just friends ; deadly class

six

vi : Just Friends

Avery Martinez never considered herself to be oblivious. In fact she prided herself on how easily she could guess when two people liked each other or whenever a pair were dating. It's just whenever she was thinking about herself that she came off that way, not noticing the way that her heart seemed to squeeze whenever Marcus took her hand or whenever she would blush whenever her hand merely brushed against his. It's all things she blamed on herself for being strange.

She didn't have a crush on Marcus.
That would be insane. 

So whenever he suddenly pulled her into a hug and her face turned bright red while her breath hitched she thought that she was just caught off guard and that's all. While he buried his face in the crook of her neck and quietly asked if she could play with his hair she assumed that he just needed a hug and there was nothing else to it. 

Avery was convinced she wasn't oblivious in any way shape or form. She was a genius when it came to relationships! 

So as she laid on the ground while the boy rested his head on her chest she assumed her raised heartbeat was her just getting a cold or something like that. And when she noticed the light dusting of pink across his face she assumed he was also getting a cold. 

Yet she didn't say a word about it. 

Instead she laid there and listened to the calming sound of his breathing, raking her hand through his hair and smiling whenever he curled closer to her. 

She wasn't oblivious and the two were just friends. 

Just friends who didn't have crushes on each other. 

Why would they have crushes on eachother? 

They're just friends...

It's what they tried to convince themselves as they drifted off to sleep. 

It's what Avery told herself whenever the boy handed her a bracelet for her eleventh birthday and scratched at the back of his neck after handing it to her. 

"I saw you looking at it when we were walking past that one jewelry shop so I assumed you'd like it.." He watched as the girl's eyes watered and panicked. "I can switch it out for something else if you don't like it-"

He went wide eyed when she pulled him into a hug and smiled against his chest. His arms slowly wrapped around her as he set his head on top of hers. 

"I love it," her voice was muffled against his chest but he heard her clearly. She didn't hate it! It sent a warm feeling through him at the thought of making the girl happy. 

But they were just friends.

Meanwhile she was clasping the thin silver band around her wrist with a bright grin. Avery was sure she would be happy with anything he got her just because it came from him. 

But Avery didn't have a crush on him. 

She backed up and looked up at the boy, her heart rate spiking at the sight of his smile. She took in a sharp gasp of air and wondered how she hadn't noticed just how pretty his smile was before. Or his eyes.. Or his voice as he chuckled and told her happy birthday.. Or.. 

"I care about you." The words slipped out of Avery's mouth without a second thought. And it was true. She cared about the boy more than anything else in her life. He was like a rainbow during a rainstorm and a warm blanket in the middle of winter. He made her happy and she cared about him. 

"I care about you too." Marcus said it back almost immediately, his hands stopping for a second to sit still and let go of his shirt sleeves as he said it. It was like he stopped panicking for half a second, no longer worried about if she was happy with the cheap gift. Instead he was focused on making sure she knew he cared about her as well. Four simple words said with as much emotion as he could muster on a foggy August morning. 

And Avery came to a simple conclusion that day. 

She liked Marcus Arguello, and there was nothing she could do about it.