Meet Me in the Middle

Part 1

When we were younger, our parents introduced us to one another, hoping we'd connect and maybe be friends.

They were right about connecting-

She knows me more than I know me...

I love her more than she loves me...

Our first day of senior year, I wait anxiously for her to come to class.

Only class we could agree to take together was calculus.

I pick at the dead skin on my nails and re-apply lotion to my tattoo ridden hands.

I grow more nervous thinking about it.

"Kook?" She says from behind me.

I turn to meet her gaze. My nervousness melts away and I smile.

"Hi." I say.

"Hey." She smiles.

She leans down to hug me.

"I dyed my hair." She points out.

I noticed it when she called my name.

"I see." I say reaching to touch the curls.

"Do you like it?" She asks.

Of course.

"Mhm." I say nonchalantly.

She nudges me lightly before taking her seat beside me.

I show her my hand, resting it on her lap, without a word.

"Get out!" She says lowly.

"I know." I say.

She examines my hand slowly and I take her in.

Her ginger-ish tinted hair, her golden-brown skin, a little darker on the edges of her face. Her red tinted lips and the light blush on her cheeks. Hair curled in a half up half down.

"Stop it." She says, looking at me.

"What?"

"Staring at me like that." She says dropping my hands.

"Meredith-" I begin.

"Save it."

She turns to get items from her bag as the rest of the class files in.

--

"I would've walked with you this morning, but my mom insisted on taking me to my last first day of school and taking pictures for my grandma." She says quietly.

We walk to our houses in silence.

It's normally comfortable.

The silence.

But today, it's loud.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"Yeah?" She says turning to meet my eye.

She looks sad.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"No."

She walks to me, hugging me, sighing heavily before speaking.

"I met someone in New York this summer."

Shot through the heart.

"Did you?" I say, rubbing her back.

"Mhm, and I'm sad because he's all the way there and I'm here."

"Sure."

"Long distance won't work. Time is too different."