Love Me Till The End

Girlfriend?

When she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw her cheeks were flushed. Tears filled her eyes. What she said was exactly the opposite of what she wanted to say. She splashed some cold water on her face to get rid of the blush.

"You did right. He needs to know you are not like this. You don't have time for this entire drama Tulip; you have bigger battles to conquer. This will not help you," She voiced out to herself, trying to convince herself that what she did was right. It had to be done sooner rather than later.

Tulip knew she had to be stronger now that she knows he feels the same way toward her. She never felt like this for someone else. The little happiness she felt when he gave her attention even though it was to annoy her, the jealously when she saw him getting close to other girls, the disappointment she felt when he didn't come to her the whole day.

She never felt like that in her complete life and it's not like she did not have boys in her life. Back in Canada, her school group had more boys than girls and she was close to every one of them, but no one affected her like Tyler did.

The door to the restroom opened and two girls walked in. Tulip knew them from one of her class. She took the paper towel and wiped her face.

"You won't believe what happened last weekend," one of them said in a high-pitched tone that made Tulip cringe internally.

"Now I'm curious as to what could make you this happy," the other shower said with the same pitch as her companion.

"I met the Tyler Hudson at the new bar that opened last week and he looked more handsome in his jeans than he did in school uniform. We had few drinks together, danced together and the most amazing thing was we even spent the night together," she said and Tulip felt like a bucket full of ice was dumped on her.

Before those girls could say anything, Tulip quickly exited and went straight to her next class. She didn't stop to think about what she heard a moment ago. There was a voice that was yelling a huge 'see, this is the real him' in her head.

Tulip spotted Elizabeth and went to sit with her. The moment she sat down, Elizabeth turned to her and frowned.

"Did something happen?" She asked.

"No, why you asked?" Tulip denied.

"You look upset," she said.

"No, I'm not upset, just a little stressed about the test result." Tulip started opening her book to avoid Elizabeth from asking more question and it worked.

Tulip tried concentrating on the class, but it eventually drifted to the things that happened today. She was thankful when the last class finally got over and they were allowed to go home.

A tall figure came it view when Tulip went to take her bicycle. She cursed when the person turned to face her.

"What does he want now?" She muttered underneath her breath before walking towards him.

"Tulip, listen, I'm sorry for what happened earlier today in the cafeteria but I'm not sorry for confessing what I felt though my way was absolutely wrong." He said and went away, leaving Tulip to stare at his retreating figure.

She balled her fist and kicked the unlucky stone that was present near her. "f**k you and your apology, Tyler Hudson," she wanted to scream but only said in a small voice.

When she reached home, she saw her dada in the living room and went to her room before he could ask her anything. She threw her bag on the corner and lied on her bed staring blankly at the ceiling.

Times like this where she when she felt the void of a best friend the most. She wanted someone who would listen to her and tell her what to do.

"Why are you even thinking about it when you know you can't get distracted?" She asked to herself.

"No, I'll not think about him anymore," she decided, and got up to take a long shower.

When she went down, Dada was not in the living room so she went to his room, but he wasn't there. That left the office though he rarely works this late, but her doubt got confirmed when she saw him immersed in a file.

"Good evening, Dada," Tulip greeted before taking her seat in front of the desk.

The office was on the farthest corner of the ground floor and there was complete silence, not a single sound. Walls were painted in black and white, thin white long curtains hid the ceiling to floor window that overlooked their backyard. There was a wall length book shelf behind the 7 feet long Calacatta white marble desk.

"How was your test?" Her Dada asked, making her look at him instead of the office.

"It came easier than I thought," she said.

"That's good. Why were you upset today?" He asked, looking at her for the first time since she arrived.

"Nothing, just the high school drama." she tried to dismiss the topic.

"You can tell me if anything happens there, you know that, right?" He asked.

"Ya." she nodded at him.

He then slid the file he was reading toward her, making her curious. She took it and opened it. The first thing she noticed in celeste colored piece of paper was an elegant logo of 'H&H' in white surrounded by the small elegant flowers.

"This is the file of a new potential client with whom we want to sign a contract. They have many flower shops in California and in other states and are connected to large network of hotels, restaurants and many other in here, they are their suppliers and I want you to first study our contract with other client and see what we can offer this new client so they would deal with us. Then propose an offer to them that would be profitable to both parties," her dada explained, and she nodded.

"Williams or Bennett?" She asked, going through the file in her hand. Tulip did not need to use more words for her dada to understand what she was asking for.

"Bennett for now. That reminds me, Michael is expecting us in Bogotá when it's thanksgiving in here and before that I want you to be ready with the offer when we come back I'll meet them." he pointed at the file.

