Tenses | LRH

Having Trouble

THERE WAS something hard against my manhood. I was still half asleep but I could tell. Ah, there, it was gone. Wait, what the hell? Was someone patting it? It's just a dream, it's just a dream.

"I didn't. For goodness' sake. What the hell? Shit, my hand!"

I jolted up. "What? What's wrong?"

Andi was giving me a scared look, her eyes wide as her hand covered her mouth.

My hands reached for her shoulders. "Andi, what's wrong?" I was worried. I was scared.

She finally put her hands down on her lap and sat straighter, looking around the room. "I just – where are we?"

I sighed and rubbed my still sleepy eyes before answering. "Oh yeah, sorry. We're at Ace's house."

Her face scrunched up. She gave me an accusing stare. "Ace who?"

I shrugged and leaned on the wall, closing my eyes. "I don't know. He only told me his first name." I opened my left eye, looking at her. "Why? Don't tell me you're already judging the lad."

"Luke, he's a complete stranger!" She crossed her arms and pouted like a kid.

I sighed and grabbed Andi's shoulders, pulling her close to me. "He's actually a pretty cool kid. He helped us yesterday, remember? And then after you fainted, he let us stay the night in his house," I explained while wrapping my arms around her and resting my head at her shoulder. It was so skinny; my head fell two times before I finally positioned it right.

"Okay," she said softly. It sounded almost like a lullaby. "But Luke, what are you doing?"

I lifted my head and looked at her. Our faces were just inches away. Her eyes looked green up close. "What?"

"What's with the proximity? Jesus," she muttered quickly. Her cheeks were a slight tint of red.

I laughed quietly. "I'm still sleepy. And I want a cuddle."

My lips formed into the biggest smile when she leaned on me.

"You like it," I whispered before closing my eyes. We stayed like that for a little while - my arms tightly wrapped around her body like she was my only source of comfort.

A knock on the door, however, interrupted our little moment. I groaned and lifted my head. "That must be Ace," I said and groggily stood up to open the door.

"Hey, man," Ace greeted and smiled a little.

I nodded in return and looked at him expectantly.

"Are you guys awake?" He questioned as he tried to peek inside the room.

"Oh, yes. We just woke up," I replied and stepped aside, opening the door for him.

"Uh, dude, where is she?"

➳||

We spent half of the day searching for Andi around town but still to no avail. Right now we were in the park, a place I had suggested.

I sighed, feeling hopeless and tired. "You've been very helpful, thanks," I told Ace.

He nodded. "Yeah, no problem." He squinted his eyes and I followed where he was looking. He was searching for Andi in a group of girls not so far away from us.

"Still no sign of Andi," I muttered, defeated.

My spirits were so low. No matter how much I thought about it, I could not come up with a reason explaining Andi's sudden disapearance. And there was Ace to add into the picture as well. Even though I was still unsure as to why this stranger was willingly helping me, I actually had no choice but to stick with him. I was convinced that the boy beside me had pure intentions and was harmless. Besides, he owned a lot of modern gadgets that I had not seen before. I'll ask him about those space-age gizmos later.

Ace sat under the acacia tree to rest for a while. "Are you and Andi in a relationship?"

I sat down, too, relieved that my legs could finally take a break from walking and running. "No, we're just friends." In fact, I just met her three days ago, I almost told him.

A vendor walks by and I stood up to buy drinks for the two of us. When I turned around to hand Ace a can of soda, I was confused to see him quickly standing up and pointing at something. I tilted my head and saw Andi standing there and looking back at us.

"Andi," I called out, but before my foot could make a step, Ace was already running towards her. Much to my surprise, Andi runs, too, and she fell into the open arms of Ace.

All this happens in a slow motion, and while my brain was flooded with confusion, I can't deny the ache in my chest.