MIDSUMMER CRUSH

Chapter 18

A year went by and the batch at St. George were in their third year. Giselle and Aariz continued their friendship online , but neither of them confessed their feelings to each other. “It’s been a year since you guys have been secretly talking , aren’t either of you going to confess?” Reece enquired one day.

‘Confess what? He’s just my crush,” Giselle stated.

“Wrong, he’s no longer your crush, you’re in love with him for the past one year. It’s called love,” Reece corrected, but Giselle was hell bent on calling it a mere crush.

“Fine, what if I confess and he reject me?” Gisele reasoned.

“Girl, he likes you too how much more proof do you need to feel convinced? My f*******: wall is filled with pages that you guys coincidental keep liking all the time,” she said sarcastically and smirked while Giselle merely sighed. She and Aariz were aware about their feelings but were too scared to confess. while Giselle feared he would reject her, Aariz feared she would find it offensive. Both had various assumption that hindered their relation to blossom.

“He’s been dropping hints all year long, what else do you want a neon sign flashing the words I like you?” Reece frowned.

“That would be so helpful, but let things flow the way they are,” Giselle said since she was still basking in the attention that Aariz was giving her. Little did she know that things were going to take a different turn when she would spot Rachel talking to him in a secluded section of the parking lot.

She didn’t think much about it when she found them together, until Rachel confronted her after class one day and requested for her password. “Why do you want my f*******: password?” Giselle stepped back and looked at her suspiciously.

“I can’t tell you here, how about I tell you everything  when we go camping this week? You’re coming, right?” Rachel asked nervously.

“Yes, it’s a part of the curriculum. Everyone is going,” Giselle replied with a straight face and wondered why Rachel was showing interest in talking to her.

  It was during camping that Rachel spread out the facts and gave Giselle a minor heart attack. “Aariz is in love with me!” she said and stunned Giselle while seated by the bonfire.

“What! Are you sure?...I ..I” Giselle stammered and wondered whether to believe her or not.

“Of course I’m sure! I catch him staring at me all the time, he’s totally head over heels on me,” She explained shocked her further.

“Wait, he stares at you?” Giselle felt miffed and stared at her in bewilderment.

“Of course he does, haven’t you noticed I sit right behind you. He keeps looking in my direction all the time,” she revealed and made Giselle cringe. “There’s more, you know he even likes the same pages as I do, isn’t that cute?” she added.

“I even confessed my feelings to him,” she said and noticed Giselle’s pale face.

“What did he say?” Giselle asked, feeling dizzy.

“He said no, but I know he’s lying. He’s afraid of that b***h Zehara. She likes him too, it’s evident with the way she tags along,” Rachel explained until Giselle couldn’t take any more of it.

Embarrassed and confused, she shared the unexpected news with Reece. “It was Rachel all the time, not me. He has a thing for her and all this while I was believing it was me!” she blurted and felt horribly embarrassed at the whole situation. “I’ve been such a fool to think it was me. This was a total mix up, Aariz was all the time dropping hints at Rachel,” she cringed and felt like going into hiding.

“Stop getting hyper, Giselle. Rachel said his answer to her was a straight no, then why do you feel it was a mix up. You were the one he was dropping hints at not Rachel.” Reece reasoned, but in vain.

“I don’t know whom to believe! This is all so confusing, is he flirting with both of us?” Giselle wondered and annoyed Reece with her ideas.

“Stop assuming stuff, and just ask him instead!” Reece advised.

“What do you mean?” Giselle asked with imploring eyes.

“Clear the confusion by directly confronting him. Rachel had the guts to confess already, what are you waiting for?” Reece stated, but Giselle was too scared to do it.

“Forget it, Reece. I don’t want to think over it. Aariz turned out  to be just like Bruce…a flirt,” Giselle concluded and begged Reece to not force her further.

While Reece tried her best to convince Giselle that Aariz liked her, another drama unfolded between Aariz and Zehara. “Aariz, I love you more than anything,” Zehara confessed and stunned him.

“Not you too, Zehara get some rest and we’ll talk about this later ,okay,” Aariz sighed and turned to leave.

“I can’t wait and why should I wait. Just tell me you love me too, say it,” she demanded and irked him.

“I don’t, I have never felt anything like that for you,” he clarified and aggravated her.

Unconvinced she ranted about how he always enquired about where she went and whom she met. “Why do you care for me if you had no feeling ? I know how possessive you get when you see me with other guys unless you’re a bodyguard hired by dad,” she said and looked at him suspiciously.

“That’s a baseless accusation you’re making, why would I be your bodyguard,” Aariz pursed his lips and avoided her gaze.

