CHAPTER NINE

ALBUM: LOVER • TRACK 17: IT'S NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND

♡

We made it to my room but we're still outside. I've been holding the doorknob as I kept my eyes closed. Jeez, this is worse than my first day. I feel like he's about to see me naked. Holy, no, not that kind o-of… Darn you, brain.

"Uh, Ellie. You okay?" I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Steve's voice. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine." I answered as I turned the knob. Here goes nothing.

I opened the door and let him inside. I watched him looking around my room as I closed the door. Steve looked around my room as if he's studying every little thing he could see, inhaling every detail and information he could gather. I can feel the beat of my heart going faster than its usual pace. I can also feel this tension that I can't describe and I don't know if Steve could feel it too.

I cleared my throat to get his attention. "O-oh, right. Sorry," He gulped, "Y-Your room's clean and u-uhm, yeah." I looked at him with raised eyebrows as he rubbed his neck in embarrassment and mumbled a sorry.

I swallowed hard as I walked to my study table and gather the things that we'll be needing. "Should we start?" I asked Steve without looking at him because I can feel the heat on my face. Gosh, I hate my mom for letting this to happen.

"Y-Yeah, sure. We should." He answered. I nodded back and started putting my things on my bed.

"Uh, Ellie? Shouldn't we work at your study table?" Steve asked while he blinked his eyes.

I gave him a bored look, "Do you think we'll fit there? You'll take the whole space. We'll do it on my bed--" Steve cut me off as he smirked at me, "Wow, I didn't expect you to be this brave, Ellie." I rolled my eyes at him with a flushed face, "It's not like that, you idiot. Let's just finish this project." I heard him let out a small laugh but I snapped my head at him and gave him a glare then he smiled apologetically at me.

We sat on my bed and Steve started going through our books and his laptop. I pulled out my bed table to start working with my laptop.

Steve looked at me with a teasing look, "You seem really ready for us to work here on your bed. You have a bed table prepared."

"It's always here. I use this when my mom brings me food whenever I don't feel well or having a bad headache." I shrugged my shoulders as I explained to him nonchalantly while looking straight on my laptop. Well, that's weird. I usually hate explaining things that has something to do with my health problem, scared of people's judgements. But with Steve...

I can feel his stare. I looked at him, "Well… Aren't you gonna work?" He just nodded but he looked at me intently for another minute and smiled before going to his work. I blinked repeatedly before focusing on my laptop.

I stole a glance at Steve. He is making me feel something. I don't know… It feels good but this isn't good.

♡

"Just a few more… We're almost there…" I heard a loud clack from the keyboard. "And we're done!"

I snapped my head at Steve, "What? What do you mean we're done?" I asked as I looked over his laptop. "Well, it's done. We just have to proofread it then print it. Done. Ta-da!" He said happily while I read the finished project in his laptop. Wow, he really finished it.

"But you didn't ask for my input? I'm still working on it. It's a group work, Steve. It's supposed to be our work. Not just your work." I huffed.

"Hey, hey. Ellie. Chill. It's our work. Look. Read it." He brought his laptop in front of me and showed me. "There, see? That's your work."

I continued to read the project and yes, it's my work. I looked at him and he was smiling at me. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back at the laptop and starting reading it again.

"To answer your questions, I already started last night. I just waited for your input. I stole some glimpse on your laptop while you were doing some research and started typing it down here and uh, this." He smiled sheepishly as he raised his hand holding my notebook. I snatched my notebook from him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to but it's already opened when I saw it. I saw your notes from our English class and made use of it for our project." He explained.

I won't deny that I'm actually glad that we finished earlier than I expected, but I also won't deny that I'm surprised that he finished our project. No wonder he's the student body president, he's not just for sports but also for academics, he's indeed a student model.

"Ellie?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, "Uh, yeah. Thanks, Steve. I'll proofread this then have it printed." He smiled and nodded at me.

"Uhm, well, uh, we finished earlier than we thought. You should, uhm, leave? You might have some important things to attend to." I told him as I started gathering my things. I looked at the clock and it's almost lunch time.

"Nope, I don't have anywhere to be." Steve said as he lay in my bed with his arms behind his head and closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

"Hey! What are you doing? Get up!" I smacked him with my notebook but it looks like it didn't budge him. "Ow! You're getting violent, Ellie. This is a new side of you. I like it." He laughed and I smacked him again as I bit my inner cheek to suppress my laughter. His laugh seems to be contagious. It's a nice sound to ears… Wait, what?! Elle!

"Seriously. Don't you have like parties to attend? I mean, it's the weekend. Or like, hang out with your friends?" I asked him.

"First of all, I don't do parties. Unless, it's an important party. And didn't you just call me your friend earlier during the prayer? So, here, we're basically hanging out now, friend." He winked at me and I felt my face growing hotter.

"Steve, I'm not joking. I don't want to waste your ti--"

"Am I your friend, Ellie?"

"What?"

Steve sat up and looked at me with a serious look on his face. "Am I your friend, Rachelle Hernandez?"

I stared back at his intense beautiful brown eyes. I gulped before answering, "U-uh, y-yes. I guess? I mean, if you want to. Because it's fine if you don't want--" Steve cut me off again but this time he's smiling sincerely, "Ellie, the moment you entered our homeroom, you were already my friend." I felt my mouth twitch into a small smile.

"I'm sorry, I, ugh, I just don't know what it's like to befriend someone. The only closest to friend that I have is my cousin. So, yeah. I'm really awkward with this. But uh, thanks. T-thank you, Steve."

"Don't worry, Ellie. I got'cha." Steve smiled at me.

"So, my dear friend Ellie, what should we do for our first hang out? Should we braid each other's hair? Gossip about boys?" He said in a girly voice and I can't help but laugh at his silliness.

