Chapter 10: Forgive Me?

How will Faith and Steve clear up the misunderstanding?

Recap:

Faith’s POV:

                “You’re the biggest jerk there is,” I yelled at him. I wiped the tears that were clouding my eyes. “You’re the one who should be explaining right now. Princess saw you and Vanessa kissing and suggested that maybe you were cheating on me, but I dismissed the thought because I trusted you! At least I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to talk to you first before I believe anything,” I paused for a while. “So is it true?” my voice was quivering. It scared me to hear his answer.

                My tears kept on flowing while I waited for his answer. But when a full minute passed and I didn’t hear a reply, I stood up and walked away from the person whom I’ve come to love �" leaving half of my heart with him.

 

Chapter 10: Forgive me?

 

BEFOREbreakup

 

Steve’s POV:

                “Steve! You have a visitor!” dad shouted from downstairs. It was a Saturday night but I chose to lock myself in my room instead of hanging out with my friends or Faith which I usually do.

                “Tell him to go to hell!” I shouted back. I knew it was David because he texted me a while ago that he’ll come. My dad must have told him to go to my room since I heard footsteps coming my way.

                “We need to talk. I’ll explain everything,” he yelled while knocking at my door. The music inside my room was drowning his voice. When I didn’t bother responding, he continued. “Open this damn door or I swear I’ll take her away from you,” he threatened me. That did it. I was fuming mad that once I opened the door, I swung my right arm and my fist landed on his left cheek. It was a good thing, or not, that my dad was behind him so he caught David before he even stumbled on the floor. Dad made him stand up so I clenched my fist, ready to attack once again. I’ll never get enough of this, I told myself. But when I was about to throw another punch, my dad grabbed my arm and yanked me towards him.

                “He is your best friend for God’s sake,” he said exasperated.

                “He was,” I hissed.

                “Calm down and talk this out with him peacefully,” his voice was full of authority, totally ignoring my comment. “Act like a grown man, son,” he added.

                I didn’t try to give him a comeback because deep inside me, I knew he was right. I decided to control my anger knowing that I wouldn’t get anything from beating David up and we won’t go anywhere. Wow, for once in my life, I actually listened to my dad.

                I went inside my room again and left the door open. My dad might have sensed that I was already calm and that I wanted to talk to David alone because he excused himself. David followed me inside my room and closed the door behind him.

                “I heard what happened from Julian and Princess. You’re an idiot,” he broke the silence.

                “Yeah. It was very idiotic of me to have even trusted you both,” I countered.

                “Really Steve? You trusted us? You don’t even know what that word means,” he scoffed.

                “Yes, I did, David, but you just broke it,” I told him bitterly, but he just sighed.

                “Look, I came here only to do my part and not argue with you. So listen to me, and listen good. Also, let me finish first before you comment on anything, and if in the end you still won’t believe me, then that’s not my problem anymore,” he warned me. I chose not to reply, so he took it as a signal to start explaining. He narrated every single thing that happened that Friday morning, and as his story progressed, I couldn’t help but notice that it all made sense. But I kept my mouth shut not wanting to give him the satisfaction that he snapped me out of my stupidity. After all, I was still mad at him for not telling me much earlier.

                When he was done with the story, he still kept talking so I didn’t have a chance to voice out what I was thinking, which was exactly what I wanted. “I’m your best friend, man. I would never do anything that would mean betraying you. But if you keep acting like a dumbass, then I’d surely steal her away from you. You’ve hurt her more than enough. Oh, and let me remind you, relationships involve trusting Steve. You should have known that when you decided to cross the line. Think about it.” And with that, he left. Part of me was glad that he didn’t bother hearing my side. Maybe he did sense my uncertainty, and so he chose to let me be.

                Throughout that weekend, all I did was think about her and about what I should I do. Surely, I was the one in the wrong. I cursed myself whenever I remembered the things that I said to her in the park.  She must be hating on me now, I told myself. By Sunday afternoon, I finally admitted to myself that I missed her. I missed her so badly that I was tempted so many times to just go to her, apologize and hold her in my arms for hours. But I knew that she needed her space, that she also needed time to reevaluate her feelings. I just hoped that when Monday comes, it wouldn’t be too late.

