The life of an introvert, chp#7

"You don't like Taylor Swift?" Rachel asked Jared once they were seated in the car.

"You know her?" Jared asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I do know that she dated Harry Styles once."

"You know Harry Styles,too?"

"Well, of course I do. Everyone knows him."

"Woah. You know a lot more than you let on."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. I wouldn't have guessed you knew either of them."

"Because I don't."

"Huh?"

"I heard someone in school talking about the two of them. I don't really know who they are."

Jared burst out laughing. Rachel punched him lightly on his arm.
"Don't laugh at me! It's rude." Rachel told him.

"I'm so sorry but you are just so adorable sometimes, it cracks me up."

Rachel rolled her eyes at that. Jared drove as Rachel guided him about the way to her house and he told her about Taylor Swift and Harry styles too.
Then all of a sudden, Rachel asked Jared, " Hey, I just realised, I didn't see your parents at your house."

"That's because they are off to a business trip. They're never here much."

"That's sad."

"Actually, no. It's sad when they are around. We tend to enjoy more without them."

"They were this busy even in your childhood?"

"Yeah. It has always been like that."

"Then who brought you up?"

"My mom's cousin, Aunt Helen."

"Where is she now?"

"The Heavens. It could be Hell too, considering the number of times Fiona and I cursed her for making us drink milk."

"So you guys just have yourselves?

"No, we have you too." Jared said, smiling as the car pulled to a stop near Rachel's house.

Rachel got out. Jared pulled his window down and asked:

"You aren't going to be in trouble for going home so late?" Jared asked.

"No. My Mom's actually going to be happy that I've been 'socialising'."

Jared smiled at that and said his goodbye.
When Rachel laid down on her bed to go to sleep, she realised that never in her life before had she felt so content and so complete.
She couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow.
_______________________________________
With Fiona and Jared, Rachel had a blast the next day in school. She even got to meet Timmy!

Well not exactly meet, she just saw him from a distance when school was over and he was not a pretty sight. Just a short-heighted guy with matted hazel brown hair and these huge nerdy glasses. She didn't even realize that she had her face scrunched up in disgust, until she heard someone whisper in her ear, "Yeah, I know he's ugly."

Rachel almost jumped. "Oh, Jared! You scared the life out of me."

He grinned at that and said, "So, ready to go to Starbucks?"

"Let me just get my notebook."






The two of them ordered themselves gingerbread lattes and started working on their project.

"Before we start, here's something you should know: all I know about Greek gods is from Percy Jackson." Jared said.

"Oh boy." Rachel commented.

Rachel had only just written the heading when Jared stood up from his chair abruptly, pushing away the table and spilling his coffee all over the floor.

"What happened?" Rachel asked, clearly worried.

She then saw what he was looking at. A fair skinned, redheaded teenage girl, who looked about the same age as Jared, with the most beautiful eye colour Rachel had ever seen- pansy blue, was walking hand in hand, with this really handsome six feet tall dude, whose jet black hair fell in his emerald green eyes. From the hurt look on his face, Rachel already knew who the girl was before Jared said:

"Meet my loyal and faithful girlfriend, Anastasia."

"Oh I'm so sorry, Jared. Let's just leave. We could do this at your house."

They packed their things up and were almost out of the coffee shop, when they accidentally bumped into Jared's girlfriend. She still had her fingers intertwined with that guy's. Anastasia's eyes widened when she saw Jared and she immediately let go of that guy's hand. Jared did not want a scene, not at a public place, so he walked out of the coffee shop, pulling Rachel along with him.

The ride back at home was silent. Jared was too pissed off to talk and Rachel couldn't come up with anything to say.

When they reached home, Jared slumped onto the sofa, putting his head in his hands.

Think of something to say, idiot! Rachel thought.

"That guy Anastasia was hanging with. He's the ugliest person I've ever seen."

God, that was so lame. And such a lie. Rachel thought.

"I appreciate that you are trying to console me, but you don't have to lie."

"But I'm not!" Rachel protested.

"Rachel, I'm not in a good mood. Go home. We'll do this project tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine. But I am not gonna leave you."

"Rachel, please. I'm probably gonna say something mean and you are gonna end up crying. I'm in no mood to deal with any of that drama."

Ouch. Rachel thought. Even though she did feel like crying, she knew she had to be brave. For Jared.

"You're the one who's being a cry baby here."

"I AM NOT CRYING FOR THAT BITCH. I'm just...angry"

"Well, how about putting all that adrenaline to good use?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Dance. That's what I do when I'm angry."

"I just saw my girlfriend cheating on me and you want me to...dance?"

"It helps. So does punching pillows, but dancing is better."

"You are crazy."

"Oh come on, Jared."

Rachel picked up Jared's phone from the sofa and started searching through his playlist.

"Ooo, this one looks good."

She connected his phone to the TV's speakers and played "We are never ever getting back together" by Taylor Swift at full volume. She pulled Jared by the arm and started jumping up and down, moving her body to the beat. Soon enough, Jared joined too. Then both of them started dancing around the house, throwing pillows at each other and singing the lyrics to the song at the top of their voices.

The door to the house opened and Fiona entered, "What in the name of-"

"I.....S..AW....ANASTASIA...CHEAT...ING...ON ME!" Jared said, breathless from all the dancing.

"And you are dancing?" Fiona asked, surprised.

"IT...H..ELPS."

"JOI...N..US!" Rachel yelled to Fiona. She was sweating all over and her cheeks were completely red.

Fiona thought for a second and then punched her hand in the air singing"But we are never ever ever getting backing together!" with the two of them.