LOVE OR DEAL?

Gabriella was seated on a bench near the soccer field, where the players were practicing their game. It has become her habit to observe these athletes as they practice. She would always sit on the same bench after class to wait for the players to finish. She's been doing the same things for the previous few days, not because she's interested in the sport, but because she's interested in a certain player, Charles James Augustus.

He met this guy when she was walking with her friends at the campus field. She saw how hot Charles kicks the soccer ball and in that moment she knew she would like this guy. Who would not fall for guy who has an amazing dark almond shaped eyes, bristly eyebrows, sharped and pointed nose, a concrete jawline, full lips, and a member of sports team on their campus? He was totally her type.

Gabriella held up a book to her nose and pretended as if she was studying its contents for the upcoming exam while her gazed were fixed on the object of her affection. When her phone suddenly rang, and she absentmindedly looked for it to silence the alarm.

As soon as she turned it off she turned her eyes in front of her where the game is being held. She felt disappointed when she saw that the game just ended and the players are now seated on the bench while wiping their sweats. But instead of standing up and leaving, she continued on looking around to see where Charles James is.

"Done reviewing?" Gabriella flinched when a guy suddenly speak in a deep voice in her ears. She turns her head to her right to see who owns the voice. She was surprised to find out that it was actually her crush that she has been searching for, Charles. She could smell Charles' manly scent even after playing few games and sweating.

"A-ah yes!" she replied, feeling embarrassed because of stuttering. She's already cursing herself in her mind. 'Why of all time do I have to stutter right now in front of CHARLES JAMES' is what her mind right now.

"I see, do STEM students read upside down?" he ask and sat beside Gabriella. Gabriella turned her head to look at her book she was holding and felt more embarrassed to realize that she has been holding her book upside down all this time. Her cheeks flushed, she hurriedly close the book and put it inside her bag.

Because of too much embarrassment she decided to finally stand up, get all her things, and look at Charles James who was also looking at her and has been watching her all along. "I-I still have things to finish, I have to go." She said and started to walk away. While walking she question herself whether she have told Charles about her academic strand but in the end she juts brushed it off and thought that maybe he have seen her somewhere with other STEM students.

The next day, Gabriella decided not to do her usual activities after classes so instead of staying at the campus field, she decided to just come along with her friend. Her friend , Olivia invited her to go out so they could have a good time since they have been in lot of pressure this past few days because of a bunch of paper works their lecturers gave them from major to minor subjects. They were both walking together while chatting when her friend Olivia stopped. She look to where Olivia is looking and she was surprised to see Charles James standing in front of their campus gate while chatting with his friends. She felt like a million of butterflies were flying inside of her, she feel nervous and excited at the same time. She started fixing her tote bag, her hair, and wipe some sweats on her face.

One of Charles James' friends tapped his shoulder and points his fingers to Gabriella's direction. Charles James turned around to their direction and saw Gabriella with her friends who is now walking in his direction. Charles James smile that makes Gabriella's face turned red and her friend started teasing her.

As soon as they approached the gate, Charles comes towards Gabriella "Gabriella Pereira, right?" Charles asked while looking straight into her eyes. She just nodded as a response. From the way he walks to how talks, his manly voice and his posture just puts her in a whirlpool of thoughts.

'Is he doing this on purpose or am I just overthinking?' she asked in her mind

"Are you free today?" he asked. Gabriella was about to answer when her friend interrupted her. She insist that Gabriella is free, forgetting that they planned to go out and have a good time together. Olivia knew about Gabriella's feelings for Charles so she was so supportive.

"That's nice. I was actually planning to invite you on a walk. Is that okay?" Charles asked while smiling. Gabriella's friend looked at her with wide eyes while nodding her head. To leave Gabriella with no choice, her friends left her already. She hop on the tricycle and told the driver to leave immediately. Since Charles and Gabriella's friend has left already the two was left alone.

"Should we get going?" Charles asked and Gabriella nodded immediately. Without a destination, both of them walk away with a span between them. "Is there any place you would like to go or food to eat?" Charles asked. The first thing that comes to Gabriella's mind was her and her friend's favourite milk tea shop.

"Teaboba!" she suggested with a smile which Charles agreed. They are now headed to the milk tea shop. Since it is near the school, they decided to just walk. Gabriella was happy with this idea since she could spend more time with her Charles, her new crush.

After a few minutes they finally arrived at Teaboba shop. Luckily there are only a few people on the shop that day. Gabriella bought a strawberry cake while Charles just goes with an Okinawa milk tea. Gabriella put her wallet out from her bag and was about to pay for her shares when Charles insisted on paying. After settling the payment, they look for a vacant sit and wait for their order. Not long after, their order was finally served.

"Have you been going to the field when you're reviewing?" Charles suddenly asked.

"Y-yes, the place has a peaceful atmosphere that makes it easier to review." she answered. 'What a great liar'. With just having Charles around, Gabriella feels like she's going to explode what now that they are eating together while talking.

"Glad you could concentrate with all those noises coming from the players and passers-by." Gabriella was taken aback by his reply while Charles was casually sipping on his milk tea as if he didn't say anything. Gabriella continued on eating her strawberry cake, she may seem so calm but deep inside she has already experiencing different kinds of emotion and all her inner persona is already in turmoil. "Do you mind if I ask?" Charles suddenly spoke up after sipping on his milk tea.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Gabriella choke on her strawberry cake after hearing the question and shook her head relentlessly. In her thoughts, she said 'Why is Charles suddenly interested on me? Was me reading a book upside down hook his interest? Gosh, I would literally say "yes" if he would ask me on a date.'