                When Monday finally arrived, I woke up early so that I could still have time to look for the person who could help me fulfill my plan for that day. When I arrived at school, the hallways were still deserted. It actually felt weird and creepy. I instantly searched for him and when I did find him, I told him my plan. At first he hesitated since he knew that we’d be breaking some of the school’s regulations, but I assured him that I would take all the blame and in the end, he said yes. All that was left to do was wait for the right time.

 

Faith’s POV:

Kriiiiiing!

                “Finally,” I whispered to myself. That was actually one of the rare instances when I am glad that one of my classes is over. Yeah, I know. I’m such a nerd. I sighed. I was really having a bad day. It started when I entered the gates of my school. Muffled whispers instantly covered the campus. What’s more was that they didn’t even try hiding the fact that they were talking about me since they were giving me meaningful sideway glances. Another thing that pissed me off was that even though Steve and I had an eye contact when he entered the room, he just dodged my gaze and quickly shifted his eyes away from me. I was absolutely aware that we were in the middle of the famous ‘lovers’ quarrel’ (since we didn’t officially end our relationship) and a very serious one at that, but I still silently hoped that he would at least make an effort to reconcile with me.

                I spent the whole weekend doing nothing but think of him. And every time I did, I usually ended up crying myself to sleep. When I felt very emotionally exhausted and didn’t want to cry any much longer, I called Princess to cheer me up because she’s the one who always knows how to make me laugh. She just talked animatedly about how things were going with Julian. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the topic not because I didn’t care about them because believe me, I do and I’m very happy for them, but because it made me so freaking jealous. I really wished things were back to normal. After about an hour of her gushing about how cute Julian was, she finally ran out of things to say. But before we hung up, she advised me to literally slap myself whenever I think of calling him. She explained that it would help me snap out of my delusions and remember that he cheated on me. I reminded myself that it wouldn’t be too long before there’ll no longer be us, and it broke my heart just thinking about it.

                Princess turned towards me. “It’s lunch time and before you decline, may I remind you that as much as you hate the stupid stares from our stupid schoolmates, we have to eat because we have gym this afternoon,” she told me pointedly. The look on her face meant that I had no choice so I just nodded. Also, I wasn’t going to say no since I was dead hungry. I wasn’t in the mood to eat anything during breakfast so now my stomach is rumbling. Ugh, I should have just forced myself to eat breakfast so that in return, I could skip lunch. Well, guess what Genius? You’re way too late.

                Princess stood up and moved in front me, offering her hand. I took it and she pulled me up easily. She then linked her arm across mine and pulled me with her as she walked briskly towards the cafeteria. Once we were there, we looked for an isolated table so that I wouldn’t catch any needless attention. Julian wasn’t with us because he told us that he had something to do while David was doing exactly what he told me last Friday.

I sneakily scanned the place for a familiar face when a very loud sound made me jump in my seat. It definitely came from the speakers which were strategically placed all over the school. These are only used when the student council’s Public Information Officer has important announcements to make. The regular noise inside the cafeteria immediately died down when Jack, our school’s P.I.O., started talking.

“Hello everyone. This may surprise you but today, I don’t bring any announcements,” he talked slowly as if he was still hesitating whether or not he should do it. Well, I couldn’t blame him. Our broadcast control room was strictly made for these announcements. It was clearly written in our student handbook which I have read twice before I entered this school, freshman year. Whispers started to take over the place again. Some people were hushing on the others, their faces full of curiosity. When Jack finally continued after a long pause, everybody shut their mouths up.

“A friend of mine has asked for a favor, and so he’s here today to… try to get someone back,” he pronounced the last few words slowly as if he was reading from a script. The crowd responded with a lot of “aaaw’s” and giggles. Amused, I shook my head at them with a pleased smile on my face. I couldn’t help but think that the person behind this is crazy for even pulling this stunt. “Please lend him your ears, especially ‘you.’ So here he is… ‘The biggest jerk there is.’” My heart started hammering so loud as soon as I heard the exact words that I used to describe him. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. Please let it be someone else. Please? I closed my eyes as I silently prayed that it would be another crazy person, not Steve, but my eyes immediately flew open in horror when I heard the voice that I dreaded to hear the most at that time.

