𝟭𝟭: 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗬?
In Forest Hill, the location mostly adored by students would have to be the local library. The immense library was a winding mass of bookshelves that seemed to stretch on endlessly, with thousands upon thousands of books in every imaginable language. The dim lighting, and the vintage scent of aged books that seemed to transport its visitors to a different time and place, made everything else better.
That was why I loved this place. This was my go to location if I needed concentration. It was impossible to be sidetracked in here.
That was why I brought Mark Lee.
Mark and I chose an unoccupied table near the window. The location was secluded from the rest due to the presence of two enormous bookshelves on either side, providing us with more privacy, which I found rather nice. I positioned myself in front of Mark as he sat down, and while still standing, I placed my tote bag on the table and began searching through its contents.
"This is pretty cozy." Said Mark, his eyes examining each and every corner of the library with slightly parted lips. "This is a good choice of location, Juli." He complimented warmly.
I froze on my spot after hearing his words. My gaze fixated on him. I could feel how the redness on my cheeks was visible, but I figured it was pointless to hide them, especially when Mark was already looking. "J- Juli?"
Mark nodded, only one of his lip corner perking up. "Yeah... Can I call you that?"
There it was again, the flutter in my stomach, the churns and knots, and the somersaults. Mark Lee had a way of evoking these feelings in me.
"Yeah whatever." I mumbled, my head shaking a bit as I finally took the seat and pushed aside my tote bag after pulling out my books and laptop. "Anyways, do you know why I chose this place? Because this place gives people a sense of concentration. That's what you need." I pointed my index finger on him. In response, Mark looked at his chest. "We need to talk, Mark."
"Yeah, shoot."
"I don't know if you're realizing this, but I had. I noticed that this year, we're getting more paired up together. We're both in the Academic Decathlon team, and we have a couple of assignments together. Odd, isn't it? We usually don't. Anyways, I think you know what I'm trying to say: Don't ditch me and help me out with this school work we're both responsible for."
I could see the tint of red spreading on Mark's cheeks. And this was the first time I ever saw him flush. I knew he was a bit embarrassed by his actions lately, because he knew deep down it wasn't pleasant. "Uhh... Yeah dude, my bad."
I saw a slight hint of tension in his face, causing my lips to curl. While I was glad that I could finally confront him about his strange disappearances, I also wanted to consider things from his point of view. "Listen, Mark, you can be honest with me. Are you involved in other clubs? Or perhaps you have a part-time job? If that's the case, we can find a solution and schedule our study sessions accordingly."
Mark shook his head. "Nah, I don't have any excuse. It is shitty of me to ditch you." He said, his hand landing on his chest.
I was glad he at least acknowledged his mistakes.
I truly hoped he was just being a bit of a dick for ditching me, and not because he had to save Queens and shoot some webs. Because if that was the case, I'd feel bad for scolding a vigilante to prioritize more on his schoolwork than the safety of Queens.
I nodded my head. "Okay then. You better stay on that seat, Mark. You don't wanna make me superglue your ass on the chair."
Mark looked at me with genuine fear on his face. "Why does it feel like I'm being held captive by you, in this old library?" He feigned a shudder.
I rolled my eyes. "Maybe I am." I remarked humorously.
Finally, after moments of bickering, we finally mustered all our concentration and commenced on our History assignment that was due Friday, this week. We ended up choosing to write about the the ideological clash between communism and capitalism, which could be backed up by using the Korean War and the Berlin Crises. Furthermore, we wanted to talk about the decolonization, which was evident in Congo and Egypt. It wasn't that hard to come to an agreement with Mark in this one, so it relieved me to see how fast we were already at starting.
I fiddled with my pen, a small humming muffling in my mouth. "How about this? I focus more on writing about the ideological clash, and you can do that with the decolonization? Then in the end, we can proofread it together."
Mark nodded, liking the sound of the idea. "Okay then. Deal~" He smiled.
"Oh!" I uttered, my hand raising. "Don't forget to use the PIE structure. Mr Johnson would kill us if we don't."
It didn't take long for Mark and I to finally start on writing in silence. Surprisingly, we were both very concentrated about this. The typings heard from our keyboards was just nonstop.
Although I was focused, I couldn't help but sometimes glance up to look at Mark. Yeah I did it to admire his face, but also to just observe. I did notice that he was a bit sidetracked. He kept on looking out of the window, and sometimes he would look towards the exit of the library but I didn't question why.
