Love Lies A' Bleeding

Chapter 5: A Walk to Remember

“I’ll only tell you what movie it was if you go out with me,” he decided, using his casual tone like he was telling me we only have eight minutes before the classes start.

My insides fluttered once more. I laughed. “Yeah, right.”

Looking suddenly serious, he said, “You know what, maybe it’s your eyes.”

I swallowed. “My eyes? And what are my eyes got to do with this?”

“You really have nice brown eyes,” he said, making a step towards me.

I swallowed and I couldn’t deny that my heart was beating really fast.

Then, he winked at me. This time, I had not a care in the world even if the entire student body went nuclear on me. But thanks to all the gods out there I didn’t close my eyes, because for a moment there I thought he was about to kiss me, again. Instead, he bent down to pick up a notebook just an inch away from my feet. I smiled, even though deep inside I was disappointed.

However, we were both smiling at each other as we picked up more of my stuffs that were scattered on the stairs leading down to the first floor. I didn’t know what it was, but something within me moved, and it felt good, really, really good.

A stranger might look at me now and easily figured I was seventeen. First, I had this look that only girls my age have. Second, there was this unbelievable twinkle in my eyes whenever I smiled. And third, I blushed almost all the time now. So when Noah suggested we go for a walk, my whole face and entire body turned red.

I asked the only question I could think of. “But what about our classes?”

He just smiled and shrugged at me in return. Noah wasn’t known to skip classes for nothing. He would only skip classes if he has an interview or photo shoot to attend.

And me? I used to skip, but not anymore though nobody would really care if I skipped classes or didn’t go to school, at all. Maybe my mom would care, or Molly, but never the others. The others I meant the entire student body. As if.

The hallways were silent as we walked. It was already half passed eight so we assumed that everyone was already busy inside the classrooms. We tried to hide ourselves from the windows and made sure we only walked in places where surely there wouldn’t be anybody else hanging around.

We stopped at the old school fountain. It was at the back of the newly built outdoor Olympic size swimming pool where nobody notices it anymore. It was really old with green moss all over it. The only water in it was the blackish water that was obviously rainwater where wiggly insects started to inhabit. And the smell was unappetizing. But it was the only place where Noah and I could hang out without being reprimanded or sent to the principal’s office.

“Sorry about this,” Noah said as soon as we sat on the only available breathing space in the area, which still didn’t look good.

I smiled. “At least it’s not a four-cornered room with little resemblance to normalcy and with no alien-talking forms that call themselves humanity.”

Okay, I really hate talking.

He laughed. The sound of it made everything inside me moved.

“Tell me. Are you really that always confident about yourself?” I asked out of curiosity.

He had made circles on the dirt using his feet.

I thought I had offended him when he didn’t answer right away.

He was just making his third circle, when he looked up to face me. “Not really confidence. I call it my social skills. I learned it from my dad,” he said. He sounded pretty confident despite himself.