“Hi everyone,” his British accent surprised all of us.

“Oh my God, it’s Steve,” a blonde girl proudly screamed as if she was the only who got it.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed your lunch time, but I really have something to say to this girl who once called me the biggest jerk there is. You know what? You’re totally right.” And with that, loud music started to play. Oh please no. He once told me that he really couldn’t sing. And believe me when I say that it’s completely true. It’s not just false humility. I heard him once while he was singing along to the music of Bruno Mars when we were on his car and he thought I was asleep. He was totally off-key and his voice cracked at some points. It was really hard for me at that time to suppress my laugh.

“This is Sorry by Buckcherry, right?” I heard a geeky voice ask someone behind me.

“Yeah. I totally love this song,” a girly voice responded.

“Oh my. This will be the first time I’m gonna hear Steve sing!” the blonde girl from a while ago exclaimed. This was then followed by cheers from her posse.

But everybody laughed their heads off when Steve started. I sighed in relief initially, but later bit on my lower lip to stop myself from laughing. Apparently, Steve found another way to embarrass himself but to a lesser extent. What he did was he recited every line of the song as if it was a poem. Well, I should give him credit for his very good timing.

Oh I had a lot to say, was thinking on my time away
I missed you and things weren't the same

Cause everything inside, it never comes out right
And when I see you cry it makes me want to die

I'm sorry I'm bad,

I'm sorry you're blue,

I'm sorry about all things I said to you
And I know I can't take it back
I love how you kiss,

I love all your sounds,

And baby the way you make my world go round
And I just wanted to say I'm sorry:

This time I think I'm to blame, it's harder to get through the days
You get older and blame turns to shame

Every single day I think about how we came all this way
The sleepless nights and the tears you cried, it's never too late to make it right
Oh yeah sorry!

The lyrics, oh I mean the lines, tugged my heartstrings. And not only that, the way he delivered it with all seriousness even though what he did was absolutely hilarious was very heartwarming. He uttered each word as if he meant it. It brought tears in my eyes, that when he was finally done, Princess handed me her handkerchief. I took it, wiped my tears and smiled at her gratefully. She just responded with a teasing smile on her face.

“I’m really sorry Faith,” he continued. I blushed hard when I realized that he finally said my name. People turned their heads towards me. Some smiled while most of the girls glared at me. “I was an *sshole last Saturday and I’m not proud of it.” I saw Mr. Wilkins on the corner of my eye stand up not looking happy with Steve’s choice of words. “The old me would have been, but you’ve changed me into someone that I thought I could never be. I know that you hate me to death right now, but please let me make it up to you. If you’re still willing to listen to me, I’d like to meet you same place… uhm, after classes because I’m positive that I would be suspended for the rest of the day,” his voice was so sincere that my heart felt full.

“You bet Mr. Grant,” Mr. Wilkins commented loudly. A series of different kinds of laughter followed. I didn’t bother hiding the genuine smile that crept on my face.

I wasn’t able to see Steve for the rest of the afternoon so he must really have been suspended. The thought of meeting him later made me giddy but scared at the same time. The feeling of fear stemmed from the fact that we still have to talk about David and of course, Vanessa. He didn’t really say yes to cheating on me, but that was the message that came across when he didn’t say anything after I asked him. I just hoped that we could work things out before we even lose our patience and snap at each other.

After our last class was done, I hurriedly picked up my bag and went straight to Princess who was already standing at the doorway. I still couldn’t believe how fast she moves. There have been a lot of times already when I seriously thought she’s the female version of Flash. Vivian picked us up again but instead of dropping me home, I told her to just drive me to the park where I was supposed to meet Steve. When we arrived there, Princess wished me luck and I immediately got out of the car and waved goodbye to them. I instantaneously acquired the same feeling that I experienced last Saturday when I saw the same figure sitting exactly on the same spot.

