Hold Me Closer

Chapter 6

The shed was silent for a few moments, before Felix decided to speak up.

"Y'know, what if we don't even tell Zinnia. What if I just give her signs, like not talking to her and talking to other people. Aha! I'm a genius."

"She would get so mentally hurt though. But, if we did it right, it could be better than telling her."

"Hm, I don't have any other people to talk to though that's a girl. It's just you and Zinnia really."

"Yeah, my close friends are all on the 'Felix and Zinnia' ship boat, so I would have to find someone different."

"Well they're about to sail the seven seas with that one. Not happening."

Clare chuckled. "Their boat will sink."

"Hah! I'll make it." Felix grabbed a ping pong ball from the shelf above his head and started throwing it against the door he sat in front of, catching it when he came back to him. "Can you think of a girl I can pretend to talk to? You're popular, I'm sure you know someone."

She thought for a moment. "I do know this one girl. Her name's Lizzie. It'd be good because I'm like, seventy-five percent sure she's a lesbian too."

"Even better. I don't like playing with people's feelings." Felix set the ping pong ball back on the shelf and sat criss-cross applesauce to face Clare directly. "Tell me about her."

"Don't get me started. First of all she's so pretty. She has the cutest bangs with the eyes of a tiger. And she's smart! She knows absolutely everything about everything." A smile crept along Felix's face as she kept talking. "And she's popular. But not one of those popular girls. She's friends with everyone and is nice to everyone too. She's practically perfect."

"Sounds like someone I know." Felix stared Clare, not saying anything.

She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Focus. Do you know if you have any classes with Lizzie?"

"No. I barely know the layout of the school and I'm latching onto people to find my way around. My tour guide didn't do the best job."

"I tried," Clare defended, "I've never really toured before. I say I did good, but our basketball incident distracted me."

Felix laughed. "Now that was funny. You fell like you were sleeping on a bed and then woke up in my arms-your face was so surprised too I thought I gave you a heart attack. I practically got one having to be your Romeo and save you."

"My Romeo?"

"That wouldn't be the last time either. I saved you in the hallway earlier too."

"Don't remind me! That was so embarrassing." Clare placed her face in her palms.

"So it seems like we know what we're doing with Zinnia, correct?" Felix asked.

"Not exactly-"

"Close enough. Can't I be an interviewer now?" Felix did his iconic held tilt to the side which made Clare's stomach do barrel rolls.

"...Fine. Let's keep this light hearted though."

"Light hearted my ass. Last thing that made you cry and why." He held his hand out in a fist, pretending he had a microphone.

Clare paused, knowing that it was just two nights ago when she was confused-and still is-about her feelings for Felix. "Uh," She hesitated, "It was just a few nights ago. I was having a hard time figuring out my emotions. I just hate the feeling of not knowing."

"Oh, I totally get that. To me, emotions like those just figure themselves out. It's not worth procrastinating about them. They'll be found eventually."