Write In My Heart

Chapter 10: Reclaimed Friendships

"Shouldn't you be at wrestling?" Were the first words out of Layla's mouth as soon as I opened my front door. She'd changed into a beanie with a hoodie underneath a denim jacket. Black leggings covered her legs and fell into a pair of black boots, a great combination to beat off the cool air that was blowing.

I shrugged as I shoved my hands into the pockets of my sweatshirt. "I guess. But I didn't want to go today. Too much going on in here," I said as I pointed to my head.

I hadn't been able to focus all day after my weird morning with Johnathan. Even lunch didn't taste the same. So, once the end of the school day rolled around, I knew better than to fool myself into thinking I'd be able to handle wrestling practice with the boy that was freezing me out. It would absolutely break me. So I simply didn't go. And I knew I'd get an earful once my parents got the calls about me skipping, but at this moment, I didn't really care.

Layla frowned. "You wanna talk about it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but, can we, I don't know, walk and talk? I don't think I'll be able to handle telling this while sitting still."

She instantly nodded. "Yes, of course. Come on, let's walk." She stepped out from in front of the door, giving me the space to walk out and shut the door behind me. I jiggled the knob three times to confirm it was locked before we started on our way.

"I haven't been completely honest with you, Lay," I said after we'd walked for about a minute in silence.

"Yeah, I've figured as much," she said with a slight scoff.

"Yeah...uh, the time when I hung up the phone on you, it wasn't my parents. It was Johnathan."

"Johnathan?"

I nodded.

"Wait, why was he there? What did he want?" A look of realization wiped across her face as she looked up at me. "Is that why you've been so upset? Did he say something crazy to you? I swear to God if he did, I'm going to beat his ass, I swear–"

"No, no, none of that happened, Layla," I said with a chuckle, endeared by how quickly Layla was ready to go to bat for me.

She raised a brow at me, obviously not believing me. "Are you being honest right now, or are you just saying that to keep me from whooping his ass?"

I crossed my heart then put my hands up in surrender. "Scout's honor. I promise I'm telling the truth."

"Alright, well, what happened?"

I found myself looking around to ensure that there was no one else on the street before I leaned closer to her. "Well...he took me up to my room and basically told me that he liked me and that he was happy that we kissed. And then he just kissed me again. And again, and again a ton."

"What?!" Layla practically yelled, causing me to instantly shush her. She hit me.

"Ow! Layla, what the–"

"And you had the nerve to get mad at me for waiting ten minutes to tell you I'd made the lead. Asa, that's awesome! Did you like it?"

I blushed as I looked away. "Yeah, I liked it a lot. He would come over and help me study, but then he'd just abandon tutoring me and he just wanted to kiss me and touch me. It was like a dream, Lay. Just seeing how badly he wanted to kiss me and feeling his lips on mine was everything I'd ever imagined and more."

"Aw, look at you smiling," she lightly joked as she gently poked my cheeks, causing me to blush again. I hadn't even realized I'd been smiling. "I can already see it now. Ugh, you two would make a great couple!"

She didn't know how much harder her statement was making the next words I was about to say. "Yeah, yeah, but, um...I don't know he started acting super weird when he picked me up this morning. Not looking at me, putting as much space between us as possible, and getting irritated with me when I looked at him. He even told me to walk home because he 'just couldn't' take me home."