Project Coffee

xv

     "Are you really going to ignore me?"Alex asks while I continue to avoid engaging in a conversation with him.

I keep my gaze locked on a book I kept by my bed table.I flip the pages of the book pretending I was reading it but in all honestly I couldn't concentrate on the words written but was to busy struggling not to focus on the boy who had sneaked into my room.

"Kyliiiiiiiiiiiie"He whines shaking my arm gently like a four year old asking for his toy truck.

"Did you just call me Kylie?"I ask my eyebrows furrowed and my voice almost to serious for me to recognize as me own.

"Finally!"He sighs throwing his had back and dramatizing."If you avoided me any longer I would have lost it."He exclaims.

"You avoided me for a good two years."I fire at me rolling my eyes.

"I thought we were over this!"He throws his hand up in the air.Pushing himself off my bed and starts walking around my bed room floor.

"All you said was you wanted to make sure I didn't end up getting involved."I recall.I watch him turn around. And start walking backwards.

"That because I needed you as far away from the situation as possible."He says his eyes meeting mine.

"You don't get to decide if I get involved in something or not."I tell him putting my book down."You didn't even give me a proper explanation."I go on.

I catch the white wire on the floor my vision locking in the cord that connected my laptop to the outlet.

"Well I have a say in who I let get hurt,Katie."He starts stepping closer to the wire without noticing."And I won't let that be-"

"Watch out!"I call out just as he tumbled onto my floor.His foot getting caught in the wire.

A thud goes off as his body connects with my floorboards and I nearly cringe at the sound.

"Are you alright?"I ask him getting up from my bed and making my way over to him.He just lays there on my floor staring up at my ceiling.

"Lay with me."He says softly ignoring my concern and instead pretending he'd done all this on purpose.

"What?"I ask my eyebrows furrowing in confusion as I looked down at him.

"Lay with me."He repeats again moving over to make more room as if there wasn't already enough room on my floor.I sit next to him on my floor feeling so much smaller now that I was only a head taller then my bed.I let out a sigh before letting my head fall back gently on the hard wood.

"Now what?"I ask letting the feeling of the cold tiles on my skin soak in.

"There was this guy,"He begins."After my father passed."A pause settles in.I turn to look at Alex to see him staring at my ceiling almost as if he was reliving what had happened in his head."he-"

"You don't need to do this."I cut him off knowing how much admitting what had happened was killing him.

"Katie."He turns to look at me.

"We can take our time."I smile at him out stretching my hand until my fingers rested on top of his own fingers.

I watch the soft smile on his face feeling his fingers shift till they rest on top of mine before his fingers start to entwine with mine.

I can't stop myself from smiling harder letting my teeth peek out.

"Why did I ever leave?"He asks more himself then mine,his hands holding me tighter.