Notice Me (3 page)

"Uh I don't think that's any of your business."
I retorted crossing my arms defiantly across my chest.
"I'd like to think that it is, because I'm making it my business."
He seethed, closing the distance between us in two small
strides.
His 5'11 frame towered over me as he brought his face level with
mine. We were face to face, toe to toe. You could almost feel the
anger radiating off the two of us, and then Tristan did the
unexpected. He grabbed my face with both of his hands and freaking
kissed me. His lips captured mine roughly in a demanding
kiss.
I stood frozen for a few seconds as he moved his magical lips
against mine. The tingles I felt down to my toes were out of this
world. My body wanted to wrap itself tightly around his. I wanted
so badly to run my hands over his wonderful muscles and kiss him
with all I had in me.
Then I snapped back to reality to realize that this jerk just stole
my first kiss, without even asking me permission. Forcing my hands
against his chest, I used all my might to push him backwards. Some
good that did, I barely pushed him inches away.
Who in the hootenannies does Mr. Popular, captain of the soccer
team think he truly is? That he can just go around kissing whomever
he wants, whenever he damn well pleases? Well I'll have you know I
won't just be another notch in his belt, I'm not one of these girls
that hangs onto their every word and action just because they're
good looking and popular.
This had to be some kind of sick dare or bet he made with his boys
yesterday. Just the thought managed to cause a tightening in my
chest as my breathing became labored. My heart hurt. Laughing
humorlessly as I licked my lips, I could still taste the flavor of
his pineapple gum.
"There satisfied? Win your bet? Now you can go have a good laugh
with your friends on my account." I spat at him with tears in my
eyes. "Don't you ever come near me again." I called out, stomping
away towards Anya who was staring at me with concern.
"Lise, wait it's not like that." Tristan's voice barely came out in
a whisper, but I still managed to hear it loud and clear.

As I turned around to face him one last time, a
single traitorous tear managed to escape. I shook my head at him in
disappointment. "Please just stay away from me and leave me
alone."

Chapter 3: Ignorance Is
Bliss
"Do you really think it was all meant to be a joke?" Anya
questioned as her baby blues gazed up towards the ceiling
thoughtfully. She was sprawled out across my bed with her arms
folded underneath her head, while I moved around my room trying to
tidy up. The way her voice rose up a slight octave made me believe
she didn't think this was some sort of bet; that the joke wasn't on
me this time.
My hand was frozen midair ready to put a book back in its place on
my bookshelf, when I turned around to face her. I stared over at
her with an uneasy expression. "C'mon Anya, really? Before
yesterday I didn't exist to Tristan, now all of a sudden by some
miracle, he's interested in me? Something's not right here and I'm
not that gullible."
"It's just, you didn't see the poor guy's expression, Lise." Anya
insisted, sitting straight up on the bed slapping her palms down on
the mattress. "He seemed so distraught!"
I snorted, yea I know how attractive of me. "Tristan distraught
over me? Yea right!" I barked with a laugh as I rolled my eyes and
went back to arranging my bookshelf. "Can we talk about something
else?"
I didn't want to discuss this anymore. The more we speak of it, the
more I wanted to march myself across the lawn and bang on his door
demanding an explanation. I at least deserve that much don't I? We
got home from the beach a few minutes prior after only spending a
half-hour there. I tried to stay as long as I felt comfortable, but
being under Tristan's constant scrutiny was not my idea of a good
time.
How was I supposed to get a tan if I couldn't even lay out without
feeling like I was under surveillance? The paleness of my skin
isn't doing my newly blond hair any justice. After our little
incident, I threw myself down on my towel next to Anya. She didn't
question me about what happened right away, because she somehow
grasped the fact that I was on the verge of bursting into
tears.
I was grateful she knew me well enough to not pry until I had
enough time to calm down. At first, Tristan seemed hesitant to
leave the side of the beach we were on. Anya told me he stood there
for a good five minutes with a torn expression plastered to his
face. That Tristan mumbled something that seemed a lot like he was
cursing himself out before making his way over to join his
friends.
A while after he went away, I finally swallowed the lump in my
throat and told her everything that occurred. "I almost died when
he grabbed your face and planted one right smack on your lips."
Anya sighed dreamily. "If it counts for anything it looked like he
really wanted to kiss you."
"Tristan Evans doesn't just go around kissing random nerds." I
reassured her. "There's an ulterior motive to all this and I don't
even want to know what it is."
"He hasn't taken his eyes off you." Anya whispered leaning in
closer to me as she propped herself up on her elbows.
I didn't need her to tell me this; I could literally feel the
intensity of his gaze burning into my skin. I wouldn't give him the
satisfaction of even looking his way. I meant what I said when I
told him to leave me alone. I’m perfectly content with living my
life drama and hater free.
Surely I don't want to develop a fan base from a hate club created
in my name by the popular girls who feel as though I’m trying to
step on their toes. Shrugging my shoulders in an 'I don't care'
response, I stood up and brushed some sand off my legs. I began to
fold up my towel, not really in the mood to be here anymore.
"What do you say we get out of here?" I suggested calmly, but my
eyes were pleading with her to say yes.
If we stayed here any longer I was sure to hurl chunks with the way
the contents of my stomach were turning violently in circles. I
felt physically sick as I thought of Tristan and his boys laughing
at my expense. Being the understanding friend that she is Anya
agreed, which is why we're currently back at my house.
"What do you want to do tonight?" Anya asked standing up from the
bed to stretch. "Any ideas?"
I pulled my mouth up to one side as I thought of something fun to
do to keep us occupied. My best friend was only here for two days
and I wasn't going to waste it worrying about Tristan.
"Well, we could go roller-skating. There's a rink where a lot of
the teens go to hang out." I recommended, hoping Anya didn't think
I was a total geek for coming up with that idea.
The place was pretty cool and it is huge, I've only been over there
once for my cousin's sixteenth birthday party. One area was like
dance club except you skated to the music, the other side was a
bowling alley, and then there was an arcade/pool table area.
I had a blast at my cousin's party, but that was over a year ago. I
never went back after that, didn't have anyone to go there with. I
knew it was still a trendy place to go, it's all I hear people talk
about at school when the weekend was over.
"I love roller skating!" Anya shrieked excitedly. "Going to go
shower and get ready!" She yelled skipping her way into my bathroom
and shutting the door behind her.
We were having an awesome time as we skated around the rink shaking
our booties to Dance Again by JLo. I’m proud to say; at least I
know how to roller-skate. It has to be the most athletic thing I
can do. I can skate forwards, backwards, and I know a few
tricks.
Skates were permanently attached to my feet as a young child, I
thought I'd be a professional roller skater when I grew up. Shush
up, I know what you're thinking…that I’m a weirdo.

