AN: Thank you 'madness is me' for liking my story and reviewing it. This is another chapter. Hopefully you will like it. please let me know if there is something missing or if I have made any mistake. Reviews are always great.

Chapter 9: Let's Confess

I couldn't sleep at all the entire night. Not even a little bit. I kept thinking about what happened, what Reid said to me and what I really felt for him. Those thoughts ran over my mind again and again throughout the night. I couldn't deny it anymore that I liked his presence around me. I liked talking to him; I liked his stupid jokes, cocky remarks, his infamous yet attractive smirks, and his immaturity. I liked everything about him. I even loved arguing with him. Since the beginning of the semester, I couldn't help but be jealous when he looked at other girls and I was absolutely annoyed when other girls batted their eye lashes seductively at him.

A few days back, I couldn't take my eyes off of his body when he was swimming in the pool with others. I was never attracted to his physical appearance before. Surely I saw him half naked many times last year but I never felt the need to observe him closely the way I did that time in the pool. I shamelessly let my eyes roam over his lean yet muscular body and memorized every curve and line on it. I had a feeling that he caught me looking at him but when he didn't say anything stupid to me, I simply assumed that he didn't notice me observing his body so closely. And darn I was thankful for it. I cared about him a lot no doubt in that. And the way I feared to lose him at the beginning of the year. There was no explanation for that either. But the real question was-

"Am I in love with Reid Garwin?" And only one answer came back from my heart and soul was-

"YES!"

I was kind of surprised at myself that it took me so long to realize this. It seemed Reid was right after all. I was indeed denying my feelings for him. I fell in love with him a long time ago but I wasn't admitting it to myself. However, when I accepted the feeling, I began to fear something else. I knew for a matter of fact that Reid wasn't the most trustworthy person when it involves a girl and her feelings. Reid was quite good at breaking a girl's heart. He did that quite a few times before and it was definitely not impossible for him to do it again even if it was me this time. He was afraid of any kind of commitment and liked to be free like a rebellious teenager. And that's the way he was actually. It was hard for me to completely trust him with my heart. I loved him more than anything else, true and I knew that he would be the only man I could ever love. It wasn't just a teenager's crush for me. I knew this for sure that if Reid ever left me, I would never be able to move on from him.

What Reid thought about me was important for me to know. He said that he loved me but saying that to someone was not a big deal for him. The real question was, did he really mean it? Or was he just fooling around with me? Did he hang around with me for one long year for this? I couldn't take a risk of confessing my feelings to him until I got the truth. I needed to know his true feelings for me. Because if it was just a game for him or he was not really serious about love, then I didn't want to confess my true feelings and then make a fool out of myself in front of him and everyone else. In the end, I planned to just ignore Reid until I found him reliable enough.

So, the next day I ignored Reid like a plague. It hurt me more than it hurt him. I was certain of that. I felt him staring at me in the classes, boring his gaze into me whenever he could. He was even looking at me now and then in the cafeteria when I was sitting with Troy and intentionally avoided his gazes. Troy was planning his next date with Angela. He was saying things to me but I couldn't hear any of it. Troy obviously noticed me absentminded and knew something was wrong right away.

"Did anything happen between you and Reid?" He asked suddenly and it brought my attention back to him immediately. I quickly shook my head, not really wanting to bother him with my dilemmas but Troy didn't let go of the issue so easily.

"Don't lie to me Rayna. I have noticed it- you are ignoring him since this morning. What happened?" I sighed out slowly but heavily. Maybe talking to someone would help me out after all and Troy was the best person to talk with about it. I knew he would understand me properly, so I explained everything to him. Like a good listener Troy listened to my each and every word very carefully and tried to understand the situation and my own conflicted feelings properly. So, after I finished explaining myself to him, I looked at Troy hopefully and prayed that he would have some kind of solutions to my problems. For a few moments he didn't say anything at all and seemed deep in thoughts.

"You are definitely in love with him" stated Troy confidently and I could barely stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. I already knew that. I didn't need a confirmation.

"Troy, I already know that. But, that's not what I am worried about." My voice dripped out the frustration that was working within me. I felt like a love sick teenager and at that moment that was exactly what I was. Troy continued talking though.

"I know, I know, you want to know about his true feelings for you before you confess your love for him." I nodded my head slowly, appreciating Troy for understanding me so easily.

"Well what do you think I should do, to find out his true feelings for me?" I asked Troy for his suggestion and advice. He took a deep breath before speaking up again.

"Well the way he changed over the year and the way he looks at you, I don't know, maybe he is in love with you too and not really playing around" said Troy with an unsure tone of voice that didn't help the situation a bit. And 'a maybe' was definitely not good enough for me. I could not walk up to Reid Garwin above all people and say that 'I love you' based on a maybe.

