《The Journey Towards Stardom》Chapter 21 - Feelings
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It’s been a few days since that bathroom incident. Faer and Stefannie talked often but she normally left him to his own devices since she knew he liked his space.
It was the day of the challenge, so Faer made his way down to the living room and decided to wait until the others were up to play the message.
Noel was there as usual, though Faer wasn’t quite sure why he was being recorded since he was just making his breakfast as usual.
Just as he finished up, he heard the rest of the participants making their way towards him. Now that everyone was up, he played the recording.
Jared appeared on the screen.
“Good morning dolls! The challenge for today is Roller Skating. Having great balance and agility is a must have for a model! The winner will receive two tickets for the Victoria Secret Fashion Show in December. Alright Dolls, do your best! Mwah!”
The girls screamed and jumped around while the guys smirked and flexed like a bunch of idiots. Faer shook his head as he dashed upstairs to put on his shoes then made his way to the bus to wait for the others.
Though he’d been roller skating a few times, he wasn’t that proficient at it but now with his boosted stats, Faer knew there was no way he’d lose.
The drive took about an hour; during that time the participants were excited and kept chattering about the VSFS. Faer was a little excited himself, he always loved roller skating and he hadn’t done it in a long time.
Now all wearing rented skates, they entered the rink. Stefannie hadn’t skated before so she was really unsteady and wobbly. Seeing that she was having a hard time and falling so much already, Faer feared for her tender bottom.
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The pop song that was blasting had the skaters in a frenzy so no one was willing to help Stefannie out.
“Did you drink milk and take vitamin D today? If so, I won’t have to be this scared of you breaking your hip.” Faer glided over to her.
“Har har. I’m sure the judges are having a laugh. Whoever came up with this: I hate you.” Stefannie spat out.
“It’s a good thing I persuaded you to keep the knee pads. Your shorts should've also been padded, your ass would have been thankful.” Faer snickered.
Seeing how she was struggling to stay upright, Faer sighed and decided to stop messing around.
“Listen up. Bend your knees and spread your legs apart a little.” Faer nodded as she did as instructed.
“I’m not so wobbly anymore! What next teacher?” She smirked.
“I think you’re better off holding my hand for now, so take small steps and keep your center of gravity low.”
Guiding her slowly, Faer made sure that he had a proper hold of her hand, thought that only made Stefannie blush furiously.
Now that she wasn’t falling anymore, He let go of her hand and encouraged her to keep going and that he’d be right behind her to catch her fall.
This naturally made Stefannie swoon and blush even more.
Finally, they were both having fun as they went at their own pace while skating to the pop songs that were playing. Faer felt like a kid again, he had forgotten how much fun he had whenever he went skating with his family. This was a good way to distress and he promised himself to go skating more often.
Stefannie, not wanting to hold him back anymore, told Faer to impress her and oh boy did he deliver. It wasn’t only that he was graceful and extremely skilled but he truly looked like he was having fun. His laughter captivated everyone and made them want to inch closer to him.
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Much too soon, the fun ended and Faer was the most disappointed.
The judges rode with them halfway on the bus to announce the winner.
Diem stood up from her seat and looked at all the contestants individually. When her eyes landed on Faer, she smiled and walked over to him, handing him the tickets.
Surprise flashed through his eyes as he pocketed the tickets and thanked the judges for choosing him. They smiled at his modesty.
“I knew you’d win. You basically stole the show from the start.” Stefannie laughed as she nudged him, trying to break him out of his stupor.
Blushing, he then stuck his tongue out at her then shyly looked around as he ran his hand through his silky hair.
Later that night in bed, Faer was looking over his stats, various questions plagued him. These last few days he’s been trying to talk to God but he never got a response. Was God deliberately ignoring him? It was possible, judging by the impression he had of God.
The following days after the challenge, Faer was bored out his mind so he went in search of Stefannie to see what she was up to. Her room door was opened so he saw her sitting there listening to music on a walkman.
“Just how much of an old woman are you? Who uses a walkman these days?” Faer asked as he walked in then sat beside her on her bed.
“I do, obviously. I can’t go anywhere without this thing. It’s really nostalgic.” Sadness flickered behind her eyes and went just as quickly as it came, which had Faer doubting what he saw.
“I always wanted to ask you something. I’m not being nosey, or anything but I’m just really curious.” She said after a while.
“Hmm? What’s on your mind?” Faer looked at her twiddling her thumbs nervously.
“That is… Do you have a girlfriend? Or someone you like?”
“No to the girlfriend but not sure to the other question.”
“What does that even mean? How can you not be sure if you like someone?” Needless to say, Stefannie was perplexed by Faer’s answer.
“Well, it was someone I used to like a few years ago. I recently met them again, so I’m not quite sure. Why do you ask?” Tilting his head to the side, Faer looked at her as he saw her nervous actions.
“Like I said, I was just curious. Do you like anyone here?” Long lashes quivered as Stefannie waited for his answer.
“Romantically? No.” Faer would be a fool if he didn’t notice she had feelings for him, but he didn’t like her that way so he thought it was best to shut her down firmly instead of being wishy-washy about it.
“I see. Whoever that person who you’re not sure you like is, they're very lucky” She tried to mask her disappointment, but Faer saw it, he just chose to act like he didn’t.
Feeling like a jerk, he went back to his room to listen to some music to get rid of his melancholy.
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