A Drop In The Lake

a pearl necklace

Cameron

    Fuck.

    "What are you doing here?" I ask Alessa as she sets down the cup of water she just poured for herself.

    "What, I can't come to a teammate's party?" She defends.

    "That's not what I meant." I try to plead, but the look of utter boredom tells me she's not buying what I'm selling.

    All week it seems like Alessa's been avoiding me. Before the situation on Tuesday morning, Alessa would always wait outside my science classroom for Brook, but since, she's magically been busy elsewhere. I don't blame her, I mean I'm not sure what I would say to someone after freaking out in front of them like she did. But tonight there's no avoiding me, because here I am, and here she is.

    After not seeing her much outside of practices I've forgotten the raw beauty of this girl. Usually, she's dressed in a pair of short shorts and a tank top, giving her that 'I didn't even try and I'm beautiful' look, but tonight. Tonight she's fucking sexy. She's wearing a black, long sleeve halter top with a solid black middle section, and black lace sleeves. On the bottom, she's rocking a pair of deep red and grey denim shorts that barely reach the middle of her thighs.

    As my eyes skim past her sun-rubbed legs and the slit of toned tummy that peeks out of the top of her shorts, I find myself coughing, trying to fill the stilted silence.

    "Are you done?" She muses, locking onto my eyes like a laser target.

    My silence speaks volumes, so she continues, "Yah know, I haven't seen you around much lately. Been busy?"

    Her words confuse me. "What do you mean? I've been free as a bird. It's you I've heard little from."

    "Oh, you know. I've been keeping ahead on schoolwork, going for runs, looking you up; the usual things." She mocks.

    It takes me a moment to hear what she's saying, and when I do, I reply dumbfoundedly, "Wait! You've been looking me up?"

    "Oh yeah. After all that talk on the bus Monday, I figured: Why not? And the things I found were quite interesting." My breath hitches, her words punching me in the back of my throat. "However, I have to ask: What changed?"

    Her gaze bores holes into my prefrontal cortex, picking apart each memory as they sit stored in filing cabinets.

    "I don't know what you mean?" I hesitate.

    "Oh, you know what I mean. On Tuesday you told me you moved here because your parents were retiring, but then I read that your parents retired eighteen years ago, so how does that make any sense?" She fires, slowly stepping towards me and backing me into the hallway off the kitchen.

    Fully aware of the scene we're making, I grip Alessa's shoulders and guide her into the nearest room I can find without any occupants. Little did I know, that just so happens to be the headmaster's holiday bedroom. Shit.

    "Now what? Why'd you force me into a bedroom? Yah know, if I were smart enough, I'd think you were trying to take —"

    "I'm not trying to do anything," I interject. "I just wanted to talk somewhere a little less in the middle of everything."

    "Welp. You've succeeded! In a very creepy manner, might I add."

    "Says the girl who was staring at me, intently, at Monday's practice." I counter.

    I expect her to stay silent, but low and behold, she proves me wrong. Again.

    "It's not my fault you're ninety percent hot and ten percent hotter." I have really got to stop underestimating this girl.

    When she notices what she's said, her face goes whisper pink. To which I reply with a raised brow.

    "You know what I mean." She sasses shyly.

    "Oh, do I? You're not looking so bad yourself."

    I noticed her outfit earlier, but in the light of this bedroom, her grey eyes flicker with the buzz of the overhead light and her lips tremble with the intensity of the situation.

    "You're staring." She remarks. 

    "Just admiring," I reply with a cocky smile.

    "Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop and move out of my way. My friends are probably going to start wondering where I've gone. Sooooo." She says, eyeing the door behind me.

    "Sorry." I begin, moving further in front of the door. "Just let me ask you something. Okay?" I continue sincerely.

    "What?" She questions impatiently.

    "About Tuesday morning," her whole body goes stiff, "what happened to you?"

    She stares at my chest as I stare at the top of her head, both silent for a moment.

    "I have a past, Cameron. Just like you." She huffs, stepping to my right in an attempt to get around me and out of the room.

     "What do you mean?" I ask, tensely.

    "I know about what happened with you and your friend." Her words hang out of her mouth, like the string of a pearl necklace. Each pearl rains onto the floor as my defenses go up.

I cannot lose myself to this girl.

    She looks back up and into my eyes. "Am I wrong?"

     So unsure of myself. So vulnerable. I mutter, "No."

    "Then I suggest you move out of my way. I'm not having this conversation with you." She spits.

    "What if I want to." I clip back. Her eyes go wide and my heartbeat picks up. Why did I say that?

    "That's not your decision to make." She falters. "You have to prove to me I can trust you before assuming I will just come crawling to you with all of my problems—"

    "Then give me a chance!" I quip.

    Her eyes soften. "Fine. But not right now."

    "Okay!" I beam at her. "You won't regret it!"

    She chuckles. "Great. Now. Out of my way." She motions to the door behind me.

    As I move away from the door, I confirm her honesty with a knowing glance. She simply replies with a nod.

Okay. I can work with this. Just can't fuck it up. No biggie.