A warm breath creeps upon my cheek when I awaken. The sound of soft, rhythmic, breathing greets my ears. I let out a yawn and shift, but something is wrapped around my waist.
My eyelids fly open and I find myself staring at something grey. Realising that it is a shirt, I tilt my head upwards to see him sleeping peacefully, his arms wrapped around me and my head against his chest. His arms around me make me feel something. My heart doesn't remember how to beat at a normal speed, unlike his, with his heart beating slowly.
"Morning." he croaks, his morning voice still husky. I look up at him, and he gives me a small smile. Oh those dimples are going to kill me.
"H-hi." is all I manage to say.
We look at each other for a while, not one of us moving. He doesn't release his hold on me. Maybe I'm not fully awake yet, but I don't want him to. I'm usually very stupid in the mornings. As I stare at his brown eyes, I then realize how absolutely beautiful they are. I see the reason for everyone's attraction to him.
Still mesmerized by his features, I can't help but be frozen.
Seriously, I'm more frozen than Elsa. No, Olaf...and he's a snowman!
He pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear, the feel of his fingertips bristling against my neck, sending something towards the likes of an electrical shock.
Maybe he has some sort of built in tazer?
Shocked, as though I am suffering from a seizure, I fall off of the bed and land with a big thump.
Through the pain, I manage to hear loud, obnoxious, laughter. And...I want to kill him again. Ugh. I am so stupid for looking at him like, like, that for even a few seconds!
"Stop laughing you idiot!" I yell from the ground.
I get up and see him almost crying through chuckles. I roll my eyes.
"Why don't you just come back here and we can get back to cuddling? In fairness, that was very comfortable." he pouts, still laughing.
Heat starts to rise from my neck to my cheeks, painting it a warm shade of pink. Before he can get a chance to make fun of me again, I hop onto the bed, grab a pillow, and start whacking him with it as if my life depends on it.
"Okay! I'll stop laughing!" Ironically, he tells me this while wheezing from laughter.
He hurriedly sits up and wraps his arms around me, trying to stop me from going crazy and maybe murdering him. Pushing his weight on me, he pins me onto the bed. "I'm not planning to die today."
"My original plan was to kill you then dump your body in Lake Ontario, to let you become a useful food source for the fish, but you've already ruined my day." I state.
"Wow. Sorry for that." he smiles.
"You do realize that you're crushing my organs right now, right?" I groan.
He just shrugs and gives me a smug look, "Maybe the tables have turned and I'm going to kill you."
If you keep looking at me like that, you just might.
I scoff. "Please, I could totally take you down." I've done it countless times before, there's no difference between the last time and today.
"Really now?" he challenges, inching his face closer to mine.
His grip on my arms, loosens, then releases me entirely. His hands slowly go up to my face, cupping my cheeks ever so lightly, as if I might shatter into a million pieces. His touch is making me go insane in a thousand different ways. Why am I not doing anything? More importantly, why does this feel so right? He leans forward, closer, and closer. His eyes shut and I think a hundred butterflies are migrating from my stomach to my bloodstream, trying to kill my cardiovascular system.
My hands shoot up to his right arm and using full force, I flip him over.
He opens his eyes and looks at me. I'm note sure what that look is, but maybe it's shock or confusion or both. I smirk, "Too bad I had too prove it to you, but yes, I can take you down."
I get up and walk to the washroom, but not before chucking a pillow at him that lands beautifully on his face.
I shut the bathroom door and press my back against it. Was he going to... No, of course not, he was just teasing you, I tell myself. I kind of hate him, but I kind of don't? I'm just so confused. I go to the sink and splash some water onto my face, trying to splash some sense into myself.
I've been spending way too much time with him.
I really need to spend some time by myself.
I take a quick shower, brush my teeth, change back into yesterday's clothes, then head back into the room. The bed is now fixed neatly and James is nowhere to be seen.
Following the sound of rustling, I walk downstairs and make my way to the kitchen.
