LOVELORN

41|Overthinking & nosiness

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

IT WAS the last day before spring break and I had barely interacted with Zora all week. The only conversations we'd had were in English. As a result, Mai has been trying to motivate me to speak with her since Monday. I'd been a 'send' away from asking if we could talk multiple times, but I had yet to go through with it.

Despite this, Zora's daily locker notes hadn't stopped. I'd been reading them from a different lens, however. Every day, I would read her note over and over again, trying to decipher if there was some romantic connotation to it.

When I checked my locker today and found the note waiting for me, I realized it was nearly absent of words. Rather, there was a folded sketch there, the date corresponding to when we were fifteen. More specifically, it was a sketch of me. I was smiling widely, my teeth on full display, and a daisy tucked behind my ear.

I wasn't sure if it was based on a real reference photo of me, or if she'd come up with it from her imagination. Regardless, it made a grin form on my face. I didn't even care how ridiculous I must have looked from an outside perspective. Zora had shown me her art before and had used me as her muse previously, but never anything like this. Never with such an unabashed smile, my eyes crinkled and all.

"Do you like it?"

I started, my free hand landing on my chest as I met eyes with Zora. "You scared the shit out of me. But yes, I love it. Why have you never shown me this before?"

She suddenly looked a bit self-conscious, almost flustered, if I wasn't imagining it. "I don't know, I just never did, I guess."

It was blatantly clear that Zora wasn't telling the truth, but if she didn't want me to know, I wouldn't pry. That didn't mean I wasn't curious, though.

"It's beautiful. Is that conceited seeing as it's me in the drawing?"

Zora chuckled. "No, it isn't."

"It's...everything, Zora, thank you."

A smile graced her face. I glanced down at her lips and imagined kissing her. Not tentatively like we'd done days ago. Not a peck. A real kiss.

I didn't get to find out if Zora was going to say anything in return because the bell rang and we were forced to separate into our individual classes.

The next time I saw her was during lunch. She was the only one sitting at the table when I arrived. I sat down beside her and watched as her lips tilted up. Shoving her phone into her pocket, she averted her full attention to me.

"I'm leaving Sunday."

Most years, Zora and her dad would travel somewhere during spring break, this year was no exception. From what she'd told me, they were going to Barcelona.

"We'll be back the Saturday after," Zora went on. She'd already told me this, so I waited for her to say something different. "Can we talk before I leave?"

I really wanted to talk, yet just the idea of it made my heart pound. You will be fine regardless of what happens, I promise you. I hoped Mai was right.

I willed my voice to be steady. "We're going to Mara's tomorrow, right? We can talk after that."

She nodded and her eyes flickered down to the general area of...my lips? Was I just seeing what I wanted to see? Fuck, Mai was right. We badly needed to talk or this girl would be the death of me.