How to Steal Mason's Heart

SIXTEEN

Thanksgiving was nearing, and I was excited to eat Courtney’s mom’s turkey dish, drink to chocolate milkshakes courtesy to my mother’s killer recipe and of course, drown myself with Ben & Jerry’s while re-watching the Arrow series with Courtney. We were hardcore Olicity shippers. Those thoughts had clung onto my head all day.

Chemistry was done, and lunch was the longest lunch in the history of all lunches I had sat. Mason was terribly quiet, while Blake was still the rowdy one. Salve, Ryan and Cherry weren’t there to see the awkwardness unfold. Jason and Courtney were so sweet, feeding themselves with fries and I had the urge to gag. There was even ketchup on the fries! I mean who even dipped fries on a tomato sauce?! That would be the ickiest sauce ever created. Sorry if I offended the creator of the paste. I would be your number one hater.

I wasn’t a sucker for real-life romances. But I cried a lot when Jamie died and Landon was staring at a distance and was sad at the end of the movie. If you did not cry, you’re heartless.

Mason stole glances towards me, sending me meaningful looks. He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. He sent me a text—voice messages weren’t a thing on my not-so-techie phone—and I struggled to even reply a decent message. I was trying to pay clearly at the letters, restraining for them to fly on my face.

The bell had rung. Jason walked Courtney to class while Blake and Mason went to physical education, Blake enthused to show off to his crush that he was good at dodgeball.

I sucked at that sport.

Courtney and Jason were clear to my vision. Jason placed a kiss on her cheek and I remembered the times he did that to me. He held a loving look towards her, a spark igniting within the couple. I diverted my attention and headed inside, dreading the fact we were going to sing today. Ms. Rosedale changed her mind, giving us less time to practice. Jason was the most eager person to present in front of everyone since he had acting skills and singing skills.

I could not even reach Anna’s high notes in the song.

“Who wants to volunteer?” Ms. Rosedale sweetly asked. If her voice was food, she would be strawberry dipped with a ton of chocolate. She sounded so sweet, and with her brown eyes glazing to each and every student, you would be enticed.

Jason raised his hand.

“Us! Us! Us!” he chirped excitedly, wholeheartedly raising both of his arms in the air. I dragged him down by grabbing his Mickey Mouse printed tee. My strength was not enough to conquer the demon who was beside me, animatedly jumping up and down as if he was Goofy.

“Sit down, Jason Coleslaw,” I hissed but he wasn’t clearly getting the hint that I did not want us to sing first. And yes, I kept calling him that nickname even though Jason and Courtney were officially together.

Damn it, I sounded like a bitter motherfucker on her period.

Ms. Rosedale paid her attention towards us, her brown eyes lighting up when she saw Jason volunteer. She gestured for Jason to stand up. Jason grabbed my hand, his rough palm igniting an odd sensation. And I couldn’t deny I missed hanging out together. Ever since Courtney and Jason were together, I barely hung out with him. It wasn’t part of the deal but his presence simply radiated and could be contagious.

He cleared his throat as we walked in front. I slouched, covering my face with my hair, the curls falling ruthlessly all over my face. “We are going to sing ‘Love is an Open Door’ by Anna and Hans from Frozen.”

“Please give them a round of applause,” Ms. Rosedale said. The students were staring at us, their hands clapping in unison. My heartbeat rose to a mile, my knees slightly wobbly. I had never sang in front of everyone.

The music started. My mouth moved.

“Okay, can I just say something crazy?” I spoke in my unlikely high-pitched voice whilst my eyes gazed at him.

He smiled, the crinkles visible in his eyes. “I love crazy.”

“All my life has been a series of doors in my face, and then suddenly I bumped into you.” I suddenly lost sight of the students, the background darkening around us and my eyes only focused towards Jason. The erratic beating of my heart slowed down, normally beating its pace. I bumped my hip at him, he almost stumbled and lost his balance. I chuckled loudly.

“I was thinking the same thing ‘cause like I’ve been searching my whole life to find my own place,” he sang, his blue eyes perpetrating holes, “and maybe it’s the party talking or the chocolate fondue.”

“But with you—“ My voice almost broke. Me singing was a terrible idea. I hoped that people weren’t bothered too much by my horrible singing. “I see your face.”

“But with you I found my place.”

We then joined in unison. “And it’s nothing like I’ve ever known before.”

Then Jason did the unthinkable. He kissed my cheek before we sang the words, “Love is an open door!”

I could hear squeals erupting the room, the student body probably thinking we were doing this for real but it was all an act. Jason was a performer and I knew he did not mean any of this to happen.

“Love is open door!”

“Love is an open door.”

“With you—“ I looked at him and I never realized how much his blue eyes looked so beautiful.

“With you!”

“Love is an open door.”

We finished singing, panting, searching for our breaths. I was gasping for air, while Jason looked calm as hell, as if singing high notes was his cup of tea.

“Splendid performance!” Ms. Rosedale clapped, her voluptuous body standing up, clapping her hands. The students mimicked her move. “You are going to be Isabel for the Winter Musicale, the love interest of Oliver, the role Jason would play!” she exclaimed. Did I forget to mention she was the adviser of the drama club?

The blood on my face rushed to my cheeks but soon it got pallid, my head spinning with thoughts. Musicale. Winter. Isabel. Love interest. Jason. What? I did not even audition for this role!

“No!” I strongly insisted. “I suck at singing—“

“You have a lovely voice darling, and you have good chemistry with Jason which is something.” She b****y winked.

