I Hate You . . . I Think

Politeness and Cup Cakes

“What’s wrong?”

She just stares at our hands.

“Is there anyway that we can keep us a secret? Only until after tonight. I just don’t want Vi to freak out about us dating and then if it doesn’t work out,I don’t want her to freak out.”

I’ve got to admit. I am not that thrilled about staying away from her today. After Monday when I noticed almost every male in the school checks her out, I am a little on edge. If some guy starts flirting with her I think that I might punch whoever it is in the face. But she has a good point. I don’t want Vi to go into full on panic mode if this thing between us might not work out. At the thought of not being with Low, my chest hurts a little bit. God I am turning into such a sap.

“Sure, we can wait.”

She flashes me her amazing smile and gives me another peck on the cheek before hopping out of the car. Low grabs her backpack and yells “See you later” through the open window before she disappears through the school gates.

I get out and walk over to my locker before going to home ec. When I walk in Micah is leaning against the table the Low and I share and flirting with her from what I can see. I feel my blood start to boil, but Low looks at me from over Micah’s shoulder and rolls her eyes. I know that she is extremely irritated that I am acting like this, but I can’t help it. I don’t care if the guy is my friend and her friend. 

She turns her attention back to Micah and playfully slaps him on his arm. When she giggles at something that he said, I know she is testing me by messing with my head. Low is probably waiting to see if I will hurt Micah. I know that if I do anything to even annoy the guy, that might change her decision about going out with me. She is extremely independent and I know that if she thinks I am controlling, the date will be over before it even starts. Low flicks her hair back and flashes her killer smile at him. God, she is even sexy when she is driving me insane.

I push all of those thoughts out of my head and walk over to my table. Low has a smug little smile on her face. I bet she thinks that I am about to lose it. I was about to when I walked in, but since she is messing with me, it is only fair to return the favor.

“Hey dude,” I clap Micah on the back and pull out my chair. “I see that the two of you are getting along pretty well.”

Micah’s mouth drops to the floor and he stares at me like I am crazy. Guess he was betting on me losing my lid too. Nice to know that everyone has so much confidence in me.

“You guys would really make a great couple”

At that comment his face dawns in realization. He smiles sheepishly at me and looks between both of us. Low has a slightly disappointed but impressed look on her face. I’m guessing from not being able to make me go completely nuts.

“Sorry about what I did dude,” Micah says.

“It’s all good,” I say and clap him on the back once again. The bell rings and Micah goes to his seat. Mrs. E starts talking about the lemon cupcakes that we are going to be making today. Once she is done blabbing, she sends us to work. I get out the bowl while Low gets all of the ingredients from the fridge and the pantry. We set to work on baking and I still want to mess with Low a little bit for trying to flirt with Micah this morning.

When Low is cracking the eggs, I bump into her. She crushes the thing in her hand, sending a bunch of pieces of shell into the bowl. 

“Seth! What the hell!” she yells at me.

“Oh Low, relax. It’s an easy fix.” I reach across her to grab the bowl so that our faces are right in front of each other. Her eyes get really big and it is extremely hard for me to keep a calm face. When I grab the bowl I back away from her and start picking out the shells. Low stays frozen, egg all over her hand for several moments. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her shake her head and try to refocus on the batter that she is making. Okay, so obviously I did not do enough to shake her up then. Alright then, time for step two.

After we add all of the ingredients into the bowl she takes the spoon and is stirring everything together.

“Low, do you need help with that?” I ask. She looks at me suspiciously.

“Um, no I think that I am pretty go-”

I don’t give her enough time to answer my question before I come up behind her. I put my left hand over hers on the bowl and push it against her stomach which makes her crash into my chest. I take my other hand, place it over hers on the spoon and slowly start mixing all of the ingredients. I can feel the goosebumps on her skin against my arms. Her breathing is speeding up and her hand is shaking slightly. There is extreme tension between us, but not the irritated tension that we are used to. This tension has me thinking about car parts so that I don’t get a hard on against her in the middle of class. That would be embarrassing. Finally everything is mixed, but I do not want to let go of the girl in my arms.Regretfully, I pull away and Low stumbles before practically falling onto her stool. Well that went better than expected.

After the cupcakes are done. I eat six of them. Low just looks at me in amazement. I guess she didn’t think that I would be able to eat that much. But hey, I’m a guy and I eat like a pig. The bell rings and I get up to leave with Low right beside me.

We walk down the hall to our lockers without saying a word to each other. Even though she is not touching me, I am still painfully aware of how close we are. I drop off my books and she drops off hers at our lockers. I turn to go to my next class and she faces the other way. As we pass each other I brush my fingers against hers. Her eyes flash to mine and I slide a smirk in her direction.

She traces her fingers up my forearm and then pulls away before she walks down the hall. It feels like fire is trailing down my arm where she just touched me.

Low torturing me like this is going to be the death of me.

        But what a way to go.