We settled down in Haley's room, more on my insistence than hers. The wind had picked up on the walk back, causing the tips of my fingers to go numb. I held my hands up to my lips and blew gently as I plopped down onto Haley's bed, shifting back through a mound of unfolded laundry to get comfortable. You took a seat in Haley's wooden desk chair, the legs squeaking heinously loud at any slight shift of your weight. I bit back a smile as you fiddled with the screws, eyebrows knitting together in concentration as you tried to find the problem.
"So, do you live around here, Ty?" Haley asked, voice muffled as she rooted around in her mini-fridge for her pastries. My eyes went wide, flashing between the back of Haley's head and the side of your face, which paled once you registered the question. My hands froze, held stiff against my mouth,
"Um...no," you replied, eyes finding mine instantly. You sat upright in one swift movement, the chair forgotten, but continuing to shriek just as loud. At the sound, your cheeks went red, mouth scrunching up in frustration. I smiled a little wider, fear temporarily forgotten.
"Ohhh, mister mysterious! So, do you have a secret mansion out there somewhere?" Haley all but crooned, finally settling on a half-eaten cupcake. She chose to sit on the floor, her back against the bed frame as she waited expectantly for your answer. I fiddled with the cuffs of my sweatshirt, eyes fixed on the toes of your sneakers.
"It's not a mansion, but it's as good as one, to me," you said, the sincerity of your answer almost too much for the joking manner of the question. I caught it immediately, but Haley simply turned slightly to wink at me. I rolled my eyes in response, but they soon wandered back to you.
"Okay, now, I know I promised that I wouldn't do too much digging, but I need to know– how'd you two meet? I swear, that'll be the only question I'll ask about your relationship. Cross my heart," Haley said, and the world seemed to fall away– in bits and pieces and then shattering completely. I could tell that you were at a complete loss, unsure of how to filter through the past for something appropriate and logical. "I stalked Gemma for ten or so odd years" wouldn't do anyone any favors here and I could see the first tendrils of panic in the tightening of your mouth. You wanted to answer, didn't know how to answer, didn't know if I wanted to answer and let you add layers onto some elaborate fabrication...
"We met in a park... near my house," I said, words catapulting forward before I could stop myself. "I was ten... we didn't really meet until a few years later." Your chest almost collapsed from the force of your exhale.
"That's adorable!" Haley said, clasping her face between her hands, fingers pulling up her already wide smile. I couldn't help but smile in response, eyes calculating and the tiniest bit fond when they finally settled on you. You blinked at me, whole body having gone slack, and you smiled like I'd never seen you smile before– bright, and open, and just shy of tearful. My breath hitched at the sight and I hurriedly looked back down at my hands, cheeks coloring crimson.
"She was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen," Ty murmured, and Haley outright squealed, ogling you like you were a god descended from the heavens– a true gift to mankind. I was silent. I knew the weight behind those words, knew that sincerity was laced through every syllable, and my heart lurched, steady rhythm tumbling into a sharp staccato.
"And let me guess? Ms. Oblivious over here didn't catch on until almost a decade later?" Haley said, tossing me a severely unimpressed look over her shoulder.
"Something like that," I said, shrugging, and your smile dimmed a bit but stayed firmly in place.
"Aw, it's just so sweet! But as much as my curiosity is clawing at my insides, I'm done with questions," Haley said, miming the pulling of a zipper across her lips. I nudged her shoulder with my leg, a silent 'thank you', and she turned to grin at me, chocolate frosting smeared across one of her incisors.
"So, Gemma, um, are you...do you like your classes?" Ty asked, as Haley finished up her cupcake, standing to toss the wrapper in her nearly overflowing wastebasket. Taken slightly off guard after such a tense few minutes, I fumbled for words, finally sputtering out a, "yeah."
"Yeah, I mean, I love them. The course work is great– challenging. It keeps me busy," I said, and you nodded, soaking up every word, cataloguing them.
"Do you have a favorite?"
"Literary Studies, hands down. The essay topics are always interesting and the books are fantastic and–" I suddenly stopped, mouth open partway, eyes locked onto yours, hands stilled in mid-air from where I began to gesture wildly. For a moment, it was like I was talking to another student. So lost in the relief of avoiding Hayley's mini-investigation, I leapt headfirst into the next topic broached. And in that moment... I found that I didn't really care. You tilted your head downward, urging me to go on. I glanced for a fraction of a second toward Hayley, who was halfway turned toward us, halfway bent over the wastebasket scraping crumbs from her fingers. "I... love being able to create." The normalcy of the conversation was dizzying and I was soon lost to it.
