Romance Me

Me? Love Her? Ha! - Part Five

It was a screaming silence, a screeching cacophony of stillness, a long eternity of breath that was held to speak - yet no words were uttered. 

Cody stood frozen, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead as he stared at the girl in front of him.

He didn't say that. Please God, he did not just say that.

What was he thinking?!

Cody's mind whirled as he tried to grasp onto sense. His whole body seemed to be quaking under this sudden revelation, this terrifying epiphany. Tides of hot and cold pushed through his muscles, the hair on his skin raising in tingles, everything inside him seemed to be rebelling, turning, embracing the outcry he had so recently uttered.

Even his heart.

Oh God, no. No no no no no! This couldn't happen!

Terror surged, sweeping his breath away with it. The jock blinked, his eyes resting once more on his childhood torturer, the girl who had clung to him, favored him, loved him in every moment of his life. Her bright blue eyes had grown wide, the dark sweeping lashes brushing against the specks of red paint on her brows. Flushed lips were parted slightly, her breath escaping in small increments to lift the luscious strand of hair that fell across her cheek. Her body was frozen, disheveled, paint-splattered, and breath-taking. She watched him, the rise and fall of her chest the only moving part of her form. 

In the blue of those eyes, he could see all of her heart laid before him. Her shock, her disbelief, her fear and hope...her love. The vibrant color glowed, seeming to possess a pool of sky-blue depths that reflected his own hopes and fears; a pool that enticed him, called for him with the lull of a siren.

And he was answering.

Why? Why was this happening?! Cody shifted, his eyes searching the air for an explanation. He had never felt this way before, he had always considered her a nuisance, an exasperating—

Always? his conscience cut in.

Cody stopped.

What if...?

Frantically, he searched his memories. Every moment with Lynn, every hug, every word, every interaction. Slowly his eyes widened. 

What if the unease he felt when Lynn approached him was not due to loathing - but to attraction? And his morning hugs! What if the wave of heat and churning stomach was not due to his dislike, but his nervousness? 

But wait. It couldn't have been there all along, when he was a child, there was no way that his feelings extended past his simplistic fear of her. But then... how did he suddenly shift from true dislike to this...this facade his own brain had created to hide the truth?!

Stumbling back to lean against the wall, Cody trembled, his whole world seeming to flip upside down as moments gained new light, memories and interactions took on a whole new meaning - and among these surfaced the days of these last two months.

Oh God. He couldn't believe it. He - the jock who was always composed, never seeking relationships or fantasizing of love. The jock who was constantly teased for his singleness and resistance of the opposite sex - he had been jealous!

Cody almost laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it. All the while he had endured this confliction, groaned and agonized over it, he had blamed the damned model for his problems - and then accused Lynn of scheming! How blatantly ironic! How hysterically classic! God, he was a fool. An utter fool...

The room creaked, snapping Cody into awareness. His eyes shifted over to Daniel, who was sitting frozen at the edge of his seat, then he blinked. The boy had been staring at him! An unreadable expression veiled any hints to the Daniel's intentions as the model quickly shifted his gaze. But a pool of foreboding washed over Cody as he saw the boy's face flicker with anger, despair, and finally, a bitter amusement.