Emily - June

I took a sip of iced cold soda, willing the drink to cool down my body after being baked in this unusually hot summer. Leaning forward in my seat, I scanned the dispersing crowd on the field, looking for the face that could make me smile every time I see it. But from this far away on the bleachers, it was hard to make out the faces of the footballers below, even when I squinted. After a few more seconds of fruitless searching, I growled in resignation and blew bubbles into my soda instead.

"Just get down to the field and look for him," Rachel suggested matter-of-factly and started mimicking me with the bubble blowing action.

Worried, I turned to look at her. "But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Ben's going to be there too, you know," I said and pursed my lips, hoping the mention of his name wouldn't force tears out of her like how it did two months ago.

Rachel's eyes dimmed down and darted away from mine. A moment later, she pulled out her phone—which was now free from any dust plug charms. She used to have one that was a kitten from Ben, but after they gone their separate ways, she took it off—from her backpack and waved it in front of my face. "Who says I'm going with you? I'll be waiting here. Just make sure you come back before I run out of funny videos to scroll on Instagram."

My eyes lingered on her for a little while, trying to pick up any signs of the sadness inside her. 

She looked up from her phone, scrunching her eyebrows when she saw me still standing there. "What are you waiting for? Go," she forced a smile. "I'm fine, Em. Really."

For the past week, the mention of his name stopped triggering tears from her. Instead, she began to put on a bright smile like she always did. Except for this time, her eyes weren't smiling too. And her face didn't seem to glow with joy.

I knew she was trying hard to look like the breakup didn't affect her. At least not anymore. But from her stiff shoulders, I knew the cracks were still wide open in her fairy tale love story.

Ben was her first love, after all. The first are always hard to forget

"Okay," I said and started making my way to the field, glancing back at her when I reached the end of the bleachers.

"Hey, babe," a voice called and I felt a light peck on my left cheek.

I spun around and saw Finn—the boy who had been living in my heart for the past six months—was already standing by my side, smiling cheerily. He swung an arm over my shoulders as he bent down and started sipping on my soda.

"Hey, that's mine!" I complained but didn't pull the drink away from him. "You have to pay for that, mister."

He took a few more sips from the straw before giving me an exaggerated frown. "But it's so hot today," he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand as if to prove it. "Can't I have a few free sips of soda as a reward for winning the game?"

"What? Did you think you can get away with drinking my soda just because you got a few points for your team?" I jokingly scolded him. 

"Umm..." he gave it a thought before shrugging. "Maybe," he grinned, leaning down to take another sip. Before his lips could touch the straw, I pulled the cup away, hiding the soda behind my back. Instead of overly sweet soda, he sipped the air, making him look like he was trying to kiss the air. 

"Oh, you think that's funny?" He asked once I started laughing.

I nodded, still trying to suppress the next round of laughter but failed miserably.

"Oh, come on," he said and snatched the cup from my hand, holding it high above me where I couldn't reach.

Surprised by the sudden turn of event, I frown. "Hey, give it back to me," I said, jumping and stretching my arms up to get it back. But he was too tall for me. All I could do was merely brushing the base of the cup with my fingers.

This time, he was the one laughing. He put his free hand on my shoulder, gently but firmly pressing me down, preventing me from jumping. I stopped, narrowing my eyes at him with my arms crossed in front of my chest.

"What? You want your drink back?" He teased, moving closer to me with a smirk on his face. "Give me a kiss and I'll give it back to you."

"A kiss for an almost empty cup of soda?" I rolled my eyes at him, trying to keep a straight face. But, he was puckering his lips while doing the eyebrow dance. That always made me laugh no matter how foul my day was.

From the distant, I heard a chant going on and shifted my gaze to the group of people behind Finn.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" It was Finn's teammates.

They were all clapping their hands in unison along with their chant. Everyone except the boy with a blond spiky fringe—Ben. That jerk. He was standing behind everyone, looking at the bleachers. I followed his gaze and found Rachel. Why was he staring at her?  A few seconds later, he clapped his hands absentmindedly, joining his teammates with the ongoing chant. But the moment he turned his head and noticed who they were chanting for, he instantly looked away, eyeing at something on the ground instead.

