PALE FIRE

No Touchy Please...

One of the most important pieces of advice my parents gave me that I could still recall was 'You are powerful when you can control your emotions, people are intimidated by what they don't understand' I've always been the quiet, observer while Ryan was the vocal one out of the both of us. I couldn't comprehend the concept of voicing my emotions in a way the next person could understand rather I preferred not being noticed by people except for my family. We were waiting for our food to get here while I was in the kitchen a glass of water in one hand and my phone in the other as I scrolled absentmindedly "hey" someone spoke over my shoulders recognizing Leroy's deep voice he was too close that I could feel his breath on my face "Ryan wanted to know if you'll want to go bowling with them later" he mumbled as he fiddled with the clasp of my necklace "maybe some other time, I've had enough outings for this year" I chuckled as I turned to face him moving backwards to create some form of distance between us he stared at me intently in silence trying to avoid his watchful gaze I took sips of my water peering at him through the rims of the glass "you've always been hard to read" he muttered softly with a smile on his lips "It's a super power" I replied with a smile "do you remember when that kid I think his name was blake moved into the neighborhood and he had a crush on you so he took one of his toy rings and pretended to propose to you and you were so happy you told your parents you guys were a couple" his laugh contagious as a my face went hot instantly looking away chuckling lightly "I'm surprised you remember that because for some reason you didn't like him so much you always called him bug boy and made a fuss about him calling us a couple"I said laughing as I reminisced on the memories "he was weird looking and always picked on my height then so I didn't like him much" he shook his head still clearly not have gotten over that "come to think of it I never saw my ring again"I muttered coming to realization that I spent a week looking for it "oh yeah about that" leroy rubbing his neck nervously as his cheeks turned red "what" I eyed him expectantly biting the inside of my cheeks "I kinda stole it and buried it somewhere, I was jealous you weren't spending time with me anymore so I hid it" he chuckled looking away embarrassed at his actions "you've got to be kidding, you helped me look for it here I was thinking you had nothing to do with it" I exclaimed  gaping at him "well a kids gotta do what a kids gotta do" he stated with a smirk "always as sly as ever" I mumbled laughing as I recalled looking everywhere for it with leroy raising my eyes to him I saw him already staring at me with an expression I couldn't decipher "beautiful as always" he tucked a loose strange behind my eyes his fingers brushing my cheeks as my breathing accelerate and my cheeks were flushed "sky food is here" nate walks in as we jump away giving space between us "I'll join you in a second" I coughed out. Mentally instructing myself not to be so close to him as I followed Nate quietly