true we actually fell into a relationship without giving a chase. But it's happening now. And it'll be worth our time.

I walk away to my class. I'm going to spend the afternoon with Mel anyways. I have chemistry class with Albert. I do hope to catch him next to me and gutter out the truth from him.
I walk into the lab to smell of hydrogen peroxide. Weird. I never loved science. I was more of a humanities and language kind of person. This is just not my taste.

I find Albert huddled over his notebook on the table. I walk upto him.
"Albert." I say.

He looks up at me, scrutinizing me from above the glasses. But oh, he looks like a wreck. Dark circles and completely stressed out.
"Yes Gracie?" He says, still looking blankly at me.

"What happened with Melissa?" I ask, keeping my notebook and pen on the table and wearing a lab coat.
"I really don't wanna talk about it right now." He mutters irately.

"Fine. Just so you know, she's hurting too." I say, hoping to ignite some sort of a reaction from him. He says nothing.

We spend the rest of the class in silence, with me occasionally trying to gauge his reaction and he distancing himself.

When the bell rang and I had finally given up and was gathering my belongings, he murmured,"Gracie?"
I turned excitedly towards him,"Yes?"
"Is Mel okay?" He asks. He still cares.
"No she isn't Albert. And it's got everything to do with you. How can she be happy when the reason of her happiness isn't with her?"

And I walk away with a melodramatic effect, half expecting that villainous music will play out in the background. But that's the problem with real life, it has no background music to it.

My phone beeped as I left the lab. A text from an unknown number.
If I had $1 for each time I though about you, I would have only $1 because you never left after that.
Alastair again. Where does he get such ideas from? Does he have a manual which guides boys on how they can be the best boyfriends in the whole damn world?

The rest of the day passed by and soon it was break time. I sat with Mel who was looking bleak, but finer from before.
"I think you should speak to Albert." I say to her.
"It isn't gonna work Grace. We're just not meant to be." She says grimly.

"But he still pines for you and it's just been a day." I say.
"I know right. Love isn't enough Grace." She says, closing her eyes.
I think about what she says. Love isn't enough? I believe it is. But she's right. They obviously love each other a lot, but still they're not together.

"Have you wondered how many people have loved you but never told you?" She asks me out of the blue.
"Or how many have told you but never loved you?" I say.

She raises one eyebrow at me. "Deeeep." She says, smiling for the first time.

I say nothing and sip on my cold drink, the straw between my teeth.
My phone pings. A message from Alastair.

I wish I was that straw.
I look up. He's here.
"Grace?" Mel asks.
"Yeah?"
"Something up with Alastair?"
"Why?"
"His eyes just aren't leaving you."

I flush crimson and look straight ahead and there he is, sitting on the table in all his glory looking at me. Sigh. How can someone be so beautiful?

I decide to tease him as I take the straw between my lips again. His breathe hitches in his throat, I can see from here. The nerve on his throat hitches as his mouth presses into a straight, hard line.

Alastair's Point Of View.
She's such a tease. I wink at her. She blushes again and pokes her tongue out at me. Someone please tell whether she is 18 or 12? Whatever it is, it's cute. But I won't tell her. She has some problem being called cute. I'll find out later for sure.

Melissa whispers something in her ear and they both look at me and giggle. Probably some joke about me. I contain my curiousity.

"Why don't you just tear off each other's clothes and jump in bed? You are completely whipped man." Roland pipes up from beside me.
I scoff at him. They definitely have some problem with me being serious in love.

"Come on, atleast I am not crushing at her from far." I say.
All of them laugh. Roland glares at me.
"Shut up dude."

"Yeah right. Don't we all know that Roland here has a crush on Melissa?"
All of them cheer and clap on this statement. Roland smacks me on my head. I just laugh.

No this is not news. Roland has been behind Melissa ever since they kissed at a party a year back. Yeah, we're talking about the time when Melissa was red streaked, wild and not yet with Albert.

Roland had been heartbroken but he had moved on considerably. Still, crushes don't really go away. Everyone knew by now that Albert and Melissa had broken up. He might try his luck.

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