"Well?" Finn asked, lifting his hand away from my shoulder to the curtain of curly ginger hair I owned. He took the strands that were blown to my face and tucked them behind my ears. It obediently stayed behind my ears until a gust of wind came, blowing it into my face again.

One day, I'm going to straighten this huge curly hair of mine, so it stays put when it's tucked behind my ear.

Irritated, I swept the hair out of my face and returned my attention to him, not sure whether to agree or not.

"Come on, you don't want to embarrass me, right?" He asked, his mouth pouting a little as he stared at me with his cinnamon brown eyes, making my heart pound faster.

Truth be told, I wouldn't mind a kiss. It had always made me smile whenever we kissed. There was something special about it, like his kiss was a remedy to all my worries. But to kiss when Rachel was around, I wasn't comfortable with that, not when she was still upset about the breakup. Maybe I was just being too sensitive. Rachel wouldn't mind seeing me getting all lovey-dovey with Finn, I was sure about that. But at the same time, it felt like a betrayal, like I stayed in my blissful fairy tale love story while she was thrown into the creepy forest all alone.

I let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, but can we skip it?"

"What's wrong?" He asked after a short pause, confusion appeared on his face, maybe it was because I didn't usually reject him. Then, he gave a quick glance over the bleachers and noticed Rachel. "Oh, it's Rachel, right?"

I nodded.

He sighed. "I don't know why you think we have to be so careful around her, babe. Us not showing affection to each other when she's around wouldn't make the pain go away either. But if you think it helps, even if it's just a little, then okay," he smiled, handing the soda back and tucked my hair back. But it bounced right back from my ears again. We both laughed.

"Okay, guys," he turned around, shouting over the cheers of his teammates. "This isn't a TV show. Cut it off!"

Boos and disappointed sighs were made and Finn covered his ears with his hands. He shouted "Hello?" to no one in particular, acting like he heard nothing and stuck out a tongue at them. I burst out laughing as I watched. He always looked funny when he did that.

"Did I tell you that your laugh is sweet as honey?" He chuckled when he heard me laughing.

"I don't remember, but I do hope there aren't any bees around," I joked. Taking his hand, I started rubbing my thumb in a circular motion on it. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For understanding."

"Silly Em," he shook his head with another chuckle.

I could feel his body temperature radiating off him as he leant closer. My heart melted as his tender lips made contact with my forehead. I closed my eyes. They were gentle and warm against my skin. They lingered for a moment or two before leaving me. When I reopened my eyes, his dimpled smile was already on display. 

"Uh, sorry to be a party-pooper," one of the boys in the football team announced. "But coach said to be at Stop N Dine in like—"he paused and took a look at his watch, "—fifteen minutes or he'll fry our butt during the next practice."

Finn groaned. "One minute," he called back and focused his gaze back on me, his expression suddenly solemn. "I'm really sorry for what happened between Ben and Rachel. Even though I'm friends with Ben, I don't agree with what he did. The way he broke it off like that...it was really unprofessional," he sighed and gave a quick glance at Rachel. "I hope she feels better soon." 

"She will," I said, turning around to face the bleachers. Rachel was looking up from her phone at the same time, waving at me when we made eye contact. I waved back and smiled. "I know she will. I just hope it's soon."

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Little note:

So here you go, the very first chapter of the story. What do you think about it? And for those who read the previous version of the story, what do you think about the rewritten version, a.k.a. this?

Do leave me your thoughts in the comments below, I appreciate your feedback. And if you like the story, maybe hit that star too? :P Thanks again for dropping by and giving this story a chance!

Added note:

And to NBR members, thank you so much for your time on the reviews/critics, I really appreciate your help and am looking forward to improving my writing(in a whole, not just for this chapter) with all your suggestions. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as all the other stories that had been/are getting spotlighted! :)