You Can Run To Me

Twenty-Eight

It wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't happened twice. Once would have been perfectly forgivable. If people had talked about it, it would have lasted for all of a few minutes, and they would have just gossiped because it was kind of funny; even Nat could see that. But that's not what happened. Oh no, because it happened twice.

The first time, she was in a hurry because she had lingered behind to talk to her Math professor about the homework, which had been due in that lesson, but Natalie hadn't understood most of the questions. As the professor said, she should have gone and asked earlier, but she'd been so careless lately that the thought had slipped her mind. At least you can't really get detentions at college. Her late homework, though, had the wonderful side-effect of making her late for Psychology.

She wasn't quite running, but she most certainly wasn't looking where she was going. Therefore it shouldn't have been all that surprising that she ended up speed-walking right into Charlie. Completely unbalanced, she crumpled to the floor at his feet, while he merely wobbled a little. Once she was sat on the floor, looking at the wall, she found that she was quite comfortable there and not at all inclined to move, despite the many clearly annoyed passers-by. What was the point in making it easier for them anyway? They didn't deserve it any more than she did, and they wouldn't do it for her. No one cared about her, so why should she bother doing this for them?

Charlie cared, though. He reached down and grabbed her arms as gently as possible. Then, surprisingly quickly, he pulled her up onto her feet - too quickly. She wobbled in the upright position for a few seconds, then fell numbly forward, straight into the waiting arms of Charlie. She opened her eyes, somewhat confused, and found herself looking into a pair of chocolate eyes. For a moment there, she had strangely hoped that those eyes would be blue. In fact, she had a smile on her face. What was happening to her?

Not that Natalie was conscious enough to notice, but there were a couple of things she should have seen in that corridor at that time: first, the number of people who had paused in their tracks and were staring disbelievingly at the pair; second, Ephren and Jolene kissing in the doorway of a Geography classroom; third, a particular bunch of girls who were presently whispering to each other and staring in a way that was tantamount to pointing at Nat and Charlie. Of which she saw.... nothing.

"You alright there?" asked Charlie with real concern in his voice. "You seem pretty out of it. Do you need to go to the nurse or something?"

Natalie took a moment to work out that she was being spoken to. She reluctantly stepped back from him and freed her arms from his grasp, trying to smile convincingly. "No, no. I'm fine. I guess I'm just low on sugar or something. I think I skipped breakfast today... and lunch too..."

"Yeah," said Charlie, shaking his head slowly, "I guess you must have." He rummaged around in his satchel for a moment, "here, let me find you something."

"No, no. It's alright, really. I'm fine."

"Ah, here we go." He held out a Hershey's bar, "eat up. I'm sure you'll feel much better with some sugar in you."

She tried to protest, but his eyes weren't leaving hers. It was rather unnerving. She unwrapped it and bit into a corner. He was still looking at her, smiling winsomely. She began to feel a little nervous. She liked Charlie, and was beginning to consider him almost as a friend. He was clever, and funny, and nice; all things that added up to make a pretty good friend. It had taken them a fair few hours to finish the project, and they'd kind of bonded through it, getting to know each other a little. But what was this? Did he... think she was flirting with him? Had she been sending out all the wrong signals? But then again, was this really so bad? He was a decent guy, unlike Ephren often seemed to be, so would it really be so terrible to just let him...