Just The Way You Are (Jaime Preciado)

Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Do You Know I Count Your Heart Beats Before You Sleep?

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Amy's POV

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"I really don't like you," The words came out. Where from I didn't know. "I mean... Wait a minute. I do, but I think... I mean... Yeah. I do. But... Yeah."

Fuck.

Jaime scrunched his nose in confusion, "what?"

He was probly joking. I mean, he's much older. He could have any girl in the world, someone much prettier and more experienced in this whole 'Relationship' thing. And truth is, I knew I wasn't capable of loving anyone. I knew that no matter how much they loved me, I was screwed up. I would just put up a wall, causing them to leave. I was afraid, because I knew they would leave. That's the way it had always been. That's the way it would always be. But what was the harm in telling him?

I took a deep breathe, trying to get the words to come out right. I almost whispered, "I like you, too."

He smiled, awkwardly, "Really?"

"Yeah?" I nodded. I felt awkward so I did what I do best and walked away. "So that's really nice. I'm going to... Um. Walk. I'm going for a walk."

Oh my god. Awkward. I felt so awkward.

I started running down the stairs and didn't stop until I was out the front door. The damp and cool noon air made me shiver, but I put on my big girl pants and started walking down the street to god knows where.

"Amy!" Tony yelled from the porch when I was about two houses away. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know," I yelled and started running. There was a gas station about twenty minutes away, I knew that, so I just ran to there.

When I got in there I was sweaty and breathing hard, but the one person I wanted to see more then anything right now was standing behind the counter, smiling at me, like the fool he was.

"Hey, Amyboo," He said. "Taking a afternoon run?"

"Hey, Justin," I laughed. "I'm just running away from my problems. The normal."

He frowned, "Not anything more then that, I hope?"

"No cutting was involved in the process. Don't worry," I answered, knowing that was what he was talking about. "Feelings make me awkward and so I ran."

"I know," Justin smiled again. "Alright. Well, I get off at three. And it's two forty three right now, if you hang around we could go hang out at a movie or something?"

"Yeah, sure," I smiled at him. "How was business today?"

"Boring. I've been here since three and about fifteen people came in, eight of which just had to use the bathroom." He laughed, green eyes shining, black and red hair shaking slightly.

I laughed, too, "So you made, what, about ten dollars?"

"Pretty much, yeah, including a tip or two for being cute or 'needing mental help'."

"Mental help?" I laughed.

"I swear to god, I thought I was alone and I started screaming songs. This old woman came up to me, put a five dollar bill in my hand and was like, "Go get yourself some help, Son." And I was just like what the fuck?"  He laughed, then his phone went off and he said, "It's noon. Let's go!"

He got what he needed, then before leaving, made sure the next person was ready to take over their shift.

Finally, we were on our way to the lunch and a movie.