"Are you paying attention or not?" Iris snapped, narrowing her minty green eyes at me from across the table.
We were in the library working on our assignment together during lunch since we were too busy to meet up after school today. I had soccer practice, and she mentioned something about her grandpa not feeling well and wanting to be home right away after school to make him dinner and make sure he takes his medication. She's read and reread the same notecards she wrote for the presentation almost a hundred times because she feels it's not quite right and that something is missing.
"I am. I think the notecards are fine. I checked over the PowerPoint you emailed last night, and I finished up the last slides and emailed it back. So just look it over for a quick edit and then shoot it right over back to me."
"They're not fine, Rafael. They need something." I watched her run her hands through her silky locks that reached the middle of her back effortlessly, the colors a warm mixture of light and dark brown. I saw her fingers tug at the ends a little harshly as her eyes skimmed over the paperwork that was scattered in front of us.
"You're stressing out for no reason, chiquita."
"Forty. Percent. Rafael." She repeated the exact three words she's been repeating to me the past few days.
"I know. I hear you. Here, take my notecards and give me yours." I pulled out my stack, and we switched, "When I get home from practice, I'll play the PowerPoint presentation, and I'll read along with your cards. If I find that it needs anything, I'll tweak 'em."
"Okay, that sounds good. Good, yeah."
"Are you shaking?" I asked, my eyes falling to the slight tremble of her fingers. Jesus, someone was on edge. I mean, I understood the pressure of this project, but at the rate, we were going, we'd be finished by the end of the week. Iris was smart and resourceful, and combined with my own skill set and intelligence; we were honestly the best duo out there.
She shoved both hands underneath the table and shook her head at me. "What? No. I'm fine."
"Did you eat?" I asked, and she gave me a weird look.
I never saw her eat. Never. Not even during lunchtime when we were at the cafeteria. We sat at different tables, our group of friends knew each other, but they didn't hang out because Iris and I fought too much. Even then, this woman ate nothing. I'd see her snacking on an apple or a pear, maybe drinking that ridiculous sugar-in-a-cup drink, but that was it. I don't know why it pissed me off, but it did. Reasons unknown.
"What? Why do you care?"
I leaned back in the chair and crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm just asking. You don't need to bite my head off every time I ask you something."
"I hope you don't think we're friends or something." She said, her face repulsed at the mere assumption of us being friends. It was almost amusing.
Almost.
"God, no."
"I thought so."
"Thank god you don't get paid to think, chiquita."
This girl has had it out for me ever since the first day of senior year, yet I wouldn't want to fight with anyone else but her. Iris was a fresh breath of air from everyone else in my life. She didn't give a shit about my athletic performances and achievements, and I'm pretty sure she's never once been to any of my games. She was too busy working on herself, her college applications, and her future to care about someone who kicked a ball around a field for an hour or two.
YOU ARE READING
The Ache Between Us
Romance"Tell me what you want." He murmured, his finger trailing up and down my forearm. Goosebumps erupted at his touch and I shivered, my eyes fluttering shut at the trivial touch, and deep down I knew it was ridiculous that he still had any sort of asc...
