Then you came along

Chapter Two

"I think that I've... that I have fallen in love", Luke blurted catching Ella completely off guard that she nearly fell off the wooden bench where they were sitting close to the main entrance of the school. 

 That beautiful day that she had been anticipated for,  slowly disappeared and all she could see were big dark clouds covering her sunshiny day. Ella didn't know if she should laugh or cry. His words were so not what she was expecting, she didn't even know how to react to his statement, no more like to his sudden revelation. Ella tried to speak, but she was too shocked that no words came out. She had to clear her throat to get rid of the lump that had formed in there so that she could breathe properly. To hear the words " I'm in love" coming from Luke,  asphyxiated her.  Her brain stuttered for a moment, her whole body was paused whilst she tried to fix herself up. She couldn't allow him to see that her soul was breaking apart into a million tiny pieces. One of the hardest thing that anyone could experience in their life, is listening to the one you love talking about someone else. Not just anyone but the one they are in love with! Isn’t it funny how things doesn’t turn out the way you were expecting it to... she walked out this morning feeling like a flower that had opened up to greet the sun and now she was all withered.

" Are you ok?", he asked worriedly as he looked at her with a frown on his face.

She nodded yes forcing a smile to her lips as she took a sip from the water bottle he offered her.

" I'm just surprised that my best friend is in love. So, who is the lucky one ?", she forced herself to say making sure that her voice didn't break down or that she didn't squeak when she said those words “ lucky one”. She added a forced smile to her lips, but she knew that she couldn't overdo it since she will look like a complete i***t sitting there with a fake smile plastered on her face as if she had just come from a Botox appointment.

" I know that I should have told you about what I was going on , after all, you are my best friend. I guess I kept it from you because I wanted to be one hundred percent sure about my feelings for her...", Luke said as he ran a hand through his hair and flashed his sweet smile at her. The smile that usually took her breath away, but now it was taking away someone else's breath, brightening up someone else’s day.

After all, you are My best friend, those words echoed through her brain and she silently told herself that she needed to keep calm, just pretend that her whole body was numbed so that she wouldn't burst into tears as Luke kept on talking about how he feels about that girl. She could feel it in his voice that he was serious about whoever that girl was, she had never seen him like that before. Ella looked at Luke and realized that she had lost him. Luke was definitely in love,  his eyes shines  whenever  he mentioned  the girl who had stolen his heart, even his smile was brighter than usual. Ella looked at him and wondered how could this Angel in front of her broke her heart like that, she thought that his smiles belonged to only her and even his laugh, but now she will have to share it with someone else, and eventually she would lose him.  

" Tonight, I'm going to ask her to be my date to the prom...", she heard him said and she nearly broke down in front of him.

She couldn't understand how he was so blind that he couldn't see that he was cutting her deeper with every single word that  he was saying. She had to sit there and listen to him making plans to take some other girl to the prom. That girl stole her dream, her childhood dream.

Why couldn't you see the one who has been here all along.... why didn't you pick me... I hope it's not someone beautiful.. someone ..., she was saying to herself  when she heard him mentioned her name. She couldn’t believe it! The one who stole Luke's heart was none other than the captain of the cheerleaders, the beautiful Alexandra Adams, hashtag prom Queen material. Ella felt like her whole world was crumbling down, she felt like she was stuck in one of those terrible nightmares and she couldn't wake up. If it was someone else she would have said ok this might not last , but not Alexandra Adams , she was every guy’s dream.

Without uttering a single word, Ella quickly stood up and walked away, she didn't know what to say or had any more courage to continue playing pretend, she had to get away from him so he wouldn't see the tears which had already made their way down her face. Luke called out her name but Ella couldn't face him, she needed space to breathe, she knew she would have to explain herself but for now, she wanted to avoid being next to him and she would have to do it the whole day.

Remember the rules, You should not be jealous of your girlfriend. In the very first place...You shouldn't be in love with him! Ella said to herself as she looked at her reflection in the mirror of her dressing table.

" But I cannot do this rule thing anymore...I will tell him everything. On this very night, I will tell him how I feel, hopefully before he asks her to the prom. Even if things don't work out and we stop being friends at least I've gotten rid of what has been suffocating me for years !", Ella said to her reflection in the mirror.

Her voice was full of determination, it was a now or never kind of situation and she was going for it. But was she mentally ready for a disappointment?No matter  how aware that you are ,that things might not turn out in your favor , one is never sufficiently mentally prepared. When your dreams collapses in front of your eyes it hurts more that you could ever imagine , especially matters of the heart.

Isn't that what you have to do sometimes, get it out of your system. What if he feels the same but thinks that I don't? .. who knows, maybe it's time to stop this friend zone experiment, it has been going on for far too long and I will not allow some cheerleader to take what should be mine...she silently said to herself and nodded with a big smile as she winked at her reflection. She wasn’t going to let anyone break her stride, not even Alexandra Adams.

Ella tied her long curly auburn brown hair into a ponytail, she added some gloss to her lips and gave herself an approval wink, it was one of those “I’m sexy and I know it moment”. She stood up from her dressing table and looked at herself in her large wall mirror. She had ditched her usual t-shirt and jeans for a pretty light blue, midi sleeveless shift dress which had been lying in her wardrobe for ages. Tonight, she was surely the fairest of them all, but will her Prince Charming notice that?!

