Our eyes locked.

Chapter 17. His painful sigh and gripped hips.

Chapter 17. His painful sigh.
***

As I walked out of my English class, I quickly looked around at the empty hallway of a pre-occupied school. Turning to the right I saw a blur of black fabric retreating, walking with their head down. I sighed and followed him.

"Xander" I called through the hallway, hoping Mr.Lewis wouldn't notice us out of class.

He turned around and sighed- a pain filled sigh- and waited for me, leaning against the wall.

"What happened back there?" I asked as I got closer to him, now standing in front of him as he lent his back against the wall. Hands on his head, face looking down.

"It's nothing. You can go back to class" he dismissed me, but I knew that the only time Xander says it's nothing, is when he's hiding something. It's a sign I've learnt through the few weeks of getting closer to him.

"Nothing? Remember the last time you told me it was nothing? You got a black eye" I tried to lighten the mood, my sarcasm always got a small one sided smile out of him, but all I could see now was worry.

"Can't you drop that?" He sighed

"I was joking" I smiled up at him but he kept his head looking down. It was then that I realised that he wasn't in the mood for laughter, "Seriously, what's wrong?" I asked the second half of the question softly, taking a step forward so I was closer to him.

"Andy, please-"

"You can tell me, you know" i spoke gently.

"I can't, it's not your concern" and even though he was trying to be dismissive of me, his tone was nothing but soft and maybe a little tired;

Like he didn't want to have to put on his cold exterior just yet, not with me.

"Come on, you can trust me, Xander. I just-"
I used my hands to show how much I wanted him to be honest with me, to let me in, but before I could finish my begging, purely powered by my strong want to help him, he interrupted me. His tone short, tired and frustrated.

"Just go back to class Andy!" He pleaded with me.

"Why don't you want to let me in? Why can't you just let people in?" I asked, confused. Xander made it so clear he is happy in our group, with who he is now. Yet i still have to plead with him for something so small.

"Andy-"

"Xander" I counter argued.

"Look, I can't read!" He yelled. His shoulders rose and fell like he was out of breathe from the confession but before he could explain, he noticed the tone he spoke to me with. He noticed the step back I made, even though I didn't mean to, and he noticed my smile fade at the realisation.

He sighed "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" he began to apologise, even though he had no reason to. He took a step towards me, reaching out his hand and placing it on mine.

Butterflies.

So I took a step forward too, wanting to let him know that no matter what came out of his mouth, I was standing by him. Our group would stand by him. And as I looked down at our touching hands, my worried face softened.