"What I have to do, exactly? Just to be clear." She asked.

And that took another hour. Her dada explained the type of deal she could offer, how to attract the client for them to give them a chance, to what extent they were ready to negotiate, and many more. By the time they wrapped up their work, it was time for dinner.

"I'll try my best," Tulip said, making her dada smile.

"I know you will." he patted her head and went out, leaving her alone in the office. Thanksgiving was ten days away. That means she had to do it faster.

She looked at the notes she made. It filled the page with distinct color of inks. Tulip heard her dada called her for dinner, so she quickly gathered the files and her notes and went to her room to put them before coming down at a record speed. The dinner went by calmly, unlike her entire day.

..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

Tulip nervousness increased as Miss Helen entered the class with a bundle of papers in her hand. She placed them on her desk and turned towards the class with two sheets in her hand from the bundle.

"I think we have a tie here," she said, a small knowing smile playing on her lips. "It was interesting seeing fresh faces this session, and that became even better by looking them giving their best." Tulip crossed her finger under the desk.

"Congratulation Miss Bennett and Mr. Hudson, you both are the highest scorer for yesterday's test." Ms. Helen announced, and Tulip sighed in relief.

"Wait a second, did she say Hudson as in Tyler Hudson," she turned in his direction and yes, it was indeed Tyler looking straight in her direction. There was a playful smirk on his lip, like he knew she would look at him, and she proved him right. Tulip quickly diverted her eyes away from him.

"Congratulation Tulip," Elizabeth whispered.

"Thank you," she said, but her mind was on the person who still hasn't averted his eyes and was boring holes in her back.

Tulip wanted to forget the intensity she found in his gaze, but it felt impossible when he came to sit with a boy named Lucas, when the boy asked for Tyler test paper.

She saw him explaining something to Lucas from periphery. Tulip could not believe what just happened; he was good in studies but how? He was among the popular, just like she was in her previous school, but he was also among the ones who bullied everyone. She had seen him along with other bully pulling pranks on newcomers, even on some new teacher. He had reputation of a player and a party animal from what she has observed last few weeks. From where he gets time to study was beyond Tulip's understanding.

A paper ball landed on her lap, and she came out of her thoughts. She looked around to see who threw it and saw Tyler looking at her with a serious face. His eye gestured for her to open; she looked at Elizabeth who was busy talking with other girl from the class so she opened the crumbled paper and smoothed it.

"Meet me in the basketball court before lunch, please ;-)"

Looking up, she saw him mouthing a 'please' to her, but she shook her head, telling him she would not meet him. He again mouthed a 'please' this time accompanied with the best puppy dog eyes she had ever seen. Tulip shook her head at his cuteness, smiling.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period. This was their third period, meaning it was break time. As she made her way out of the classroom, contemplating whether she should go to meet Tyler, she heard a please and saw Tyler walking past her.

She and Elizabeth both went to lockers room together to place their book like usual.

"Tulip," Elizabeth said a little louder and Tulip realized she was saying something, but Tulip was not listening.

"Sorry I wasn't listening," she said.

"I said let's go to cafeteria I'm starving, the tension for result took away all my energy," she said pointing in the cafeteria's direction.

"what I was saying, you go I'll join you in 5 minutes," Tulip said and Elizabeth went but not before telling her to come soon.

The basket ball court was on the opposite side of the cafeteria and Tulip needed to hurry if she wanted to be back before the end of the lunch break. Just when she was about to enter the court, she slowed down, trying to calm her wild heart. She knew she should not go after what he did yesterday, but here she was. After taking a deep breath, she went out.

Tyler was standing near the benches and turned to face her by hearing her footsteps.

"I thought you won't come," he said, walking toward her.

"I didn't think I would come," she said slowly when he stood not more a foot away from her.

"Congratulation, Miss Bennett," he said extending his hand.

"Congratulation to you too, Mr. Hudson." She shook his extended hand and saw how his large hand covered his completely. Tyler took her hand and planted a chaste kiss on the back of it.

"This is for you," he said and placed a large sized dark chocolate. Tulip looked up at him with a questioned look.

"To celebrate your first success at Horizon," he answered her unasked question, a brief smile on his lips.

"Aren't you worried?" Tulip asked.

"Why should I be?" He asked back.

"I can be your competition in here," she said, but was amused to see the smile increasing on his lips.

"You are my competition and no, I'm not worried because for once it feels good to have competition. Also, I did rather have you as my girlfriend than a threat," he said, pulling her to him by her waist.