I sighed, placing a hand on my forehead, walking out of the room. I could feel footsteps rush behind me. It was Jason’s.

“Alexie Pixie!” he exclaimed, placing a hand on my shoulder.

He spun me around.

“What?” I asked, annoyance clear in my face.

“Your bag,” he replied, timidly giving me my sling bag that was on his clutch. “Ms. Rosedale will understand if you don’t want to be Isabel. I can always tell that Courtney will play the role—“

I pursed my lips. “I will take Isabel’s role.” What was my mouth doing to me?

Jason held an incredulous look. “Really? Seconds ago you declined to be Isabel.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Girls,” he mumbled, “and their bipolar mechanisms.”

“I heard that,” I said, flicking him in the forehead. I missed doing that to him.

+ + + +

Mason: Can we hang out?

Four words made me squeak. I was being a third wheel with Jason and Courtney—I had no idea why and how it happened—who were gushing how cool Iron Man was. I scoffed. They sounded pathetic I would have almost puked my guts. I mean Batman was way cooler and smarter.

“What’s that?” Jason immediately asked, his attention transferred towards me. Courtney was grabbing some stuff in her locker.

“Nothing.”

“By nothing means you are squealing loudly, so what is it?”

I did not notice I was even squealing out loud. I sighed. “Mason was just texting me.”

His face fell. “Oh.”

I gave Mason a quick reply, saying yes. He texted me back telling me he wanted to hang out with me at the ice cream store.

“P, Q, R, S, T, U, V…” I sang, giving him a cheeky grin. “See you later dufuses.”

Courtney flipped the bird. I raised a finger in return.

Best friends were like that.

I was at the ice cream store. Surprise, surprise. Mason was sitting on a table, eating a cup of ice cream, a smile resting on his features. Did he get laid or something?

The cold whoosh of air condition nipped my skin. I sat across Mason. Ever since we ate at the ice cream place, we exchanged numbers the next day and he would call me occasionally. I got past taking pictures of him, which was creepy of me to do, and my heart was beating normally when I was around him. But whenever I would recall scenes involving him, I would giggle like a schoolgirl not that schoolgirls would always giggle.

“So is there something you are going to tell me?” I asked, raising my brows. I didn’t have talents on raising just one brow. My brows just raised together. I was wondering if Mason could teach me the lifting brow thing.

“I’m happy I got an A in Calculus,” he nonchalantly said. “Calculus is hard for me to master.”

“Wow, congrats!” I said, patting his shoulder. “So are you going to treat me with these babies?”

He smiled. His dimple showed. “Yeah, it was actually for you.” My heart skipped a beat.

“T-thanks,” I stuttered, catching me off-guard.

“Thank you, Alexa.”

I was already gobsmacking the creamy texture of cookie dough—wow he ordered my favourite flavour—as I gave him a questioning look. “What for?”

He grabbed a tissue and wiped the ice cream at the edges of my lips. My cheeks threw me to the pits of hell, warmth colouring my face, breathing a fiery feeling to the pit of my stomach.

“For just making me feel better after the Courtney-Jason scandal.”

I laughed. “I know how it feels that your crush likes someone else.” You have no idea how my heart would break every time you mention Courtney to me. And right now, I was slightly dousing myself in eternal grief.

“It’s written all over your face,” he said. I paled. Was I really that open with my feelings? “You look at Jason as if he’s the sun and Courtney a Pluto.”

I scoffed, an incredulity written in my features and let out a chuckle. “Why is everyone telling me I like Jason? I don’t like him!” I like you, you dense oblivious blue-eyed boy!

“I thought you were…” he trailed off. “So who is your crush anyway?”

I was tongue-tied. That moment when your crush asked who your crush was. That moment your mind said awkward before moment.

I parted my mouth but I was left speechless, my voice stolen in the unfashionable way. Seriously, Ursula? Why did it have to be now? Weren’t you contented stealing Ariel’s voice? Ariel was already seven-fifty pesos in my country! That detergent was killing me.

“Did I say I have a crush? I can’t recall I told you that.” My eyes pondered over the ceiling.

“You did.”

I laughed forcefully. “Oh, I was just like I had a crush before and he liked someone so yeah, I was sad.”

“That’s the thing about love. It hurts. You love the person you can’t have.”

So deep, Adele couldn’t even see it rolling.

I like you Mason and it’s too bad I can’t have you.

“Did you say you like me?” he asked, a blush tinting his cheeks. Did I just say that out loud? Gosh dammit!

“No!” I replied furiously, my cheeks flushing, matching the redness of his face. His ears were reddening, as well. “I meant I like tombstone, and I like Jesus Christ going out of the tombstone. I’m a Christian for life.” That wasn’t a lie. Jesus was my saviour.

“Hmpf. That’s what I thought.” His ice cream cup was empty. He stood up and threw it in the trash bin. I followed. We exited the shop, my stomach satisfied by his presence.

“Let’s go somewhere else,” I blurted without thinking. “My dad has a ten-hour shift so he’s probably out of the house.”

“The amusement park sounds nice,” Mason offered and I nodded my head up and down, the grin never slipping off my face.

“I haven’t been to an amusement park before,” I admitted. “Enchanted Kingdom, a place in our country which was famous for rides, was not a place I was able to visit before I left the country. It would be exciting to try killer rides.”

“Wait till you get in there Alexa. I swear you’ll vomit the moment you sit down,” he warned but a goofy smile was tattooed on his face.

“I bet you’ll be the first one to turn green before I do.” I winked cheekily.

“The first one who pukes gets to pay for the corndog.”

“That’s a deal.”