CHAPTER SONG - Out Way Out - Nico Collins

I closed the oven behind me. "Like I was said! It makes no sense." I laughed spinning around to face Sara. She was still licking up the rest of the frosting from the bowl, like a puppy. Waving her hand she answered, "Its make's sense. Come on, just because there no plan somewhere, doesn't mean it's not going to work."

I padded back to her. "I don't think that plan would work even if you were too careful write it out, and follow it to the T."

I don't think, I know. There is no way she could make the famous quarterback of the Longhorn's fall in love with her. Not to mention the guy is much older, and definitely not looking to hook up with a high school senior. Or, who knows, people are into crazy things. "I'm just saying, there's no way your brother would ever let you leave his sight at that game." I shook my head, a grin plastered to my face.

That was her creative plan. To sneak away from her brother and find the famous Hudan Card, and get his number and then her story spin's from there. Except I think she forgot who her brother is, a protective mama bear. The guy call's her several times a day, and when's she's out the house, he makes her check in with him every few hours. Otherwise, he would just show up to check on her. I have seen him do it. Multiple times actually.

She rolled her eyes, pushing the bowl away from herself. "Your right. Shit, that's the only part of the plan I didn't think through." She sucked in her lip, thinking about it for a second before snapping her fingers. "Come with us! I'm sure we can get an extra ticket and you can be my distraction."

I widened my gaze at her. "Oh no Sara. Do not pull me into your loosy goosy plans."

She hopped off the counter, walking to the sink. "They aren't loosy goosy, they are solid plans."

I chuckled, starting to put away all the baking item's I was using. "Nope. Count me out."

"It was a long shot anyways." she muttered, starting the water. She washed the bowl, and set it on the drying rack before spinning around to face me. "You know what topic we have been avoiding?"

I sigh, knowing which topic. The one that feels like it's growing by the second the longer we dance circles around it. She see's things, because she always has. And the girl knows me, she knows, knows me. She's been my best friend for as long as I can remember so deep down, she knows. I know she hasn't been pushing me to talk about it because she's letting me figure it out and trust me there is a lot to figure out but I know she knows.

She is a big gossip, and loves to know anything going on. So when she asked her next question, I knew it was coming. "Tell me about Mateo."

I sighed even more, putting away the flour. "What would you like to know miss nosy?"

She waved the towel she was wiping her hands with at me. "Excuse me. As your BFF, I should have first place seats to all this information, so spill."

I rolled my eyes, coming out of the pantry. "Ask away then."

She spun around, walking to the counter "I have a list." she gasped.

I raised my brow in shock, because Sara and list's are moral enemies. "Really?"

"Of course not." she laughed, pulling out the chair under the counter and hopping on it.

Spinning around, she interlocked her hands on the counter and cleared her throat, like this was some kind of interview. Should I have prepared? Should I be noting this? I almost wanted to grab a journal but that just seems ridiculous. "Okay..." she drawled out, her lips curling up, "Do you like him?"

I leaned on the counter, looking over at her, in pure confusion because I knew the answer to that question and that's what confused me. It's so early, to early to have any kind of feelings and yet look at me, crushing hard. What's worse, is all the little jitters, butterflies, and all those thing's children have on their first crush's, I have it all. I feel childish, foolish even and yet I know the answer without a doubt. "Yes." I sighed.

"Why do you look upset about that? It's a good thing. His the perfect distraction from your busted ex."

I rolled my eyes. "Sara, I don't want to use him as a distraction. And that's what worries me because if I just wanted him as a distraction then great! Perfect! But I don't. I want more..." I looked up, feeling my cheeks' burning up, "I want him more then I have ever wanted anything else. I swear the guy has done some crazy black magic on me and inserted himself into my mind. He lives there. Can you believe that? Like my mind is more about him then me! It's my head, and it's full of him. Day, night, doesn't matter, his there. Like it's his personal living headquarters. Tell me how to get him out..." I winced.

She whistled, laughing a bit. "Oh girl, you got it as bad as that one time you couldn't get those muffins right and spend three days baking them. You made how many? Eighty?"

"One hundred and three." I cringed. That was a bad baking moment. The taste was just odd, and later I found out it was all about the sugar I was using. One hundred and three muffins, and three day's later and I finally made a good batch. At least the senior center had a blast with all my treats after I dropped them off. They weren't bad, actually they tasted fantastic but to me they were off.

She rolled her eyes. "Lord. Anyways. So then what your saying is you have moved past a crush, and it's more of a step in the love area, and a hop away from obsession."

I raised my finger at her. "Keep that love word to yourself. Its way to early for that. I don't know what kind of magic he put in my head, who knows if he can hear from his side. Don't give him ideas! He might just try to use his superpowers and next thing I know, I'm in love."

She laughed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail."And I thought Ash was dramatic."

"I'm not being dramatic, I'm being realistic. I don't know what's going on, and how to stop myself from always thinking about him."

"I'm guessing there's a pro and con list somewhere?"