A deafening silence engulfs the atmosphere after that question when Gabriella's phone suddenly rang. She took it from her bag and answered the call. It was her mom's telling her to come home already because it is getting late. She didn't tell her mom or any member of her family about her plans after classes so as the only girl , she was expected to come home before the curfew her mother set. She turns to Charles after she hangs up her phone with a disappointed look.

"My mom's already looking for me, I have to go now." She said

"Yeah, I'll walk you to the waiting area." Of course Gabriella was happy since she could spend more time with her crush. They were silent while they were walking. Charles seem he has something he wants to say but couldn't or he was hesitant until they arrive at the terminal.

"Uhm I actually wanted to ask if you could be my girlfriend." She was shocked and could not answer so she just stares at him, she has been staring at him for so long that Charles couldn't bear it and spoke up. "If you don't like the idea it's okay. It's just that I couldn't stand being stalk by a girl anymore that I thought of this. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"What do you mean?" the thrill she felt disappeared and was replaced by confusion.

"Someone has been pestering me for almost a month now after what happen to us at the bar. She even joins the badminton team that makes me unable to practice the game properly that is also why I have been practicing with soccer players. So I thought of asking someone to pretend to be my girlfriend hoping she stop after realizing I'm committed already." Charles explained, the frustration is now visible in his face. Gabriella could feel how tired Charles is from trying to avoid this girl but she didn't felt any remorse rather she felt jealous. And the only thing that bothers her is what happens to the both of them at the bar.

"Why don't you just tell her you're not interested in her?" Gabriella asked with a bit of irritation. 'If you didn't entertain her at the first place then you would not have any problem! My gosh.'

"I have already told her she's not my type and all but she still insists on playing around. She said she could make me fall in love."

"What if I agreed to become you're "fake girlfriend" but she still didn't stop?" Charles didn't answer. Gabriella knows that even if Charles won't persuade her she would agree to this deal because if this would make them closer then why would she disagree.

"Sure, I could pretend to be your girlfriend but what could I gain from it?" Gabriella asked, trying to negotiate so he would not notice her lingering feeling for him.

"Well, I…" Charles topped talking and looks around as if he was thinking of something. "Carlos is your cousin, isn't he?" Gabriella just nodded "He told us that you like Jonas, member of soccer team, also the reason you're always on the field you were sitting yesterday. I could help you become close with him."

Gabriella was stunned for a second trying to process the misunderstanding and in the end she just whispered "But it is you who I liked."

"Pardon?" Charles was unable to hear what Gabriella just said because of the loud noise from the motorcycle that just passed by which made Gabriella signed in relief.

"Nothing, so when are we going to start pretending to be lovers?"

"Tomorrow?" Gabriella nodded. Charles took his out and clicked something on it and then handed it to Gabriella. "Can you put your number on it?" Charles asked and so Gabriella took the phone and typed her phone number and the give it back to Charles.

They were both standing at the waiting shed waiting for a jeep to stop. None of them were talking; Gabriella took her phone out and pretended to be busy when a jeep stops in front of them. Gabriella turned to Charles to bid goodbye and Charles just nodded. Gabriella rode on the jeep while Charles was waiting outside, waiting for the jeep where Gabriella is before leaving. When the jeep finally leaves, Charles started walking on his way home since their home is near to where he is at the moment.

Meanwhile, while Gabriella was riding the jeepney and was able to rethink her decisions, she realized what she just put herself into. She never got a boyfriend in her 17 years of living and has no motive to get one. She promised her late dad that she won't commit to anyone until she reached her dream which was actually her father's dream for her. But right now, she wasn't thinking of that, she was concern that maybe because she has no experience she won't do well as Charles fake girlfriend.

After a few minutes Gabriella finally arrived at their house. The first thing she did was to kiss her mother's hand as a sign of respect and then go to her room to change. After she finish, she go out to get some snacks and tell her mom to not disturb her as she has a lot of paper works to finish. But the truth is she has planned to use this time to research about 'what do you do in a relationship?'

She opened her computer and start researching, she took note of essentials for a relationships. She even wrote it on her small notebook. She was in the midst of reading when her phone suddenly rang which made her flinch. She took it to see that she received a text message from an unknown number.

'Save my number' it says. She was confused for a second when another text was delivered. That says 'This is Charles.' And with that both sides of her lips rose up, forming a big smile. She immediately saves his number with a nickname 'Lover'. She was just staring on her phone while pondering what she should reply. It took her an hour and a lot of trial and error to just end up with 'Okay.'. After sending the text message, she waited for a reply but an hour passed and she hasn't received any reply yet. So she decided to just continue researching but was unable to focus because her mind was occupied by Charles while her eyes were moving back and forth from her computer screen to her mobile phone.

When another hour passed and she still didn't get a respond she decided to lay on her bed and sleep already as she has a meeting to attend with the other student council tomorrow morning for the upcoming event. But because the tremor she was feeling has not yet subsided she did not fall asleep immediately. So she decided to go downstairs to drink some milk.

After getting a cup of milk she goes back to her room. When she open her room door, she heard her phone ringing so she immediately puts the glass of milk she was holding on the bedside table so she could answer her phone. But when she was about to answer the phone, the call ended.

She was disappointed to see that she was unable to answer the call, but she become more disappointed when she realize that the caller was Charles. Her disappointment was later overcome by curiosity. And her mind was filled with the question 'What could be his reason for calling me late at night? Was it to plan for our deal? Or something else?'. She was imagining things already while drinking her milk until she lay down on her bed and later fall asleep.