"Jesse!" Meara hops and yells from the end of the corridor.
"Hey, Meara." Jesse closes the locker door.
"So um, what did you do in the past weekend?" Meara flips her blonde hair and plays with the curls.
"Nothing special, just some schoolwork."
"Oh." Meara stops and looks up. "I heard it was um, Ava's birthday."
"Yeah. Everyone knows. You saw us during lunch, didn't you?" Jesse says nonchalantly as a sense of annoyance starts to grow in him.
Meara inhales, processing the sentence in her mind. "Yeah, I saw you guys. Speaking of lunch, would you wanna join us?"
Jesse looks at her skeptically. "Um, me? I mean, I don't really know you guys."
"Oh, you met us all when we did the project! Everyone and Tristen." The sham in Meara's laugh cannot be more obvious.
"I'm sorry, Meara. I'd really like to join you guys, but I'll just stick to my friends." Jesse smiles grudgingly.
"HA, Jesse. You know we never really invite people to our table right?" Meara air quotes the word invite. "Why are you so tough?" The sharp laugh of Meara's floats in the air.
Jesse laughs confusingly. "You never really acknowledged my existence before, right? So now you're suddenly interested in me?"
Meara widens and rolls her eyes, blinking. She turns her head and exhales, then smiles again. "Alright, fine. We'll meet again soon anyway."
Meara walks away. Her body is everything a girl wants, boys in the hallway staring at her and moving their gazes as she walks. Her long, blonde hair comes falling down like cascades as it glistens in the lights. Dreamy — the word that most of the people would describe her as.
Jesse can't deny that Meara is gorgeous, but he knows her type of beauty is not what he truly likes.
He wonders where Ava is. He knows that they are going to meet in classes, but he still has her in mind. Ava somehow becomes part of his everyday concern, he knows very well how much she means to him.
In class, Ava is sitting next to him. Jesse doesn't know since when he has developed that urge to just stare at her, no matter what she's doing. Matter of fact, he hasn't met anyone who treats him like how Ava does—he feels like a normal person with her, and somehow his heart flutters as well.
He silently glanced at how Ava pays attention to the whiteboard, light shimmering in the stillness of her eyes. Her eyes are like the ocean, they can be calm or rough but in the end, they are still beautiful.
"Ruler." Ava reaches her hand out, ready to receive the ruler.
Jesse smiles. He hands her his ruler.
She presses his ruler hard against the Math worksheet and leans in, reading the measurement and writes down some numbers. Jesse cannot keep his eyes away from her. Ava does not even notice how beautiful she is. She is beautiful, despite the fact that too many setbacks have stopped her from shining. But she still has the light within her, and Jesse seems to see through it.
-
The gleefulness on Ava's birthday... she still thinks of it constantly. No one, in her life, has ever made her feel like she is important. She feels like she is part of the world again on that day.
"Ava!" Melanie calls as they meet in the hallway during a class change.
"Hey." Ava grins.
Melanie puts an arm around Ava's shoulder. She sighs. "I think Gaten and I are going out soon."
Ava raises her eyebrows. "Seriously?"
"Yes! Can you believe that?" Melanie's eyes sparkles.
"Congrats. Did you tell him you like him?" Ava gives Melanie a side glance.
"Yes." Melanie holds her hands and jumps a little. "Oh my! I'm taken!"
Ava puts up a hearty smile, impacted by Melanie's contagious laugh. "Awe, I'm so happy for you, really."
Melanie twinkles at Ava. "Speaking of that, when are you gonna do it?" Melanie asks.
"What?" Ava laughs and furrows.
Melanie breaks out a bright laugh. "It's... pretty obvious, you know."
Ava turns to her and grimaces. "Obvious what?"
Melanie creases her eyebrows together and narrows her eyes. "You. And Jesse." The word 'Jesse' lasts longer than it is supposed to be.
The long emphasized 'Jesse' spoken by Melanie is like a stroke of lightning, triggering Ava to inhale more deeply than usual. She bites her lower lip and looks away, faking nonchalance. She stutters. "Wh- what?"
"Ava." Melanie presses her lips. "We all know you guys have a crush on each other, so go for it."
"What do you mean by each other, I don't like him and he- " Ava stops when she realises what that can mean.
Each other?
Melanie smirks as she knows she finally gets Ava in her control. "Yeah, you don't like him," she says as she quotes it sarcastically.
Ava doesn't speak, so Melanie continues. "Like, you guys aren't even trying to cover your feelings, celebrating a girl's birthday? That's so not Jesse. I know you feel that too. I'm your best friend too, right? So you don't have to hide it." She stops and goes on, whispering. "I won't tell him."
Ava sighs. She is not even sure about how she feels about herself, how can she know if she feels for others? "Maybe you're right, I don't know. Really."
"Listen. If you feel like you have feelings for a boy, then you really do have feelings for him. Don't doubt. And don't worry, Jesse definitely likes you back , we all know it."
"But- how?"
"Remember what Ronnie said? About texting him and tell him to meet me after school then confess? It's that easy. I didn't believe it before too, but that's it. If he likes you back, it's that simple."
"Melanie." Ava sighs. "But it's not that easy for me, for us."
Melanie stops and sighs. "Yeah, I know." She lowers her voice and starts slowly. "It may be hard when he's on a wheelchair, but he's a really nice guy."
Ava looks up and faces Melanie. She has not even thought of Jesse being on a wheelchair. What she really concerns is whether Ava can really open up and accept a person in her life. "No, it's not-"
"Then you're fine! What else can there be to stop you guys?"
"I mean..." The directness in the question throws Ava. "I don't think I'm meant to be with someone. I feel so selfish doing it."
"Ava." Melanie pauses. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
Ava shoots another glance to Melanie and stays silent.
"You can never underestimate the power of love. When two of you are together, everything can be fine, because you have each other."
Melanie leaves for her class after that. Maybe she is right. Maybe Jesse can be the missing piece of Ava's convoluted puzzle.
Ava sees the familiar figure wheeling into the classroom. She follows and walks through the door frame, glancing at the empty seat next to Jesse.
YOU ARE READING
Paralyzed Love ✓
Teen Fiction[The Fiction Awards 2020 Winner in Diverse Fiction!] Jesse is paralyzed from his waist down, but he makes sure he gets what he wants, for he has already lost too many things in his life. Yet when he finally gets to meet Ava, who has anxiety and depr...
