Say The Word

Chapter 6- Life Really Said, "Surprise, Bitch!"

"Money," his shadow covered the things sitting on my desk. Impatience was written all over his face. "C'mon, you wet sock, don't tell me you don't have it."

Okay, wet sock? Lord, his insults were literally just items but I feel...Well, insulted. My heart was not the same though; it seemed excited that he came to me automatically, even when he was just there for the money.

"Here you go," I placed the small roll of money on the edge my desk.

The moment the cash was in contact with the table, his hands flashed by my face to get the money. His started to count, confirming that it was the correct amount, and I was not underpaying him.

"I like you," he said, out of nowhere.

Uhm-

"You paid an extra dollar," he hummed.

Oh.

"That was an accident," I stood up, taking the one dollar he was waving around out of his fingers. "I need this."

"Expected, knew ya wouldn't be so kind," he teased.

I rolled my eyes. The air was not as tense as when we first met, it was not the most comfortable either, just a little better. To me, it was fine; I was overjoyed with the progress,

"Don't you want to go to the roof?" I asked, trying to 'invite' him to his own special place. "The classroom seems a little..."

"Huh." and a slightly baffled look were all he gave me before taking off, leaving me to trail behind him.

▪▫▪▫▪

Here's the thing about Cebario. He walks really fast, like, really really fast. It was nearly impossible to catch up to him on the endless flight of stairs. I had to force myself to breathe less loud so he would not think that I was panting. I did not know what was wrong about breathing and increasing my intake of oxygen, but it was somehow shameful to me (when I do it, I don't care if you do it or anyone else, actually. As long as you aren't judging me when I do it).

"Never thought you'd be the one asking if we were going to go to the roof, honestly," he turned to look at me once we were out in the soft heat of the sun. "You always seemed to hate it out here, you know that?"

"I do?" I never knew that.

"Yeah, always that one look on your face, it's like you hate the light or something," he shrugged, ready to lay down in the shade.

"Right, so you like the sun?"

"No shit, Sherlock. What do you think I'm doing out here? To make my life more miserable? Obviously not, you dumbass. Now, just let me sleep, I have work."

"Wanna lay your head on my lap instead?" I blurted.

Oh, lord, Vastel, what on Earth did you say?

Both of us froze.

He was looking into my eyes.

For a second, it felt like my heart would stop.

"Ya ain't gonna deduct my salary, if I do that, are you?" he asked, an eyebrow rose, as if even his eyebrows were suspicious of my intentions. "Wait, no, you aren't going to ask me to pay, are you?"

"No?"

He beamed, "Great, my arms don't get enough blood circulation when I'm taking naps. This isn't professional, but fuck that. Finally, some sleep and good blood circulation."

It was as if our boundaries never existed in the first place, he just got really comfortable on my leg.

"Don't try anything funny, you hear me? I'll make you wish you were never alive," he murmured before falling asleep immediately. The fact that he fell asleep in just seconds amazed me.

He looked calm, his brows were not furrowed like usual. His face was clearer than the sky; I was almost envious of him. His chest rose and fell lightly as he breathed; his fingers seemed to twitch to the rhythm too. There were no other noises, just other students' chattering and cheering as white noise. I felt at peace for once after so long, I was alone with no one to talk to, but I was not thinking of papa or Vati, and I was by myself. He was taking a nap on my lap, yet it was enough to keep me distracted. It was just us, in our own secluded area in the school. (Jesus, I just realised how much of a creep I am. Who talks about someone asleep like that anyway? Look away, Vastel, stop it.)

It was a really big step for me, him being comfortable enough to be unconscious around me, let alone on me. My heart fluttered a little more, the longer I watched him.

"Stop staring, literally just woke up to you looking at me like an idiot," he pushed my face away, sitting up, stretching.

"Sorry."

"Shut up, we should go now. Class is gonna start, I want to continue my nap. And you gotta get some knowledge into that damn squish in your head. So let's go increase that cerebrum."

What?

▪▫▪▫▪

"Arrête, so, where are we going, dear friend?" he smiled as he held my hand on the desk. There was that forced smile again, as the weird looks from others came our way, just like they had yesterday. I was once again aware of their whispers and looks of disapproval surrounding us.

"Good question, I don't know either, do you want to maybe, come hang out at my place?" I asked reluctantly. How bold I was that day, I surprised myself, really.

"What a completely normal thing to suggest, my friend," he forced out, his face seemed tired.

"We could go to somewhere else, if you want."

"No, no, let's get out of here. I'm totally fine, we always go to your house anyway," he said, forcefully draping his arm around my neck.

We made it out of the hallways, and we were out of the school compound.

"Wait up," a voice from behind called out. Good lord, Elly, wrong timing! What happened to letting me deal with it?

"Run," he grabbed my wrist. "I don't want to deal with her today."

We were running all of a sudden. Where to, I did not know, we had no direction, we were just running from Elly. It was not planned, as you can see.

Passing rows of shop, I realised that I had not actually started to explore the place. The unfamiliar environment somehow looked the same every corner we turned.

"Let's get in here," he pulled me into a small alley, along with him. I was on top of him, hands on his chest and clinging onto his ragged denim jacket. He pushed my head down onto him, "Keep your head down, idiot."

I wanted to apologize to him, and guess what? Yeah, I did not. It just did not feel like a good time to say anything. He poked his head out of the alley to observe if she was still there. He turned back to me, giving me a small smirk, "I think we lost that bitch. Let's go, friend, we still have a lot of time to kill."