This place is packed tonight with a lot of teens
from school. Laughing uncontrollably as Anya started attempting her
own personal version of the cabbage patch, I managed to gasp out.
"I need to stop and get a drink before I collapse."
"Me too." She answered using her hand to fan herself to cool down.
She grabbed my hand and pulled me out the rink towards the
concession stand.
"What can I get for you girls?" One of the girls I recognized as a
senior from school asked from behind the counter.
"A medium raspberry iced tea and a medium cola slushy." I answered
for both Anya and myself.
Standing there waiting for our drinks, I heard it before I saw it.
"Cheater, you didn't even call that shot!" A guy's voice screamed
in outrage.
Shaking my head in displeasure at my crap luck, I turned my head
slightly to the side to see surprise, oh surprise. Luke, Tristan,
Sam, Max, Jordan, and Gabe were playing a game of pool at one of
the tables. The one who screamed in outrage was Max; he seemed to
be the drama queen of the group. Always calling foul play when it
came to his turn. He thought there was a big conspiracy against
him. Were these six joined at the hip? You never saw one without
the other, it's like they all shared a brain and couldn't function
properly without the entire group.
"Ah, crap!" Anya mumbled when she caught a glimpse of what held my
attention.
Luke happened to look up at that exact Moment zoning straight in on
Anya. "Hey Anya, Lise!" He waved frantically at us.

I murmured to Anya under my breath trying my
hardest to not move my lips. "Let's just say hi, grab our drinks
and go.”

