A Different Angle

© All Rights Reserved- The Silent Snow, 2024.

Chapter Four-

After what happened in practice today with Marcus talking to Crystal and all, I pretty much had a boring day.

All I could think about was what the two of them were doing.

Was my best friend hitting on my crush? No way.

She looked really happy too, she didn't even notice me looking at her the whole time which she like always notices!

Does Crystal like Marcus?

I'd be okay with Marcus liking Crystal, I couldn't blame him, like who could? but Crystal liking Marcus, or pretty much every aside from myself? It's terrifying! No way.!! 

I refuse to believe it. But wait, wasn't she wearing the jacket I gave her? Maybe it means she likes me back and that Marcus was just asking her about it. 

Oh wait. Shit, what if Marcus told her about me?

I'm not ready yet!

Suddenly one of my superiors' yelled at me.

I'd been dozing off on the job when suddenly someone told me about some delivery, and low and behold, it was Crystal's address!!?!

YIPPIE!!

I rushed there as soon as I could, after taking a shower and all. She ordered a meat lover pizza with all of the condiments.

How adorable! We even like the same things. I'm totally in love. We're literally meant to be. She's like my wife already (She just doesn't know it yet!! Obviously!)

Wait what? Snap out of it you dope.!! Damn it! That would be so embarrassing if she heard it! Yikes!! Recently, I've started having these kinds of thoughts about Crystal. Ick! She would be so disgusted with me!

Crystal Samuels. Alluring long, silky, wavy black hair that smelled amazing, like how even? How does she balance all of it!! She's so cool!! 

Deep, intense and majestic ocean blue eyes that look into my amber ones back, it feels like a Goddess is staring at me when she does. (Which is exactly what that is!!!) And light, dew-drop, smooth, pale skin.

She's only 2nd ranked in our school but everyone knows she's the smartest. She's 5 '5, in her second freshman year, and 3 years younger than me, but still so much better in like, every way possible maybe.

Unknowingly has leadership skills too, she's perfect in everything she does, actually. She's good at all sports but mainly focuses on swimming and badminton. I think, I THINK it's because swimming is like relaxing?

She and Marcus are the only reason I even agreed when my dad made me join the team. My grades were dropping SOO badly at the time too. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know about it but I stalk her when she swims, well not stalk, just watch in silence, and in secret. ANYWAYS,

When I rushed to Crystal's home, I went up and when she opened the door.

Oh. My. Gosh. I don't if the Devil was blessing me or if it was punishing her, but oh my. She wasn't wearing something special. And it was obvious, I guess? I mean she's not the only one. WAIT NO NO NO NO NO STOP THINKING THAT!! She'd hate me if she knew!! I wonder if she'd look at me the same if she knew about the things I've thought about her. But Crystal is an elegant woman, she'd never.

"Adam? You work at Aki's Fruit Miracle?" I just love how she says my name. Her tone, the pitch and volume of her voice, every time, it's just like… PERFECT (I guess.) Actually, she's beyond perfect, which I think she is.

"Ahh oh my! I didn't know you lived in an apartment… Ah! Yes- I do work for them, you ordered meat lovers pizza with every condiment?" I lied. I am not proud of it but if I didn't she'd kill me! In like a graceful way though.

I probably knew everything about her. I keep my room tidy for her actually.. I thought that maybe, just maybe, one day- she'd see that room and spend all her time there. Ew!! She'd hate me if she knew what I was thinking, or, no- Repulsed. She'd be 'utterly repulsed' like that one time.

"Mr. Russell, WHAT is the meaning of this?" my dad scowled. – "He plagiarized his work, sir. I know it." she added in a stern tone.

"Oh how? How do you know it, Samuels?" His voice was mocking and high-pitched. Stupid loser.

"Because you copied off my work, Russell." she imitated his tone, her voice filled with disdain. He didn't reply and simply fiddled with neck using his hand, his head low from embarrassment and shame. Serves him right.

"Mr. Russell, how could you do something so juvenile, again?!" - "I… Whatever, it doesn't matter. I totally don't care about it anyway. School is just a prison." As he spat out silly words, Brianna glared at him, as if she was going to kill him. Her grip on her pen was tight, tight enough for it to snap it half. She flinched. His gaze quickly picked up- "Bri! Are you-" He felt her stare. He gulped and kept his head low again, trying to ignore what just happened.

"That's it, young man. Suspension, 4 days!" – "What? Only 4?" He tried to laugh it off, but no one took it well. "Fuck you, fleabag!" A person yelled in a mock voice. No one was familiar with it and thus couldn't know who it was. No one but Marcus, he turned over to me. "What are you doing? Now isn't the time to be a hero." he whisper-yelled over. "But he's being rude to her! And copied her!" I whispered back. Marcus clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes at him before laying his head back on his table.

