Teen Romance Fantasy

Act 13 (Ch)

Great, now even Tyson was gone. Of course I had to be all alone with Sarah. Now what? She told me to stay away from her but guess what, I was quite literally sitting next to her. Why did Eric have to lie to me? He surely knew that Sarah was coming as well. Sometimes I really just hated him for his stupid ideas.

Well, Sarah wasn't going to say anything. She didn't even touch her food. Not that I could judge her. I didn't even order any to begin with. Still, why wasn't she just leaving? She had no reason to be here. Luna was gone anyways.

"So Eric got you into this mess?", she suddenly asked nonchalant, as she continued to scroll through her phone.

"I guess. Sorry, I really didn't know you were coming."

"Don't apologise. There's no reason to."

"But you told me to stay away from you."

Finally, Sarah put her phone down. She turned to look at me, her face covered by black mist. What expression did she have? Was she mad or just annoyed?

"You know what people are saying about me. I didn't want you to be pulled into this just because we're friends."

"We're friends?"

"Come on now, that's embarrassing! Don't tell me I was the only one thinking we were friends!"

I allowed her words to sink in. She thought of us as friends? I didn't expect this but it did have a nice ring to it. Sarah Archer and I were friends. Really, it sounded too good to be true. 

"No, of course not! I just wasn't sure what you thought of our relationship. It makes me glad to know that I can call you my friend."

Sarah giggled. She tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear shyly, probably smiling up at me just like a pure princess. What would I have given to see her face just this once? I wanted to know what expression she had, while she said those significant words. The desire was slowly killing me.

"You're actually really cute. I didn't expect you to react this way. You're even blushing!" Her minty breath brushed against my jaw and I could feel how the heat inside of me began growing.

She was just playing around with me. Of course she was mocking me. Why was I foolish enough to believe that she could be different? I got up, ready to leave, but Sarah grabbed my wrist and apologised. Her hands felt rough and cold.

She didn't mean to get on my nerves. Of course this wasn't a sincere apology but something about it made me feel as though we had been friends my entire life. Perhaps it was this familiar way she tilted her head at me or the strong scent of her perfume.

"I'm not blushing by the way. It's just warm.", I announced, as I sat down again and was clearly blushing. Well of course I was. After all I was embarrassed, even though she apparently didn't see it that way.

"Sure. Just warm, no blushing."

As much as I hated it, we both suddenly started giggling. This was just too stupid to comprehend. When was the last time I got to laugh like this? It must have been before the accident. Ever since then I had been scared of the world outside but perhaps there were a few things that were actually kind of nice.

"You haven't touched your food. Don't you like it? Tyson ordered the same thing. He surely wouldn't mind seconds." I pointed out. 

"I don't know. I ordered it on a whim without thinking. It's not that I'm not hungry. I just don't like beans..." She admitted shyly. She was cute when she was embarrassed. It made me realise just how imperfect she really was.

Sarah never mentioned what was really going on with her. I felt as though she was hiding her true self. Whenever she showed herself vulnerable, I was grateful. In those moments she didn't try to be perfect. She was being sincere and honest.

Sometimes I thought that she must have been an angel. Nobody else ever understood me the way she did. Honestly, I loved that about her. She was broken just like I was but whenever I was around her, I forgot about it. Without her I was a mess.

"What about you? You didn't order anything." She added.

"I'm not really hungry."

"You guys must be good friends then. I wouldn't have come to a dinner date, if I weren't hungry."

Neither would I but I couldn't say that. I didn't want to tell her truth. I didn't want her to think less of me because of something I couldn't control. My own emotions were already confused enough. I couldn't do anything as shameless as admitting the truth to her, expecting her to stay with me anyways.

"I just didn't want to disappoint Eric. He's my best friend and he's always looking out for me. I know how worried he and the others get about me sometimes, so I try to show them that I'm fine."

"You know, it's okay to not be fine sometimes. Eric seems to care a lot about you, so maybe you should talk to him a little more and tell him how you really feel."

"That's the problem. He cares a little too much about it. He doesn't even let me walk down the stairs all by myself."

Sarah didn't ask any more questions. Even she must have heard about me. After all she already had to deal with my problems at some point. Did she even remember or was it just me? She probably forgot all about it, despite the fact that I was the reason she got into so much trouble. She wasn't pulling me in. I pulled her in. She was only getting bullied by Mishka and the others because of me.

"I don't know if you remember but two years ago you got into a fight with Mishka because of me. I never really thanked you for what you did. It's my fault everyone's acting like this around you."

I noticed how I started to shiver. I wrapped my arms around myself and didn't dare to look at Sarah. The more I thought about those memories, the more they started to haunt me. My knees fell weak under the pressure of remembering. At some point I even thought that my heart stood still in my chest but Sarah didn't mind.

"You still haven't forgotten about it? Geez, talk about genius. Of course I remember but not because of what you might think. It was my decision to help you. Besides, I don't give a damn about what that bitch thinks about me."

"Those are some harsh words."

"Are you serious? That's all you have to say? Honestly, the more I learn about you the more you intrigue me Christian."

She laughed. Sarah really was amazing. Hearing Mishka's name was already too much for me but Sarah decided to stand up to Mishka. I couldn't do that. I never dared to do anything to change my fate. Instead I lazily watched from far away.

I was useless.