The Player

Chapter 15

Brielle

7:42 PM

"Sam, I look ridiculous," I said, staring into the mirror. After my minor breakdown in the restaurant

bathroom, Sam had forced me to come to her house. She was dead set on the idea of me seducing

Christopher, but I wasn't so sure. I was a lot of things, but sexy was definitely not one of them. With my

luck, I would completely embarrass myself. My face grew hot just thinking about it.

Sam must have sensed my growing panic, because she got up from her bed and placed her hands on

my shoulder. "Take a deep breath," she reassured me. "You'll be fine."

I nodded my head, wanting to believe her. At this point, I didn't care if he had feelings for me or not, but

I just needed to know. I was driving myself crazy guessing.

She picked up clothes on the bed and threw it at me. "Now try this on."

I picked them up, inspecting each piece. My jaw nearly dropped when I saw what she had picked out.

"Sam, what the hell is this?" I exclaimed, holding up a black pushup sports bra and black booty shorts.

"Do you expect me to wear this to school?"

She laughed at me, making a shooing motion with her hand. "Of course not! You're going to try to

seduce him tomorrow at your dance practice."

My face contorted in disgust. "Sam this will barely cover my body."

She winked. "That's the point. Now put it on!" She shooed me out of the room and into her bathroom.

When I finally emerged, she began clapping.

"This is the one."

"Sam-" I protested. Before I could finish, she cut me off.

"Shh! I don't need your negativity." She stared at me in concentration. "Now let's go over what I taught

you."

I tugged down on the shorts, not feeling comfortable with how high they came up. "Sam, I really don't

feel comfortable."

She let out a frustrated huff. "Just do it."

"Fine." I grumbled.

"Ok, pretend I'm Christopher, what are you going to do?" I rolled my eyes before playing along. I took a

piece of my hair off my shoulder, before twirling it with my finger.

"Hey Christopher," I whispered.

"Hey Brielle," Sam said in a deep voice, causing me to burst out laughing.

"Brielle," Sam said, snapping. "Focus!"

"Ok, ok!" I giggled. I took a pause, getting back into character and pretending Sam was Christopher. I

walked up to her, getting close.

"I was thinking that we should add a kiss to the end of the dance," I flipped my hair over my shoulder,

leaning in closer. "What do you think?" My eyes locked onto Sam's.

She jumped up, suddenly giddy. "You're ready! I thought that you were a serious lost cause but

somehow I have pulled off another miracle!"

I smiled, happy that I hadn't made a complete full of myself. "Wait, you said that you believed I could do

it?"

She plopped back onto the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. "A good friend always lies."

****

You got this Brielle. You won't make a fool of yourself.

I repeated this over and over in the school's bathroom mirror. Christopher was waiting in the dance

room for our practice, but I just couldn't muster up the courage to meet him. This whole plan was a bad

idea, but it hadn't hit me how bad it was until now.

You can do this.

I took a deep breath in before summoning the courage to leave. If I didn't go now, I never would. When

I reached the studio, Christopher was already in the middle of the room, stretching.

"What took you so long?" he joked, his usual smile on his face.

I tried to reply to him, but my breath caught in my throat, making it nearly impossible. Instead of saying

an actual word, a weird grunt came out from me instead. My face turned a bright red as I quickly turned

away from him, setting my bag down in the corner.

I took off my sweatpants and sweatshirt to reveal the outfit that Sam had picked for me underneath. I

gave myself one last short pep talk before putting my game face on.

"I was just finding something in my locker," I responded huskily, sauntering towards him. His eyes grew

wide as he scanned me up and down. I was so focused on his facial expression that I didn't notice his

gym shoe on the floor and tripped over it, nearly falling before regaining my balance. My face grew a

bright red.

How embarrassing!

"Are you okay?" he asked, worry evident on his face.

"I'm good," I announced, trying not to die of shame. I just needed to shake it off and get my head back

in the game.

I grabbed a piece of my hair and began twirling it in between my fingers as I continued towards him.

"I was thinking about our routine and how we should add a kiss to the end for dramatic effect."

My finger got caught in a knot, causing it to be stuck in my hair. I yanked at it a few times before it

finally became free, but not before creating a loud ripping noise. I smoothed out my hair before trying to

continue.

"What do you think about adding it?" I finished. I placed my hand on his bicep and leaned in close to

him as I waited for his response. However, my hand was so sweaty that it slipped right off of his arm,

leaving a wet trail behind it.

He stared at me with a look that I could only imagine was a mix between confusion and disgust before

asking me again, "Are you sure you're okay?"

My eyes brimmed with tears as I realized that I had just made a completely fool of myself. If it was

Melanie she would have had no problem seducing Christopher, but I couldn't be sexy if my life

depended on it. All that I wanted to do was hide under a rock and never get out from under it.

His eyes looked concerned as he stared into mine. "Seriously Brielle, what's wrong?"

Although he was trying to help, that question only set me over the edge, I quickly turned away from him

as tears spilled down my face.

"I have to go," I responded before grabbing my dance bag and clothes. I ran out of the studio and

towards the parking lot, trying to get to my house as quickly as I could. All that I wanted to do was go

home and acted like this never happened.

I just felt so stupid. Not only for thinking that I could ever pull this off, but for thinking that there was any

chance that Christopher could like me. He could have his pick of any girl in the school, and for some

strange reason I thought that he would want me?

I briskly walked towards my neighborhood, trying to put as much distance between me and Christopher

as possible. However, when I looked over my shoulder, I saw him running towards me.

I picked up my pace as I wiped away my tears, not wanting him to see me like this. Despite my efforts

he quickly reached me, and easily fell in pace with my quick strides.

"You've been acting really weird today Brielle," he stated, staring at me. "What's wrong?"

I couldn't even bring myself to look at him, let alone respond. I just settled on telling him to go away

before quickening my pace.

He grabbed onto my arm, stopping me in my tracks and bringing us face to face. I stared down at my

feet until he placed his hand under my chin pulling it up so that I was looking at him.

He looked at me with warm eyes. "You can tell me."

I wanted to. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but I just couldn't. I couldn't let myself be vulnerable. And © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

even if I wanted to tell him, whenever I tried to say the words my brain automatically stopped me.

"I can't." My voice cracked on the last word.

He placed his hand on the back of my head, stroking my cheek with his thumb. "You can tell me

anything."

I wanted to believe that. I wanted to believe him, but I knew that everything would change. If he

rejected me, everything would be awkward and I didn't know if I could handle it.

But as I looked into his eyes, something in them made me want to change my mind and take the risk.

Something in them made me want to tell him how I felt and trust him with my heart. I didn't know how to

articulate how I felt about him without tripping over my words, so I did the first thing that came to my

mind.

I kissed him.

I pressed my lips to his, hoping and praying that he would do something. Anything. His lips stayed

frozen against mine. My heart dropped.

He isn't kissing me back.

Right as I was about to pull away, his other hand grabbed onto the back of my head as he pulled my

face towards his, our mouths moving against one another's in sync. The world seemed to fade away as

it was just me and him in the moment.

I had never believed in fireworks. But standing here with Christopher, with goosebumps all over my

body and my heart racing, I was a full believer. Time seemed to freeze as I was unaware if we were

kissing for seconds or hours. When we finally pulled away, we were both breathless.

A smile stretched upon my face, but his eyes quickly became dark and unreadable. Before I had the

chance to ask him what was wrong, he dropped both of his hands from my face and looked away.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

And with that, he ran away.