I blushed again, hiding my gaze from her. There totally is one. A few actually. A shameless fact is there's more pro's then con's, and I'm never going to tell her that, or anyone for that matter. I'm just saying, my sleepless mind makes me do crazy things. Like make pro and con's list at four am about the guy I'm crushing on. In case your wondering, he crushed it, and totally look's like a viable option. Like the best choose actually, or maybe that's the black magic he put on me talking.

Sara laughed again. "Oh this is good. Lina Verti, sense when did your life get so interesting?"

"Sense, I mistakenly ran into the men's locker room."

"Was that a mistake or a thought-out plan?"

I narrowed my gaze at her playfully. "Thought out. I spent years planning it. I named the plan too, how to trap Mateo Ramos."

She tipped her head back, laughing senseless, and even I couldn't help but laugh. The whole situation is bizarre, and sometimes I'm still confused to what's going on. This time, I'm just flowing with the waves and trying to see where they are taking me. How they pushed me into Mateo's arms, I don't know. How much of that sea salt water did I gulp down that made me start falling for him? I have no clue. A whole bucket it seems.

Once she calmed down, she smirked at me. "You Lina, are a master mind. My idol."

I rolled my eyes, turning to check on the almond bear claws I was making. "Help me Sara, I don't know what to do."

She chuckled. "What can you do? Nothing. I never expected you to fall for the most feared dude in school, but the way he looks at you makes me question why people fear him at all. He get's those big googly eyes, like you're some kind of goddess that was sent to seduce him." I groaned, but she kept going, "If I didn't know any better, what you're feeling for him, he feels for you. So why not let go Lina? Your always planning, and mapping your whole life out, why not just let go and see where this goes? You never know, maybe it will true out to be better than anything you ever had planned?"

I clicked the light on in the oven, thinking about what she just said. She's right, I do have my whole life planned out. I've always been like this, and after my dad left, I feel like it kind of turned compulsive. Maybe because he destroyed my life, and I felt like I had no idea what was going on. So, I in return planned out the next fifty years of my life. I'm getting the scholarship; I'm moving to New York. I plan to meet the love of my life somewhere in New York. I plan to get engaged and married after graduating. I'll get the job I want, and within three years get pregnant. I plan to work well pregnant and then take time off to raise my children and have more of course.

So yeah, my life is mapped to my death.

Expect where does Mateo fit in all that? There's no room, or backup plans. He didn't come into my life at the right time to be the love of my life and yet, his here. Turning into something I don't understand. Making me want to rearrange those plans to fit him in. Making me want to scrap them fully and start fresh. It's terribly scary, and what's shocking is that I'm more scared not to fit him in there, then of changing the plan of my life. Gosh, he really did cast a black magic spell on me. Maybe I should look into how to wipe those clean because who knows how far his spell goes.

Lifting to my feet, I spun around, "What if he hurt's me? What if he does what Tony did? Sara, what if I'm not sure if I'm ready to go through that again."

She sighed, sympathy in my eyes and said, "Anything you do Lina, could hurt you. It could be not even him that will hurt you. Life is unplanned Lina, and you can't try to change that. Thing's are going to happen, and your going to get hurt but what if his not the one that's going to hurt you? What if his the one that's going to stand by you? Are you welling let yourself be so scared that you won't give him the chance? What if his the one?"

She doesn't believe in the one. I know she's using the explain for me, because I believe in that. Her logic is that every person has more then one person that they could love. But I don't. I think you fated to be with someone. A single person and sure you can love other people, and you will but this single person is the end game. Their love will always be more pure then any other persons. Except, she also has a point. Am I going to risk not finding out if his the one because I didn't let myself take the chance and, in the end, possibly loose the one. I don't think I'm willing to risk that. I think the pain I can deal with, but loosing the love of my life, or the potential of that, that I can't deal with.

I nodded my head in confidence. "Your right. I'm giving him a chance."

Her smile grew wide. "I call four minutes for a speech at your wedding!"

I smacked my hands over my ears. "Sara! He can hear you. Did you forget the black magic?"

She laughed, and I joined in because I know there's no black magic, or spells. It's just a intense feeling consuming my every thought and beat of my heart. I know that what I'm feeling, this is more then the love I felt for Tony. It's the soul consuming kind of stuff because I can hear my soul crying for him. Something inside me stirring, and always whining in the back of my mind until I'm with him. It settles then, like it knows it's in the presence of its other half.

Gosh it's to early. So soon, and yet I'm here. Feeling all of this and letting it take over. "Let's move on from this conversation. Tell me about your mother's collage plan for you, that sounds like a way more interesting topic."

Sara sighed and went into a deep explanation of how much her mother has been on her butt about choosing a career path when all Sara want's to do it live, and experience the youth life. Sara, she doesn't plan her life, she goes with the flow and maybe I for once am going to take her advise and let go. If I crash and burn, then it will be a lesson learned.

By the end of the night, we had stomach full of bear claws, and were four hours into a gossip girl marathon. We always start it, and never end it. Then we start again. It's become a thing and at this point I'm pretty sure we could both quote the first few episodes and yet we continue to do it. I don't think it's about the show, because honestly most of the time we just end up talking, and laughing. We just ended up hanging out. She's my best friend, and any time spend with her is the best time.