One in a Million

All Eyes on Me

"OHHH MYYY GODDD!!! I am so so so sorry!" I heard someone apologize like a madman. I heard Aiden. Even though I didn't see the person that did it right away I knew it was him. His voice was like no other.  It seemed to me that he was always apologizing for something. At home, it was me doing it. 

The hot soup ran down my body. I couldn't help but yell at Aidan, "Really Dude?! It's all over the f*ucking place! Now I'm going to have to spend my only time alone cleaning this and myself up!" I scorned looking down at the floor. There were bits and pieces of tomato scattered. It almost looked as if someone threw up blood and parts of their insides out.
"Adeline I'm sorry I didn't see you there--" Aidan started to say before I cut him off.
"That was obvious. Listen, I don't really care just scurry along and go to where ever you were going before...this" I said in a much lower tone.
"Haha, believe it or not, but I was actually looking for...you." He said scratching the back of his neck as if it really itched.
"Oh really?" I asked blushing. I suddenly felt bad for raising my voice at him.
"Yeah...let me help you," he mumbled and bent down to pick up the pieces of tomato.
"Aidan don't use your hands!" I barked embarrassed for some reason.
"Oh! I can't use my hands, but you can?" he asked giving me a crazy look, "I mean it's only fair that I do help you because we both help create this mess. Besides what kind of friend or gentleman would I be if I let a-"
Once again I cut him off. I didn't dare want to know what he was going to refer me as. If he was going to call me a girl or a beautiful anything was all bad. I couldn't take it. The way he said both. How it made me feel as if we, Aidan and Adeline, were something, something real. The way he said both was like we were connected, one thing. Not only that but also how he said, friend. At the time, I didn't know what to make of it.
"Okay Aidan, thanks for helping. I'm going to run and grab a mop. You can go and continue to do whatever it was you were doing before." I told him acting as if I hadn't been listening to him.
"And I am Adeline. You know where the mops are?" he asked carrying on.
I wasn't going to argue with him. A small part of me was wishing that he was going to be as stubborn as he was this morning."Yeah, follow me." I said in a nonchalant tone. Even though we had janitors to clean up the messes left behind, I felt it was plain out disrespectful to just walk away. There are fine lines that people should never cross, but yet they march over it.
After we grabbed the mops and a bucket we walked back to the mess. I saw people stare at us as they passed by, but there were only a few. Once we finished I saw Aidan dancing around with the mop. I giggled.
"What's so funny Adeline?" he asked spinning around me with the mop in his hands.
"What? Nothing." I said trying to play it cool. I have to admit it was pleasing to watch him move around the hall even if it was with a mop. He was light on his feet. It was truly graceful.
"I know you want to join me, Adeline," he said almost singing it.
"No, I don't really." I lied.
"Don't lie to me, Adeline."
"I mean...hell yeah, but...I can't." I confessed.
"Sure you can and will." He said sounding like just his mother.
"I'm stiff and have two left feet. I'll be a total mess." I complained.
"You mean more than you are already?" He teased. Not waiting for another second he placed the mop leaning against the wall and gently grabbed my hand. I hesitated a little but did the same."Loosen up a bit will ya?" He pulled me close and shoot me a soft smile. That right about killed me.
I did my best to keep up with him, but it was damn right impossible. I couldn't look him in the eyes but I knew that he was staring at me. I glanced around the hall and I saw a whole crowd staring. Some girls had an aw look in their eyes. "Aidan I think I had enough," I said trying to stop him.
"Are you only saying that because people are staring? So what if they are."
"No, I just had enough." I came to a complete stop and yanked my body away from him. Regardless of my effort, it was no use.
"Okay now just for the finale..." He said and tried to spin me back into his arms so he can dip me. I stood frozen soiled and caused him and myself to trip over the bucket of water. I was on top of him and he had a smirk on his face.
"How was that for your finale?" I said sarcastically and slowly turned to the crowd. I never really cared what I looked like to everybody else until that moment.
"What the hell are y'all starting at?! This isn't a spectator sport!" I yelled making them run along
"Wow Adeline I didn't know you had that in you!" he said amazed.
"Don't 'wow' anything." I said bitterly as I got up and helped Aidan up."Just full of messes."
"Don't worry about it. I'll call the janitor to clean it up so we can change out of these clothes before class starts," he said and dialed a number.
"Why are you calling someone? I thought you were going to do it." I questioned.
"You've made your point. You know there are perks of having your mother work in the same place you go to school...Hey, Mom I..." I stopped listening after a few words. I was in deep thought when he called my name.
"Adeline. Adeline! Hey, you here?"
"Huh?" I asked focusing my eyes on his, golden brown.
"Come on! I got everything covered." he grabbed me by the wrist.
"Where are you taking me?"

