Matches: Why We Burned Out

three // talking too much

three // talking too much (edited!)

I didn't speak to Romeo for a couple of days because I preferred my actual friends who weren't as confusing as him. On Friday, however, after school I decided to stay in the art room to finish some work. Miss Simmons usually let us work there while she went to chill with her teacher friends in the staff room.

On this particular day, I stayed in the room with two other people; one of them was Kelly and the other was Romeo. Kelly was such a sweet girl and even Romeo kept looking at her, but for some reason I found myself feeling a little jealous that he wasn't looking at me. After she left, it was only Romeo and I.

I walked over to him and stood over his shoulder to watch him paint. He usually sketches, but he was insanely skilled at painting too. Yet again, he didn't acknowledge my presence much. Perhaps I was just annoying and he was too kind to tell me that. I pulled a stool beside him and watched him paint some more.

"Why do you always ignore me?" That escaped from my mouth. I didn't mean to think out loud, but I guess there was nothing I could do about that anymore.

Romeo paused for a second, but continued as normal. "I'm not ignoring you, Mia."

I scrunched my nose; did he think that I was stupid or something? "Yes you are! Every time I come over to you, you don't say hi or anything. You don't even look at me! I just wanna know what's up with that, because there's no point in me trying to be your friend if you're not gonna..."

Romeo kissed me. Straight on the mouth. I continued to mumble my complaints into his soft lips until I melted. His hand held my cheek as he kissed me until I stopped talking. Once he pulled away, he grinned childishly and continued painting as if nothing happened.

I was left speechless and breathless and overwhelmed. I ran my fingertips along the surface of my lips as I replayed what just happened in my head. "W-what was that for?"

He dunked the paintbrush into the water as he replied, "You were talking too much." There are a thousand ways to shut somebody up but he chose a kiss. As he strolled over to the sink with his palette and paintbrushes, I stared at his back.

"I wasn't ignoring you," he began to wash this things; "I just don't think that I need to speak to you to enjoy your company. You're not so bad to be around—I actually like having you around, it's better than being lonely."

"Thanks... I guess."

Romeo put all his supplies away and swung his bag over his shoulder. "Wanna go somewhere?"

I'm still dazed at this point.

"Uh... sure..."

***

We stopped to get donuts before Romeo said he was taking me to his favourite place in town. We walked up a hill behind some houses and stopped at the top. There were bushy trees all around us and below us was a vast area of grass. It was nice up there; I could see why Romeo would like it so much. It looked even better as the sun began setting. The sky was full of orangey-pinkie-blue colours and made his skin glow like he was an angel.

We settled down on Romeo's jacket and watched as the sun went down. I still hadn't calmed down from when he decided to kiss me. I was a little flustered, and whenever he looked at me I felt my heart speed up. Perhaps I didn't realise that I wanted him to kiss me, or that I even liked him at all.

The boy shuffled an inch closer to me and I could smell his cologne, but I had to disguise the fact that I was about to melt. As I looked at his features, I saw him admiring the sunset with a distant smile on his face. I didn't want to say anything because he liked the sound of nature better.

Yet he spoke up, "I like coming here to watch the sunset," he muttered, not taking his eyes off the darkening sky. "When it gets dark, I try stargazing but I can never recognise any constellations."

I smiled; it was almost as if he knew I was into astrology. Beforehand, my relationship with Romeo seemed forced but now it felt so perfect and natural.

"I guess that's where I come in handy."

Romeo glanced at me with a grin and I gazed up into his eyes dreamily. I hadn't realise that, on top of all the colours his eyes already had, there was a flicker of hazel in his left iris. I had to stop myself from staring too long and we continued to watch the sunset in silence. He was right that nobody needed to say anything for us to enjoy each other's company.