Disclaimer : I don't own anything unless it's something you don't recognize something, but even then it might not be mine lol.
Chapter 1
You know I always thought I had the best friends in the world. The best boyfriend, the best, best friend, the best 'brothers'. I couldn't have been more wrong. You know it only takes the smallest thing to make you realize how wrong you were.
Flashback
I was 19 years old at the time, finishing my first year of college. I had gone to New York state University with my fellow ducks. I know neither me or Julie had been able to stay on the same team as the boys, but we had counted ourselves lucky that we had managed to go to the same university. We still continued to stay a close knit group though and everything we did involved at least 1 more of us.
I had been dating Guy on and off since I was 10 years old, and though we'd had a huge break when we were 15, we got back together, and I couldn't have been more serious about him. He was my soul mate, or so I told myself. I didn't spend every waking minute with him though, we tried to lead our own lives too, but we found it a bit difficult at times as we both had the same best friends.
Neither me or Julie played hockey for college, I had tried to, but it felt too weird not playing with the ducks, and there wasn't much point in it, it wouldn't give me a career, there were no professional teams for girls. Julie had agreed and we both quit, though we still played regularly with the guys, and every so often their coach allowed us to join in on their practice.
"So do you fancy doing anything this afternoon, while the guys are at practice"? I asked Julie as we walked sedately through the corridors to our next class.
"Huh, what"? Julie said, suddenly realizing I was talking to her. She had been spacing out like this a lot these past few days.
"I said do you want to do something tonight, while the guys are in practice"? I asked.
"Um, yeah sure". She replied, just as I saw Guy heading toward us.
He walked straight past us, staring into space, as he went. Nothing registering with him, not even me calling his name. Feeling a bit annoyed by his strange behaviour, I continued walking with Julie, feeling anger rise in me.
"What is it with everyone lately? You're all like zombies". I commented to Julie, but as I turned to her, she was star gazing again, though this time in the direction of Guy. "Who the hell are you looking at"? I asked, feeling very defensive.
"Oh um, Ben Dover". She replied, and picked the pace of our walk up.
Now I knew something suspicious was happening. Ben Dover definitely wasn't someone Julie would gaze after. Though their parents social standard suited each other, Ben was the type of guy who dated girls for about a week, before dropping them like a bad habit. He threw his money around and would never dream of taking a date to the cinema, it always had to be a posh restaurant. Now I know that sounds quite romantic, but imagine doing that for every single date. Plus when you went to nice places like that you couldn't be yourself. Now I know Julie's parents were upper crust, but Julie definitely wasn't.
At lunch time, I entered the cafeteria with Fulton and Adam. All the ducks were sat around our usual table. Non of them seemed to notice our arrival, but I don't think I would have noticed that much, had Julie and Guy not jumped a mile apart when I sat next to Guy. The two had been sat across from one another, talking animatedly, but as soon as my presence was known, Julie got up and pretended to go and buy some lunch, returning and sitting at the far end of the table. I was really starting to get suspicious now, especially since Guy had become silent, only pecking me gently on the cheek in greeting, as though I was his grandmother or something.
At the end of lunch, I got a similar response from him, and no response from Julie at all when I told her I'd see her after class. I knew something was going on, why else would they jump apart on seeing me, be staring off into space most of the time. I began thinking of excuses to explain their weird behaviour. Finally I came to he conclusion they were planning something, but what? A surprise birthday party? No, my birthday wasn't for another 6 months. There wasn't any special anniversaries coming up, so it wasn't that. So what could it be? Then it hit me, maybe Guy was wanting Julie's help picking out a gift, jewellery perhaps, or maybe even a ring. My mind went into overdrive and I had somehow convinced myself Guy was going to propose. I didn't concentrate for the rest of the afternoon, practicing in my mind how I was going to react. I knew I had to keep this to myself, if he was going to so much trouble to keep it a secret, then so should I.
By the end of the afternoon, I felt as though I was walking on cloud 9. I met Julie back in our dorm at the end of classes. She was a little more with it, but I now wasn't. I quickly snapped out of it though, realizing Julie could read me like a book. I began acting semi normal, and even managed to watch a film in peace. Though bang on 5 o'clock, the ducks barged into our room, definitely making their presence be known. Again did I notice Guy and Julie kept their distance, and Guy hardly even looked my way.
"Whose up for Pizza"? Portman hollered over the gentle chit chatting we were all making.
"I am". I shouted back, feeling my stomach grumble as I did. Everyone bar Julie, Guy and Luis agreed. Luis had a date, but Julie and Guy didn't give any excuse. "Why aren't you two coming"? I asked as I grabbed a jacket and the others wandered out.
"I've told Josey from down the hall I'd help her with her English". Julie almost stuttered, I accepted her response, knowing it was probably true.
"Guy"? I looked at him.
"I've got a bit of a headache coming on, I think Portman might have checked me one too many times". He muttered, and headed for the door.
"You want me to stay with you"? I asked.
"No, no its' ok, you go and have fun". He answered, almost a little too fast.
"Ok, um I'll see you later". I told him. He leant forward and gave me the tiniest kiss possible, before dashing to the confines of his dorm room.
I said bye to Julie, promising to bring a few slices back for her. Strangely enough, I didn't feel weird about being the only girl going out with 10 guys, it was actually quite comforting. We had the same arguments about who wanted what on the pizza, well that was until the waitress said that she'd do us a plain marguerita and bring different toppings so we could put them on ourselves. It was a good job we were regular visitors. After the pizza, I continued keeping my record on the air hockey table, even Banks couldn't beat me. By the time we left, the sky was turning dusk, and we were as loud as ever. We decided to go to the pictures and throw popcorn at the couples sat in front on a date. We can't have been in there more than half an hour before the ushers were kicking us out, needless to say we didn't get a refund. We headed back to the guys dorm suite, where we were planning on watching a film. I started to make some popcorn while Ken went to fetch Guy. He returned with no Guy. I wasn't worried, he was his own person, I didn't need to keep tabs on him.
"He's probably gone to get some fresh air". Adam explained, though I don't know who he was trying to convince.
"Probably". I said light heartedly. "Um, I'll go get Julie". I passed the popcorn to Dwayne and headed down the stairs onto our floor. "Julie, the"... I stopped dead when I entered our room, to find her and Guy sat on my bed.
"Guy's been waiting for you". Julie quickly explained, as she stood up.
"Why, you knew I was out with the guys"?
"I thought you'd have been back by now". He excused himself. There was just something about his excuse that got me thinking.
"Well, um, we're just about to watch a film. You coming"? I put any other thoughts to the back of my mind.
"Um, yeah". Guy began following me.
"Julie"? She was acting rather strange.
"Oh, yeah". She wandered slowly after us.
There was something weird going on, but I wasn't quite sure what it was. To say he was just planning on proposing, there was an awful lot of thought and planning going into it. And why was Julie so involved in it. Then I realized that maybe he was asking her advice on what ring to buy, or how exactly he was to propose as no-one was closer to me than Julie was other than Charlie, but he didn't have any real advice about girls. Yeah, that had to be it. I was just reading too much into it. Guy was just trying to make it as big a surprise as possible.
A few days later, their strange behaviour persisted, but now I thought I knew what was going on, I tried to ignore it. It was only one night, after I finished work at the café I worked at, that it was something a little deeper. Guy would normally meet me after work to walk me home, but he hadn't turned up. I'd been working there nearly a year and in all that time, he'd never once forgotten to meet me. What was going on with him???
So what is it??? PLEASE R&R!!!!
