Heartbeats

Chapter 2

"Hey Hazel!" Darnell called out to me as I made my way over to our usual lunch table.

"Hey Nells!" I replied.
He stood up and we did our special handshake,while the remaining four: Sierra, Cole, Noah and Maddie laughed.

I sat down at my regular place between Sierra and Cole. They both welcomed me with a warm smile which I promptly returned.

As we gossiped, I felt a pat on my left shoulder. I instantly looked up to find Damian standing right behind me. He was my biology lab partner.

"Hey Damian!" I greeted.

"Hey, I need to talk to you"

"Yeah sure, go ahead"

" Not here, alone." As he gave me the gesture to stand up.

"Oh.ok."

"Follow me" he said as he started walking out of the cafeteria.

"Where are we going?"

"Just here " he said as he pointed towards the bench in the garden.

"What happened?" I asked genuinely confused.

"Nothing happened, I just want to ask you something"

"Okay shoot"

"This is a weird question, but do you like any guy?"

Yes.

"No, why?"

"Oh okay 'cause I have to give you something" he said as he put his hand into his pocket and brought out a piece of folded paper. He was hesitant. I stretched out my hand as he handed over the piece of paper to me.

I unfolded the paper. It had a note.
The note said:

Dear Hazel,
I felt like you should know, but I can't get myself to say it so here goes:
I really like you Hazel Presley. You are the only one on my mind all the time. You are such an amazing person. You are beautiful, hardworking, dedicated, kind, creative and so many other things, that words fall short to describe how perfect you are. I fail to understand how anyone can resist themselves from falling for you. I know that you don't have the same feelings towards me but I don't blame you. I know that we would never work out but I just felt that you had the right to know.
After this, I hope that things don't get awkward between us to a point where we stop talking.
-Damian

"I did not see that one coming but that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me"

"Thanks." He started shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"Also you are an amazing guy but I don't want to get into a relationship now. I feel like it would distract me."

"Yeah I understand"

"I'm really sorry"

"That's okay, I expected it"
The fact that he said that he expected it was unsettling as it made me look like I was the bad guy.

"Damian I really appreciate the fact that you were able to tell me. Most guys wouldn't be able to do that."

He smiled shyly.

There was a moment of awkward silence until he broke it.

"So I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow"

"Yeah."

"Okay bye"

"Bye"

As I reentered the cafeteria and  sat back at the table, all my friends asked me about the Damian incident. I narrated the story and as I finished I looked up to see a pair of eyes staring into mine. Ethan.