Lights Of The Memory Lane ✔

#17 Naïve

   Raymond chuckles again as he witnesses Emily's sarcastic, yet childish reaction. He breathes deeply, leans the side of his muscular body on the bookshelf with one of his hands upwards, resting it on the back of his head, and gazes down at Emily.

   "You know, Emilio... I think you should be an open book so that I could read you instead," Raymond says, making Emily turn her head at him slowly and furrow her eyebrows.

   "Wow! Is that a pick-up line? Because if it is, it's so funny! You should use that to other girls, including the one you just kissed earlier. But not me. I'm not attracted," Emily shakes her head and waves her hand uninterested.

   "You're playing hard to get, eh?" Raymond asks, raising his eyebrow.

   "I'd rather play that instead of a 'kiss and leave'," Emily says, trying to focus her eyes on the books in front of her and not on Raymond's muscular arm, which is located right above her head.

   Raymond scoffs and looks away. "I didn't leave her. You just interrupted us."

   "If you really loved her, you should go with her instead of being here with me," Emily nonchalantly flicks through a book and then puts it back on the shelf.

   "Well.. I just decided that you are more fun to be with than that girl," Raymond says, causing Emily to stiffen up. She glances at him, slightly blushes and tries to act cool. After a few moments of silence, he finally speaks.

   "Hey, I heard what happened a few weeks ago."

   "Oh, yeah? And what did you hear?"

   "I heard that your face got hit by a ball. And someone said a girl purposely avoided the ball so that it could hit you. It happened the day when I apologised to you," Raymond explains clearly.

   "Oh... That one," Emily nods and purses her lips.

   "So, how are you feeling now?"

   Emily blinks her eyes, totally not expecting that Raymond will ask her such question, as if he cares about her. Heh... He just wants to know. Stop thinking anything like that!

   "It happened weeks ago and you're asking me now?"

   "Yeah, so how are you feeling now?" Raymond insists on Emily giving him the answer.

   "Fine. I've got no blood on my face, so I'm fine. Thanks for asking," Emily replies and slowly lifts up her head to look at Raymond. She is not short, but Raymond is much taller than her (of course..). She feels like a Hobbit standing next to him. Just like in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, he is the Elf and she is the Hobbit or Dwarf. She even thinks that he is taller than Thomas. Well, maybe a few inches. Anyway, does he know that Luciana is 'the girl who purposely avoided the ball'? Maybe he does... Thus, she decides to just say this:

   "It's all your fault, you know?"

   "Huh?" Raymond frowns.

   "Do you know that Luciana is the name of the girl who purposely avoided the ball? I know that she is your ex-girlfriend. Someone said that she was jealous watching us talking together. And making a hard volleyball hit my face was her way of releasing her anger on me. So it's all because of you."

   "I'm sorry," Raymond looks down.

   Emily gapes at Raymond in confusion. Why did he let his guard down? Why is he being humble and nice now? Raymond that she knows is not always like this. What is wrong with him? Instinctively, she moves her body to face him and keeps staring at him. Slowly, he looks up and their eyes meet.