a new beginning, wavier

21. leading me on

wednesday and xavier began spending countless nights in the library together, searching for anything related to the topic of stalkers or the habit of stalking.

but there was a problem, as wednesday saw it. xavier had a daring "crush" on her. she didn't know how to go about it with the events that had occurred in the past few weeks.

one night in the nightshades library, wednesday fell asleep from all of the reading. it had been completely useless and feverishly boring. the next morning, she awoke to the creepy smile of xavier in her face. "xavier, what the hell are you doing? you could kill with such a dark smile. i'm jealous." the boy rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "you must've fallen asleep last night after i left. come on, let's get you back to your dorm before enid freaks out." wednesday stared. "we are not doing anything. i will go. goodbye, xavier."

xavier leaned in to kiss wednesday on the top of her head but she moved away before he could. a frown appeared on his face. "hey! that wasn't kind!" wednesday continued to walk on. "that was my intention," she said before leaving.

as soon as wednesday walked into her dorm, enid woke up. "wednesday? what time is it?" she asked. the noirette simply went over to her closet. "seven in the morning. we need to go downstairs for breakfast." enid's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "what?! you were gone all night?! where were you?!" wednesday stared. "i fell asleep in the library, not a big deal. hurry and get ready. i want to get there before all of the good coffee is gone."

enid got ready as fast as she could and then headed down to the lunchroom for breakfast with wednesday. she spotted xavier and ajax eating together and pulled her best friend along to sit with them.

wednesday was hesitant to sit with xavier, fearing her stalker would be around, and made up an excuse as soon as they got to the table. "i'm going to eat in my room. this is my writing time." xavier rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "c'mon, wednesday. eating breakfast with us for half an hour isn't gonna kill you." the girl stared at the boy. "yes, it will." she then turned to enid. "i'll see you in botanical sciences. save my seat."

as soon as wednesday was gone, enid couldn't help but ask xavier, "what's going om between you and wednesday? did you get in a fight?" the boy laughed. "nah, not at all. she's just... a weird loner sometimes. but i get it, i guess." ajax gave his roommate a look. "don't you have a crush on her or something? does she know?" xavier lowered his eyes. "it's complicated."

enid glared at him. "I KNEW IT! YOU TRIED TO MAKE A MOVE ON HER!" she shouted. "LEAVE MY BEST FRIEND ALONE! SHE DOESNT WANT YOU SHE'S IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE!"

xavier's face went completely pale. what the hell was enid talking about?

about twenty minutes later, he got up and said he had to go back to his dorm, but was really just going to confront wednesday.

just as wednesday began another chapter on her typewriter, xavier stormed in without even knocking. "what are you doing here?" she asked dully. he ran his fingers through his hair dramatically. "okay, seriously, what the hell, wednesday? you're in love with someone else and didn't even have the decency to tell me?!"

wednesday simply stared. "no, i am not. he just keeps following me around everywhere." xavier scoffed. "great, just what we need, another tyler." the girl frowned. "there is no 'us', xavier. think about the words that flow out of your mouth."

xavier walked over to wednesday's bed and sat down. "look, wednesday, i really like you. you know that. please don't lead me on."

that comment enraged the girl. she glared at him. "get out of my dorm," wednesday commanded xavier.

his anger built up. "what?! you're literally leading me on and now you're mad?!" he said as he gladly walked towards the door.

"i never led you on, xavier. but you have ruined our friendship far too many times. so i will spare you the pain and officiate this now: it is over."

the boy's jaw dropped. "wednesday, no. i'm still your friend. let's talk about this, please." the noirette simply stared. "i need time away from you and your toxicity. then i will revisit this conversation. until then, goodbye."

__________________________

the less time wednesday spent with xavier, the more she felt like herself.

she wasn't nice. she wasn't generous. she wasn't displaying romance or even thinking about it. she was simply wednesday addams, the girl in love with gore, honesty, and not sparing people's feelings except enid's

on the contrary, xavier was a wreck.

his whole entire world had been rocked. he was more himself than ever: artistic, full of darkness, and anxious. he kept painting ravens from his dreams and he didn't know why. he was xavier thorpe.

one day, he and wednesday were once more partnered up for a lab in botanical sciences. he was beyond relieved knowing he would be able to see her again, talk to her again. maybe it would open the table up for some bigger conversations that needed to be had.

they spent no time talking about anything other than the lab, but xavier wasn't too afraid to ask her to after class. he gently touched wednesday's arm, trying to gain her attention. "can we talk after class, wednesday? please?"

she stared back at him. "no, i have another class to attend. if you want to speak further with me, text me a time and location. as long as it doesn't interfere with my academics, hummers club, archery, cello, or writing time."

a small, sad smile crept onto the boy's face. she was telling him to text her. "would dinner work tonight?" he asked. wednesday nodded. "where do you want to meet?" xavier gave a flirty smirk. "my art shed. don't be late."