I approached him from the back, my heart standing still, afraid that it’ll just happen all over again. However, once he heard dry grass crunching as I took another step towards him, he stood up and turned towards me with a boyish but worried smile on his face.

“Hey,” he said awkwardly.

“Hi,” I nervously smiled.

“I’m really glad you came,” he smiled genuinely.

“Well, after what you did I just couldn’t find the heart to say no,” I said slowly while scratching the left side of my head. I sometimes do it when I feel embarrassed. He reached for my left hand, and I blushed at the electrifying contact. Geez, hormones. He held it with his and stared into my eyes. I fought hard not to giggle like a little girl. He always has that effect on me. I tend to go hoity-toity even with just one eye contact.

“I’m really sorry, Faith,” he interrupted my girly delusions. “If only I could turn back time, I definitely would. I want to erase those hurtful words that I said to you. David already told me everything that happened, and I now believe that for our relationship to work, we should learn how to trust each other. You played your part but I didn’t.” A tear fell from his eyes. I instinctively reached out for it with my right hand and wiped it away. But before I could pull it away, he caught it with his right hand and placed it on his cheek. I felt tingles everywhere when he kissed my palm. Tears were also starting to pour out of my eyes. “Please forgive me?” he pleaded.

I fought the urge to say yes because I knew we still had something to talk about. The one thing that I dreaded the most. “What about Vanessa?” I pulled my hands away from his grasp.

“The kiss… It was a mistake. She kissed me but I didn’t pull back because I wanted to know what was happening to me,” he struggled to find the right words.

“What do you mean?” I urged him even though my heart was badly hurting.

“That night I was really confused. I realized that something has changed within me, but I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t like the feeling. I wanted to know what I would feel if I kissed another girl other than my girlfriend. I know this sounds stupid, but I got really scared. I thought I would feel satisfaction just like old times, but all I felt was disgust. Please believe me. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really, really like you and it would pain me if we’re just going to end like this,” he mumbled rapidly.

My heart felt like it was torn apart when he told me that he really liked me. Right, of course he didn’t love me. Another tear fell from my eyes. But even so, all I could think of was having him back. It didn’t matter how stupid he sounded because all I heard was the sincerity in his voice. It didn’t matter how martyr I looked at that time. All I wanted was to be in his arms again. So I crossed the remaining distance between us, wiped his lips with my arm repeatedly as if trying to erase the remnants of Vanessa’s kiss, and kissed his reddening lips. He immediately cupped my face and kissed me back while trying to wipe away the tears that were still trickling on my cheeks. After a while, he broke the kiss to look me in the eyes.

“That’s you trying to say you forgive me, right?” he whispered. I just smiled teasingly and again kissed him. I just couldn’t get enough of him. And when we were out of breath, he pulled his head back, bit his lip and muttered “Good answer.”  But before I could respond, he continued. “Wait, what happened to your right cheek? It looks swollen and painful,” his face was full of worry.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I smiled.

Author's Note

I'm sorry if this chapter is much longer than the normal. It's just that I didn't want to add another chapter because the story might be dragging by then. So what did you think happened to Faith's cheek? Haha. But on a more serious note, what did you think of this chapter? Still interesting? Loved it? Hated it? Just say it straight, oh I just can't wait. :))))

Reviews

[Lonnie Paul Johnson]

another good chapter, I like the interaction with David and Steve and the singing over the speakers embarrassing Faith is a nice touch

[No name]

Okay first off LOVED IT! It was a a good story and I still really like Steve. Secondly I love Buckcherry and that song !

[Emily Weaver]

Steve is the sweetest person! I hope I find a guy like him! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS STORY!!!

[SwagMaster]

Soooooo cuuuuuute!!!!!!!

[Gene Hiccup]

gosh!!!! i cant help myself but giggle through out this chapter!!!!! ur reallly good!!!! keep it up!!!!

[Bridget Murphy]

loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved it. Ill be reading it again a hole lot more.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!