As you listened attentively, perhaps more attentively than anyone ever had, I delved into the works of Dickens, Poe, Melville, and Hemingway. I went through my next project idea, my best essay, the book I adored the most, the characters I held dead to my heart. And you listened. Not once did you interject anything more than a nod of your head. You heard me, and I didn't know what to fully make of that– not really. Not yet.
"Can you see why she tutors me?" Haley blurted out, looking up at me in something close to awe and the littlest bit of teasing.
"Yes," you replied, leaning back in the chair after realizing you had moved forward until you were perched on the very edge.
"I only tutor you because you don't study as much as you should," I shot back, and Haley simply stuck her tongue out at me, in typical Haley fashion, but didn't argue the point. Outside, the sun had reached its peak, rays of afternoon light filtering in through the window and spilling across the floor.
Someone banged on the door, startling all of us. "Hi, um, Haley! Uh, I forgot how to work the washing machine again," a male voice called out, sounding equal parts ashamed and nervous.
"Daniel?" Haley mouthed at me.
"Daniel," I mouthed back, a wry, knowing smile upturning my lips. She did a silent happy dance before regaining her composure and swinging open the door.
"Didn't I just show you this yesterday and the day before that? And the day before that?" Haley sighed, and the boy, sweeping a few brown curls off his forehead, nodded, eyes downcast and toe of his shoe rubbing into the carpeting. As cute as the act was, I knew it was getting old. He'd need to switch it up to keep Haley's attention. "Ugh, fine," she said, before shooing Daniel down the hall. "I'll be right back," she murmured to me, before closing the door behind her.
The tension in the room suddenly doubled, the slam of the door echoing in the small room. I did the only thing I could think of– I rambled. "Daniel," I said, gesturing vaguely to the slab of wood, "has this giant crush Haley. He's been pulling that laundry stunt for the past week, and I can tell it's getting old, but Haley thinks it's cute, and he's a little bit of a bumbling idiot, but it's endearing, and he thinks she walks on water or something, he just needs a shove in the right direction, one day he's going to leave a pair of dirty underwear out on that laundry machine and it's not going to be cute anymore–"
In the span of a breath you were across the room, leaning over me, hands on either side of my face. I froze, air caught like a stone in my throat. You gazed down at me, every muscle pulled taught in concentration, thumbs resting on my cheekbones, so incredibly gentle, the bottom of your palms cradling my jaw. My mind had gone to static, thoughts too erratic, too loud to latch on to. You stared; continued to stare as the seconds ticked by, eyes tracing every line of my face, not as if I'd disappear, but like I was forever immobile, devastatingly so, set and solid, and made to be gazed upon for hours on end. A mountain or a monument– beautiful.
One thumb drifted down, ghosting over the slope of my nose to settle against my bottom lip. It rested there, and your gaze lingered, sinking into my pores like a burn. My brainwaves, previously scrambled, begin to right themselves, and my chest seized up, breath coming out in a rush, and before I could do anything, the door handle snapped downwards, before springing back up. "It's me!" Haley shouted, followed by a mumbled, "stupid automatic locks."
You didn't so much as flinch, while I gave a full body jerk. You removed your hands slowly, standing up straight, before walking over and opening the door. I sat, unmoving as Haley all but paraded back into the room, hair now thrown up into a messy bun. "I'm ignoring him the next time he asks, I swear," Haley huffed, throwing herself down beside me and jostling me from whatever trance I had fallen into.
"I...I need to go," you said, and Haley raised an eyebrow, glancing between you and me, mildly suspicious.
"Okay..." she drawled, sitting up taller, "but you need to come visit again. Soonish. This was fun." She glanced at me for approval, but all I could give in return was a blank stare.
"Yeah, yeah sure," you said, giving her a shaky smile before slipping from the room.
"Alright, what in the hell happened in the five minutes I was gone?" Haley demanded, grabbing my shoulders and spinning me to face her.
"I don't know," I muttered, eyes still glued to the door, hands reaching up to touch my lips. "I don't know."
*I'm so sorry for the long wait! I hope this chapter makes up for it :) As always, any comments/feedback would be greatly appreciated!*