ONE AND A HALF WEEKS... Still no Jayden.
I tried, you know, I tried calling him again. I even wanted to track his phone down, but I thought it would be too crazy and weird. But if he's in danger or something, it wouldn't matter if I'd become a serious stalker for a day, right?
Right?
Fortunately for me, I wasn't too stupid to do this without the help of the police themselves. Also, I didn't really even try to do it because, after one and half weeks of impatient torture, Jayden just appeared.
It was like seeing Jesus walking among people so casually even after being seen dead the previous day.
He didn't even react when I stared at him walking through the hallways with his bag hanging low on his shoulders. And he had the audacity to wave at me and say hi! 'HI'!
All the fury I felt after the game that Saturday returned and I found myself grabbing at his wrist before he could walk away like nothing happened.
"One week. Four days," I said. "And all you can say is 'hi'?"
Jayden smirked at me and I felt myself stiffen. "Well, that's eleven days of improvement for you." His eyes stared into mine harshly for a moment until he looked at my hand grabbing his. "I thought you weren't the hand-holding type."
I let go of his hand as soon as I noticed that I'd started to sweat. "I was worried Jayden-"
"Worried?" he said with a laugh. His hands moved to his ears and slowly removed the aids. "I'm sorry, could you say that again please?"
"What the fuck are you even-"
"I can't hear you!" he screamed like a little kid.
"Jayden stop-"
He cupped the back of his ear and leaned towards me. "Come again please?!"
"You're so childishly stupid," I said under my breath, trying not to get any mad.
Jayden smiled and nodded as he fitted his aids back into his ears. "I may be deaf Jamie, but I can still read lips... and texts."
I gulped down when I remembered the texts I sent him.
"Jayden, I thought you lied-"
"Yeah, I didn't come to the game like I promised and I don't see how it was such a big deal. Trust me, I would've gone if I could, Jamie." Jayden shook his head and smiled again, bitterly, showing off his pearly white canines. "I heard to sit down after a three-hour-long emergency check-up at the doctor's and read texts from you--texts of you calling me shit after I'd just found out that my last decently working ear isn't working too."
I froze and stuttered very few words. Words that weren't even actual words but failed attempts at apologies. I had apologized too much and I regretted it.
He looked at me blankly and pointed at his ears. "Without these hearing aids here, I can't even hear anything anymore. Listening to you talk without these might be like listening to a very fragile whisper. And I'll have to wear them for the rest of my fucking life!"
He gazed at me and looked away for a while then looked back at me, angrier than before. "What, no sorries today? Is there any more shit you'd like to spew out then?"
I remained silent and continued to stare at him, knowing that I'd finally fucked our friendship up.
"That's what I thought."
I watched anxiously from a distance at the passing crowd beyond the cafeteria's kitchen counter. The queue was about to end and Jayden was still nowhere to be found. I scanned the rest of the cafeteria looking for him.
"He'll come by," Alex assured me. "He told me he would."
Bec looked at me with sorry eyes. It was as if she were seeing me as a crazy person who was obsessing over people.
"Jay, this isn't you, okay?" Bec said. "You're strong and funny, not a paranoid middle-aged woman who's losing their hair. I mean, it's great to finally see you get comfortable around guys, but it isn't great seeing you so stressed out because of it."
I groaned irritated by Bec's advice, but she's always right, mostly.
"Since when did you become the school counsellor?"
Bec burst out in laughter which made me smile a little too. I didn't even intend to make her laugh.
Suddenly, Alex leaned to the side. He looked past me and his eyes grew wider. A smile formed on his olive-skinned face and I turned behind to see what all the fuss was about. But, of course, I knew what it was about.
Jayden was holding his tray dangerously close to his chest where any sudden movements could make him spill his food all over his shirt. He walked steadily towards us and sat down next to Alex, exactly to my right.
I expected him to ignore me or give me one of his expressionless faces, but he was pretty friendly which was much worse than him being openly mad at me. Why doesn't he scream at me and tell me I'm a horrible person?
This went on until classes ended. It didn't take me long to realize this, but I couldn't stand sweet Jayden. He's such a pretentious hypocrite. I loved truthful Jayden more, even though he could be rude and vulgar at times.
After my last class, I tracked him down and made sure he didn't leave before I could speak to him and get him to yell at me or something. Yeah, it's over the top, but I knew I couldn't go one more minute feeling bad.
I stopped him in the school's parking lot just before he could walk out of distance but he wasn't too happy about it. His eyes fixed on mine and I'm glad I couldn't tell if he was insulting me in his mind or if he was just constipated.
"Sorry Jay, but I need to get home early today."
"I'll take you home."
Jayden sighed and started to walk off.
"I'll...I'll follow you, you know!" I shouted after him but he continued to walk away.
He turned behind eventually but walked backwards this time, with his hands in his pockets. "Well, I didn't tell you to lag behind, did I?!"
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Spoiler: there's another chapter after this one!
*insert shocked face here.*
So, this is a triple upload now. Be happy! *points gun between your eyes and smiles innocently*
Vote, comment but don't vomit.. (I'm stupid, I know)
CIAO!