Unspoken

Collision

Corbin Hylton POV:

The final bell echoed through the halls of Laurens District 55 High School, a sound that usually felt like freedom. Today, though, it carried something heavier. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed my violin case, weaving through the tide of students spilling out of classrooms. The usual chaos swirled around me; chatter, the slam of lockers, the stampede toward the exits, but I barely noticed.

All I could think about was Ean Senerchia.

My best friend. My secret crush. The one person I could laugh with until my stomach hurt, the one I could tell almost anything, except the one thing that mattered. I couldn’t tell him how my chest tightened every time our arms brushed, or how my eyes lingered on him longer than they should. We never talked about it. We didn’t dare.

I adjusted my pace as I got closer to the parking lot, trying to shake the thoughts, trying to just breathe. But fate, or maybe just my nerves, had other plans.

I rounded the corner too quickly, colliding shoulder-first into someone. Hard.

Ean.

For a second, everything else faded. Just his face, his surprised eyes meeting mine. A little too close. A little too long.

My face burned the second our eyes met. I could feel the heat creeping up my neck, my cheeks turning red like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like everyone around us could hear it, and there was this fluttery, weightless feeling in my stomach; like a thousand restless butterflies all trying to escape at once.

I opened my mouth, but the words caught in my throat. I swallowed, forcing them out through the stutter. “W-what’s up?”

Ean’s lips tugged into a faint, almost shy smile, and I didn’t miss the pink tint brushing across his own cheeks. He leaned in just a little, his voice quieter than usual when he whispered, “Nothing much.”

We started walking toward the parking lot together, falling into step like we always did, talking about random things; classes, teachers, the homework we probably wouldn’t do until the last minute. On the surface, it was normal. Comfortable.

But my thoughts weren’t on school. Not really. They were on how close his shoulder was to mine. On the way his laugh stuck in my head a little longer than it should. On whether he could hear my heart still racing in my chest.

We crossed the road toward the parking lot, the sun low enough to cast everything in that soft, golden glow. The heat from the asphalt rose in waves, but it wasn’t the weather making me feel warm.

Our hands brushed. Just for a second. Just a graze of skin.

It shouldn’t have meant anything; we were just walking side by side, like always, but the contact sent a sharp jolt through me. My chest tightened, my pulse jumped, and suddenly it felt like my body had forgotten how to act normal. My palms were sweating. My mouth felt dry. I tried to play it off, shoving my free hand in my pocket like that would somehow ground me.

Ean said something; his voice low and easy like it always was, but the words didn’t land. My thoughts were spinning too fast, looping around the feel of his hand against mine, the way his shoulder occasionally brushed mine as we walked. I barely even registered the sound of his voice over the rush in my ears.

“Corb?” His voice cut sharper this time, pulling me back.

I blinked and looked over at him, realizing I’d just been staring ahead like an idiot, completely spaced out. “Huh? S-sorry… what’d you say?”

He was watching me with a faint smirk tugging at his lips, like he knew I hadn’t been listening; but not why.

Ean’s smirk softened as we stepped off the road and onto the curb by the parking lot. The low evening sun lit his hair in a warm copper glow, and for a second I forgot to breathe. He shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, glancing at me sideways, voice casual; but I could hear something quieter underneath it.

“You… mind if I go with you?”

The words hit me harder than they should have. It was such a simple question, but my chest tightened anyway, my stomach doing another one of those nervous flips.

I blinked at him, trying to play it cool. “Uh… go where?”

He nodded toward where my car was parked, his tone still easy. “With you. Just… hang out for a bit. I don’t feel like heading home yet.”

It wasn’t like we hadn’t done that before. We always killed time after school sometimes. But today… it felt different. Like there was something behind his voice I couldn’t name. Or maybe I was just imagining it because my pulse was already racing.

I nodded, a little too quickly. “Yeah. Sure. No problem.”

He gave me a faint grin, quick, almost like he didn’t want me to catch it; before looking toward my car. My white jeep.

And as we started walking again, his shoulder brushing mine just enough to notice, all I could think about was how close his hand was to mine… and how it felt like the air between us had gotten heavier somehow.