𝖠𝗇𝖺𝗑𝗂𝗉𝗁𝗂𝗅𝗂𝖺 ☽

Chapter 6: The Bare Minumum

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"And he saved me from getting a head injury!" I said with a certain dreamy tone.

How am I getting swayed by a guy I don't know?

Everyone looked at me with a blank stare. It made me feel a bit awkward so I looked back down at my keyboard. We were all currently in the library for a project. The part we frequented was a more hidden part so we could talk normally back here. And the librarian adored Sara, so there's that.

"I don't think you should be won over by that." Lila laughed as she wrote down the information she saw on the screen. "I'm just telling you guys how I feel...like you guys have always wanted." I rolled my eyes before typing in a printed link that was on my paper. "Okay, I mean, yeah, it was cute." Hazel chuckled and nudged my shoulder with her elbow. "Most guys won't even defend a girl when getting picked on in class. It's a whole different thing when a guy physically stands up for a girl." The two girls hummed and shrugged, coming to an agreement. "When you put it that way, then I can see why Y/n was swooning." I looked up at Sara who giggled at the embarrassment on my face.

"Well, I've got one important question." Lila asked while she put her hair up into a ponytail. I waited for her to speak, but soon regretted doing so as she had a smirk planted on her little face.

"Was he cute?"

My eyes widened at her stupid question. My reaction had her burst out into laughter. "Lila!" Hazel scolded with a surprised laugh coming out after. Sara just shook her head with a grin. "But I couldn't tell...he covers the bottom half of his face." Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at me. "That's...quite odd?" Sara put her pencil down onto the wooden table. I sighed and bit my lip, "I don't know, sounds kind of hot." Hazel's statement caused a smile to grow on my face. The girls just laughed at her and shook their heads.

"My god, Hazel. You'd fall for anyone, wouldn't you? I wouldn't be surprised if you caught a crush on a girl." Lila said in sort of a back-handed manner. She went to say something in return, but decided against it and looked down at her paper.  "Oh c'mon Lila, let's not talk about who likes what gender when you once dated a boy who looked like a girl." Sara came in to save Hazel who felt embarrassed. "Sara!" Lila jumped up as her cheeks turned pink. Her reaction made me start to chuckle...then I bursted out into laughter.

Ugh, finally she gets a taste of her own medicine.
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The sun beat down onto my legs and warmed each and every square inch of my body. It was peaceful out here...to just sit and rest my eyes as cars passed by off into the distance. No one knew where I was, and no one really cared to check as my phone wasn't littered with notifications. Even though it felt good to lay down out here, the bench wasn't too comfortable.

Being able to watch the trees sway overhead kept me relaxed as my headphones were plugged into my ears, with music blasting to keep me company. The sudden sight of another head blocking my view of the trees scared the shit out of me. I screeched and jumped up before scooting all of the way against the arm rest. The boy in front of me started to laugh his ass off.

What the fuck?!

I ripped my earbuds out of my ears and started to scold him. "Toby! What the hell?!" The sound of his laughter made my anger slowly dissipate. His cute and high pitched laughs kind of made it hard to be as upset as I originally was.

Stop thinking about him that way. It's weird.

He leaned over with an arm over his stomach. The sight of his curls bouncing over his face caused butterflies to start to flutter around in my stomach. "I'm sorry, I tried calling ou-ut to you but you didn't hear my voice." He looked back up at me with glossy eyes, he wiped away a tear that rolled down his cheek.

"Well, I was busy listening to music and laying down in peace." I sighed and put my legs down on the ground so the metal didn't dig into my back anymore. Toby then sat down next to me. "I was going to ask you why you're out here." The boy turned to look at me, his brown eyes sparkled. Even without his whole face exposed, this dude was still pretty. "Well, this is my spot. I come here when I need to escape from the world. No one knows I'm here right now...I don't think they particularly care?" A small, sarcastic chuckle escaped through my nose. It fell silent between us for a bit. And I mentally slapped myself for telling him that. It just slipped, and I guess there's some level of trust I feel with him after the other day.

"I understand. It s-sucks. Thinking about those who don't love you. Those who d-don't care. But it all feels better when you leave them behind." Toby brought his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, he rested his cheek into them as he continued to look at me.

God, he's so pretty. What the fuck.

"Where did you come from?" And I imitated him, putting myself in the same position. I also looked back at him. His eyes narrowed, Toby's neck popped to the side and he sucked in a deep breath as memories surged through his head. "It's a long story. I'd rather hear about you, I don't e-even know your name yet."

So I sat there and sort of vented. I found it too fucking easy to let little details about my life slip out for him to hear, but he just sat there and listened. He so intently listened to a stranger talk about her struggles, even though he knew that he wasn't hearing all of the details.

"You know, that Lila girl sounds like a snake."

I laughed out in shock at what Toby had just said. He stuffed his face into his knees as his body shook with laughter as well. "Oh my god! You can't just say things like that!" He looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Of course I can. It's the truth."

I only shook my head with a dumb grin on my face. I mean, she isn't the nicest girl around, but she's still our friend. "That's just how she is, I guess growing up with three rugged brothers and only being raised by her father made the girl tougher than us." Toby scoffed and he sassily rolled his eyes. "Made her a brat too. Must've been daddy's girl." I looked at him in shock, my mouth wide and I slapped his shoulder. "Toby!"

"Oh no, Y/n?!" He countered back, raising a hand to close over his mouth.

Why is he so...sassy? Where in the hell does he get it from?

"You know, you're the sassiest guy I've ever come across." He shrugged before he wrapped his arms back around his legs. "Honestly, my attitude always gets me in trouble." Really now?

Toby turned back to look at me, his cheeks were raised a bit, which indicated that there was a slight smile on his face that was hidden. "Yeah, I'm not that surprised."
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