"Morning Lara!" Tita Gia says, then takes a sip from her cup of coffee.
The whole family is seated at the table with the exception of James.
Tito Danny looks up from his newspaper and asks me, "Any requests for breakfast? Tony is already making some scrambled eggs, bacon, and muffins, but we weren't sure if you wanted anything else."
I turn around to see Tony, very focused on making everything.
"I'm good. I'm just going to get myself some orange juice from the fridge." I reply, standing up.
"Oh sit down! We can ask Mary to get it!" she remarks.
"No need, I can get it. It's just over there anyways," I tell her, rejecting the offer.
I continue towards the fridge and pull out a box of orange juice. I pour it into a tall glass, then turn around, crashing into somebody. The juice spills all over his white shirt and I try to apologize but I end up just mouthing the word, "Sorry".
I rush to get some napkins, but he grips my wrist and keeps me from going.
"Don't worry about it. It's just a shirt." he says, giving me a small smile, but it seems forced.
He turns to his family, "I'll be back in two minutes. I'm just going to change." Tito Danny gives him a curt nod.
When he gets back to the room, breakfast is served. As we eat the delicious food, Tito Danny clears his throat and we divert our attention to him. "I just wanted to let you guys know about the banquet next week. It's actually been moved to December because we decided that we wanted to make it as great as it can be. Especially since our rivals are having theirs in that month, we wanted to compete for the investors."
Everyone just nods except Seb, who is just ignoring all the business talk and eating his bacon.
After breakfast, I tell the family that I'm going to go home. Tita Gia asks if I need a ride but I refuse, wanting to walk although it's a bit wet outside.
"See you at school tomorrow!" I wave goodbye at James. He just nods and doesn't even offer to walk with me.
***
The next morning, I sit by the lockers, waiting for anyone to talk to. Maybe not anyone, but someone. I could easily start a conversation with any of the people around, but I'm just waiting for Kiera, or Jasmine, or Carol.
Maybe even James.
I look from right to left, waiting to hear my last name being called out, or some obnoxious laughter and a voice reminding me of some past embarrassing experience.
Instead, I am only greeted by the normal chatter in the hallways.
The weird thing is, although the girls are always busy with their extracurricular activities in the mornings, James is usually just roaming the halls. Seeing that he's not here, I have a feeling that he might not be here today.
I open the group chat with the LKJC and message them, hoping for a response this time.
Me: Hey, where are you guys?
Jasmine: Running late. I slept in. Ugh.
Me: You slept in?? Omg.
Jasmine: Yeah...I was up late last night studying for that stupid history quiz.
Carol: Yo guys...I'm at Krispy Creme!
Me: I hate you. You went without me?
Carol: Chill bruh...Mark's not with me. I'll be at school in 10 minutes with a box of donuts for us.
Kiera: Good. I'm at cheer rn and I didn't eat breakfast. I'm so hungry.
Me: Make sure to get my boston creme!
Carol: Yeah, yeah.
Jasmine: I'm gonna fail history!!!
Kiera: Oh shush! You always ace everything!
Carol: Okay gtg. I'm about to order.
Me: Bye!
Kiera: Same. See y'all later!
Jasmine: Cya guys!
Me: Bye!
I then open up my contacts and look for that long, annoying name that I haven't had the time to change. I decide to send him a text too.
Me: Hey! Where are you? I need to hang out with a person (or in this case you) before I go mentally insane from being by myself.
I wait a few minutes but receive no response. Huh.
As I turn off my cellphone, I feel a pang of loneliness. I really, really wish that I wasn't alone right now. I also feel a pang of hunger. Carol better be here with those donuts.
A figure shadows over me and I think, Thank God he's finally here.
"What's up Bryer? Also, could you move? You're blocking the light." I tell him, not looking up.
"Dude, not every tall guy is James."
I look up and unfortunately, I see Xander. He's the last person I want to see today. Honestly, I don't want any annoying guy pestering me right now...unless it's James.