"Hey!" I said in false excitement as I gave the
group a little wave. Anya followed my lead except her entire smile
lit up her face.
In a way I felt kind of guilty. I know she likes Luke and wants to
get to know him better, but isn't because she does not want leave
me alone. Grabbing our drinks, we quickly made our way back over to
the side of the rink. We stood there slurping down our yummy
beverages as we watched people whiz by us.
"God, I hope they don't come over here." I grumbled biting down on
my straw.
"Highly doubt it, they don't look like the type of guys who know
how to skate." Anya joked and at this we giggled at the thought of
six husky guys on skates.
Dumping our empty cups in the trash we skated back into the rink.
The song playing was Glad You Came by The Wanted. Woo-hoo those
guys are hot! The DJ announced this was a backward skate song.
Which meant, of course that you had to skate backwards to the
entire song.
Anya and I stayed out on the floor; we're both pros at backward
skating. It seems she had the same aspiring dream I did when she
was younger. Except she wanted to be a waitress on skates, ha. As
we came up on our second circle around, I noticed six guys standing
at the mouth of the rink.
Great just great, so much for us thinking they couldn't skate. They
all had rollerblades on. WTH! My eyes widened in disbelief just as
my head snapped in Anya's direction. She was so entranced in
swaying from side to side and singing along with the song, she
didn't even notice my state of panic.
"Anya they're coming in here." I whisper yelled in distress.
"Anya!" My goodness when this girl gets in her zone, she really
gets in her zone. It's like she's in another world.
I was so busy trying to flail Anya down; I didn't even realize a
curve approaching until I saw Anya drifting away from me as she
followed the proper formation. Allowing a brief glance over my
shoulder, I let out a slight groan when I came to the realization I
was headed straight for the wall.
I came to the quick conclusion that I...Annalise Foster, am going
to definitely run straight into this wall! There is absolutely no
way in hell I'd stop in time. Just as I squeezed my eyes shut
tightly and braced myself for impact, I felt two strong muscular
arms wrap around my entire body pulling me forward into a hard
chest and coming to a stop.
The warmth of his arms felt as though I was spun tight into a
cocoon. Without opening my eyes and looking up, I could
automatically tell whose arms I was entrapped in. If I had to
describe it, I'd say it was a pins and needles sensation prickling
at my entire body. An automatic sense of warmth filled me from head
to toe.
Just that quickly, my song ended and the lights came on as the DJ
announced it was time to play some fun games where you could win
prizes. I pried my eyes open and allowed my gaze to become trapped
in Tristan's.

"You ok?" He breathed softly, holding me away at
arms length as his eyes roamed from my head to my toes examining me
for any injuries.
"Um yea, thanks." I muttered shyly, expressing my gratitude for him
saving my behind from becoming one with the wall. How embarrassing!
I'm pretty sure at the speed I was going my body would have left a
nice indent in the wall. Either that or I would have had a bruise
from ramming the wall head on. The DJ announced one last time that
if we weren't participating in the games then we needed to get off
the floor. Looking up at Tristan through my lashes, I grumbled
another "Thanks" before skating off.
"Lise, wait." Tristan's voice basically pleaded. For some odd
reason I didn't like hearing him so unhappy. "I wanted to apologize
to you about earlier. I'm sorry, about the kiss."
My eyebrows raised up on its on accord, I couldn't help it. He was
sorry about the kiss. He regretted it, just like I knew he would. I
won't lie; this admission managed to chip away at my heart. Deep
down inside a girl never wants to hear that the person she has a
crush on regrets kissing her. As a little girl, you always hope
your first kiss will be magical and with someone who enjoyed it
just as much as you did. This wasn't the case though. My first kiss
was a stolen one.
"I should have done it properly, but I couldn't help myself."
Tristan confessed as his hand shot out to tuck a few strands of
hair that came loose from my ponytail behind my ear. What? Am I
hearing things? I thought as I glanced around for Anya. Where the
heck is this girl? I spotted her off to one side flirting
shamelessly with Luke.
"I'm sorry what?" I inquired asking him to repeat himself. Not
trusting that I heard him right the first time.
He chuckled at my reaction, "I said I'm sorry about stealing a
kiss. I should've done it properly by asking you out on a date
first, but I just couldn't help myself." He repeated very slowly
this time assuring that I heard him loud and clear.
My mouth is probably dropped open and hanging on the floor. I'm
sure there's some drool dribbling down the side of my mouth. Just
what is Tristan playing at here? Finally coming back to my senses,
I couldn't help the snarky retort that escaped my lips. "What makes
you so confident that I'd even say yes to going out on a date with
you?"
His eyes twinkled against the bright lights in the rink. They
seemed to be filled with amusement as a smirk playfully spread
across his lips. I had to glance away; I was getting lost in those
eyes again! I felt his fingertips brush against my arm softly
running a hot trail where they went. He let out a long sigh.
"I know you think I'm playing with your feelings Lise, but I can
promise you I'm not." Tristan tilted my face towards his, making
sure our eyes connected. "You can believe what you want for now, I
want you to have doubt in me so that I have the chance to prove you
completely wrong."
Bending his knees slightly so that he could be eye level with me,
he continued. "Just please don't ask me to leave you alone or stay
away from you again, because it's physically impossible for me to
do so." With that last word, Tristan turned and skated off towards
his friends. Immediately feeling the loss of his warmth I wrapped
my arms around myself.
I stared after him in awe, shocked at his entire heartfelt
confession. It was a side to Tristan I never thought I'd see his
sensitive, caring, and compassionate side. Sometimes you think it's
better to know exactly what's going on in one's mind that causes
them to commit certain actions. Now I think that sometimes it's
better to not know, because ignorance is bliss.