I had caught myself staring at Lainey again; her soft brown hair looked like threads of gold falling down her head and onto her face in the morning sunlight. She had a pen in between her index and middle fingers, tapping in on the desk gently.
The scent of her lavender and vanilla perfume lingered throughout the classroom. Danielle sat next to me and was afraid that Lainey would notice me.
I didn't feel right at the end of class and didn't let a second pass before I picked up my bag that I had leaned against my desk.
I was the first one out the door. I darted towards the exit, which led to a fenced-in park that was connected to the school.
I sat under the pavilion in between the banana-yellow concrete wall and a metal bench that kids had done graffiti on.
I felt myself become dizzy and short of breath.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
I stood up straight and pulled my shoulders back, tilting my head upward.
Breathe in. Breathe ou-
"Mya, are you alright?" I softly asked, coming closer to me.
I looked behind me and noticed Lainey had followed me out.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine." I said, trying to convince her and myself.
She placed her cool hand over my right cheek and said, "Oh, you're sweating a lot. Do you want something to eat or drink, I have an extra bottle of water and granola bar in my bag."
I pulled away and said, "Really, I'm fine; this is normal for me. And I'm not really hungry, thanks though."
Little did she know this entire anxiety attack was happening because I was afraid she would notice I liked her.
I tried to focus on something else so we didn't make eye contact, but accidentally we did.
Her sea glass green eyes met mine. Something that has only happened in my dreams. She lifted both her arms and placed her hands on my shoulders.
"You can talk to me; I'm here." She said it firmly.
I tried to look away. She kept her eyes on mine, and I tried to squirm away.
"I've noticed something, and I wanted to ask you about it." She started to say.
Oh fuck. She knew. She caught onto it. Danielle was right. Shit.
"Your grades. Is that what's stressing you out?" She asked
I let out a long sigh.
Thank goodness it wasn't about my little obsession with her.
"Oh yeah, what about them?"
"Well, they've been kinda..."
"Bad. I know."
"Well, that wasn't the wording I was going to use."
"Eh, I get it. They HAVE been pretty bad lately."
"Do you want me to help you study sometime?"
Lainey just asked if she could help me. Oh. my. gosh.
"Also." She interrupted me, starting to spiral.
Oh no. This was what I was afraid of.
She released her grip on my shoulders and said, "I don't mean to sound selfish, but does this have anything to do with me?"
"Well, uh, yes, but I can."
"Is it that you like me? You make it pretty obvious, no offense."
I froze.
"Uh. Well."
Then, she kissed me.
It was the first kiss; it was flawless, really something.
I pulled back and looked at her in shock.
She tilted her head to the side and scratched it.
"I'm sorry, I should've asked." She tried to continue, and this time I interpreted.
I grabbed her right wrist and pulled us together again.
She wrapped her hands around my mid-drift as we kissed again.
We broke the kiss, both of us smiling.
"How's that?" She asked.
"Well, not having to worry about you notching me staring at you and actually knowing you like me back feels great."
She laughed and said, "Well, you can stare at me anytime."
We laughed and took a moment to process what just happened before the bell went off.
"Well, I guess I've got to get to the next class." She giggled.
"Wanna meet at Anthony's after school?" I added.
"It's a date." She chimed.
683 word count
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
(A/N)
Thank you so much for reading.
Please vote and comment.
Have a great day.