But he's different.
"What are you doing Xander?" I sigh.
"Other than being incredibly handsome and amazing, I'm trying to win your friendship." he states, putting his hands on his hips and smiling.
I roll my eyes. "By standing in front of me and blocking the light?"
"Uh...well no. Anyways, you need a friend like me." He takes a seat beside me, on the floor and I shift to look at him.
"Why would I need a friend like you? I have enough friends who don't want my homework answers." I scoff, crossing my arms.
"Really? Then where are they?" he asks.
"Not here but-"
He raises his eyebrows. "Exactly."
"Look. Just because they aren't here right now, doesn't mean that they're not good friends. They're just a little...preoccupied." I explain, trying not to sound so doubtful.
"Okay then. How many times have you spent time with your friends since you came back?" he poses.
I hesitate then lie, "A lot of times."
"Sure."
What's he even trying to do? You know what? I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone. It's just an off day for me, that's all.
"You know what? I don't need to hear this from you. I trust my friends and I'm going to them right now." I voice clearly, getting up.
I turn to walk away but he grabs my arm. "Wait. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off as some friendship breaker...person."
"Well it seemed like that." I respond harshly.
"You just looked upset when I saw you. Do you...maybe need someone to talk to?" he offers, sincerity reflecting off of his tone.
"I'm not upset, okay. I'm fine." I reply.
He laughs, "Ha! You think I'm going to fall for that? Please, girls are never fine when they say, 'I'm fine'."
"Then I'm not fine. I'm okay." I say. I unzip my bag and pull out a granola bar. I really couldn't stomach breakfast before school so now I'm hungry.
"Wanna hear a joke?" he asks and I shake my head no as I chew on the chocolate chip granola bar.
Not caring about my opinion, he goes on, "I wasn't originally going to get a brain transplant, but I changed my mind!"
I almost choke on the granola bar in laughter. "That was so terrible!"
"Then why are you laughing?" he raises an eyebrow.
"Because that was so not funny that it became funny." I laugh.
"Reason number one to have me as a friend: I can make you laugh." he states. I roll my eyes at his attempt to win me over.
"Please. My friends can make me laugh." I protest.
We start to walk in one direction, Xander telling me a bunch of really bad puns that actually make me laugh. We get to the end of the hallway and at the turn, I see James standing there.
I am about to go up and talk to him when I see him lean over and lock lips with a girl. I wait for a second for them to pull apart, or for him to push her off, but it doesn't happen.
2 seconds. Still kissing. My eyes are watering.
5 seconds. Still kissing. My heart decides to fail at being a heart and stops beating.
7 seconds. Damn it! Why are you guys making out. Any sanity or logic I posses drops into the pits of my stomach.
And it's not coming back up anytime soon.
Xander catches me staring and waves his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Lara!"
I blink and turn to him. "Woah. You finally got my name right!"
Instead of a cocky remark, he just looks at me with concern. "Are you okay? You seemed kind of, like-"
I wave it off like it's nothing. "Pshhht, I'm fine, I mean, I'm good. I just hate PDA, don't you? Tell me another really bad joke!" I plead, trying to distract myself.
"Um...okay..." He continues with another pun but my mind is nowhere near reality, drifting off into my thoughts.
I am pulled out of my thinking when somebody shouts, "Lara I got the donuts!"
I immediately put on a big grin and run to Carol, who is holding a box of donuts.
If anything, I'll always have donuts.
*Cries*
Why the freak was he kissing that other girl!!!!! Wait...shouldn't I know because I wrote it? Nah.
What's up guys? I totally understand if you want to kill me because A) They didn't kiss and B) James is going around with that other girl. Nonetheless, please give this chapter a vote and comment any opinions you guys got about what happened so far! I am trying to work out the next chapters at the moment so see you next week!
-Summer :)
P.S. Also...15k reads? You guys are miracle workers!