The Sidewalk - {ON HOLD}

The Sidewalk (Part One)

Part One

1993 - Age 16

 

A young woman swings her feet back and forth, as she sits on a short concrete wall, her school bag laying beside her. She looks down at the note in her hands and begins to read aloud to herself the message she received from the boy stuck inside her head.

" 'Yes, ma'am. You are special.' What does that even mean?" she groans, right as a young man walks up to her, without her knowing.

The young man is around her height, and was born with beautiful eyes and a gorgeous smile any girl or guy would swoon over, but to the woman, he was just Leo.

"Groaning doesn't make you pretty, Clariey," he says, tsking at the woman, teasingly.

Not even caring about his rude remark about her looks, Clara smiles widely and jumps off the wall to hug Leo tight, which he eagerly returns.

Leo smiles secretly, as her familiar scent of Juicy Couture and peaches pervades through his body. He has an instinct to pull her back into him as Clara pulls away to sit on the wall, but he controls the urge and sits right next to Clara. He can feel her bare knee brush against his, and he had to refrain himself from softly gliding his fingers over her exposed skin.

"Lee, I need your help with Tony, the guy who I like. I told you about him, right?" Clara asks, hoping her best friend could give her some guy advice.

Leo tries to keep his smile plastered on his face, and nods stiffly. His heart began to ache as Clara kept going on about her crush. He only catches bits and pieces, since all Leo is really focusing on is the way her lips form certain words; how they raise enough to see her teeth. How her lips pucker up a bit, and the way she smiles while saying her crush's name is like she is stabbing Leo with a sharp knife, over and over again.

"So, what do ya think, Lee? You think he means a good special, or a bad one?" Clara asks, her stomach twisting as she awaits her best friend's words. She had a feeling he wasn't really listening, he looked a bit spaced out.

Leo comes back into reality, but quickly goes back to his fantasy of being with her, as he stares into the brown eyes he's grown to love more than he should.

"He probably means a good one, and if he meant a bad special, then he's a moron for not seeing how incredible you are, Clariey. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met, and your personality is just as beautiful. If Tony couldn't see that, then forget about him. He's not worth you time, or your heart," Leo says, not once looking away from Clara's eyes.

Clara can feel the atmosphere around them change, her heart began pounding with an unusual feeling that she didn't want to place, but knew it was already set up deep inside her, anyways.

Leo finally did it, he told Clara what he thinks of her. Maybe he should tell her his feelings, too? No, of course he can't. How stupid can he be? She still likes that Tony guy, while himself and Clara are just friends, like they've always been. Sure, she confessed her feelings towards Leo, but that was a long time ago. Almost seems like it's been forever.

Clara doesn't even realize what she's doing, but she sees Leo's face come closer and closer to her own. Little did she know, she was the one leaning in for him.

Leo feels his breath hitch as Clara leans in, his heart pumping with his mind racing right along with it. What is she doing? Does she want to kiss him? Well, obviously she does since she's leaning in for one. But he thought that she likes Tony, not him? Maybe she lied and actually still has feelings for her. 'Only one way to find out,' Leo thought, as he began to lean in, closing his eyes.

Clara feels her eyes widen as Leo's eyes shut. What is she even doing? They're just friends, only friends. Hell, he even rejected her when she told him she loved him! Why does he respond the way she wanted him to so badly before, now? Clara closes her eyes, not wanting to see Leo's reaction.

He's right there, he's so close to kissing his dream girl. When his lips finally attach to her, he can't help but smile, but as he continues to kiss her, he thinks something is off. Leo opens his eyes to see that he isn't kissing her lips, but her cheek. He looks at Clara's eyes, his lips still firmly put on her cheek, and sees that they are squeezed shut. Guilt soon began interrupting his feeling of joy.

Clara feels his lips softly pucker once more for a small kiss, then slowly, ever so slowly, Leo dispatched his lips from her. Her heart was pounding in her chest, the rush of blood pumping in her ears, as she feels his body lean away from her. The place his lips had just kissed seems to be burning, with her wishing that he can do it again. She's afraid to open her eyes, afraid that if she does, she'll do something she'll regret.

Let's be honest here, Clara never was really interested in Tony. She just made herself become interested, hoping she can get over Leo, but truth be told, it never worked. The tingling sensation moves from her cheek to the very tip of her toes. She feels as if she's on fire, and she wants to burn even more.

He's such a moron! Of course she wouldn't want to kiss him, of course she would move away. Leo's eyes begin to roam over Clara's face, as if he was trying to plant the image of all of her precious features, forever inside his brain.

"Leo," Clara said, making Leo look up from her cute button nose up to her warm, kind eyes.

"I'm so sorry," Leo said, interrupting Clara while trying to mask his own sadness over the realization of him never being able to kiss her again, "Can we just forget that ever happened?"

He just wanted to forget... Of course he would just want to forget, he probably thought that thinking of her in that way is gross. She felt tears prick her eyes, but she held them back. It was like she was getting rejected by him all over again.

"Yeah, course. It was just a silly mistake," Clara said, laughing a little. A silly mistake? He wishes she didn't see it that way, but the way that he sees it. Which was that, that one small kiss he had place on her cheek did not make his day nor his week, but his entire year. Leo nodded, not being able to say anything to her, but just wanting to go hide in his bedroom.

"That's my dad," she said, waving her hand towards the silver car that had just parked itself on the street. "I'll see you later?" Clara asks, hoping that he'll say yes, definitely, or something enthusiastic like that. Leo says nothing, only shrugs, and that is her answer. With more depression than before Clara hops off the wall, and looks at Leo with her arms open wide.

"I'm not leaving without my hug, Leonard. You know I need, at least, two a day," she said, a small smile on her face. How could he say no to her? He just chuckled, hopping off the wall, and pulled her body to his.

He smelled like the rain forest, a scent extremely similar to the cologne she had bought him for his birthday. She wishes she could just wrap herself up in his smell like this forever, but far too soon for her liking, he let her go and she turned around, entering her dad's car.

Both Clara and Leo had frowns on their faces as Clara's dad pulled away from the curb, wishing they had the guts to confess their true feelings, but too scared to do so.

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Let me just say that even though this chapter is very innocent with teenage love, it does go through the process of adulthood. We do see Clara and Leo grow up, after all, this does take a course of 37 years.

So please don't judge this as another teenage romance story, because it's not. I just wanted to make that clear, because I know it probably wasn't here, since they're sixteen and all :)

Thank you for reading! Please vote, or comment if you like it!

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