12. Getting to Know You

RYLIE

"Olivia! What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed.

"Hey Ry, I just wanted to talk. Can I come in?" she asked.

Still dazed, I nodded and opened the door for her to enter. Once she was in, I glanced outside just in time to see Blake enter his home.

A bit weird but I'll worry about that later.

I closed the door behind me and turned to meet Olivia who was looking around.

"Do you want to talk here or should we go upstairs?" I asked.

"I think upstairs in your room since it'll be more private."

I nodded and led her up to my room. When we entered my room, she sat on my bed and I sat beside him.

"So… what are you doing here?" I asked, a bit hesitantly.

"I wanted to talk… about Blake."

"Look Olivia…"

"There's no need to explain, Rylie. I actually came here to apologise. Blake told me everything."

"He did?!" I yelled in shock.

"Yes, he told me how much you hated keeping your relationship a secret from me and that he was the one who convinced you to do it," she continued.

I let out a sigh of relief at her words.

"Oh yeah. He did. I'm sorry for not telling you, Olivia."

"I should be the one apologising. I guess I overreacted because let's just say I had a bit of a crush on Blake and it kinda hurt me to see you guys kiss."

"You like Blake? But you told me you didn't."

"I know and I'm sorry for lying about that. I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite myself for being angry at you for lying when I'd already lied to you. Do you forgive me?"

"Of course I do, Livvie. I could never stay mad at you… So, do you still like Blake?"

"No. Not anymore. I want you to be happy, Rylie and if Blake makes you happy, then I'm happy."

I smiled and pulled her into a hug.

"I love you."

"Love you too, bestie," she murmured in reply.

I thought of everything she'd said and it dawned on me that I was still lying to her. Hopefully though, Blake and I won't have to keep up this charade for much longer and I'll be able to confess everything to Olivia.

"So… are you going out? I was thinking we could hang out," she said as we parted.

"I would love to but I already have a date with Blake."

"A date with the hottest guy in school? You're basically living the dream."

I chuckled. "Are you sure you still don't have a crush on Blake?"

"For sure, for sure. Oh well, I guess I'll hang out by myself then."

"You know, you could hang out with Mason?" I suggested.

"Mason? He's probably busy with a girl and whatnot."

"I'm sure he'd drop it all for you. At least, call him."

She placed her hand on her chin in thought for a while before saying, "Okay, I'll call him."

"Yay!" I squealed.

"Geez! Why are you so excited? I'm just calling Mason."

"Oh nothing! I'm just so happy we're friends again!"

"Okay?" she answered, clearly not buying my answer but she didn't push.

Just then, I heard a honk coming from outside.

"That should be Blake. I should probably get going. See you tomorrow," I said, hugging her.

"See you tomorrow. Have fun."

I smiled and blew her a kiss as I rushed out of my room, down the stairs and out of the house. Blake's car was parked right in front of my house so I got in and closed the door behind me.

"Hey," he said as I got in the car.

"Hey. So the strangest thing just happened right now."

"What's that?"

"Olivia, my best friend who I told you about just came to apologise to me for being angry."

"You don't say!"

"I know right. She said somebody told her that you asked me not to tell anyone about our “secret relationship” and she was sorry about overreacting."

"Wow! So you guys have made up now?"

"Yes, we have. If only I knew who was that somebody was…" I muttered as though I was in thought.

"If only…" he said.

I glanced at him and rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Quit acting as though you don't know who it is. Thanks for that by the way. I really appreciate it," I said, reaching over to hug him.

It was a quick hug but I felt it was necessary.

"So uh, ready for our date?" he asked with a smile after I pulled away.

"I am. Can't wait to see what you have planned."

"I'm glad to hear that."

He put the key in the ignition, turned it and the car started. Soon, we were driving away from my house.

I leaned back into my chair, wondering what Blake had planned.

···

"An arcade?!" I exclaimed, staring at the building in front of me.

"Sure. I did say something different, didn't I?"

"You did but an arcade?!" I exclaimed again.

"Why not? I didn't want to pick a place that's too cozy considering the fact that we're not really dating. So I decided to pick a place that two friends slash enemies can just hang out and have some friendly competition while getting to know about each other."

"Okay, I get that but did we really have to come all the way to Jefferson Heights. There are plenty of arcades in Meadow Brook."

"Yeah but I'm not as popular here as I am over in Meadow Brook so it's quite unlikely that yesterday's events will repeat itself. Now, are we going to play some games or what?"

I hesitated. "I don't know about that."

"Come on, Rylie. Let's go in already… unless of course, you're scared I'm beat you."

I rolled my eyes. "As if! I know you're just trying to get me to come in by taunting me. Well guess what? It worked. Let's go play some games."

"That's what I like to hear. I'll go get our quarters."

"Sure. Take your time too. It'll be fun beating you."

"We'll see…"

Blake walked towards the counter to get quarters for us to play the games in the arcade. Moments later, he came back with enough quarters for us to play all the games in the arcade twice!

First, we decided to play Sky Whale. In the game, you're a narwhal and you need to collect donuts to be able to stay in the sky. The higher you go, the more points you get.

"So it's agreed. Person with the highest points has to tell at least one truth about him or herself."

"Agreed," I answered.

"Okay then. Let's play."

And the rest is history… Not really because I won the game with Sky Whale and learnt that Blake lived in Miami, Florida before moving to Los Angeles. He got his first modeling gig when he was eight for a company that made children clothing and his career had grown from there.

We moved on to the next game, Creature Crunch which I won again. I also learnt that Blake's middle name was Prudence (Yup, Prudence) and he didn't like it just like he didn't being called Blakey. Also when he was thirteen, he sneezed on a girl just when they were about to kiss.

Yuck right? I also felt that way after I laughed my ass off.

We moved on MonsterMania; a wrestling game about monsters fighting and as expected, Blake won. I told him my middle name was Hope, I loved supernatural movies, as in vampire, werewolves and such even though I didn't believe in them. I also told him about the time I dressed up as a bear to prank my brother while on a camping trip. He promised to retaliate and while still on that camping trip, I ran into a bear who I thought was my brother not knowing it was the real deal.

Luckily, the bear didn't maul me or anything but whenever I tell the story, I can't stop shuddering while laughing uncontrollably.

And that was how the rest of the night went. With Blake and I playing games while telling each other things about ourselves that we hadn't told anyone else.

Contrary to my initial thought, the whole arcade thing turned out not to be so bad afterall. It was actually quite fun and was exactly what we needed.

By the time the night came to an end, I felt like I knew Blake almost as much as he knew me. I was actually kinda sad when the time came to go. Sad and thirsty.

"Uh Blake, I'm kinda parched. Do you think you could help me get a drink?" I said as we walked outside.

"Lemme guess, chocolate milk?"

"You know me," I answered with a smile.

He winked and walked in the direction of a nearby cafe.

I stood waiting for him by his car. I was browsing through an online reading site when I suddenly heard a familiar voice ask, "Are you waiting for someone?"

"You!" I exclaimed looking up.