FLASHBACK- 9 years ago: Age 15
"Wade!" he screamed her name as he entered the classroom, his eyes desperately searching for her.
"Where is Sage?" he asked Grayson, who just ignored him and walked away, lightly pushing his shoulder.
He was confused about Grayson's behavior. Grayson was always a calm guy and rarely got angry with anyone.
"Ade," he called his name, desperate to know where Sage was.
Damien raised his eyebrows in response, indicating him to continue speaking.
"Have you seen Sage?" he asked hurriedly, desperately wanting to see her.
"She's gone," Damien said, his voice filled with sadness.
"Where?" Wade tilted his head, furrowing his brows, not understanding what Damien meant.
"She left Chicago," Damien said, putting his head down on the desk.
"Wait. What the fuck? When?" Wade looked at Damien with anger-filled eyes, not for him, but for Sage.
"Last night. She invited all of us to her house for dinner," Damien smirked at the way Wade's face fell. Wade managed to control himself and kept a straight face.
"Why the fuck didn't she invite me?" he half-yelled at Damien.
"She didn't want you there. Anyway, it's good now, right? She won't have to get killed by some bastard. Now she can live a good life, fall in love with someone, date them, get married..." Damien's sentence was interrupted when Wade banged his hand loudly on his desk. Luckily, no one was in class to witness their banter.
He got closer to Damien and whispered, "No one will date Sage, no one will marry her except..." This time, Wade's sentence was cut off by a loud scream that echoed through the empty classroom.
"See, I told you there's something going on between them—there was always so much sexual tension. Oh my god, guys, is this enemies to lovers that I am witnessing?" the green-eyed girl exclaimed with excited glee on her face, truly happy for her friends.
"Sage," Wade whispered, completely confused as he saw her.
Damien, Emily, and Grayson, who were trying their best not to laugh, burst into fits of laughter. Sage stared at them, completely confused about what was so funny in this situation. She turned to look at Wade, only to see him clenching his jaw and closing his eyes to control his breathing, his face turning red.
If Wade were a cartoon character, steam would have been blowing out of his ears. Sage snickered at that thought.
Sage was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice a pair of hands swooping over her shoulder, drawing her into an embrace.
She was very confused by everyone's behavior. Firstly, her friends kept laughing for no apparent reason, but she shrugged it off, considering it was normal for them to be weird like that.
Secondly, she was confused by Wade's behavior. As soon as she entered the classroom, his eyes were already on her figure, and she thought she saw relief in them. His way of hugging her was also quite different. She wouldn't say Wade was a frequent hugger, but he did hug her randomly, maybe once a week. But it wasn't like this. Something felt different.
Something felt wrong, extremely wrong.
It felt like that hug, the one he gave her when they were 13. The day she knew he cried for the first time.
Everyone stopped laughing when they noticed Wade's panicked expression. It was genuine terror. Wade could feel his heart beating faster. He didn't know whether it was from panic or something else.
Suddenly, the bell rang, and students started filling the classroom..
As if a switch clicked in Sage's mind, she quickly pulled away, narrowly avoiding hitting the table. She saw that look, the look of sadness on his face. She didn't like it, she didn't want to hurt him. But the words of apology were stuck in her throat, unable to form properly or even look at him properly.
Her heart was beating fast, a little too fast for her liking. Now if she were someone else, she might have thought it was some heart disease, but Sage knew better.
Damn it.
She likes him, she likes Wade Callahan.
She shouldn't, he knows he doesn't like her.
She was just a best friend after all, right?
Ade, on the other hand, was regretting his life decisions. He regretted ever talking to Sage, applying that damn ointment on her wrist. He regretted twirling her hair like that, regretted the urge to kiss her damn face every time she smiled at him.
He regretted loving her, regretted ever listening to his father.
But she was always there for him when he needed it most.
She made him feel enough.
He wanted her hugs, wanted her to smile at him, and he prayed to God that the smile never faded from her face.
He wanted to stay with her.
Now he knew, it was either him or Sage who would get to live, but he knew he would gladly die if it were for her.
Because she was so worth it.
He quickly went back to his seat, still next to Sage. Sage squirmed in her seat under his intense gaze. He kept staring at her as if she would disappear at any moment. That's when he noticed a patch of chocolate near her lips.
Without further thought, he wiped the chocolate off her face using the pad of his thumb. This made Sage turn her head to him in a quick motion, wide-eyed, and she blushed furiously.
Oh, God, can I just kiss her? He thought to himself.
Now with a small smirk playing on his face, he wiped that same chocolate that was on his thumb onto her cheeks, rubbing it and spreading it even more.
Sage, still in a daze, quickly recovered and swatted his hands away, giving him a death glare. She tried to act nonchalant, but the blush on her face spoke otherwise.
