Chapter 5 – Paul

I made my way to where my car was parked alone today. Kelly was going… somewhere with Debbie, which meant that I was left with my brother. I was sure that fun times were going to be had by all. Especially since he was still upset about what I did yesterday, but I noticed, not upset enough to refuse the money I offered him to stay in his room all last night, when I was with Kelly. Seriously though, you'd think the guy would have quit whining at me by this morning. Hopefully he'd calmed down while he was at school.

To tell the truth, though, I was kind of pleased that I didn't have to give Kelly a lift today. I don't think I should have been, because after I'd dropped Jack off at home, it was the only time we ever really got to be alone together as Kelly never seems to go anywhere without like a million people going with her. I suppose things were better that way, though. I mean, it was only when we went out on a proper date that I realised that she had no personality whatsoever, so you can probably guess how much fun we had. And giving her a ride home wasn't that much better. To put it bluntly, I was getting seriously bored of Kelly.

And the fact that I fancied a girl who she pretty much hated had something to do with it as well, I think.

Just as I was thinking this, I looked up and, to my surprise, found myself looking into the emerald eyes of said enemy of Kelly Prescott.

Suze…

It's weird when you've spent half the day thinking about someone you barely know and have practically nothing to do with and then you suddenly find her waiting by your car just as you're about to go home. Weird in a pleasant sort of way, though because she smiled at me when she noticed that I was looking at her. And for a minute I just sort of stared at her, she had the most beautiful smile... I soon realised, of course, that I was acting like a total idiot, what with all the staring, and I snapped right out of it. "Uh, hi," I said.

I would just like to point out now, that I am NEVER like this. It was just that there was something about Suze… I don't have a clue what it was, and I had a feeling that it was probably a bad thing, since it was turning me into a total loser in just the small amount of time since I'd noticed her. But it was also making me think that maybe that didn't matter, just as long as I got to stay with her for just a little bit longer.

It was stupid, I know, but whatever.

"Hi," she said, "Still in one piece, I see."

I gave her a confused look, not sure what she was talking about.

"You know, because of the dance thing?" she explained, "Kelly seemed pretty mad about what you said."

I grinned. I'd forgotten about that. "Oh, yeah. I think I'd kind of forgotten how to think logically. You know, just for a second."

"It happens to everyone," she said, grinning back at me in this playful way that I could tell wasn't actually meant to be sexy, but it really was. "There's just no disagreeing with me, I'm that irresistible."

Yep, Suze was showing definite signs of being a hell of a lot more interesting to talk to over a meal in an expensive restaurant, than Kelly ever was. And the fact that she was incredibly hot was definitely an added bonus.

"So, what are you up to?" I asked casually, since people don't usually hang around other people's cars for no reason. Unless of course, she was just doing it because she wanted people to think that my silver BMW really belonged to her. I doubted it though.

"Just waiting for my step brothers so we can go home. I don't know what's holding them both up."

It was only then that I realised that the Land Rover parked next to my car must have belonged to her, or one of her stepbrothers. So she hadn't been waiting to talk to me after all. Which was pretty disappointing.

"You know, if you were waiting here for me, you can admit it, I won't tell anyone."

She smiled a bit. "Hmm, no, still sticking with the step brothers story."

"Come on, you know what you really want is to go out for a coffee or something with me."

I hadn't actually been planning to ask her out. Well not yet, anyway. But I really wanted to talk to her, just to get to know her a bit better, and it looked as if this chat was going to be cut short as soon as her stepbrothers showed up. So now seemed like a pretty good time to ask.

Suze, however, didn't seem to agree. She looked really surprised. "Hey," she said, "are you asking me out? You can't ask me out, you've got a girlfriend!"

She was right.

Damnit.

This was kind of a weird situation, because I don't make a habit of cheating on my girlfriends. Seriously, I'm not that kind of guy. But this was a special case. A really special case. And one that I'd just blown completely, it seemed.

"No, I can't, can I? Look, just forget I said anything," I told her, wishing that I'd had the patience to wait until I'd dumped Kelly before I asked her out.

"How can I? You just asked me out!" she still seemed kind of freaked out, which was weird, because I really wasn't used to that kind of reaction from girls who I'd just asked out.

"I know I did, look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… offend you or anything."

Fortunately I noticed at this point that Jack had finally arrived, so I could get out of here. Which was good, because this was so not what I'd had in mind when I'd innocently asked her if she wanted to get a coffee (which I now realise was a stupid idea because I wasn't exactly going to bring my brother with me, 'cause that would be really normal, wouldn't it?). I unlocked the car so he could get in.

"I'll go now," I told her and I started to open the car door but then I turned round and said, "Just out of curiosity, what if I hadn't been going out with Kelly? Would you have said yes then?"

"I, um…" she looked at me with her wide eyes, "I don't know… uh maybe, yeah? I don't know."

I smiled at how flustered she was. It was kind of sweet really, and it was very different to what I was used to from girls.

I figured that the gist of what she was saying was 'Yes I want you bad, but like I'm going to admit it after you just tried to get me to cheat on your girlfriend with you.' And I also figured that that could easily be changed to a simple 'yes' and quite possibly 'I want you bad' too, if I finally did what I should have done a long time ago and dumped Kelly.

"Cool," I said then I got into my car.

It was about five when Kelly rang me. I had been wondering when the best time would be to break up with her – tonight or tomorrow morning, I wasn't sure - but I guess the decision had been made for me. She started going on about how her parents were out for the evening so did I want to come over? I wasn't even tempted, which normally would have been weird, but that's how ready I was to get out of this relationship.

"I was thinking that we could meet somewhere. I wanted to talk to you about something."

I could practically hear her frowning. "What's wrong with coming to my place?" she asked.

Because that wouldn't be too uncomfortable, would it? For all I knew she could be lighting candles and deciding which of her CDs was the most romantic. God, so not thinking about that right now.

"I just don't want to," I told her, wondering if maybe it would be better to just get this over with now.

She was silent for a minute, then she said in a quiet voice, "You want to break up with me, don't you?"

Wow, she must be a lot brighter than I gave her credit for. Okay, maybe not a lot, because there had been that incident this morning… but, you know, it hadn't taken her long to figure it out.

"Uh, well… yeah."

What? There was no point in breaking it to her gently if she'd already figured it out. This just made things a whole lot easier.

"Oh my God! But I thought you liked me. I thought you enjoyed last night."

I know this is going to make me sound like the world's biggest jerk, but I've heard that line so many times now that it's getting boring.

"I did," I told her, "but let's face it Kelly, it's just not enough, we've got absolutely nothing in common. To be honest, I'm not sure how we stayed together for as long as we did."

"What, are you saying that I'm boring now? Even though your idea of joining in with a conversation is making a sarcastic remark about one of my friends every now and again, I'm the boring one?"

I rolled my eyes. Oh well, it could be worse; at least she hadn't started crying. "Right. So you're glad we're breaking up? Good. I guess I'll see you around."

"Wait Pau-"

I hung up.

Well that went better than I'd expected.

A/N: Okay, so that wasn't as long I was hoping it would be, but I've been over and over it and I can't think of anything else to add in so I'm just going to post it as it is. And I'm hoping that I'll get more reviews for this chapter, because I got five reviews for the last chapter after getting seventeen for the one before, which is kind of disappointing. Thanks to those who did review,though, you know I love you!