I couldn't blame him, I was pretty distracted myself as well. I was sleepy. Really sleepy. Last night, I kept myself awake so I could study more for the nationals which was stupid. I always told myself not to study too late during school days, and yet I did anyways. It was my fault for being so tired right now. I was so tired I could literally just plant my face on the table and sleep.
It had only been 20 minutes, and I already felt like breaking the silence.
I reached out the bottle of water I kept next to me, and took a sip. "Why don't we have a break?" I suggested and looked at Mark.
Mark pushed his glasses up his nose again, before stretching out his arms with a small groan. "Break already? Sure. What you wanna do?" He shot me a smile.
"I don't know... Maybe just talk."
"What do you wanna talk about, Juli?"
"Why do you like Gwen?" I suddenly blurted. I wasn't sure if being lethargic was one of the factors that made me be so blunt, but for some reason, I wasn't really worried about that. At that moment, I truly just wanted to know.
Mark was clearly taken aback by this question. I could see his face flushing, but he shrugged it off by responding. "Very arbitrary question... Why do you wanna know?"
I shrugged my shoulders a bit before looking away from his gaze, not having the courage to eye him. "I don't know. I surmise it's a normal desire to know your old crush's crush. The Freshman and Sophomore year in me, is still curious."
"I'll tell you why, if you tell me why you liked me back then."
I sent him a wordless nod.
"Why I like Gwen?" Mark started, following a small heave as he looked out of the window, being so deep into his own thoughts. "To be honest, I don't know. I presume I'm attracted to her gorgeous looks. Gwen is the type of girl who glows so vibrantly when you're at her vicinity. I'm always doubtful of why I even like her, because the lack of interactions we get. I know in fact she pays little attention to me. One thing I do know for sure is, I'm in love with her personality. She's smart as hell. She's also kind. It's attractive."
Ouch.
Could you hear something cracking? I supposed that would be my heart.
I didn't want to be obvious about my envious nature right now, so I had to reply neutrally. "She is the it girl of Midtown after all." I grinned feebly, hoping Mark wouldn't spot any tinge of pain in my face.
"Now, it's your turn."
I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest when Mark leaned in the table, his face looked so focused and determined to hear me out. This was nerve-wrecking. I was basically about to confess to him, and it felt like standing on top of the highest building, whilst looking down at the distance between I and the ground.
Oh God. I should've never questioned him about Gwen Stacy.
"To be honest, I feel the same way. I don't know why I like- I mean liked you... I mean, we barely know each other right? It was odd for me to like somebody, who merely saw me as his best friend's friend." I simply couldn't look Mark in the eyes, so I focused everywhere else but his face. "Donghguck tells me stories about you, bad or good, I just learned that you were a nice guy... And I guess I found that quite attractive."
Mark smiled. His smile was one of happiness growing, much as a spring flower opens. "That is actually nice to hear, Juli." He mumbled. "You know, I never truly believed Donghyuck when he told me you had a little thing for me."
"Why?"
"Because you're you... You're Juliane Moon. The smart and pretty daughter of the famous and rich man whom owned MoonDelivery." He tittered a bit and shrugged. "I never believed it, especially because you were so cautious about it. Donghyuck tells me, 'Oh she has a thing for you', but the next day, I see you not even glancing at me or acknowledging me... So I was like: Nah, no way."
I laughed lowly. "Yeah, sorry about that, I'm not very expressive."
Mark kept the beam on his lips. "You know, you should have. If you were, I think things would've worked out pretty differently."
There it was again, the chaos in my stomach, the chaos in my mind, and the burning sensation spreading throughout my chest, as well as my entire face. Was that his way of saying, that he would've liked me back, if I was more obvious about my feelings? Those questions intensified the rush of warmth that I was experiencing even more.
This was way too much for me to handle.
I should've never suggested the break.
"You know what?" I grunted and nonchalantly stretched out my arms. "We should probably continue writing." I suggested.
Mark noticed that I was clearly trying to divert the subject. He was a bit bummed by it, but let it slide. "Yeah we should."
Mindlessly, I rested my arms and head on the table. I could feel it kicking in. With Mark's typing sounds in the background, my eyes felt drowsier and drowsier, until I managed to doze off.
And little did I know, that after about 10 minutes of sleeping, Mark had once again, unsurprisingly, ditched me.