“Then what’s stopping you? I know you love me, I want my answer. Say it, Aariz, tell me you love me too,” she demanded and held his hands.

“This is getting out of hands, I guess I should call your father to talk some sense into you,’ Aariz  got irritated and reached for his cell phone before Zehara did the unexpected.

“Fine tell him I cut my wrist  because you failed to respond to my feelings,” Zehara said and before Aariz could react, she cut her wrist in anger.

Zehara got better but rumours about she cutting her wrist for Aariz spread like wild fire. Likewise after that incident, Aariz began taking more care of Zehara in an attempt to sort out the matter  in harmony.  He spent more time with her to explain that he wasn’t in love with her and that she being a legacy had a reputation to maintain. His sudden closeness to her was mistaken by everyone as his growing fondness for her. Likewise, Giselle often found him skipping classes and tending to Zehara’s needs.

“They look cute together, I always knew they were involved from the start,” Amber said one fine morning.

“Yup, but I wonder why Aariz always roams with a sullen face. The other day, I caught Zehara crying on his shoulders,” Katnis added as they sat with Giselle in the cafeteria. “What do you think about  them?” she asked Giselle.

“I think,  they are made  for each other,” Giselle admitted it with great difficulty and excused  herself. Reece followed her and felt bad for her. “I guess you were right after all, he was not that into you. He was just fooling around. It’s going to be nearly three years, just few months to go before we graduate. I’m sorry I pushed you into believing he liked you,” she apologised and tried comforting her.

“It isn’t your fault. I was merely a fool to believe someone like him could fall for me,” Giselle sighed and felt helpless.

“Do you guys still talk online or has he stopped that as well?”Reece enquired curiously, hoping to find some ray of hope for Giselle.

“Sometimes, not much though. He seems busy and worried all the time. He has changed…” she sighed. “Whenever we talk it’s only about Zehara, he really does care for her,” She added.

“Why can’t you ignore him if he still has the nerve to stay in touch with you? He is just fooling around anyway,” Reece reasoned.

“It’s easy to say then to do it,” Giselle quoted.

“That’s because you’re still in love with him. Giselle you need to move on. And if you can’t then it’s best you confront him and confess your feeling coz honestly this is going nowhere,” Reece advised and walked away.

Giselle thought over it for weeks, she had sleepless night thinking about what Reece had said and finally decided to muster courage and confess her feeling. However, instead of confronting him personally, she resorted to an arithmetical code and updated her coded message as a status on f*******:. “Will you ever tell me what’s in your heart and end my suffering?”she read her message and hoped he would decode and answer it.  Somewhere in her heart she still believed  that Aariz had feelings for her, if he really cared, there was possibility of him responding to her coded status.

As expected, Aariz commented with another arithmetical code so none of their mutual friends could find out what was transpiring between them. “I thought you already knew, nevertheless, this time I’ll be bold enough to express what’s in my heart on graduation day,” Giselle read it and after months of sulking felt relieved and assured that he was finally going to admit that he had feelings for her not Zehara or Rachel.

“Wow he actually decoded your status and replied? Reece was left sceptical. “I’m not sure about this thing though, what if he says something you aren’t expecting?” she added and cautioned her.

“He said he would be  bold enough to express it this time which means he was referring to his feelings towards me,” Giselle sounded excited as she shared the good news with her.

“Why can’t you guys talk personally like normal people? Status and coded messages are only going to confuse you  both further and create more miscommunication,” Reece warned, yet wished the best for her. “Miscommunication has hindered many relationships to blossom, I just hope Aariz talks face to face with you on graduation day,” Reece added and embraced her.

Giselle counted the days and waited eagerly for the big day, and so did Aariz until Zehara stepped in his dorm room three days before graduation day.“I’m pregnant,” she blurted and stunned Aariz.

“What how? Who is the guy?” He stammered and looked at her in disbelief.

“It doesn’t matter who the father is, what matters is how far would you go to protect my reputation!” she quoted and looked at him in helplessness.

It was the very night before graduation day that Giselle’s heart broke beyond repair when she heard that Aariz had  got engaged to Zehara all of a sudden. Too shocked to believe it, she visited Zehara’s profile and found it flooded with congratulatory messages, she even noticed a picture of Zehara flaunting a ring given by Aariz.

“So that was what you meant by being bold enough to tell me?” She felt dejected and heartbroken.”I should have realised when you said you thought I already knew it….God what was I thinking!” she wiped her tears and felt so humiliated by his decision that she decided to miss her own graduation ceremony. Unaware that Aariz had taken a drastic step to safeguard Zehar’s reputation, Giselle went on to believe that Aariz never harboured any feelings for her in the first place.