Changing her mind about that ponytail,  she removed her hair and let it down, and the big loose curls cascaded down her back. Luke always complimented her when she curled her hair and tonight she did it especially for him, she was going to do anything to make him see that she was the right one for him.  It was nothing to do with only the physical part, it was the pure love that she felt for Luke. The feelings she had for Luke sounded like lines from a romantic poem, the sound of his voice gave her butterflies, his laugh makes her heart skips beats  ...in all, he was her favorite place to go to whenever she felt lost. How could she ever take another breath without her other half? 

Her phone buzzed and she noticed it was a message from Luke. He had sent her a smiley emoji face and she softly smiled. She had texted him after school excusing herself for the way she had behaved earlier and she had told him that when they will meet up later at the band practice she would explain herself. You may be wondering which band practice. During all those years Ella and Luke had one main interest which they bonded over, his passion for music.  Ella developed a liking for playing the guitar and she was quite good at singing as well. Luke and some of his friends had formed a school band and they were supposed to perform at the prom, so they had started to rehearse every day at school in the late afternoon. Ella will often go and rehearse with them, well mostly because she adored listening to Luke’s  singing a  cover  of some of their favorite songs. For her, his voice sounded like a superstar and she believed that one day he will make it far in the music industry. He was a good composer and singer and his determination will open doors for him. They had often joked about him being famous and she will come with him on his tours. It doesn’t stop someone from dreaming big and if you want that dream to come true, you cannot sit and wait for someone to do it for you. If you can dream it, you can do it.Ella grabbed her guitar from the bed and then placed it down , tonight she was going to impress him with her voice only. She hurried downstairs with a bright smile, ready to go get her man.

" Young lady, where are you going in a rush like that?", she heard her mother's voice and she was surprised to find her home at that time of the day. She would usually see both of her parents at dinner time.

" I didn't expect to see you at this time of the day Mrs. Day, but I'm glad that you are here...earlier than usual that is", Ella said with a smile as she walked up to her mother and hugged her. Her mother smiled as she hugged her daughter back. It was surely a rare moment for mother and daughter, ones that usually made Ella wish that they could keep in a photograph. Nothing feels good like a mother's embrace. 

" I'm not feeling too well, so I said I better come home and relax since I have an important court case tomorrow", Carol replied kissing her daughter on the forehead gently. 

" Do you need me to stick around?",  she asked since her mother said she was not well.

" It's ok dear, It's just a headache", her mother replied grabbing a mug and pouring some hot water in there. 

" I'm going to the band practice at school, call me if you need me", she said grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. 

" Try and make it back before dinner, you know your dad's rules ", she heard her mother say. 

She nodded yes and waved goodbye to her, as she walked out of the front door, hurrying to her car.

As Ella approached the school hall her heart started to beat faster, it was the first time that she was dreading to see her best friend. As she walked towards the hall she heard him singing and she stopped to listen to him. She smiled as she hurried towards the door and stopped in the doorway, her bright smile evaporated when she noticed who was standing by the stage looking at Luke, none other than Alexandra Adams! She wanted to quickly turn and walk out but she heard him say her name and she looked away from Alexandra and at him. She forced a smile as she walked in and she heard someone whistling.

" Someone is looking hot tonight!", she heard  Sam's voice. She turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

Luke came down from the stage and she saw him taking Alexandra's hand and coming towards her. 

Please no! What do I do... please don't let jealousy be written all over my face, she pleaded with herself.

She took in a deep breath and smiled at them as they approached her.

" Alex, this is Ella. My best friend, the one I told you so much about ", he said, introducing her as the best friend, the word friend reminded her what she was to him and it broke Ella’s heart.

Alexandra smiled at her for a brief moment, she said a soft "hi" and then turned her attention back to Luke, completely ignoring her presence. 

This is so awkward.., Ella thought.

" Guys we have one more hour to go so let's do this", Harry, the drummer said and Luke smiled at her and then hurried back to the stage.

Alexandra stood there next to her and she felt so uncomfortable that she had to excuse herself as she walked towards the stage. She grabbed a stool by the stage and Alexandra sat opposite her. She saw Luke blowing her a kiss before he started singing a slow ballad and he couldn't keep his eyes of Alexandra.

 The only song she could hear at that time wasn't the one that Luke was singing, but the song that was playing through her mind since this morning  “How could an angel break my heart" and she wished that she could sing it out loud for the whole wide world to hear and feel the pain she was going through.

“ Join us”, she heard Luke said and she quickly came back to reality thinking that he was talking to her. She smiled and stood up when she realized that he was actually talking to Alexandra. Her smile fade away and her heart broke into million pieces.

“ You sing?”, She blurted without thinking . Alexandra looked at her and smiled.

“ Well, Luke says I can”, she answered looking at Luke with a flirtatious smile.

Ella could feel like the gate to her teardrops was about to open. She excused herself as she hurried out of the room , even if Luke called out her name she didn’t look back as tears had already made their way down her face.