Love But It's Always 5cm Away

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 3.

The next day during class, all I could think about is Hayden, and I hate the fact that he's keeping my mind occupied already, taking up room and energy in my already depleting brain storage. I've never tutored anyone before, so how am I gonna do it? What if I just make things worse? Look at where life has taken me. There's another thing, Hayden still doesn't know my name, which is funny because I'm pretty sure I've memorized most people's names in my classes by now.

...

4:10 pm. Hayden's late. We've promised to meet at my locker to head home together since he obviously doesn't know where I live, it'd be creepy if he did. I could hear the tick tock of the hands straining to move in my old fashioned watch. I need to get a digital one soon. Hazel has left already since she needed to run errands in the grocery for her parents, and I haven't seen Xena all day. I decided to text her a short message on insta:

"Hey Xen, how's everything? Haven't seen ya all day :(" - 4:11 pm.

I swear, Xen and my friendship is growing apart faster than the speed of light. And it's only the second day.

Just when I thought Hayden was here, someone else I wasn't expecting appeared, leaning on my locker. I stuffed my phone into my jean pockets and glanced up. He was wearing yet another anime t-shirt like how I've always known him, and this one was Megumi. There's only one person who I know wears these, and that's my ex from Wolfsburg Junior HIgh, Theo Lenior. I froze. I didn't know he was in the same high school... Damn.

"Heyyy Mai, long time no see." Theo said in a tone as if nothing happened between us, and I could feel his brown eyes staring, making me uncomfortable.

"Hi T-Theo. It's nice to see you." Were the words I managed to utter while I looked down onto the white floor tiles and to my tattered black Converse sneakers. Lies.

"Umm, I know this is sudden, but I'm forced to ask this: Do you wanna get back together?"

Before I had a chance to respond, he continued, "Just say no and I'll be off. I didn't wanna do this anyway."

"N-no.." I replied with zero idea what's going on.

"K thanks, see ya around!" Theo sounded relieved as he headed away.

What did he mean by he needed to do this? Did someone ask him to? If so, why and more importantly, who? They probably told Theo to keep his mouth shut on who they are. He knows stuff... Ugh, I didn't want more irrelevant things to bother me so I tried to forget about it.

In an instant, a deep voice (just enough to my liking) cut through my ears. I would recognize this ringing tone anywhere. That's Hayden. Once again my gaze was fixed on him, like a drug my eyes can't stop feeding on. I took a step back to take in his whole body frame. He was slim for a boy but I could see his arm muscles bulging under his plain white t-shirt. He was tall too, about 5ft 11, I suppose. His physical appearance is *chief's kiss. Everything about him fits so perfectly, and he's not even trying. To add extra points, he had a pretty face with just the right amount of ruffle in his hazel hair. I could mentally hit myself for observing him so much and thinking he was attractive. I need to stop.

"Hey, let's head over to your place. Sorry I'm late, I needed to see Ms. Mills since she told me you'll be tutoring me." He sounded enthusiastic and I can't help but to look forward to our session today.

"Alright, off we go then."

On the way home, it was painfully silent at first. I could see our long shadows walking side by side, casted by the glowing afternoon sun onto the white pavement that has turned into a hint of light orange from the sun rays. This particular view gives me an aesthetic-Pinterest-sunset-pic-vibe.

Finally, Hayden spoke up, "So... I haven't seemed to catch your name despite us being in every block together."

"Oh, I'm Maira, and I know your name, Hayden." I said as I raised my eyebrows in a joking way. He chuckled.

"Can I call you Mai for short?"

That caught me off guard. Usually only my closest friends use that nickname, but there wasn't a reason for me to deny it. "Mkay, Hady...that's your new nickname, so it's fair." For the first time, I think I gave him a proper smile. I'm not sure If I was imagining things, but I could see a small tint of pink appear on his cheek. To my surprise, we talked all the way home. About schools and previous exes. I could relate to him more than I thought I would.

...

"...let's do stem cells for our bio project. It's the body's raw material, and they could divide into daughter cells under the right conditions. Worth investigating." I explained, pointing my blue ballpoint pen while I looked down at our project plan I've outlined for both of us. I was kneeling on the chair while my arms rested on my desk, with Hayden next to me. Almost two hours passed, filled with me helping with his assignments, from AP's to Geometry to the Bio project we're currently working on.

I was too busy sorting out the details for our cell project and didn't notice that Hayden's eyes were glued to me this whole time.

Slowly but ever so carefully, he reached out his hand and brushed my hair behind my ears and traced his thumb over my scar. The pen dropped with a clack onto the white ceramic tiles of my room. My face heated up once again. "W-what are you d-doing? If you want to criticize my scar please take it somewhere else, I feel really embarrassed and it hurts and even though everyone says mean things about it I still don't like them speaking doing that in front of me-" before I could finish this whole rant, he interrupted me.

"It's beautiful."

These two words alone could summon a waterfall of tears to rain down my eyes. It was the first time anyone (well, except my parent's, of course) said something heartwarming or truly genuine, no lies underneath, about my scars. It's as if what he said mended all those years of torture and the stab I felt in my heart wheever someone made fun of me. I wanted to stop crying but I couldn't, while Hayden handed me some tissues and gently pulled my head towards the crook of his neck, allowing me to lead on him and rest for a bit.

"Sorry for being a mess. I normally don't break down in front of others." I said, sniffing.

"It's ok, everything's fine now. You've got me." Hayden whispered softly into my ears, warming my heart and soul thoroughly. I sighed. It was a relieved sigh, and sure is one that I haven't experienced in a lifetime.

Xena's POV

For the next few days, Mai and Hayden seemed closer than they were before. They walked by each other casually while Hazel joined them. Today, Mai was getting textbooks from her locker while Hazel tried to dig info out of Hayden, probably whether he had a crush on Mai or not. Seeing their wonderful relationship makes me want to stab that disgusting hazelnut boy.

However, deep down, a part of me wanted to join them. To be Mai's best friend again, to be able to put this hatred behind, and let this uncanny feeling dissolve into the air.

I couldn't.

Today is the first step to make Mai's life miserable, then I'll snatch the boy from her, like ripping a bandaid off a painful wound. All I need to do is to go find my dad. Oh... da-ddy..!

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