"To the nurse, we need to change out of these clothes. We look like sh*t." He said trying to say the last sentence as nice as possible.

"Oh well, we're going the wrong way," I said and broke free from the grip and grabbed his wrist and led him to the nurse.
"I'm not a little kid," he mumbled underneath his breath. I laughed inside because he was doing that to me a second ago and didn't think twice about it.

The nurse handed me a pair of shorts and a plain gray t-shirt.
"This is the only thing that I found back there," she said and gave me a half smile.
"Um thank you, but if I may ask are you sure there no other clothes like sweats or a long sleeve?" I asked realizing that I had bruises all over my body.

"I'm positively sure...honey, if you like you can use the emergency shower in the bathroom," she told me
I thanked her once again and told Aidan he should go and not wait for me to get ready, but he insisted on waiting for me. I took my clothes off and hopped in the tiny shower. The water was a bit cold, but it felt good. I examined my body relaxing a little bit because the bruises weren't so bad. I just had to make up a believable lie. I changed and added some concealer on my face and on the darker bruises. I was extremely nervous walking through the curtains. I saw Aiden examine me from head to toe. On any other day, I would have been flattered, but this wasn't one of them. If anything I was a bit annoyed that he was just like every boy being controlled by their hormones. Today was one of those days that I wanted to be invisible but yet had all eyes on me.
"Okay let's go." I quickly said trying to ignore Aidan's and the nurse's reaction.
"Okay." Aidan grabbed his bag and walked out of the room. "Adeline."

I already knew what he was going to say before hand."What?" I asked still walking
"I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but what happened?" he said through his teeth
"What happened where Aidan?" I asked to afraid that my lie wasn't going to be good enough.
"Who did this?" I could hear the anger in his tone. I myself was afraid to be the person who did this to me.
"I thought you weren't gonna jump to conclusions!" I barked back.
"Why are you getting so defensive Adeline?!"
"I'm not! It's that I can't have you thinking I getting thrown around the room when they're just bruises from when I went paintball gunning with my cousins Saturday!" I yelled hoping he would buy it even for a dollar. I couldn't believe I lied about my truth. I was afraid that if I had ever told someone I would seem like a coward and pathetic. 
"Oh well that's all you had to say Adeline!" he yelled back.
"I did! Didn't I?!"
"Okay good!"

"Why the hell are you yelling at me still?!" This was all happening too quick for me.

"I don't know! Why are you yelling at me?!"

"I'm sorry," I said in a regular voice.

"I'm sorry as well...my blood just started boiling when I saw you this way. I couldn't help but think of what I was going to do to the person who did this to you."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You're not my brother or boyfriend so don't act that way next time." F*ck! I f*cking slipped and said next time. I hope he didn't catch on to that. 

"Yeah. I know, but I'm going to be your friend," he said in a low voice not realizing I said next time. 

Thank God.

At that moment I felt something that I didn't quite understand. I was confused and clueless. Could this be what I think it is? I asked myself. I mean I only met this guy this morning which felt like forever ago. I just stared at him with cautious eyes and laughed at my self for even thinking such a thing. This made it clear to me that I was a bit desperate and truly longing for someone to call a friend.