waiting... | nick mara

eleven

・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

as i walk out of my class and towards the cafeteria, nick calls out for me, "chris! hey!"

he jogs over next to me and grips his backpack straps.

"hey what's up" i give him a warm smile and a small wave.

"i basically already failed trig if i don't say so myself" he jokingly brags, earning a small laugh from me.

"still have the black eye?" i ask as i fix my gaze over to his bruised face.

his lips turn into a small frown, "yeah, but i'm sure it'll go away soon."

"hey are you okay though?" he takes a serious tone.

"about what exactly?" i start thinking of the multiple reasons my day hasn't been going the way i planned it.

he raises his brows at me, "you know... this morning?"

i take a second to recall what he's talking about, "wait are you talking about my pimple?"

"what? no- that's not what i was talking about. i'm talking about you and shawn..." his statement become more of a question.

my eyebrows shoot up, "oh! yeah. that happened- wait how'd you even hear about it?"

"oh austin is going around our group and telling everyone, i thought-"

"you're joking oh my goodness" i hit my palm on my forehead.

he chuckles and shakes his head no, "sorry can't lie."

"can i be honest with you" i glance at him and he nods, "i actually thought, for once a guy liked me back."

his eyes soften, but i keep going, "these past few days, i've actually gotten so close to shawn and i even thought he was flirting back you know?"

"chris-" he starts, but as we turn into the cafeteria, everyone turns their heads towards us.

i stop dead in my tracks and feel my face heat up. "what's going on" i whisper to nick while maintaining eye contact with hundreds of people.

he just shrugs and i spot shawn's head pop up out of the huge crowd, making his way over to us.

i look over to nick and he tries to hold in a smile.

shawn's whole body emerges from the crowd, revealing a whole bouquet of pink roses and millions of  tiny star baby's breaths.

i watch in awe as he come up to me, giving me a wholesome smile on his face.

he stops right in front of me and looks me deep in the eyes, "chris, would you like to go on a date with me this friday?"

my smile turns big, "yes. yes i would love to."

i take the flowers and shawn picks me up from my waist and spins me around. everyone in the cafeteria claps their hands together.

giggles escape my mouth and he puts me down, "give me just a second, okay?"

i nod my head and he goes back into the crowd. i admire the flowers and suddenly remember nick is still beside me.

i turn around to him already looking at me, making me jump.

he laughs and breaks eye contact, "heh sorry, didn't notice what i was staring at."

he scratches the back of his head and i go back to admiring the beautiful flowers that are mine. my flowers. a boy gave me flowers.

"did you know about this?" i look up from the flowers to meet his eyes.

"yeah... i was gonna tell you. i promise but-"

"it's beautiful. thank you for keeping it a surprise" i give him one of the biggest hugs i could.

nick's pov
chris wraps her arms around me, surprising me. i stand in her warmth incasing all around me.

she flinches and quickly backs away, her cheeks turn pink and she pulls her hair behind her ears.

"um.. s-sorry, that was kind of weird..." she does her little thing where she plays with her index finger.

"no. no don't be nervous, it's okay," i assure her and she looks up into my eyes.

"i'm used to it anyways," i give her a small smile.

her eyes fall and she chuckles at herself, "oh. right. i forgot, tons of girls do more stuff to you than a hug."

as much as i want to say something back, shawn comes up from behind her and wraps his arms around her.

the way all of her giggles escape her mouth makes a smile form on my face.

"hey bro thanks for helping me out" shawn reaches his fist towards me.

chris smiles at me, her face so bright. i had to fist bump shawn.

"alright man, gotta go catch up to the ladies" i start to back away, leaving chris's smile drop just enough for me to notice.

i turn on my heels and turn the corner into the hallways.

why did i just do that, what's wrong with me. i think to myself over and over again.

"woahh watch out where you're going bro" i accidentally walk into austin and the rest of the boys.

i hesitate for a quick second, "um yeah yeah i'm good sorry, i'm just gonna walk that way."

i make a quick turn right, into an empty room and slam the door shut. i look through the blinds to make sure none of them are following me.

"ahem" a voice echoed through the small room, making my body jump and turning the blinds into a mess.

i quickly turn around to see chris's mom staring at me from her desk. i take a good look around me to see i've entered into the nurse's office. shit.

"do you need help?" she sets down her lunch and leans back in her chair.

"no, sorry i was just trying to hide from some of my friends" i point to the door behind me.

mrs. morando squints her eyes at me, almost as if she's studying my face.

"what happened nicholas" she asks me as she gets up to get a better look at it.

i stay in place as she observes my bruised eye, "um nothing much, just got into a small fight."

"oh, so you were the one that made a whole mess at the football game" she takes a step back and crosses her arms.

"yes ma'am, that was me," i nod my head, "but that wasn't my intention miss morando."

"oh no you're fine dear. just do me a favor and ice that thing like crazy" she sits back down at her desk and continues to eat her lunch.

"um thank you?" i open the door slowly while i look back at her.

she keeps her eyes fixed on her computer and waves me goodbye.

that was pretty weird

i step back and accidentally bump into someone.

"ow, shit" i turn around to see pink flowers scattered all over the floor.

i drag my eyes up to see chris starting to collect her flowers.

i bend down to help her, "shit, sorry chris that's my bad."