Mailboy (Wattys 2015 Winner)

22. Rather Be

apparently this got deleted so here you go again

not edited sorry baes

“I’m puffing my chest. I’m getting red in the face. You can call me obsessed. It’s not your fault that they hover.” Jealous –Nick Jonas

 Nico Bear Forrest

            Blood was rushing down my hands before I had realized what I had done. Shards of broken glass lay on the ground; I saw vague reflections of me in them. I looked up at the shattered mirror in front of me.

I saw the guy Zoey wasn’t kissing.

Zoey gasped, “Forrest?! What the hell happened?”

Murmurs rose in the room and I couldn’t look at anyone but her. Why was I getting so bothered? She had the right to kiss whomever boy she wanted to kiss. It wasn’t like I had feelings for her. Pain shot up in my fist, I stared from my fist and back at her.

She had chocolate at the corner of her lip, probably from kissing fucking Leo. I hadn’t even bothered to learn his name; it wasn’t even worth it anymore. He appeared beside her, mouth dropped. A Hershey kiss wrapper was crumpled up in her fist.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Saliva had dried in my mouth and I tried to slow down my breathing, I was uncertain that people in Ottawa might have heard it.

A wrinkly old man rushed throughout the crowd, shouting excessive apologies. Our eyes locked for five seconds before he took action, instead of standing like a statue.

“C’mon, boy. Let’s fix you up,” he walked towards me and turned me away from the people in front. He led me to the infirmary and talked in a hushed voice with the nurse and handed her a twenty dollar bill, causing her to leave voluntarily.

Walters opened several cabinets before finding the first aid kit. He grabbed my hand and put it under cold water, as I gritted my teeth to resist the burning. It felt like needles were poking on my knuckles. The man took out the small pieces from my hand and dried it.

Since I didn’t know all that much about him, I couldn’t say anything. He and I were friends, he made horrible jokes, but that was typical for old people. He shone with warmth and wisdom and seemed truly happy with his life.

“Don’t move,” he warned. He wrapped a bandage on my hand and I felt the pain subside. Walters took the nurse’s chair and sat on it, contemplating me thoughtfully.

“Thank you,” I expressed my gratitude politely.  

He smiled, “For what? Doing what I should have done? Don’t worry about it.” He squinted his eyes at me and put his arms on his knees.

“Do you want to tell me what that was about?” he said.

The idea of seeing Zoey and Liam kissing came back into my mind and I instinctively clenched the wrong fist. This did nothing but exacerbate the pain, I grimaced.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

He chuckled, “Of course you don’t. I get it, I do.”

He probably had no idea.“You do?”

“You have feelings for her, don’t you?”

There this was again.

First there was Zoey, betting that I would fall for her sooner than I thought. It was complete bullshit, because I wasn’t supposed to have feelings for her. Hypothetically, the possibility of me falling for her was nearly impossible. I had dated or kissed other girls before her and I almost never had feelings for them.