Ade's smirk turned into a full-blown teasing smile. Seeing that smile on his face, it was really hard not to replicate the same, but she tried to act annoyed and put her head on her hands on the desk.
Ade chuckled lightly and caressed Sage's head ever so softly. This type of tranquility was new for both of them, but they enjoyed it regardless.
Today was the final day, the day he could finally ask Sage out, to be his girlfriend. He knew he had some type of effect on her, but he wasn't able to understand whether it was because she liked him or she just had never been close with a guy.
These days Sage looked happier, and he liked it. He liked- no, he loved seeing her smile at him with that gorgeous face of hers. He was so whipped.
"Sage," he called her softly, making her turn around and walk closer to him.
"What's up?" she smiled gently at him, melting his heart.
Before he could answer, his phone rang, and the name was enough to ruin his entire day. It was Isabella Sinclair.
He excused himself before Sage could peek at his screen and answered the call reluctantly, hoping she would just hang up.
"Yes?" his voice came out harsher than he expected. He heard some weird noises in the background, but he didn't even want to think about what was happening there.
"Have you asked Sage out yet?" her mother asked him in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"Nope, but I will do it soon. Bye," he didn't give her a chance to speak and ended the call.
"Ade?" he almost jumped when he heard Sage's voice calling from behind. "Y-yeah?" he stuttered, the reason unknown to Sage, but she just shrugged it off and said, "You wanted to ask something, yeah?".
"Oh yeah... don't you think Damien is getting too close to you these days?" he said with a teasing yet sad glint in his eyes.
"Is he? I don't know, honestly," she said as if it was not important to her.
"Ade, he likes you. Are you blind or something?" Ade said with a little anger in his voice.
"What the heck? No, he likes Emily," she argued back in the same tone. Long gone was the tranquility; all that was left was some serious tension.
"No, dude, he hates her. They always end up arguing," Ade said in disbelief, scoffing at Sage's thoughts.
Sage laughed without any humor. "Yeah, sure. Do you see the way Emily glares at me and Damien whenever he comes close to me? And there is always this look of love or something on Damien's face whenever he teases Emily."
"But Emily likes me, yeah?" Ade questioned, confused.
"You are too obsessed with yourself. She's doing it to make Damien jealous. She always looks at him for any reaction whenever she's close to you," she shrugged and looked at his face, which had a very cute expression.
Does he like Emily?
"B-but Damien, he always hugs you whenever he sees you, calls you babe, and keeps flirting with you," Ade stated matter-of-factly.
"You do the same, but that doesn't mean you like me," she said in the same tone.
"H-huh? Oh yeah, of course, I don't like you," he replied, not meeting her eyes, which luckily didn't pique her curiosity.
Damien and Emily began acting strangely over the following three days. Damien was being a little more touchy than normal, which made her uneasy. Emily, on the other hand, was treating her coldly and giving her filthy glances. But they had one thing in common: they both stared at her with a sorrowful gleam in their eyes.
She had enough, so she dragged Ade to the storeroom to ask him what was up with them. He wasn't meeting her eyes and seemed hesitant to speak. He decided to put his plan into action.
"Please, Sage, just this time. I promise I won't ask anything more from you ever again. Just help me this time," he whined.
She shook her head, silently laughing at his cute behavior.
"But why are you asking me to do it?" she asked, her voice full of curiosity.
He suddenly felt guilty, as if he had forgotten how to talk for a brief while. He instantly regained his composure and stated:
"See, this will be the best for both of us. This girl Emily won't leave me alone, acting like I'm her boyfriend, and your so-called 'best friend' Damien is clinging to you and flirting so much. Don't worry, I know you aren't even interested in him."
"What are you talking about? Damien is my best friend. Why would he like me?" she half-yelled.
"Please, Sage, you're so stupid. How can't you see that he's in love with you?" he said, almost holding back his laughter.
"Fine, fine. What do you want to do then?"
"Let's date each other, Sage," he said with full seriousness.
"OH MY GOD, YOU LIKE ME? OH MY GOD, I DIDN'T KNOW. WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN??" she yelled.
"What the heck, man? No, I don't like you, Sage. We're just going to pretend, you idiot," he said.
"Oh well, okay then. No problem!" she said happily and relieved that he didn't like her.
"So, Miss Sage, we're dating now, huh?" he said, grinning.
"You mean fake dating?" she asked, slightly smiling.
He put his arm around her shoulder and started walking, taking her along. "Yeah, yeah, same thing, babe."
She wanted Ade to think she didn't like him, so she put on a pleasant face when he said he didn't like her, although it did hurt a bit. So, she had a decision to make: either convince him to like her or get out of his life altogether.