Back To You;

CHAPTER 4

It was one of those random Thursday nights-no gym for Lauren, and no after-school commitments for me. (how do I know his schedule? just a coincidence hehe)

We had both been buried in schoolwork lately, but tonight felt different. The second the bell rang to signal the end of class, Lauren caught my eye across the hallway, already wearing that annoying smirk like he knew exactly what was coming.

"You free tonight?" he asked, casually striding over to me like he wasn't already planning this entire thing.

I blinked. "Uh... yeah, actually, I think so." I didn't know why I was nervous. It was just Lauren, after all. I mean, we'd known each other forever, right? So why was my heart suddenly doing that thing where it thought it could escape through my ribs?

He grinned, eyes lighting up. "Great! Let's go for a walk. I know this food cart that sells amazing fish balls. You in?"

I thought about it for a second. "Fish balls, huh? You sure you want to give me something called fish balls?"

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "What, are you scared of fish balls now? I thought you were tougher than that."

That was enough of a challenge for me. "Fine, I'll try them," I said, crossing my arms, determined to prove that I could survive fish balls.

We ended up strolling through the streets, Lauren leading the way like he was a tour guide, pointing out things that I hadn't even noticed before. "See that building? That's where I learned how to make my first paper airplane," he said, gesturing to a random building.

I squinted at him. "Really?"

He nodded, looking overly serious. "It was an intense learning experience."

We walked for a while without saying much, but the silence didn't feel uncomfortable. It was like we didn't need to fill the space with constant chatter. It was just... easy.

When we finally reached the food cart, Lauren wasted no time in ordering, clearly a regular at this place. The vendor greeted him like an old friend, and before I knew it, we had a small plate of fish balls in front of us. Lauren looked at me expectantly, holding a skewer of the spicy fish balls.

"Spicy ones first," he said, almost challenging me with his gaze. "No backing out."

I stared at the fish balls. They looked... hot. And not in a good way. I wasn't sure how spicy they really were, but judging by Lauren's confident face, I had a bad feeling.

"You know, I'm actually really good with spice," I said, trying to sound casual. But inside, I was preparing for my taste buds to betray me.

Lauren snorted. "Sure you are. Don't worry, I'll be here to watch you suffer."

I took a bite. And immediately, my mouth set on fire. I tried to keep a cool face, but the flames of hell had taken residence on my tongue. I was dying.

Lauren was cracking up beside me, watching me with amusement as I tried to fan my mouth with my hand. "You okay there, Marie? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Gonna... k!ll you..." I muttered through gritted teeth, still trying to calm my flaming mouth with water.

"Fine, fine, I'll admit it," he said, wiping tears from his eyes from laughing so hard. "I might've slightly underestimated the spice level."

"Slightly?" I gasped.

We ended up sitting on a nearby bench, and while I recovered from my near-death experience, Lauren kept teasing me mercilessly. "You're not so tough, huh?" he grinned.

"Okay, okay, you win," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "I won't challenge your spice expertise again."

Lauren laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. For a moment, I forgot how annoying it was to have him tease me-because he looked so... cute. Like, really cute.

After I recovered and my face had returned to a normal color, Lauren gestured to the park across the street. "Hey, want to make this more interesting? Race me to that tree over there!"

I looked at the tree, then back at him. "Are you serious? That's the challenge?"

Lauren didn't even wait for my answer before he started running. "Last one there's a rotten fish ball!" he called back.

Did he just-

I groaned and took off after him, fueled by equal parts pride and vengeance. We raced through the park, both of us laughing like idiots. I managed to catch up to him a little (okay, maybe I was secretly fast), but he was still way ahead, his legs giving him an unfair advantage.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of sprinting, we both collapsed on the grass, gasping for breath.

"Not bad," Lauren said, his chest heaving. "You almost beat me."

"Yeah, almost," I shot back, still trying to recover from my sprinting attack.

We laid there for a while, staring at the stars, laughing and talking about everything and nothing. It was simple, but it felt... nice. Comfortable. Just the two of us, no pressure, no stress.

By the time we walked back to school, I was a little lighter. Like the day, the week, the everything, had faded into the background.

"Thanks for the walk," I said, feeling uncharacteristically... happy.

Lauren smiled. "Anytime."

We got to the school gate, and I stopped, unsure of what to do next. Did I just walk away? Or did I... say something else?

"Um, are you-are you free this weekend?" I asked quickly, immediately feeling like a dork for asking.

Lauren's smile softened. "I might be. Depends on whether or not I survive my gym sessions," he teased.

"Right. Well, maybe we could hang out again? No fish balls, though."

"Deal," he said, holding out his hand, and I shook it with a grin. "See you around, Marie."

As I walked home that night, I couldn't help but smile. It was one of those simple moments, where you felt like everything was falling into place.

When I got home, I sat on my bed, staring at my phone for a solid minute. Finally, I opened up the chat with Lauren. Should I text him? Should I say something?

I ended up typing, Hey, thanks for tonight. I had fun :) Hope we can do it again sometime.

I hit send, then stared at my phone like it was some kind of mystical object.

But... no reply.

I sighed. Maybe he was busy. Maybe he just didn't think to reply. Maybe he was still at home enjoying fish balls with extra spice.

But either way, I wasn't going to stress. I had a test coming up anyway, so I had to focus on studying. But deep down, I was hoping he'd reply. Because, honestly? That night was way more fun than a stupid test.

And next time... next time, I'd make sure the moment didn't slip away. Maybe with less spice.

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