The Days We Spend Together

Nick

The bell rings as I started to gather his things and prepare for lunch. “Hey Nick, you wanna hurry up?”

“Yeah Clara, just give me a sec.”

“Ladies don’t like to wait you know”

“You’re not like ‘other girls’. She smiles as I start to laugh, and I meant every word. I was in love with her and she didn’t know it. It hurt me so much to keep my feelings in but I didn’t want to lose her, and myself. Clara was my world, a world I never wanted to leave. Her beautiful chestnut hair and hazel eyes that I could stare at for hours, her soft sweet voice that I could listen to for days without any thought or feeling of boredom, and her peachy skin that I wanted to hug and never let go. I loved everything about her, but I can’t stand the thought of losing her because of how I feel. I’m afraid that she might only think of me as friend, and if I didn’t tell her I’d stay in the friend zone forever.

“Earth to NIck?” I looked and saw that Clara was staring at me, eyes shining in the hallway light.

“Sorry, did I stare off again?”

“Yeah, you’re holding up the line weirdo”. I feel my ears turned red as I quickly gather my lunch and look for a place for me and Clara to sit.

“Hey guys! Over here!” I look over and saw Red waving at us, gesturing for me and Clara to come sit next to her. We happily take our seats and start to eat our lunch.

“Did you guys hear about the big dance tonight?” Red asked, her mouth full of food

“No, i’m not sure I want to go, dances are for couples, and I don’t want to go alone” Clara showed no emotion with her response. Red looks over at me and winks. But I shove my mouth full of mashed potatoes so I don’t say anything. It was silent for a couple minutes but Clara breaks the silence. “It would be nice though” She looks directly at me as she says this. “Dancing with the guy or girl you love. Time slows down just for the both of you to enjoy the time you spend together. As if it’ll never end”. I stare into her eyes, as if she’s slightly asking me to ask her to the dance. “But she just said she she doesn’t want to go alone, she wants to go with a-” My heart skips a couple beats and I start to cough. She wants me to ask her to the dance…..

“Hey Josh you ok? Your face is turning red again…”

“Yeah, just thinking”

“About what?”

Red’s eyes are staring at the both of us like she knows what’s going to happen. I glare at her to stop. And she understands, closes her eyes and starts eating again. Clara’s eyes are still on me. “So are you going to ask a girl to the dance?”

“ I might, but I don’t know. Im scared if she’ll reject my answer, I’ve known her for a long time but she’s never shown any sign of her liking me”

    Clara smiles as if she understands who I was talking about “Well, how do you know if she wont say yes?”

I hide my face as I say this “Because I’ve known her since kindergarten. We have so much in common and yet she never shows if she has real feelings for me or not, I’m afraid that she’ll say no and we’ll never be friends again” Clara says nothing to reply, she simply stares at me, and eventually smiles, and starts to laugh, Is she laughing at me? Or something she thought of? Clara starts to calm down and her smile returns, and she says “ well, if she’s a good friend, which I know she is, she’ll understand that you have these feelings for her. Besides, I thought everyone knew she felt the same way…..”

    What? “You do?”

    “Thank god, the whole 3rd person thing was getting me annoyed”

    “Sorry.”

    “So?” She stares right into my eyes, eyes glimmering like a newborn star. “So….. what?” Crap. Clara now started to frown in her emotional way. Her sad eyes looking like she’s about to shed a tear, and ears turning red. “Ask me to the dance, weirdo! I thought it was obvious by now!” I look and see Red trying desperately not to laugh, but fails and lets out a snicker and rolls her eyes saying, “ you two were made for each other.”

And with that the bell rang and we all left to our 5th hour. But luckily me and Clara had the same class, and for the first time she held my hand and we walked to our 5th hour together.

“I really hate math..” Clara sighs. “ But at least I have you in my class with me, you always make everything better.” I stop dead in my tracks, I can’t hold in my thoughts anymore, I want her, I want to be with her. I want us to be together. And with that thought I tighten my hand around hers, look her in the eyes and say “Clara, will you go out with me?’’