Chapter 65 - The Warning

Lance. 

Jack looks up from his phone, and Lisa smiles at him warmly. She jumps over to our line and sits down next to me. How come I didn't even notice her behind us all along. What if she heard our conversation? 

Oh shit.

''So why are you here?'' she asks, and I watch as her eyes dart to the direction of the court. I see her ogle Ford. I hate that she is watching him with those lustful eyes. He is mine, no one has a right to look at him that way. 

''No reason. Just got back from school. we are going home together.'' I lie because there is no point in being honest with her. She is irrelevant to our life. So, I don't need to involve her in anything that has to do with me. 

She is the enemy. 

''Oh, I didn't know you guys were that close,'' her attention shifts to Jack and she leans over me to him ''Who is your friend?'' 

Jack manages a fake smile. Fake because I know my friend and he must have put two and two together. My enemy is his enemy. 

''This is my best friend… Jack.''

She smiles at him and stretches her hand out to him; I look at her nails and they are bright pink. Everything about this chick is pretty. Makes me jealous that I can't just be like her. The right gender. Then maybe I and Ford wouldn't have to hide our relationship. 

''Nice to meet you, I am Elisa'' her hand lingers on his for too long. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't think she was flirting with him. I didn't even know her name was Elisa. I thought It was just short for Elisabeth or something.

Not that I even care. 

''Can I have a minute with you… in private?'' she bats her lashes at me. Why does she want to talk to me?

''Why?'' I have to ask. 

''I have something to say to you.'' 

I sigh because I know nothing good will come of this conversation ''Okay,'' I tell her and she leads me out of the gym through a back door. She stops walking in the middle of a dim-lit hallway. I scan her face for a hint, anything to tell me what this is about. I don't like this one bit.

''I know what you are doing.''

I furrow my brows at her words, completely puzzled. ''What am I doing?'' I ask her because, What.The.Hell?

''I heard you guys back there.''

Okay, she heard my conversation. What exactly did she hear? I can't panic right now because she might have heard fractions. We were not loud, it is not like we were shouting and I don't think I revealed anything incriminating. 

''You have a crush on him?'' 

I raise a brow ''On who?''

I am going to play dumb. She can't know what I am thinking. There is no way I will let her win. 

''Brad,'' she rolls her eyes like that is the most obvious answer. 

''I don't know what you're talking about. He is a friend; you have the wrong idea.''

She laughs ''I see the way you look at him. I have known since the first time I saw you. So why don't you cut it out and stop pretending.''

Her tone is harsh. Too harsh for my liking. She is here, attacking me and even though she is right. I don't just have a crush on him. I fucking love him but I won't stand here and listen to her threaten me. try to make me say things that I shouldn't be saying right now. 

''I think you have the wrong impression of me; besides, what business is it to you of my relationship with Ford.'' 

''Why do you call him Ford? His name is Brad.''

I am pissed. I knew I didn't like this girl. I knew she was going to be a problem and here she is acting as if she knows him a lot more than I do. 

''I don't have time for this bullshit,'' I head to the direction of the door, but she grabs my arm in her attempt to stop me.

''He will never feel the same way about you. He is sick, whatever you think you have with him will expire and he will come crawling back to me.''

I force her grip off me and walk away from her because her words have me losing my mind. what does she mean by he is sick? She just heard me talking about the fact that he could be depressed. She is trying to manipulate me. 

That has to be it.

I walk back to jack and he looks up from his phone with a worried expression ''What is it?''

I grab my bag from the stool like chair ''Let's go, I can't stay here any longer.'' I announce. 

He furrows his brows in confusion. I look at the court and Ford is still playing with his teammates. I don't want to interrupt him. I just need to clear my head. it is in a messy fog right now. 

''Can we go back to the apartment?'' 

He sighs and puts his phone back into his pocket. We walk out through the back door and Lisa is still there, in the dark halls. As we brush past her, she mutters ''Remember what I said.'' She warns and frankly, I don't like her tone one bit.

It is clear to me that Lisa knows, or at least she suspects, and this is her way of telling me to back off. Somehow, she is trying to convince me that there is something wrong with Ford and that is the only reason why he is with me in the first place. I ignore her as I hurriedly walk past her with my best friend beside me. 

Jack remains quiet until we get to his car ''What happened?'' he asks immediately we are seated inside his car. 

My breathing is heavy, the fact that we were caught by the one person that could ruin what we have is terrifying. The moment I tell Ford, he will withdraw from me. He is too scared to want to stay in this relationship with me. we just started this, and she already knows. 

''Can we just go home?'' I plead not really in the right space of mind to talk about it.

''Which home?'' 

I glare at him and he raises his hands in surrender ''Fine, I think you should tell Ford you're leaving.'' 

He is right. 

I grab my phone from my bag and send him a quick text. Nothing suspicious, just I needed to do some assignments with Jack, and I didn't want to disturb him on my way out. 

We get to the apartment in complete silence. Jack obviously knows me too well to push it. I will talk to him about it, but I just need to think. I need to figure out what to do. I know the best option is to talk to Ford about it. tell him all my worries. He needs to open up to me, if he really is sick, I should know about it. 

''Come on,'' Jack gets down from the car. 

''Can I just get a couple of minutes in here?'' I ask him. 

He nods and I watch him walk out of the car and into the building. I rest my head on the dashboard as my heart races from all the fears and thoughts in my mind. this is not what I wanted when I asked to go see him in school, I just wanted to meet his friends. I wanted to get to know him a little better. Now I have royally fucked it all up. 

There is a knock on the car window, which makes me look up in confusion. Patrick is smiling as he waits for me wind down the window. He notices my expression and a worried expression comes up to his face. 

''You okay?'' he mouths the words in a whisper. 

I shake my head because I am not okay. He nods ''Want to talk about it?'' this time his voice is louder. 

I shake my head again. 

He nods ''Want to not talk about with me?'' 

I manage a faint smile and this time a nod. 

''Come on, let me take you somewhere.'' He gestures with his hands and this time I get down from the car. 

He is dressed formally. Like in a suit and tie. This is the first time I have seen him in this kind of attire. His hair seems to be growing a bit, from the buzz cut he usually has. There is a wide smile on his face now, the excitement obvious. 

''Are you going somewhere?'' I have to ask. 

He nods ''Yes and you are coming with me. 

I look at my outfit and it is nothing like his. wherever he is going to must be fancy. 

''I am not dressed for whatever you have in mind.'' 

He chuckles ''You look good enough to me,'' he winks and grabs my hand in his. At this point, I think I need this distraction. 

What's the harm?