By Your Side

Chapter 11: Triangle

With the conversation between him and Hannah over, James turned to face his house. However, Hannah attacked him from behind and intertwined her fingers with his, causing him to stop in his tracks and look over his shoulder at the girl. His bad boy emotionless stare scanned her racing eyes, trying to decipher her motives until she finally pulled her hand away knowing that she had his attention.

"Sorry, I just...there was something else I wanted to say."

"Okay then say it."

"Don't date Clare. You can do better, hell sometimes I think I should be with you instead of Nathan."

In a swift movement, Hannah pulled James back to her, forcing his body to face her as she pushed his back up against the car. A subtle thumping began in James' heart as Hannah was now in full control of the situation while holding James captive. It was next to impossible for him to hide his interest yet managed to maintain his what could only be described as a dominant cold stare. Although he wasn't capable of stopping the shade of pink that was started to fill his cheeks.

"Again she's just a friend."

"For now. Just be careful, she's got some baggage."

"Yea okay, I'll see you in a few days."

"See you then, by the way you're cute when you're blushing."

Their lips now only inches apart, as Hannah had pressed herself up against James pinning him against her and the car. The feeling of her breath entering his mouth was intoxicating, and her lips turned into a flirtatious smirk as she pushed herself off of James.

He was struggling to collect himself as he watched the girls exaggerated hip movements while she walked away, and then locked eyes with her as she looked over her shoulder and blew him a kiss before carrying on. Did that really just happen? James thought to himself as he shook off the trance and turned back to the house, after locking the car. He didn't even have a foot in the door before his father's stopped him with a hand extended in his direction.

"Keys. Now."

"Here."

James handed the key's over to his father and walked past him, only to be stopped again by his old man's voice.

"Hold up son."

"What?"

"Hannah was just here. She said you left the party early today...with Clare."

"Yeah so?"

"So I said take the car there and back, not take it on a joy ride."

"Look I'm sorry, it just kind of happened. Don't worry it won't happen again."

A look of anguish washed over his dad's face, as James stormed over to the table and picked up a pill bottle on the far end. Cracking open the lid he shook out an anti-depressant, downing it immediately.

"I'm just giving you a hard time boy, y'know we don't mind Daniel and Julie."

"Yea I know."

"I know you know, but I also think it's nice that you decided to go to Australia with the girls and Nathan. The old gang's back together."

"Yea I guess."

"You don't sound excited."

"I am, it's just been a long day."

"Fair enough, go relax, we'll talk more in the morning."

Their conversation came to an end just like that as James headed down to his room and crashed on the bed. Almost leaping onto the mattress, his body flopped on impact, and his phone escaped from his pants pocket. The light from the screen illuminated the dark room. Reaching down to pick it up James looked at the screen, while the text from Clare still remained prominent. With his depression sinking in, he reluctantly unlocked the phone and looked at the message.

Hey just thinking of you, text me when you get home. Even with the overbearing emotions weighing James down a smile managed to find the light and take residence on his face. He wanted to text her back, yet there was still something stabbing its way into him. He needed, no he had to hear her voice. The source of this emotional craving came out of nowhere and remained a total mystery to James.

He took his time dialling in her number while trying to imagine her voice. Pressing the final number, the phone began to ring, while his anxiety skyrocketed as each ring echoed in his ear. Then in a heartbeat, she picked up, and her whispered tone came through.

"Hello."

"Hey you."

"You were supposed to text me, not call me silly."

"I know I just wanted to hear your voice. Also, why are you whispering?"

"Honestly I just got out of the shower, and I think my parents would think its odd that I'm talking to myself in the bathroom."

"I call bull on that, you're just trying to flirt with me. You're probably just laying on you're bed or something."

"Wanna bet. Hang up, and I'll send you a photo."

"Fine, I look forward to seeing you."

"Shut up and hang up the phone dork."

The offer that Clare had teased was a tempting one, as James happily hung up the phone and awaited the gift he had been promised by his best friend. A moment passed as a text notification popped up at the top, and it could only be one thing. Immediately James started to blush in the dark, without even seeing the image yet. Opening the conversation, he was greeted with the photo of the girl looking back at him.

However, it wasn't what James had expected since it started at her shoulders and ended at the top of her head. Her hair was soaked, and there was evidence of a towel wrapped around herself to cover up the little bit of her chest that was actually visible. James could only laugh to himself now, unsure of what he initially expected her to send him but she did indeed deliver. Giving it one last glance he then called her back. Again it rang a few times before she inevitably picked up and James couldn't help but blush.