Balconial Conversations

interlude \\ 71

"So... I lost you the other night. Where'd you go off to?" Alex asks as we walk to English. We haven't spoken all weekend, and he met me with the most hopeful expression in the hallway.

"I met up with a friend." Vague. Perfect. Like the old me.

"Oh..." his lips turn slightly pouty, and I fight my natural inclination to sneer. I have no patience for weakness or jealousy. "And you didn't respond to any of my texts." Because I was too busy texting someone else.

"I was busy... what did you want to talk about?" I stop in front of the classroom door, adjusting my backpack straps imperiously. A flash of hurt crosses his expression, and his eyes cloud over at the first bell rings.

"Kat... we kissed." He says it slowly, like I wouldn't remember.

"I know." I almost roll my eyes but don't.

"So, you don't want to talk."

"I don't know..."

"Well, I want wondering if you wanted to come over to my house this next Saturday, but if you don't that's cool." He says it almost angrily, pushing his floppy hair out of his eyes. His tongue ring is silver again; silver and flashing as it clicks against his teeth.

I look away from him, down the hallway. Gabriel making his way toward us leisurely, paying more attention to his phone than the emptying crowd.

"I don't know what I'm doing next Saturday."

"Why are you being so cold? Is it because of the party? I didn't think you'd care if i danced..." he looks perplexed but almost angry. Why are you being so cold?; the regurgitated question.

"Alex, I'm no good at relationships. You're a nice guy but... I don't want anything serious." Because secretly I'm sort if pining for this non-romantic psychology major that makes me smile and introduced me to Gilmore Girls.

"So we can't hang out as friends?"

"Well..."

"Hey," it's Gabriel. He slips the phone into his back pocket and arches a finely shaped eyebrow identical to his elder brother. "We going in?"

I take my usual seat by Gabriel, and his long arms encroache on my space as usual. "So that looked like a serious conversation."

"I guess," I reply non-committedly. He leans further onto my desk, surrounding me with his pleasantly musky cologne scent.

"What, are you too emotionally unavailable?" I arch an eyebrow. "What, I'm not the only one you're cold with. I'm just like Saran Wrap made for freezer burn."

I stare at him, and he smiles. It's like sun breaking through clouds, and I roll my eyes. But there's something nice about the joy he possesses; it leaks into you when you're around like the UV rays or something nicer, like fireplace heat. It thaws.

"The cold just glances right off."
***
I like him sometimes. Hbu?

I started a new story called a f f e c t i o n pls read (:(: