SHE'S MYSTIQUE

♂ Chapter 11 - C H E R I S H E D

"Catch me if you can.. " she said as she ran in front of me. Her brown hair flying as she ran, with me just behind her smiling.

"Oh I will. " And I had no doubt that I could. Naya was fast but not faster than me. In fact, she could outrun most of the boys in PE at school. But not me. Sometimes when we had races and bets, I let her win. But not today.

The sound of her laughing made me smile too. I was very close now, I would catch her any second. She looked behind and squealed when she saw me, but too late. I caught her and both of us collapsed exhausted and laughing at the same time.

"You're getting better at this."

"I was always better than you. You just don't want to admit it."

"Oh no you weren't. Remember in 4th grade when we had this competition in school and they wouldn't let me race with the boys. You came and argued with me and asked them to let me race. And I beat you. I won the gold medal that day."

I remembered.

"That was a long time ago. Besides I let you win that day. I didn't want you to come home and cry."

"Puhlease. If anyone's a crybaby here, it's you. We both know I won that day. I was better."

I knew. I just didn't want to tell her. She knew that I knew. So she just looked at me and smiled slightly shaking her head. For a while both of us just looked at the sky. Even when we didn't talk, the silence was always comfortable.

I turned my head slightly to look at her. She'd closed her eyes so that was good. She wouldn't know I was looking at her. Since a few weeks now I'd begun to notice certain things about her which I didn't before.

How her legs suddenly looked longer in her shorts. How when she smiled, it lit up her whole face and her eyes sparkled. How her lips looked rosy and full when she made faces at me.

"Why are you staring at me?"

He eyes were still closed.

"I'm not staring, I'm looking. You have something on your nose."

She rubbed a finger in her nose.
"Okay now?"

"Nope. Let me do it."

I turned and pretended to rub her nose to get rid of the invisible speck of dirt there. She opened her eyes and for a minute I couldn't look away. We were so close together. She smelled like strawberries. I just stared at her lips then looked her in the eyes, then stared at her lips again.

There was a sudden noise of car breaks screeching and someone honked loudly.

Way to ruin the moment, I thought. I was disappointed but I didn't want to show it on my face.
Naya cleared her throat to get my attention.

"We should go."

"Let's."

We walked the way home laughing and joking as usual. I was glad that moment back there didn't make things weird. Just before going home, she turned towards me, held my hand and kissed me on my cheek.

"I'll see you later." She bolted towards her house blushing furiously and didn't turn around. If she had, she would have seen the ridiculous grin on my face.