"Wow." she scoffed, "I'm repulsed, utterly repulsed." she emphasized.

"I do and I did, yeah so, how much for the pizza and all the condiments?" she asked politely. Something about how she says it makes my eye twitch, it somehow sounds so delicate, like WHAT. I tell her it's free, I'm pretty sure, well actually I am DEFINITELY sure I'm not allowed to but who cares? Well aside from those old farts and expired cheese at the store. She DEFINITELY deserves free pizza. More than anyone else.

"Oh? Thank you very much then. By the way, would it be too much to ask for your number?" She spoke.

I know she must not mean to, but in my ears, it sounds flirty, a bit seductive actually. Something about her voice is, like, tempting me.

I DON'T KNOW, I'M WEIRD.

I stutter and confirm if she really asked for my number. She, in her heavenly voice, said it was, therefore it must be.

Wait what?

Ughck.! She's just a kid, what am I saying? A very smart and pret- Okay no stop. 

"Well then, could you kindly dial it on my phone here?" she added. Did she… Did she just ask me to come inside her place? WHAT..? IS THIS A DREAM? DAMN!!! I realized I'm not only blushing, but sweating too but whatever. There's nothing I can do about that now, no matter how much I want to change that, like what is wrong with me? I give her mine and she doesn't hesitate to give me hers. After that she offers me some of the pizza I have to pay for now. I think I'm still blushing and sweating. I am so screwed.

"Do you feel hot in here?" Her voice sounds so nice. I know she probably doesn't mean to but it's tempting me which is even worse. I'M SWEATING EVEN MORE NOW, WHAT IF I START TO SMELL AND SHE SMELLS ME?! THAT'LL BE A DISASTER!

"Hm? A bit yeah. Why do you ask? Is it obvious?" I calmly replied, or at least I tried. I was definitely not calm.

"Well, you're a bit red, you're sweating, and your uniform is not buttoned up properly." She chuckled, thank goodness. She chuckled, it's just a funny incident, Marcus didn't tell her. OR WHAT IF SHE'S JUST PRETENDING?!

"AH! I'M SO SORRY!! I DIDN'T REALIZE!" I replied. To be perfectly honest, I did. But I can't tell her that I got nervous because of her, who is like, basically a kid. Yeah, yeah, I know, what the hell right? I start to button myself up and suddenly someone barges in. I recognized the man from my research. It was her uncle, Richard Samuels.

"Oh my, sorry, am I disturbing?" He says it like he knows just what I had been thinking these past few days. I'M SCARED.

"Ah no! Well, yes, but not in that way! Don't even think like that! This isn't what it looks like! She squeals. She knew what he was thinking too. And unfortunately, she was right. It wasn't what it looked like. Not. At. All. Her uncle chuckles as I panic to button myself up and walk to him while getting the sweat of my hands. Why am I so weird?

 "Uh, good evening, Mr. Samuels, I'm Adam. Adam Whiteman, I uhm- I'm Crystal's…" I hesitate to say it because I might be wrong or overestimating how close we are but.. "-friend…" "I'm her friend." I still work up the guts to tell him. He's only an inch taller than me actually. He tilted his head to his right and said;

"If you are Crysty's friend, then why are you so hesitant to say so?" He asks. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT?!?! I'M SCARED AGAIN.

"Don't be silly, uncle, he's just nervous because of how you look." She interrupts before I can admit to anything. THANK THE MERCIFUL HEAVENS.

 "Or how you look." He replied. He checks me out and leans forward to whisper;

"You should probably hide your hard on before I break it, kid." 

WHAT. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. I AM SO SCARED I COULD SHIT MY PANTS RIGHT NOW.

"OH. OH MY. I UHM- MAY I USE TO RESTROOM PLEASE?" I ask. I'm literally just using a slice of pizza to hide it. I AM SO SCARED I COULD BREAK DOWN CRYING AND JUST LIKE, DIE OR SOMETHING.

 "Of course, it's over there beside my bed on the left."

WHY DID SHE HAVE TO MENTION THAT IT'S NEAR HER BED?!

MY DISGUSTING LITTLE IS JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS LIKE A RABBIT TO A CARROT .

I DO WHAT I HAVE TO ANWAY. So, I closed my eyes thinking it would maybe help, and it did, I guess. Because I started to think of Crystal. I can't stop thinking about her. But suddenly, I hear them squabbling over something.

