25-Ally

All that I was feeling right now was regret. Regret that I had wasted the last few years crushing on whom now was a jerk. I never thought I would ever refer to James as that, but it definitely was the truth, now.

"Ally!" I heard him call from behind me, but I ignored him and kept running. I had memorized every little part of his voice, and I had spent years just daydreaming about it, yet I still never stopped.

"Ally!" James called again, and I quickly made a left turn, not knowing where I was going, but not caring. This road was made completely of dirt and leaves of orange and yellow. Huge maple leaf trees lined the long road evenly and beautifully. Too bad I was so upset right now that I couldn't take time to admire the beauty.

As I made the turn, though, I tripped on a rock sticking right up out of the road, and I fell to the ground, hard. I heard a huge rip, and I knew at once that it was the dress, even without looking at it.

"Oh my god!" James gasped dramatically, and he rushed to my side, just as let the tears fall. "Ally! Are you ok!"

I shook my head, and began to get up. He helped me up the rest of the way, but once I was completely up, I pushed him away. "How could you, James? That was totally uncalled for!"

James looked confused. "For helping you up?" he asked loudly. I shook my head, very much frustrated. "Don't act stupid, James. I'm talking about the restaurant. You were acting like a complete idiot!"

James' eyes got wide, and it was obvious that he was angry, now. "What are you talking about? I was on a date, just like you!" I rolled my eyes. "You wouldn't leave Tyler and me alone, at all! You just made yourself at home, and embarrassed all of us!"

He shook his head. "It's not like you even liked him, anyway…" he muttered. I swallowed and snapped, "What did you just say?" James looked at me. "Oh, please! If it weren't for your friend, Emily, you wouldn't have even gone on that date tonight! Isn't it kind of odd that you have never shown interest in Tyler before?"
"How would you know who I am interested in, or not?" I retorted. "You don't know me at all!" James glared darkly at me. "I know you a lot more about you than you think!"

I put my hand on my hip. "Oh yeah? Like what?" He swallowed. "I just know a lot." I let out a single laugh. "Oh yeah, impressive. Well guess what, Mr. Know It All; I know a lot, too! To name a few things about you, you are rude, selfish, conceded, and so hot!" The last part escaped my lips before I could stop them.

James was taken slightly by surprised, but not for long. "Well, you are ignorant, spoiled, and unbelievably gorgeous!" Both of my eyebrows rose, and I swallowed. "Gorgeous? You just called me gorgeous?" He cleared his throat. "Yeah…I did! You are so also sweet, caring, and unexplainably sexy!"

I gasped slightly. "Well guess what? You are also…a lot of things!" James laughed loudly. "Seriously? That's the best comeback you could come up with?"

I frowned. "There's too much pressure!" James shook his head. "I'll show you a good comeback." He stepped forward and pressed his lips into mine, strongly.

I was taken completely by surprise, but that didn't stop me. I kissed him back with just as much force, and it was like we were still fighting, except through making out. But the harshness barely lasted long. Actually, almost immediately after I had begun kissing him back, it turned sweet. I was barely thinking; all that mattered at that moment was James and me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck slowly, as we continued, and his arms slipped down to my waist. I don't know how long we were standing there, but it didn't matter. I forgot everything else but him and me.

But then, a thought crossed my mind that angered me so much, I removed my arms from him and my lips from his. I had realized that this was James…and he had been an absolute jerk.

James stared at me, no words escaping his mouth, though he looked like he had something to say. "You!" I shouted, the romantic moment floating away. "You kissed me!"

He smiled only slightly. "I…I kissed you." He continued to stare at me, as id he had been lost in the moment as I had been. He looked in my eyes, and then kissed me again. It didn't last long, though, because I pushed him away. Even though my mind was telling me to resist him, my heart was yearning for more.

James never moved his eyes. He licked his lips and said, "Ally...the whole restaurant thing…it wasn't real." I cocked my head slightly. "What?" I asked, confusedly. He looked down the road in the direction we had come, then back at me. "I realized, recently, that…" he looked in my eyes. "I like you Ally. As more than just a friend."

My mouth dropped open, and I felt my eyes begin to water. I must be dreaming; James would never say that to me in real life.

He sighed a little. "The whole restaurant-fiasco…I did it so that I could purposely ruin your date. I'm sorry, but I loved you too much to just let you slip away from me."

I continued to stare at him, breathless. My heart was beating so fast that I couldn't the beats, and I was just realizing that this was real. James was really standing right here, telling me he liked me. No wait; scratch that—had he said that he loved me?

"So, you were being a jerk because you were jealous?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. James swallowed, and slowly nodded. I took a deep breath. "Oh…I was way off, then…I thought my brother had hired you to spy on me or something."

James took my hand in his, and looked in my eyes once again. "Never." I swallowed back another round of tears, and took another shaky breath. I was so nervous right now.

James brought a hand up to my face, and tucked a strand of my curled red hair behind my ear. That simple action made me break down, right there, in tears.

