Noticed By Rich Blood

Chapter 19: He On His ~A~ Game

All day, my mind flew to Carlos, even though I saw him twice in between the hallways (and he stuck his tongue out at me both times), I still couldn't stop thinking about him. Finally, lunch time came around and I ran to the cafeteria.  

And, there he was, sitting with his group of Hispanic friends. Caught up in laughing with a friend. Play punching his friend on the shoulder. And when he saw me, he paused and smiled at me. My heart, oh lord, God knows what he was doing to my heart. 

I walked over to him and sat behind him, right where I usually sit. It was fate that had him sitting right behind me. God knows how I never noticed him. Such a fine creation of human. 

I dropped my backpack and sat in my usual spot. Sam turned to me and said, "How's your man?"

I paused, What man is she talking about? Or does she already know about Carlos?

"What man?," I kept my cool.

"Kaleb, duh. Unless you got some two-timing thing going on," she eyed me. 

I throw her a glare, "Stop trying to be funny."

She throws her hands up and said, "Hey, I was just saying."

"And, anyways I been dumped Kaleb, if you didn't know. Like I completely erased him from my mind, so I wouldn't know what you're talking about."

"Aah, okay."

"Hey, Sun!" Pat said to me.

"What do you want, Pat?" I replied.

"Can you get me a pizza and some chocolate milk, please?"

Oh lord. This man IS GONNA wipe me out from existence. I looked up at him and said in a sweet, sarcastic tone, "Of course, of course, anything for a pal."

I ran to the line, grabbed Pat's food, and handed it to him. "Here! For your gains or whatever." I shoved the tray to him.

He saluted me, said his thanks, and I walked away. I signaled to Carlos to meet me in the library. He followed me out of the cafeteria. In the hall, he walked side by side with me, but when he put his arm around my shoulder, I suddenly got shy. Dumb bitch, I know damn well you not getting shy when you was in a whole ass bed with him. 

His sister called and he took his arm off my shoulder, "Sorry, I have to take this. My sister is calling me."

"Yeah, yeah no worries."

He started speaking in Spanish with his sister, some of which I barely understood. Then, he put his hand over me, reached over, and grabbed the pillow that was right next to me. That one move, and he didn't realize, sent my heart ablaze. My cheeks reddened and I pretended to work on my project. He was still talking, and he looked over and smiled over at me. I smiled back. 

As he hung up, he threw the pillow at me and laughed. "What?!" I exclaimed. 

"You think I did not notice?" 

"Notice what?"

"Those crimson cheeks of yours!"

"Uhh.." I covered my cheeks with my hands, "I really wish I knew what you were talking about."

"Ah, pero lo haces. (Oh, but you do.)," he smiled and then reached for my arms.

"Please don't do anything, mi corazon (my heart) can't take it anymore," I complained. 

He grabbed my face between both hands and kissed me on both of my cheeks. "I'm not going to do much," he laughed, "that's about as much as I can do in this library. Had it been up to me, I liked you better when you were gasping for air."

"OH MY GOD, STOP," I muttered. 

"YOOOOOOO. Wait, what's that?" he pointed at a canvas in my backpack. 

Oh, god, that's for his birthday. Now, he's going to think I'm some weirdo who wants to have paintings of him all over my room. 

I dove for the bag. "No, you can't see this yet."

" You realize I already saw it, right? I saw my name on the board."

"NOOO, it was supposed to be a surprise, bruh. Man, you weren't supposed to see it."

"Ohhh, ok, ok."

I pulled the canvas out of my backpack, "Actually, do you want to see it now? But pick. Right now or on your birthday? By the way, I'm not done yet." 

"Right now."

"Okay, ughhh, fine." I gave him the canvas face down. "I really wished you didn't see it now. I didn't even get to wrapping it yet, man."

He took the canvas from me and turned it upright. "Oh my gosh," he started chuckling.

"WHAT?! You think it's cringey? Just give it back to me. I'll just make something new out of it, instead," I lunged forward to grab the canvas from him but he held it up higher, so I couldn't reach it. He took ahold of my hand. 

I looked at him and suddenly realized the close proximity we were in. He cleared his throat, "No, of course not. This is the cutest thing anyone has done for me. I will be sure to hang it up in my room."

I let go of his hand and blushed. "Yeah, yeah whatever. You don't have to hang it up if you don't want to." 

He grabbed my hand again and kissed it this time. "Anything for mi princesa (my princess)"

"Eww, stop. Now that's what I call cringe," I pretended to gag and pulled my hand back. He slumped in his chair and looked down at the floor. 

"You're only saying all this because we are in a public space. If it was back in that bed, you would not be saying ew,"  he slowly looked up at me, his brown eyes piercing my soul. 

"No, I'm not. I am saying it because it genuinely cringed me out," I replied.

"Oh, yeah? We'll see about that when we meet up later at my place," he scoffed. He rose up quickly and ruffled my hair. He quietly walked out of the library.

My cheeks betrayed me, yet again.

I looked in my phone camera. Yup, crimson red. Again.

I knew I was falling for this man. Hard. 

Every nerve in my body, every cell, and every beat of my heart agreed with me.