Only Fools - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing.
"What," I snap, already pissed at whoever thought it was alright to call me at this hour.
"Well, at least you're alive, I guess," Ivy laughs through the phone.
"What?" I repeat myself as I yawn, rubbing my eyes groggily.
"You didn't answer any of my texts yesterday," she informs me.
"Oh shit. Sorry. I didn't realize," I say, though half of it is a lie because I did realize, I just wasn't sure how to respond without accidentally conveying the pain of the disappointment I felt.
"It's fine.... do you think we could hang out today?" Ivy asks me.
"It's to early to make plans for the day," I tell her.
"It's 11am, Aspen," Ivy says rather deadpanned.
"Oh well...."
"No. We're going to hang out, and I'm going to pick you up in thirty minutes, so you better be ready,"
Her tone brings a smile to my face because I can't help but find it adorable.
"Whatever you say, Ivy,"
She hums into the phone.
"See ya," I say.
"See ya,"
And just like that, the phone call is over and I'm left laying in my bed, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. After a minute or so, I finally sit up and then proceed to get ready for the day.
After quickly washing up and pulling on a sweatshirt from one of my many years of cheer and a pair of leggings, I take a final look in the mirror. My eyes still look tired as a result of having just woken up, but the smile that takes over my face at the prospect of spending the day with Ivy quickly outshines them.
It's then that I get the text from Ivy that she's arrived. As I leave my room, I take note of my brother's door still shut tight, signaling that he's clearly not up yet. And as I walk past the living room to leave the house, I notice my dad peacefully sleeping on the couch. I quickly sneak over to pull a blanket over his unconscious figure before then slipping out the door and practically skipping over to Ivy's car.
"Someone's happy today," Ivy says with a laugh as I slide into the passenger seat.
"I don't know why. I'm being forced to hang out with you," I tease her. Ivy just rolls her eyes at me before she proceeds to pull out of my driveway and off to a destination I then realize is a mystery to me.
"Where are we going?" I ask the girl beside me who smirks in response.
"You'll see," she responds mischievously. I let out a disappointed sigh at her words which doesn't rattle her at all. And so I just decide to stay quiet for the rest of the car ride and pull out my phone to distract myself from looking out the window and ruining the surprise over the destination.
And after just a few more minutes of driving, the car stops and Ivy pulls the keys out of the ignition. I look up and a frown instantly overtakes my face at the realization of our destination.
"We're on break, Ivy," I pout as I take in the sight of our school's track and football field.
"And?" my best friend asks as she opens her door and hops out of the driver's seat.
"And I don't want to be here!"
"Oh well," Ivy says with a shrug before slamming her door closed. My mouth drops open and I stare at her smirking through the window for a moment before I hop out of the car and walk over to her.
After a few minutes of walking in a comfortable silence, we arrive at the bottom of the bleachers, and the look in Ivy's eyes makes it clear that we're going to climb to somewhere near the top. And so, after a minute or so of trudging up the bleachers, we finally sit down side by side, huddling rather closely, mostly due to the cold.
"Why did you even want to hang out?" I break the silence.
"Am I not allowed to want to hang out with my best friend?"
I shrug in response.
"Maybe you could fill me in on what I forget from the other night," she suggests.
I freeze up at her words as my brain flashes back to that night. My heart speeds up at the memory of her being so close, of her telling me that she wanted to kiss me just as I had wanted to kiss her for so long.
"Was it seriously that bad?" Ivy asks me, clearly concerned over what her drunken actions may have been like. I clear my throat before shaking my head.
"No. You were seriously fine, Ivy" I reassure the girl.
"Sorry. I've just never really been drunk before and...." she trails off.
"It was seriously alright, Ivy. I guess Ashley gave you some of the spiked punch when I was dealing with Tori, but I made it back to you before you could even move from where I left you,"
"Well, you told me not to move," Ivy says sweetly, bringing a slight blush to my cheeks.
"You remember that?"
"Yeah. But things start getting hazy after that," she explains. I nod in understanding.
"Yeah. And then when I got back, I took you to a room upstairs so there wasn't any risk that you would do something stupid in front of everyone downstairs. But since you weren't sobering up too quickly, I decided to drive you home. I tucked you into bed. And that's really the full story," I tell her, though I clearly left out a few parts. And even though she's clearly telling the truth about not remembering anything, I can't help but secretly wish that she's lying. I can't help but wish that she'll speak up any second and tell me that I'm missing a few parts of the story. She'll remember everything and we'll resume where we left off that night.
And yet that doesn't happen. This isn't a fairytale and if it was, I clearly wouldn't be a main character in it.