James bent down beside me, worriedly. "Oh no…are you ok?" I laughed a little, wiping away some tears hiding under my eye. "I'm more than ok, James. You don't know how long I have waited for you to say these things."

He raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what do you mean?" I laughed again, and quickly explained, "I mean that I have been crushing on you since the seventh grade." Both of his eyebrows rose, then. "Whoa, you have?"

I nodded. "You don't even know, James. I have been dreaming about you liking me, ever since…though I had always doubted that you would ever feel the same way about me." James shook his head and wiped a runaway tear from my left eye. "Well, here I am…liking you. So I guess you were wrong."

I laughed, and then looked down. "I probably look so horrible right now; my makeup all over the place." James smiled and said, "You are beautiful. And besides, you don't need makeup to look good. You already are incredibly gorgeous."

I blushed and swallowed. I couldn't believe James was actually standing here, telling me all of these things. It was almost too much to think about.

He helped me up, again, and took my hand. "May I walk you home, Ms. Torres?" I smiled and said, "Of course, Mr. Diamond."

We began to walk, and James and I walked extremely close to each other so that our fingers could intertwine easily and comfortably. James' comment about how he had thought that I was beautiful made me think. How could he ever think that I was even close to pretty right now, when my makeup was probably over my face?

And as for the dress…Jenna was going to kill me. There was no way to repair it, now. There was a huge rip in it, and dirt covered the whole front from my fall.

Normally, I would be extremely self-conscious right about now, but I didn't even give it a second thought. James had said I was beautiful, just the way I was. I still was in shock, but I pretended I wasn't, and squeezed James' hand as we walked home. He looked at me and I looked back at him. In the dim light, I could see his beautiful brown eyes looking into mine. Just being able to look so deeply in his eyes overwhelmed me.

We kept walking, yet our eyes did not return to the road in front of us. Both of us had memorized the whole walk home, and besides, James' eyes were so much more interesting than the dull, plain sidewalk.

Finally, to my huge disappointment, I realized that our houses were there. I at last turned away from James and looked up at the driveway.

James kept his gaze. "Ally…I don't want you to go." I looked back at him. "I'm just next door…" I whispered softly. James looked down, then back at me. "I know. But the time went by much too quickly. I'm not ready to end the night."

I sighed quietly and looked up at the black sky, lighted only slightly by bright stars. "I know…but there's always tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day after that."

We walked very slowly up the driveway to my house, until we came to a stop. There was no more room to walk. James turned to face me, and said, "Goodnight, Ally." I felt like crying as I heard him say that, but kept my emotions under control.

He slowly leaned toward me, when suddenly, we heard an all-too-familiar sound. It was Mitch's car, turning onto the street.

James frowned, looked at me one last time, and then darted into the bushes between his and my houses. I quickly unlocked the door to my house and scurried inside.

I looked out of the window in the living room which showed James' house. I watched James' tall frame sneak into his house, and I sighed deeply. Not only did I have to wait until the next day to see him again, but I also had no gotten a goodnight kiss.

Hearing Mitch's car door slam, I rushed down the hall to my room and shut the door behind me. Immediately after, I opened up my drawers and began to change out of the ruined dress and into some pajama shorts and a t-shirt. Then, I looked at the mirror at my face, and was surprised to see that I didn't have any smudges or mascara-leakage. Em must have used waterproof makeup, I thought to myself.

I opened up my blinds, then, and looked through my window and into James', but it was obvious that he hadn't gotten to his room, yet.

I quickly grabbed my phone which had been lying on the stool nearby, and slid it open, deciding to tell Emily about my wild night. I began to text, "OMG, Em…you'll never guess what happened." But then, I heard a knocking sound. Not the kind of sound you heard coming from wood, like a door, but from glass."

I looked through my window again and saw James in his room, finally, looking back at me. He motioned for me to come over, through the windows.

I couldn't help but smile at him, and held up a finger at him as if to say, "One second." I quickly turned back to my phone and concluded, texting, "Hey…I'll tell you tomorrow, k?" I plugged my phone into the charger, and opened my window just enough for me to get through. Then, I scurried over to James' open window, shivering in the cold.

James smiled gorgeously at me, and then whispered, "You look beautiful." I scoffed and replied, "James…I'm in a t-shirt and shorts." He lifted me up from the ground and into his room with ease. "Exactly," he concluded, quietly.

He closed his window and turned back to me, then said, "I asked you over here because we had forgotten something." I stared at him, waiting for him to continue. In two short steps, he closed the distance between us and he pulled me close. Then, he kissed me gently and sweetly. As soon as our lips parted, he whispered, "The goodnight kiss."

I breathed deeply and laughed a little. "We didn't forget. My dumb brother just ruined our chance." It was James' turn to laugh. "Well…your 'dumb brother' isn't here, now." I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Finally," I said, and we sealed the moment with a kiss.

Wow...that went by fast :P But what did you think? Haha. It was so much fun writing this, and I absolutely can't wait to write more fics. Thank you all for every one of your lovely reviews. You are the best ever! Loveee you!