Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 15: You Can Learn Anywhere

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I think I just peeled another layer of the Prashanth onion. Hopefully, I won't start crying now.

"Staring at the view again?" Vinnie inquires sneakily as she puts her cereal cup in the sink. I know for a fact that she's referring to him, but I decide to be sneaky so that I don't look creepy. I see Prashanth turning over to me, but I don't know if he's looking at me or just stretching his neck.

"It looks better than before," I defend after I grab my shoes from the closet. Yeah, I was referring to the lake... and also him a bit, too. Let's hope he was zoned out. I sit down on the sofa to wear my white Converse.

As you can see, I wear A LOT of Converse.

As I put on my shoes, I look up to see him doing what he always does, staring at me with absolute fascination. He checks out my entire outfit, eventually landing on my eyes looking directly at him. I give him a smile since it's the least awkward thing I can do, yet he doesn't do anything at all. He gives me a pursed smile and looks away, but his hand starts moving to his mouth.

Is that a smile he's hiding?

With him focusing on the TV, I do the same thing he did to me. He's wearing a burnt orange  sweatshirt, finished with loose black jeans and white shoes. The blue looks even "bluer" than usual with that shade of orange, and it goes perfectly with his golden skin. His periwinkle claw stays on his chest with the chain resting on his collarbones, and his wavy hair looks even more tousled than normal.

This guy has to stop looking and dressing SO FINE. Why does he do this?

As he leans his arm over the armrest and rests his head on his hand, I notice him smile a bit before giving me a quick glance, that one millisecond feeling like an eternity. If he heard me calling him fine through my head, I'm screwed.

"Are we all ready to go?" Tusharika asks while she puts on her booties, smirking as she looks at Prashanth smiling to himself and twists her full lips into a sneaky smirk when she makes eye contact with me.

"Yeah, we are," Sam spits out while clutching her chest for a second. "Sorry, I swallowed too much water at one time," she clarifies as she bumps her chest.

"Okay, let's go. We're not gonna go by portal though because we always do that. Let's take the Firefly," she suggests enthusiastically.

"Wait, you guys still use cars even when you can teleport?" I ask while we go towards the garage. Meanwhile, Abhi steps outside of his room. "Are you guys going right now?"

"Yes," Prashanth responds in his deep, monotone, and very strained voice.

I feel so bad for him. The mate bond is clearly affecting him WAY more than me, and I don't even know how to help him without talking to him.

Gosh, why is this so hard?!

Okay, before anyone assumes anything... that's not what I meant.

"Cool! Have fun, everyone! Text me when you get there, ok?" Abhi says happily just as he comes down to give Sam a kiss before we all say bye and he goes back to his room.

"But to answer your question from before, a lot of people still drive here for longer distances. Teleportation only works for shorter journeys and going to the human world," Vinnie clarifies before we all step out of the house.

Prashanth bumps into me for a second, making me look up at him to see what happened. He's right behind me, so I tilt my head as high as possible to see him face-to-face. He blinks exaggeratedly and exhales hoarsely before simply saying, "Sorry."

I sigh a little in disappointment. That was the only word he's said to me since he came here and found out we're mates, but it's not enough. No matter the lack of connection I feel with him right now, he's my mate for a reason. I respect his shyness, but I need to step in and see what I can do. I need to help him, and honestly?