My Double Life

|| 4 || Secret's Out!

I throw my notebook up in the air and fall backwards off the couch. A loud crash blares as I hit the ground. I groan and the librarian helps me up then scolds whoever that person is. He starts laughing and begins reading my notebook.

“Ashton? What are you doing here?” I get back onto the seat.

“I should be asking you that.” He continues to flip through my notebook. People are murmuring around us. Well thanks Ashton, this was the one place I wasn’t noticed.

“Give me that,” I mutter and snatch my notebook off him.

“No wonder you like English so much. You should become an author,” he says casually.

“Aren’t you like ‘weirded’ out that a popular girl spends her free time in a library?” I ask with my eyebrow raised and packing my notebook in my bag.

“Now that you mention it….” He pauses and thinks. “Maybe you could explain?” I roll my eyes and pat my palm against the chair besides me. He sits down and listens attentively to my double life. This day just gets worse, now one person, Ashton Gray, knows my secret. I just have to stay close to him to keep his mouth shut.

“Wow, that’s complicated.” I sigh and nod. “I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Hey, why are you here?” I ask curiously.

“I like living adventures,” he says and suddenly gets up.

“You should be an actor then.” That reminds me so much of Evie, that aspiring dream to make people’s imaginations come to life. My phone starts ringing and Ashton passes it to me. It’s my mum telling me to go home.

“Oh, I got to go now. Bye Ashton.”

“Eh, me too.” We exit the library together and walk our separate ways home.

The next day at the library is pretty awkward to the max. When I arrive, Ashton is already seated there, across from where I usually sit. I want to avoid and ignore him as much as possible but there’s something drawing me to him. There is an unexplainable chemistry we have now because our love for this place, and the secret we share. I don’t know how to say hi today. My stomach is pulling me downward with butterflies. Ashton glances at me when I walk past to my seat. I don’t say anything, while biting my lip. After preparing my notebook to write something, I catch him staring. This is awkward, as I predicted. It is mortifying to know that the one person who knows your deepest, darkest secret that could potentially ruin your life, is the person you are slowly gaining a crush on. Did I just admit that? Damn, that’s atrocious. Breathing slowly in and out, I succeed in stifling my rapid heartbeat. I get up, ruining our half-gazes and walk to the bookshelves. Needing a distraction from him, I try to find an interesting book to focus on instead of him. But all I want to do is look at him, reading peacefully and catching my glances. I pull a book off the shelf, only to find a slice of light. It is soon covered by a light shade of blue.

“I can’t help but seem to notice you’ve been ignoring me,” he says through the tiny bit of light there is. I shove the book back and scurry to another book. Hoping he wouldn’t be there, I begin to read the blurb.

“C’mon, Misty.”

“I can’t help but seem to notice you’ve been stalking me,” I mutter and place the book back before running to the next aisle. He is really making me nervous. There’s an adrenaline rush in me.

“You’ve been staring at me for quite a while, even during class.” Even I didn’t notice I did that.

“I-I haven’t.” Splotches of pink begin to form on my pale cheeks. My hands are clammy as my body freezes from his touch. I realise his fingers on my bare shoulder, tugging for me to turn around.