The Boyfriend Project

Chapter 50

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We arrived at the Ferris wheel thirty minutes before the Pier closed for the night. Unfortunately, the line was rather long, and by the time it would be our turn, the park would be closing. I glanced over at Gavin, who was observing the line, and I thought I saw a sign of relief on his face. I couldn't be sure because the expression was gone within a few seconds. Was he as relieved as I was that we couldn't ride the Ferris wheel? I didn't understand why he would be relieved, though. 

"I don't think we'll be able to ride it again tonight. Do you want to do something else while we're here for thirty minutes?" He looked down at his watch. 

"Do you want to walk around? Since we don't have time to do anything else?" I shrugged, still trying to figure out the meaning behind his look of relief when he saw the long line. I mean, I wasn't mad at him for being relieved. I was merely curious as to why he would be. 

"Sure." We started walking back toward the stores and food vendors. "I'm sorry if I've been quiet tonight," Gavin said, letting go of my hand. 

"I've been quiet, too." I turned to look at the stores starting to bring their merchandise back inside, fold up the tables, and close up. 

"I can't do this anymore, Chelsi." He stopped and walked over to the side of the Pier overlooking the ocean. 

I stood there for a few seconds, watching him look out at the ocean. I walked over next to him and rested my arms on the rail, looking out at the ocean. "What's wrong?" I asked, peeking over at Gavin. 

His head turned slightly toward me as if he was about to say something; then, they announced the Pier was getting ready to close for the night. Then, he straightened up and asked if I was ready to head home. Something was bothering him, and I had no idea what it could be; then, deep down, I knew exactly what was wrong. I just wasn't brave enough to come out and say it. 

We started walking back to the car, not saying much to one another. I knew I had hurt him with my actions tonight, but I didn't know how to fix it. I hardly said two words to him during dinner or in the car on the way here. No wonder he was relieved when he saw the long line at the Ferris wheel. Finally, I couldn't take the awkward silence anymore and tugged on his arm a few feet from the car. "Wait a second, Gavin. I need to talk to you about something." I sighed. 

"Chelsi, you don't owe me an explanation or anything. I thought I could win you from him, but I can't. And I get it; we've been friends for too long. You didn't have to say it, but I saw it in your eyes that you don't feel the same way about me." He lowered his head. 

"Gavin, I do care about you. You're one of my closest friends. I don't want to lose you as a friend." I walked over to him, touching his arm. 

He looked down at my hand on his arm, then slowly raised his eyes to meet mine. "You won't ever lose me." He placed his right hand on top of mine. "I'll take you home." He started walking to his car. Deep down, I knew our friendship would never be the same after tonight. I hoped I was wrong, but the way my luck was going with guys here lately, I wasn't staying too optimistic. 

Twenty minutes later, he pulled up in front of my house. My parents still weren't back from their evening out, and Sam's bedroom light was on. I didn't want to go in and leave Gavin so sad, but he insisted he was fine and that he'd talk to me tomorrow morning at school. He told me this was his doing, not mine, and he wasn't mad at me. I thanked him for taking me out tonight and told him I'd see him in the morning. I got out of the car and shuffled my feet up to the steps. Gavin pulled away from the house once I opened the door. I closed the door behind me, feeling horrible that I had hurt him so badly. Even worse, I couldn't stop thinking about Easton; I just wanted to talk to him so badly. I stayed there leaning against the front door, staring up the stairs, and all I wanted to do was run out the front door and go find Easton. Before I could stop myself, I reached down in my purse,  grabbed my phone, and texted Easton. Oh my god, what in the hell did I just do? It echoed in my mind like someone was yelling it through a bullhorn. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear, but that wouldn't be necessary because I realized he hadn't responded to my text after a few minutes of standing there freaking out. 

I was starting to get a little pissed off now. He was constantly bugging me in class, wanting to talk to me, but he couldn't return my text when I tried to talk to him. I looked down at my phone again, and still nothing from him. I wanted to text Blakely, but I knew she wouldn't be able to talk because they had a strict rule of no calls or texts after ten o'clock at night. So, I went up to my room, changed into my pj's, then went to the bathroom and washed off my makeup. I still had homework to finish before bed that I didn't get done before Gavin picked me up for our horrific date. I checked my phone, and still nothing back from Easton. I don't know why I thought he'd texted me back; I brushed him off every time he wanted to talk to me over the past week. 

"Are you home, Chelsi?" Sam yelled from her room. 

I eased open her door. "Yes. I'm going to get a drink. Do you want anything?" 

"No, I'm about to go to bed."  She yawned. 

"Okay. Night, Sam. Love you." 

"Night, Chelsi. Love you." She started to clear off her bed. 

I closed her door and headed downstairs to get a drink, then headed back to my room to finish my homework before bed. I knew sleep was going to be non-existent tonight.