From: Your Secret Admirer

Chapter Eight

For Shaira -- i always admire your passion for writing :)

***

Saturday night rolled and I finally agreed to join Luke in their gig at a local resto-bar in the city. Mer and Ryan accompanied me, along with Mer's current boyfriend and Olivia. I had a feeling Mer and Ryan brought their dates with them so I would be force to stay with Luke so I wouldn't feel like a third wheel. Friends, tsk.

I sang a couple of songs with John. Iris, originally sang by Goo goo dolls, was one of them. Then I had my solo performance --I sang Terrified by Katharine McPhee with Luke playing the acoustic guitar. We were a great team, I tell you.

I was kind of savouring the moment. It felt good to be on stage and just sing without caring what other people might say. I never knew I had this confidence in me. I saw Ryan smiling while chanting "more!" along with the rest. So I sang another one --I did my own rendition of Red by Taylor Swift and we really rocked the stage. I never knew there were so may Swiftie in the crowd.

After that, Luke and I joined their tables. And it was fun, actually, to be on a real group date. It was my first time to be with a guy on date. I know, I know. My life was so lame before. I guess giving love a chance was alright. So far, the curse hadn't worked its magic yet on me.

When it was time for us to go, Luke offered to drive me home. And boy Mer was just too eager to get rid of me, telling my date "sure Luke. Kyla would love to."

"So, did you have fun tonight?" Luke finally asked me when he pulled the car in front of our gate.

I gave him a warm smile. "Yes, I did. Thanks for this awesome evening."

I wasn't sure if it was time for me to get out of the car or if I should stay awhile. He certainly didn't make a move or indicated for me to stay a bit longer in his car. When I was about to open the door of his car, I heard him say, "Kyla, I was just wondering. You seemed to be close with Ryan. Is he... is there anything going on between the two of you? I mean, the way he talks about you earlier it's as if he was your boyfriend."

I couldn't help my giggles from escaping. "No, Ryan and I have known each other since we were born. Our moms are best friends. It's funny, really, because our moms decided to deliver their babies on the same date. You see, Ryan's birthday and mine falls on Valentine's Day."

"You must be really close with him."

"Yes, you could say that. Before I met Mer in high school, it was just Ry and me." Remembering all those times I spent growing up with Ryan made me smile. I remembered him picking a fight with Mark back in elementary because obnoxious Mark made me cry. I also remembered sitting beside him on the floor inside his room, with our backs leaning on the wall, when Amanda had broken up with him. We were just silent, the two of us. But I knew Ryan had appreciated my presence as he stared ahead of him.

"I see," I heard Luke said, cutting my train of thoughts. "And the girl he was with earlier --Olivia, right? --is she his girlfriend?"

"Not yet. But they're getting there."

I saw Luke sighing out loud. Was he relieved to know that Ryan was not going to be an obstacle with his plans of (would I even dare say it) courting me?

It felt kind of flattering, to be honest.

We ended our night without a kiss. Maybe he was being a gentleman because he hadn't made his intentions known yet. And frankly, I wasn't ready for my first kiss yet, so it was okay.

***

"So, how did it go with Luke last night?" Mer asked me the following morning when she visited me in my house.

"Nothing. Nothing happened," I told her honestly. "He just asked me a bunch of stuff about Ry."

"Aha! I knew it! He felt threatened with your relationship with Ryan. I felt it last night when he was looking at you two laughing and slapping each other's shoulders. I mean, why would you even do that? You were on a date with Luke but you acted as if Ryan was your date."

Did I act like that last night? I wasn't really aware of it. "But Ryan and I are always like that."

"Yes, I know," Mer said. "But other guys might give it a wrong interpretation. And I guess Luke was one of those guys. I will have to talk to Ryan about it. Just until we figure out who Mystery Man is."

"Fine," I gave in. "You're the love expert."

Mer got hungry so we headed outside to buy her favorite fried bananas. As we were waiting for the vendor to give us our change, the bane in my life suddenly came strutting along with his friends.

I tried to hide behind Mer, only either I was too big and Mer was too thin, or Mark just had an internal antenna and he could detect my presence if I was within his radius of frequency.

"Hey Dumbo!" he shouted.

I tried to pretend I didn't hear him, or see him.

"Dumbo, I know you already saw me."

Great. "What do you want?" I asked throwing him a glare.

He excused himself from his friends and approached me. "You haven't replied to my text since the other day."

"All you said was 'hey, Dumbo,' 'wazzup, Dumbo?' 'quit being stupid, Dumbo.' Now why would I reply to that?"

"All right. If I'll stop calling you Dumbo, will you reply to my texts?"

"If you'll quite being such a pain, I might reconsider replying to your text."

"I saw you the other night singing at the bar. You were really good."

Wait, what? He was there? "Really? Or is it just one of your jokes that I can't recognize as a joke?"

He chuckled. Chuckled! And it sounded cute. Darn. Mark and Cute were two contradicting words. "No. I mean it this time."

"Uh-huh," I said, still sounding doubtful. "Are you running with fever? Did you skip any of your anti-psych meds today? You're definitely not yourself lately."

He chuckled again. Again! "No, I'm feeling great, as a matter of fact. Anyway, I'll text you after our soccer practice. See you around!"

After he joined his friends, it was the only time I realized Mer was with me, and she had this suspicious look on her face.

"So," she said, "Mark texted you and was waiting for your reply."

"It was just nothing, Mer," I answered.

She rolled her eyes. "You are the queen of denials, really you are. I can sense Mark has developed certain feelings for you, one that does not involve you as his childhood mortal enemy."

"No. Please don't say that. We are bound to hate each other forever. Please don't ruin those happy childhood memories of me kicking him in his groin."

"I'll have to write his name on our list of candidates for our Mystery Man."

Here we go again.