Enthral Azure

Chapter 16

Adam instantly made my week a whole lot better. I missed his absurd jokes, and his continuous fits of laughter, it just brightened up my day completely. I’ve missed him a lot, and I’ve probably said that to him a thousand times. But, it’s true.

During lunch, we don’t sit in the cafeteria. Adam respectfully understood my discomfort with Aaron’s hard gaze on me which caused my heart to ache. So, we sat in the halls, leaning side by side against the locker sharing a bag of pretzels.

While munching on some salty pretzels I say, “So where’s Samira? Haven’t seen her around lately.”

“Oh, she transported back to Iraq.” He replies, chewing on some pretzels. “She was cool though; wish you two got to know each other.” He smirks.

“Ha. Ha.” I say, “I thought you guys were going out one time, you two looked cute.” I joke.

He shakes his head, “Nah. I like someone else.” He looks away.

I raise my eyebrows, “Do tell.” I touch his arm, he flinches.

He looks at me, “I…” he trails off, and sighs.

“What is it?” I ask, searching his face.

“I can’t, Lucy…” he begins. What does he mean? Confused, I frown at him.

“Can’t what?” I press. He looks at me with his brown gaze, and licks his lips. I'm confused for a second...

“Can’t this.” He leans in and brushes his lips against mine. My eyes are wide and I push him slightly off.

“Adam.” I whisper.

“Lucy… I…” he’s looking straight into my eyes when he says the three words that stab my heart into the core. “I love you. I always have, always will.”

My heart jumps into my throat, and I suddenly forgot how to breathe. I close my eyes shut, wishing this was all a dream. He’s felt this way for me? I’ve known him for as long as I could remember, and I wasn’t aware of his romantic feelings for me. I don’t want to hurt him, so what do I say? What do I do? I said something a little bit unintelligent like, “Oh.”

He looks so hurt, and my heart collapses, “But you don’t feel the same.” Is all he says, his voice hinting a bit of pain?

His face is full of pain, I place my hand on his cheek and look at him, “Of course I love you Adam, but...” he looks away but I turn his face toward me, “You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to change that.”

He nods grimly like he knew this would happen. I can’t stand the look on his face so I stand up and grab his hands, “C’mon, Adam. Please.” He obliges and stands up just as the bell rings.

Immediately the hall is crowded full of people, but I only focus my eyes on Adam. He looks at me expectantly.

“Let’s get out of here. Skip class and go for some ice-cream at Joes. Remember that place?” I smile reassuringly at him. As kids, we would always go to Joes for ice-cream. He manages a painful smile and I take his hand and we both walk out of school. Just like that.

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Adams confession yesterday still left a mark on my heart, and my stomach to ping with guilt. I don’t want to give him false hope that we could be together, but the least I could do was cheer him up. Ice-cream at Joes was great, and we laughed and chatted about none of the confession and surprisingly nothing of Aaron. But Lisa and I have some investigating to explore. We’re going to visit Rock Hill High school today, (thanks to Jenny’s necessary info about Isabelle). We’re skipping school (Which both our parents aren’t aware of) and were going to find who this Isabelle girl is.