Gravity

Lunch (Bonus Chapter)

The busy cafeteria seems to slow down as I approach her sitting at a lunch table all alone. It's still early so I'm sure her friend will join her soon enough, but she looks kind of lonely. She's frowning at her phone, seemingly preoccupied but also kind of... cute.

Okay Cooper, calm the fuck down. Hazel's sweet but you just broke up with Olivia and you really liked Olivia, remember? Remember?

(Admittedly, you did break up almost three months ago. Maybe you should move on... God knows she did). 

Why am I talking to myself?

"Hey! Hazel, how are you?" I say, smiling. She looks startled for a few seconds before her eyes focus on me and she smiles back.

"Oh, hi Cooper." She says, looks down at her phone and then locks it up. "I'm good, how are you?" 

I shrug. "Doing okay." 

She nods and then clears her throat, looking around the now filling up cafeteria. I spot Olivia looking over at us but the moment our eyes meet, she looks away at anything but me. Frowning, I watch her start walking towards Kian and then say something to him which he laughs at. They smile at each other and then he kisses her cheek before leading her to sit down at the table where I used to sit with her when the world was a fucking ball of sunshine.

"Hey, Hazel?" I blurt out staring at their backs furiously. 

"Yep?"

I sit down at the table and she wrings her hands a little which makes me smile because it means she's nervous. A few days ago, I was teasing her about having a crush on me but I didn't think it was true until, well, now. 

"Lunch?"

She shrugs but then nods and I grin, wondering how far I can push her before she wails at me again. Last time was cute and her pinks went light pink, like cotton candy. I want to see it again.

"Of course you'll agree," I say nonchalantly and her eyes narrow slightly. 

"What do you mean?" Hazel avoids eye contact with me as she goes into her backpack and pulls out a bottle of fruity flavoured water. 

"You know what I mean." I bite my lip and she frowns at me, confused. 

"No, I really don't." 

Trying hard to hold in a laugh, I lean back in my chair and stretch my arms out towards the ceiling above. "Well, if you wanna play that game... you'll agree because you have a crush on me."

Shocked and appalled, Hazel gasps and then purses her lips, looking quite comical. At this point, I start laughing out loud much to her dismay because she refuses to look at me until I'm done. 

"You're so deluded." She concludes. 

"That maybe true, but you're the one with the crush." Instead of taking notice of me, she sips on her water and looks out of the window thoughtfully. "Hazel? You here?" I say trying to grab her attention again. 

She continues staring out of the window and her lips begin to curve up at the sides like she's smiling to herself about her own little secret and it's making me both nervous and curious. Then all of a sudden it's gone and her normal happy go lucky yet somehow neutral expression colours her face. Surprised, I stare her down for a few seconds before she turns back to me looking completely serene.