"Wow. Ok. Thank goodness that's less eventful than I thought it was," Ivy says, obviously relieved. And I can tell that she seriously doesn't remember anything that happened, despite how much I wish that she did.
"Yeah...." I trail off slightly.
"So Alex is home for winter break?" she changes the topic.
"Yeah. Why?" I eye her suspiciously.
Ivy just shrugs in response, leaving me confused as to where that was going. She then opens her mouth but then looks down and shakes her head.
"What?" I question her.
"No. You'll think it's weird," she dismisses me.
"It's fine. Just tell me,"
"Well, when I was younger, I used to have a crush on Alex," Ivy reveals to me with a nervous smile. I go silent for a moment, my brain not exactly knowing how to digest the information, while a pang of jealousy shoots through my heart. And so I go with the very first words that pop into my mind.
"Ew. Did you ever have a crush on me then?" I ask with a wink and almost immediately regret it. Where was the logic in that? Clearly out the window. I mean, my brother and I don't even look that much alike. So was there even a joke get here? Anything?
But then Ivy stays silent. She looks down at her hands as she twiddles her thumbs before glancing up at me. There's a blush on her cheeks that wasn't there before.
"Well, I'm not straight, and you both are pretty cute...."
My eyes widen at her words. My brain can barely compute the words that just escaped her lips. Not straight?
Taking in my stunned silence, she laughs a little as she shakes her head.
"Sorry. That was probably kind of sudden. But I've just been thinking about it recently, you know? And then you kind of gave me the perfect opening there. But I just don't think I'm totally straight," Ivy explains to me.
"So, um. What...."
My brain feels like it's short circuiting and yet at the same time, it's taking all of my self control to not lean in and kiss her right now. I clear my throat, trying to stall for time for myself.
"Sorry. Um, thank you for telling me," I say to her, not sure what else to say, while my brain screams for me to come out to her at the exact same time. And yet, even if she isn't straight, it still feels like too much to risk for some reason.
Just because she's not straight, it doesn't mean that she likes me back. It doesn't even mean that she'll be totally comfortable with me liking her. And I could just tell her that I'm not straight either, but what if she does press for more information? What if I freeze up and she thinks I'm weird or thinks that I'm trying to mock her by coming out too?
And the words get caught in my throat, not truly by my own doing.
"Yeah. I mean, you're one of my favorite people, Aspen. We tell each other everything," Ivy says with a smile. I force a smile onto my face as two words repeat themselves over and over again in my mind: "not everything".
But before I can think too much, Ivy reaches out and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze which rather successfully calms me down, even if it's just a little bit.
"Oh, before I forget! My mother is holding the Christmas charity gala again this year and you obviously need to come," Ivy says with a smirk.
"Yeah. I come every year," I say with an eye roll, seemingly able to collect myself by some miracle, "otherwise who would run the coat check with you?"
"Actually, we're not going to do coat check this year,"
"Oh? Are we serving something or some shit?"
Wow. Amazing word choice.
Ivy chuckles at my question and shakes her head.
"Actually, I'm going to be attending as a guest this year,"
"And leave me alone to serve shit?"
"I mean, I did have an extra ticket in case you wanted to be my date, but...." Ivy trails off as she sends a smirk in my direction. My words catch in my throat for what has to be the hundredth time today. Though, given that, I'm able to luckily get over it more quickly than I was able to before.
"Yeah. Sure," I say, trying to sound as casual as possible. This might not actually be a date. She could just be calling it that in a friendly sort of way....
But would she really do that?
I glance over at the beautiful girl beside me in an attempt to actually get a read on her, in an attempt to get a read on one of my oldest and best friends who I thought I totally knew, and yet still keeps surprising me every day. And they're definitely good surprises.
"Well then I'll be looking forward to that. Aspen in a formal dress should most definitely be a sight to see," Ivy says.
"Who says I'll be wearing a dress?" I counter.
"Oh. Is a tux more your style?"
Ivy raised an eyebrow at me.
"What if it is?"
Ivy looks over at me for a moment, but doesn't just look over at me. She looks me up and down, successfully causing for me to blush in the process.
"You could pull it off," she finally seems to decide with a nod. I just hum in response, a little to flustered to actually say much.
"So, you told me you had a family outing yesterday? How did that go?" Ivy moves effortlessly to another topic. I clear my throat as I shake my head.
"Yeah, yeah. That went fine," I tell her before filling her in on all that happened, excluding only what I feel needs to be.
And the entire time, my brain continues to race. My brain continues to race and I'm filled with even more hope than before. Yet I can't help but worry that it will all come crashing down sooner or later. This hope can't truly amount to anything.
But as I look over at the girl beside me, that worry begins to diminish and when I send her a smile, she almost instantly sends a breathtaking one back.