"It's almost lunchtime. Let's go down--"

"I brought you guys your lunch. No need for you two to go downstairs. Just have your lunch here and hang out." My mom suddenly burst through the door with freshly cooked lunch on a tray on her hands. As soon as she put down our lunch on the table, she looked at us and I gave her a raised eyebrows and crossed my arms. 

Steve stood up and went to look at our lunch, "This smells nice, Mrs. Hernandez." 

"Oh, just call me, Lisa." Mom said as she patted Steve's cheeks.

"Okay, I'll leave you guys to hang out. We'll be just downstairs. Call us if you need anything. Enjoy your lunch." Mom said, emphasizing the words "hang out" as she went out. 

"I'm pretty sure my mom was eavesdropping. You mind if I play some music?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping!" I heard her yell from outside of my room.

"Mom!! Please!"

"Fine! Fine!" I heard her laughing from the outside and heard her footsteps going down.

I looked at Steve who's rubbing his face, trying to hide his laugh. I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll play some music?"

"Sure. It's your house and room, anyways."

"You sure? You don't mind if I play some Taylor Swift songs?" I said wiggling my eyebrows at him. "I mean, you might go cray cray for TayTay and we don't want to have that big revelation in my house, do we?"

He shook his head, "But that's the thing, Ellie, with you, I can jam to Taylor. You know what, let me choose a song, so we can savour your mom's food." I chuckled at his response. He bluetooth his phone to my speaker and started picking a song.

♪ School bell rings, walk me home

Sidewalk chalk covered in snow

Lost my gloves, you give me one

"Wanna hang out?" Yeah, sounds like fun

Video games, you pass me a note

Sleeping in tents ♪

"It's nice to have a friend..." Steve sang as he turned around to me with a cheeky smile. I smiled at him and on his choice of song. We listen to the song as we eat our lunch.

I turned to Steve, "You know I really don't get it why you have to keep it from everyone that you're a swiftie. I don't see anything wrong with that?"

I heard Steve let out a big sigh, "Well… I'll tell you soon. Let's just enjoy our first hang out. Let's talk about other things." He swallowed and wiped his mouth, "Why do you like Taylor Swift?"

I chuckled, "I thought you said we should just talk about other things. This is still about Taylor Swift." 

"Well, yes. But minus me. So, answer me, why?" I can see the curiosity and eagerness in his eyes.

"Hmm… I don't know, I just feel connected to her? Taylor has this power where she can connect to you through her songs. Even though, I never had a boyfriend. She made me miss an ex that doesn't even exist." We both laughed. "I just really love her. She's authentic. And it's rare to find that these days. And… I grew up listening to her, I'd listen to her wherever I am, even in hospital. It's like she witnessed my journey and fight for my life too with the presence of her voice through her songs." I explained. Steve nodded. "What about you? Why do you like her? How did it start? It's rare to see a boy swiftie, to be honest."

"Just like you, I love how she connects to everyone through her songs. The moment I first heard 'Teardrops On My Guitar' I instantly fell in love with the song. At first, I thought it was just a silly crush because she sings, she's beautiful and all but then I bought her first album, my first Taylor Swift album. I listened to the whole thing, I loved her even more, especially the honesty of her lyrics. That's how it started."

"It's a Taylor magic." I said smiling at him.

"Exactly." He smiled. "What's your favorite album? Mine's the latest, 'Lover'. I think it's her best work yet."

I drank my water then wiped my mouth, "Why 'Lover'?"

"Well, it's very different from her other albums. Not technically different but she sounded more content in this album. She gives this vibe of 'finally I found the one'. You get what I mean? Cliche it may sound coming from a guy but I like to have that kind of feeling and experience someday." He said and I looked at him, surprised that he was looking at me. I looked back at my food immediately, trying to hide my flushed face.

I nodded, "I love all of her works but 'Speak Now' is the best for me. Aside from the fact that she wrote all of the songs by herself, just herself! I love this one particular song that even the song 'Lover' can't beat it. Well, just for me at least."

"What! What song could that be? I think the song 'Lover' is her best song ever! And yeah, 'Speak Now' is iconic. She wrote it all by herself, wow! But I couldn't think of any song could beat the legendary Tay song, 'Lover'." Steve exclaimed. It's funny to see him fanboy-ing but this is such a raw moment and I must admit, I'm enjoying it. It's nice to finally have someone to go crazy with about Taylor Swift.

I giggled, "'Enchanted'. Don't hate me and no offense to Taylor, I love 'Lover'. But 'Enchanted' is something else. It's magical, like it takes you to a place, a very high place that floods you with this feelings, unexplainable feelings." I sigh. "One of my wishes in this world is to dance to 'Enchanted' but an orchestra version of it under the stars and the moon as a spotlight." I sighed and shook my head while smiling. "It's silly." 

I turned to look at Steve who's staring at me intently. No smiles or teasing look on his face.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Steve?" He continued to stare at me as if he's studying me. I leaned in, "Stevie? Stevie the Swiftie?" I whispered.

He raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "I guess calling you Stevie worked huh?" I told him.

He smiled as he leaned in closer to my face. My eyes grew wide as his smile grew wider. I didn't pull back but just gulped.

"You know how much I've longed for this? To have someone to talk to about my secret other world? I guess, Taylor's right." He whispered while his face is still so close to me. I gave him a confused look and I can feel my heart beating as if it could jump out of my chest anytime soon.

He tucked my hair behind my ear and sang along with Taylor's voice, "It's nice to have a friend..."

I felt my face grew hotter but I just smiled at him.

Yeah, maybe Taylor's right, Stevie.

It's indeed nice to have a friend.