Changing | SM

Part 26: the bet

Shawn:

Adriana was really nice, offering me a shower and clothes before we started on the math problems.

The part of her I saw today was the insecure and broken one I thought she was. It's funny how we stick together to see each other break as we unfold.
Life is a game.
A sick game.
People pray off your soft side, they find pleasure in the pain. But like I said before, everyone has a story. You just need to have the eyes to see that there's more behind them, and you need to be interested in knowing the real them.

I never show interest in people.
Not anymore.

But Adriana is different. I want to know her.

"Hey, where are you?" That's Cody. My so called best friend, but only the one I hang out with to keep my front and look like I don't give a shit. I don't want to be like him, but that's what I turned in to. "I'm at Adriana's house. We-" "That's great. I'm glad to see our plan is working out fine." I sighed. "Yeah, about that. I can't go through with it anymore." He started laughing as I spoke the words. "Please don't tell me you've fallen in love with the pour tramp!" "What! No. It's just... it's not me. I can't do that to her she's already-" But he cut me off again. "Shawn. You agreed on this. You put money on this and I'm not gonna lose to Brian."

Wait what.
Brian was the other half of the deal?

How could he!
At least he saw the good, and he bet on me for not breaking her heart. The deal was to get her to me, get her in my life and then just leave her in the ditch a couple months later.
Basically, she's the bet.
That all happened after that day of the math test. To try and make her fall for me, but I guess I did that before she could.

It's true, and I lied.

I've fallen a bit for her, even though there's so much of her that still needs to be discovered. "I have to go." I sighed, hanging up on him.
"Hey are you done in there? I kinda want to get dry before we start on the math". I opened the door. Her eyes grew big as she looked at me. "Is something wrong?" I looked down at myself to check if everything is okay.

"No it's nothing. Uhm... just the clothes is his uhm- nevermind." She smiled faintly, walking past me into the bathroom and pushing me out before closing the door.

This was my time to observe around her safe haven. What does she have in here that could be a clue as to who she is. "Hey Adriana! Can I get us a drink from the refrigerator?" I yelled from the other side of the bathroom door. "Uh yeah. Help yourself, there's food too." She's the kindest one of them all.

Every other girl that Cody put a bet on with me was easier to get and just break down. But she's hard.
She has a strength to her that supports her already broken heart.

After getting some drinks and snacks that I could find downstairs, I walked back up to her room, to find her just walking in with a towel wrapped around her.
My heart was pounding in my chest as I slowly walked up to her room.
I peeked through the open slit in the door, seeing her getting dressed.

She already has sweatpants on but her bare back was facing me.
Wow.

She's beautiful, her skin like porcelain and her dark brown hair falling perfectly down her back. I swallowed, parting my lips again as for some reason my breathing just started to get heavy.
After she was fully dressed I tried to get myself together, rolling my neck around and shaking my shoulder to loosen the tension that built up inside me.

I walked in. "Oh, thanks." She smiled as I handed her the drink and snack. "Shall we get started?" I nodded, sitting down by her table as we stated on the math.
Today was different than all the rest.

Usually as she explains a problem to me she'll look over to me, making sure I understand, but not once did she do that, not once did she laugh at one of my mistakes, not once did we dwell off the subject of solving problems and enjoyed a useless conversation and laughter.

Not once did she smile.