"Crysty, that boy likes you." he says, teasingly.

"Why on Earth would you even think that?" she replies in her angelic voice, she sounds REALLY offended.

"Cause he had a hard on." he says obviously.

"How would you know?" she replied, still very offended.

"It's extremely obvious, sugar cube. And what you two were doing just before I came in."

"That is an extremely presumptuous choice of interference." She simply adds calmly, she's even chuckling but it wasn't a no, was it?

"-And for the record, he was in a rush to fix his uniform because he is not indecent. Also, I so happened to have made a friend or two, today too, and he's one of them so that's why." She defensively says.

 "Now, now, no need to get all defensive, I get it. I was once young too, kiddo." 

"Ew! What are you implying? We would never!"

She sounds as if she's getting more irritated that her uncle would even dare to THINK I like her, I don't blame her, but YEOUCH that still hurts.

"Of course you wouldn't, Crysty. Now, tell me about that 'a friend or two' you were talking 'bout. Richie's curious" He replies in a sing-song manner. 

THANK FUCKING HEAVENS I'M SAFE.

"Marcus Kent and Lora Vincent, those are their names. They're both in my badminton team. Now, I'm sure you're hungry so here, eat some stupid pizza." She says it in a somewhat mad voice, but she's still obviously concerned enough to feed him.

She's so… remarkably deep. Or maybe I'm just really stupid.

After I take care of my problem I wash my hands and fix my uniform.

When I look outside Crystal and her uncle are having a very focused conversation while eating their free pizza. H

er uncle also brought three of those diet coke set thingies, the ones that Crystal likes.

Wait, she told me to call her Crysty didn't she? Augh… The thought of it makes my heart skip a beat for some reason. No one in our school calls her that, only a few people from work and her uncle, and I'm guessing Lora too.

I look down to my side and I notice her bed. It has four head pillows, two small ones, and one long one. It's the kind you hug, I think.

Lucky pillow. I wish I was you.

Wait what am I thinking? NO! STOP THINKING THAT.

She'd hate me if she knew that.. I approach 'Crysty' to inform her that I'm leaving and bid them farewell and a very very good evening.

As soon as Mr. Samuels closed the door on me, I got a notification from Marcus.

"Yo??" Right. I forgot I was texting him before delivering Crystal's pizza. I left him on delivered, so of course I had to explain to him the miracle that just happened.

"oops sorry forgot to reply" – "something crazy happened at work today"

"what happened🧐🧐"

"was js delivering like usual when I got one from crystal and I gave it to her for free and she invited me in" Why am I trying to sound cool? He knows exactly how I actually feel.

"OH? TELL ME MORE 😏"

"I FORGOT TO BUTTON MY UNIFORM PROPERLY SO SHE COULD SEE LIKE HALF OF MY CHEST AND THEN HER UNCLE CAME IN AND HE THOUGHT WE WERE DATING AND SHIT WHICH IS MAKING ME FLUTTER FOR SOME REASON AND IM JSUT SO HAPPY FOR NO REASON"

I couldn't hold it in. 

"Just*" he corrected me but then, "Well, she might actually like u yk" 

"WHAT" – "ARE U FR"

 "I asked her earlier if she liked you and she said probably, in case you didn't hear it despite the fact u were watching us like a hawk or like a creeper" 

"I DIDN'T HEAR THAT??"

"Well, it happened, I gave her ur number btw"

- "gtg, talk 2 u later" he adds, and then goes IMMEDIATELY offline.

WHAT. SHE PROBABLY LIKES ME? 

HE GAVE HER MY NUMBER? NO WAY.

SHE JUST ASKED FOR IT THOUGH?

So, did… Did Marcus just lie to me?

That's not like him at all.

I end my shift and go back and return to my 2-story house where I live with my dad, obviously.

He's also a bit fond of Crysty and thinks she should be the top 1, like me. She is, after all, his star student and star athlete.

The annoying thing is that he keeps comparing her to me. LIKE HOW IS THAT FAIR? He's always nagging me to try and actually be as good as she is.

He doesn't know I have a thing for Crysty though, I think only Marcus knows, no I'm pretty sure. I walk up the wooden stairs before he can even notice I got home. I immediately head straight to my room and when I get in, it's the same lovely view as always. My walls, decorated with the same lovely decor.

When I moved in with my dad, she was in middle school or something, I always thought she was one riveting girl.

I didn't think I'd end up being obsessed with her or something though, almost. Ugh, I don't know.

But I kind of have a bad feeling about Crystal and Marcus… I know Marcus would but still, they both naturally get along very well, a little too well.

Which, by the way, is so NOT fair.