You gave me wings

Chapter two

Minutes seemed to tick by at an agonizingly slow pace Friday (when it had finally arrived), and I tried everything I could think of to distract myself from what this afternoon might entail.

When lunch finally arrived, the day now half over, I expected- or rather hoped for it to go faster. 

That didn't happen. 

Instead of counting the minutes to the end of the last period, I began counting the minutes when Indigo might show up. 

Those were the longest 40 minutes of my life, but worth it when she finally walked in, again 15 minutes earlier than her usual, causing my heart to leap into my throat. 

It didn't help when her gaze slid my way for a split second, her lips twitched towards a smile before she was done seconds later. The only downside was that her friends had immediately begun snickering. 

I couldn't breathe.

Did she really just send a smirk my way?

"Dude, did you SEE that?!" Micah exclaimed. Slowly, I looked at her, and at that moment my brain became painfully aware of the fact that that had really happened. 

"Wait, you saw..."

"Indigo gave you a grin as she passed, yes!" She was looking so excited.

"And I... started right back."

Fuck!

"So she saw..."

Micah's smile began to wane. "You're looking panicked." 

She wasn't wrong there, though 'panicked' didn't seem adequate somehow. No, this was far more intense. Was there a word for it?

Indigo wasn't supposed to, like, see me staring at her. 

Her friends had no doubt whispered rumors of it, I'm sure she knew, but like... I don't know... it was different when the subject of your crush actually fully sees you staring at them.

Oh god, what have I done?!

I felt a hand on my arm, I jumped at the touch. It was just Micah; her hand stayed. "Hey," she said soothingly, "it's okay, Call. I'm sure she is flattered."

I shook my head. No, she would not be flattered. She'd be horrified. She was simply nice enough to not show it... around me. Hence why her friends had immediately started snickering.

I folded my arms on the table, letting out a groan as I rested my head against them. It was all over now.

When the time came for rehearsals, a time that had once taken forever to get here had now gotten here way too fast. I stood paralyzed at the closed theater doors, all too painfully aware of what... or rather who... was on the other side. 

My anxiety-riddled brain went through scenario after scenario of what could happen the minute I stepped through those doors. All of them unpleasant. All of them ending with everyone in the theater laughing and making fun of me. 

The reality was that I walked in and... nothing happened. Nobody looked up, Indigo least of all. She didn't start in on how someone like me dared to crush on someone like her. Nobody pointed, nobody laughed. The only significant thing that happened was the director expressing his relief that I was here. 

I didn't dare to look at Indigo as I headed towards the back of the stage. At this rate, it was going to be a long afternoon...

Around five, the director called all of us, cast and crew, near the stage to 'try something new', as he put it.