"I don't think he is actually in love with me. Maybe...I don't know...maybe he just got a crush on me. Or maybe it's just an infatuation and it will be over before we know it. I mean come on, I am not his type at all. How could he possibly ever fall in love with me?" I was not only reasoning with Troy but myself as well. However, Troy let out a sigh at my stubbornness.

"Rayna, it's not always necessary that you will only fall in love with someone your type. I mean look at yourself, Reid is not your type at all but still you love him, you fell in love with him. Maybe it's the same for him too. He wouldn't have changed himself so much if he only had a crush on you. He changed himself completely just to gain your love Rayna. I think you would be unfair to him if you doubt his love for you like this."

Now that was something I never thought about before. Of course I would have hated Reid for his arrogance and selfishness if I hadn't got close to him in the first place. He was obnoxious and a total insensitive jerk sometimes. But he changed his nature and his behavior to get close to me. To make me like him and love him. He did so much to gain my love and trust but I was still questioning him and his love for me. I felt like I was the dumbest person alive on the face of the earth. But there was something deep inside me that was nagging me continuously, telling me not to give in so easily. That something was going on wrong. But I avoided that feeling completely and asked Troy for one last time.

"So, I should give in?" I have already decided what I would do but I still asked Troy and hoped that he would say yes right away.

"Only if you won't start ignoring me afterwards." Troy could be terribly adorable sometimes. I smiled at him widely and hit him on the arm playfully.

"That will never happen." I pulled Troy closer to me and gave him a tight sisterly hug. But while hugging him I looked over at Reid and saw him glaring daggers at us. I couldn't help but smile at that though. He was burning with jealousy at the sight of me embracing Troy. It only confirmed his love for me more. I saw him leaving the room in a rush while shoving people out of his way aggressively. I wanted to go after him because Reid could never control his actions when he was angry. Sometimes he would get hurt himself. But, I stayed behind when I saw Tyler going after him. I would rather let Tyler calm Reid down because I was sort of scared of Reid when he was angry to such extent.

Reid ignored me for the rest of the day and I also avoided him at any cost. I planned to talk to him the next day after the classes. We needed a lot of talking to do and clear all the misunderstandings between us. The mere thought of talking to Reid made my skin tickle and goose bumps spread throughout my body. At night, I couldn't sleep with the tension about what would happen tomorrow when I would go to Reid and finally confess my feelings for him. It was after mid night when suddenly someone knocked at my door. I was quite startled and surprised at that. Who needed to see me at this hour of the night? I got both worried and scared. I opened the door slowly and found a very drunk Reid leaning against the door frame. He was so drunk that he couldn't even stand properly. I wondered how he made it to my floor in the first place. I had to carry him inside my room which turned out to be a very difficult job to do as Reid was trying hard to push me away from him and being rather aggressive. He would pass out anytime now but I somehow managed to settle him down on the bed.

"Why the hell are you drunk?" I asked in a scolding tone. He was so stupid sometimes that it pissed me off to no limits. And where the hell did he get so much alcohol anyway? After all he was still an underage for drinking.

"Why do you care?" He yanked his arm out of my grip angrily and increased the distance between us. I sighed out heavily to myself and crossed my arms over my chest as I stood in front of him while he kept mumbling nonsense. At first I couldn't understand anything that he was saying with his drunken voice but when I concentrated and listened carefully, I heard him talking with an accusing tone of voice.

"I am drunk because the girl I am in love with, doesn't love me at all. She cares about everyone else except for me..." He kept complaining and complaining restlessly. It was so immature but I loved him so much when he said those things. Slowly I sat beside him and got closer to him. This time, he didn't try to get away from me instead he bored his gaze into mine.

"The girl I love, hates me, ignores me….." but before he could say anything else, I pressed my lips softly on his. My own action startled me but he wasn't shocked at all and started to kiss me back right away. We kissed for some time before I pulled back my lips from his mouth in order to speak and breathe deeply.

"The girl who you fell in love with, she also fell in love with you Reid." Our foreheads were pressed against each other. I cupped his face with both my hands lovingly and caressed his cheeks lightly with my thumbs.

"How do you know?" Reid asked me in a whisper. I could smell alcohol in his breath but I ignored that at the time.

"I talked to her." I said and we both chuckled a little at that. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him as much as possible. Then before I knew it, he pressed his lips against mine for another hot and passionate kiss. I kissed him back with everything I had within me. The kiss was slow and sweet but also filled with longing and passion and it lasted for quite a long time. After a while, he fell asleep on my bed. I positioned him properly and covered him with the duvet. I used the other spared bed in the room to sleep in that night. Sleeping with Reid in the same bed didn't seem right at that time to me when he was so drunk. I drifted off to sleep slowly, thinking about how everything changed so suddenly. I just hoped that the changes happened for the good.