Take Me Away | ✓

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"Well, maybe you should try sleeping."

"I already do that with you."

I glared at him before sighing. "You're impossible."

He just smiled and picked up his pen, returning to the sheet of equations he'd abandoned earlier. I watched him hunched over the hood of the car, brows furrowed in concentration and sipping from the juice box every so often.

His tousled hair fell into his eyes, making me remember what we were doing a few moments ago. My chest fluttered a little realising how much I liked this guy.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while but I was the first to break it, saying something that had been on my mind since this morning. "I'm going to stay with my dad this summer."

"That's great." He murmered.

Then I took a long pause to say the part that had been anxiously sitting on my mind all the way to the garage. "Come to New York with me."

"What?" He looked up, startled.

I bit my lip nervously. I was putting everything out on the line here. "Will you go to New York with me?"

The silence seemed to stretch on forever. But it wasn't comfortable anymore. It turned into nervous anticipation on my end.

When he didn't say anything I began to doubt myself. "It's fine if you have plans but I thought since you. . ."

He was staring at something in the distance. It was like I could almost feel him shutting me out. "I need time to think about it."

"Of course." I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice.

"Thanks for coming by." He said, kissing me on the cheek before collecting his rag and going back on the sliding platform and disappearing under the car. For a moment I thought the car would unhinge and crush him underneath.

I waited a few more moments but nothing happened. Eventually, I gathered my things and turned away. But with every step I took, I felt my heart sink further in my chest.

-

Kaden didn't answer my calls and texts for the next three days so I wondered if my proposal had scared him off. I knew he still had finals so he was probably busy studying. I was also busy with preparing the set list for the end of year dance so I wasn't able to see him face to face either.

It was the day of the dance that I looked at my phone for the umpteenth time to be faced with an empty screen. I tried not to think about it too much as I put it away and went to the back of Jay's trunk.

"Thanks for the help." I said to Will. He was visiting Jay for a few days. This was my second time meeting him. The first was at the music festival a couple months back.

"No problem." He grabbed one of the speakers from the boot and began to carry it over to where the set up was. This year, the budget was a little broader so we'd decided to have the celebrations outside, on the beach.

There was a small hall opposite the beach for the teacher's speeches but the main stage was set up on the sand. A few guys from the football team had helped construct the stage and it looked like they'd done a pretty good job.

"How's our resident DJ doing?" Jay's voice broke into my thoughts just as I lit up a cigarette. "Come on, you're playing tonight."

I shrugged. "I only need my hands for this type of music."

"What's up, really?"

"Nothing." He didn't look convinced. I sighed, knowing I would have to tell him eventually. "I think I might have messed things up with Kaden."