Oh, Dakota

26- Bad Day

“Are you starting tonight?” I asked Braeden on Tuesday after school as we started walking towards the gym that I needed to go to for practice, since it was on the way to the rec center where Braeden needed to be for his practice.

He nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“That’s good,” I chirped. “Are you excited?”

He shrugged. “I’ve started before.”

“Okay, sorry for trying to make a conversation,” I laughed sarcastically.

“All is forgiven,” He teased. “Anyway, it’s been over a week since your breakup, so I think you need to celebrate.”

“Oh yeah,” I agreed jokingly. “It’s been over a week and I still feel like shit. It’s a miracle. Let’s celebrate with a tub of ice cream and watch some chick flicks while I mope.”

“I believe we did that Saturday night,” Braeden laughed. “You actually talked me into watching Mean Girls. Mean Girls, Dakota.”

“You fell asleep like, twenty minutes into it,” I reminded him amusedly. After my competition on Saturday morning, Owen went over to John’s house since he wouldn’t let Todd over to our house after Friday’s incident. Not per my request because I didn’t request that at all, but Owen decided that they’d hang out at John’s house from now on for a while. Anyway, Nikki was with Levi so I was texting Braeden and when I whined about being bored and alone, he decided to come hang out with me instead of going over to John’s house. I didn’t ask him to or anything, he was just a really nice person. A nice person who had a crush on me that we never talked about ever.

“I still didn’t put up too much of a fight when you put it in,” He defended. “So I get some credit for that.”

“You’re such a guy,” I laughed, rolling my eyes at him.

“Yeah, well I don’t see that as an insult,” He shrugged. “Anyway, this is your stop, so I’ll see you after the game.”

 “Right, I’ll see you later.” I chirped but as he started walking away, I found myself calling his name.

He turned around to look at me. “Yeah?”

“Um,” I wasn’t sure why I called his name and I wasn’t sure what I was saying but it was said before I could figure it out. “Are you ever going to try and kiss me again?”

He raised his eye brows at me and then stepped closer to me, but not too close or anything. “Not for a while, no.”

“Not for a while?” I echoed in confusion.

Braeden let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah, I mean, just because it was intoxicated and ill-timed, it was still what I wanted. The after math was pretty awful, but I still like you. I don’t think I’d ever watch Mean Girls for a girl that I don’t like.”

I blushed softly and bit my lip, not really knowing what to say and kind of hating myself for bringing it up at all.

“I’m not going to like, perv on you or anything though. I want you to be happy and you’re obviously not over Todd yet. When you are though…”

“You’re going to become a pervert when I’m emotionally stable?” I wondered with a small laugh.

He smirked and nodded with a shrug. “In the most romantic form of the word, yes.”

“There’s no romantic form of pervert,” I informed him.

His smirk widened as he mysteriously backed away. “So you say, Dakota.”