Blame Gravity

Chapter 25

Today is the first day of April, which means Maya's birthday is tomorrow. I need to go buy a present. I forgot about her completely. 

It's all I can think about all day.

The only problem is that I have a date with Mike, which means I'll have to cancel that shit. How convenient. 

After the last lesson, I run to the Spanish class. I have to talk to Mike, and I also want to talk to James.

When I arrive, I immediately see Mike, and he smiles at me and kisses my cheek.

"Let's go," he smiles. 

I hate to do this. "I'm sorry, Mike, but I don't have time today... I have to buy a present for Maya, and I have to study..."

"Who's Maya?" he asks, frowning.

He doesn't know my little sister's name?! I talk about her almost every day. "My little sister," I say, frustration obvious from my voice.

"Oh, right." He looks away, seeming bored. Why is he so mean? "Well, then not, I guess." He studies me for a moment, then smiles. "Have a nice day, Lucy," He kisses me on the mouth (!!!) and walks away.

I take a deep breath. What was that? Nevermind. I don't have time to think about it. I look around for James, and I see he's just walking away with his friends. I run after him. When I'm close enough, I tap his shoulder, and he looks around, seeming surprised.

"Canmore," he addresses, slightly smiling.

"Miller," I say, out of breath. "Can we... talk? In private, please."

"Ooooh!" Ace, Brandon, and Evan exclaim while making kissing noises and whistling. I feel that I'm blushing, but I ignore them. 

James looks kind of angry and nudges them, but when he looks at me, the anger in his eyes disappears, and he smiles. "Yeah, sure." He looks at his friends. "I'll catch you guys later." 

As they walk away, I hear Brandon yell "Don't forget about protection!", and all three guys laugh.

I look at James, furious. "Did you tell them?!"

He doesn't look at me, his face red, frowning. "I did not. They're just idiots. Ignore them."

I look away. "Why are you friends with them, then?"

He shrugs. "They're fun."

I inhale sharply. 

He fixes his hair and looks at me. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

I take a deep breath. "Us."

Surprisement shows on his face, his mouth falling open, eyebrows raised. "Oh."

I nod awkwardly. "Yeah. 'Oh'."

We stay silent for a while, and I gather all my courage to speak. He must have done the same thing because we start talking at the exact same time.

"So we could-"

"I don't think-"

Silence falls again. I swallow. This is incredibly awkward.

"Look," he whispers. "I..." He studies me for a long moment, then shakes his head. "I don't know."

It stays silent again. "Hey, so, uh, I need to go buy a present for Maya, and if you want, you could come with me, and then we can talk on the way there."

He nods. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Besides, I'd much rather have someone drive me there than walk," I add, smiling.

He lets out a laugh and fixes his hair. "Right. Come on."

As soon as we're in his car, I can't take it anymore, and I kiss him. 

"Damn it," he mutters in between kisses. "We can't do this here." But despite his words, he keeps kissing me, not bothering with the fact that anyone could see us here. I ignore it as well.

Finally, he pulls away. We don't stop making eye contact, both breathless. "You confuse me so much," he eventually whispers.

"You confuse me as well," I conclude, and quickly look away.

He starts the car.

"Ugh! I don't know!" I yell when we've been standing in the toy shop for about half an hour, still not having chosen anything.

"Okay, how old is she turning?" James asks, finally stepping in. "Five, right?"

I nod. "Yes."  I try to take a few deep breaths. 

"Then what about a..." He looks around. "Ah! What about this?" He grabs a huge Lego Friends box. It's an animal farm.

I shake my head. "She doesn't like Lego."

He nods and puts it back. "Then what about this?" He holds up a magic wand from the Harry Potter franchise. That's perfect.

I nod, finally having calmed down. "Yeah, that seems cool. But I want to buy her something else, as well."

"Okay," He puts the box in my hand. "So then, like, a doll, or something?"

"Yeah."

He nods again and looks around. Then, he spots something and holds it up. "This?" It's a perfect-looking doll, with clothes and a bath and whatnot. She will absolutely love this.

"Oh my God, James, you're a lifesaver," I kiss his cheek and run to the cashier with the newly-found presents.

After I pay, we go to his car.

When we're inside, we're silent for a while.

"Where to?" he finally asks, sounding reluctant.

I inhale sharply. "Your place." I look at him. "Only if that's okay."

He nods, seeming nervous for some reason. "Yeah. That's okay, yeah."

We drive to his house, not saying a word. He can't seem to keep his eyes on the road, glancing at me anxiously every once in a while.

When we arrive, we run upstairs, and we make out on his bed. After a few minutes, we take our clothes off.