the propinquity effect

25

+ 25 +

I sat on the bench, facing the field as I put in scoop after scoop of vanilla ice cream into my mouth. The spoon would stay in for about five seconds, feeling the ice cream melt onto my tongue. It was fairly hot; Luke was still playing basketball because he told me he was going to drive me home. Okay maybe I was not completely over the basketball team captain and ever-so-lovely Luke Hemmings. Not at all, actually.

He was dribbling the basketball, beads of sweat falling down his face as he was talking with Uriah. Spinning the basketball on his index finger as he kept on talking. Shit, he was so attractive I could not help but stare.

Zara had gone home and the others were having extra classes so I was alone in the canteen. Flipping my book as I kept on reading, biting my lip and raising my eyebrow as I looked at it. For about five minutes I froze, holding the page and my mind was somewhere far away. No one to talk to and absolutely nothing to talk about.

"Hey," a voice said and I looked up. Calum, Luke's band member, was there and he was wearing another school's uniform. He settled his backpack on the vacant seat beside me as he sat. No one was there except him so I was okay with it. "Luke asked me to go here, he told me he is going to go home late and he wants me to drive you home."

"What?" I did not actually get what he said because I was busy admiring the view. Holy shit, he was a really attractive guy alright. His hair was styled differently, put up into a quiff and the rest of it was tucked into a dark blue beanie. His eyebrows were thick and he was tan, which made him even more appealing.

"Luke needs to go home at seven today, he told me I should drive you home." Calum said as he positioned the beanie on top of his head. His eyes trained on mine and I was trying so hard not to blurt out how attractive he was. "I'm sorry, is my face, distracting you?"

"You conceited jerk, I just lost all the freaking feels." I told him, pretending to clutch my heart as he laughed.

"You do know that Luke cares a lot about you, he doesn't usually care about people." Calum stated, picking with his nails as he looked at the field. Luke was doing a three point throw and it went into the hoop, without bouncing or anything.

"I can see." I highlighted the words on the book, I just did not know what to do. Just anything that could distract me from looking at Luke and then falling in love with him all over again. I chewed on my inner-cheek.

"Luke and Michael fight a lot since you came into the picture, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty or anything. It's just, it's hard when two best-friends fall in love with the same girl." Calum tapped his fingers on the table, raising his chin at Luke.

"I'm sorry." I immediately looked down, feeling a pang of guilt hitting me on the chest. I scratched the back of my neck from the nerves and stayed silent, biting my tongue over and over.

"It's fine, things have been boring before you came into the picture." Calum laughed a bit before he continued, "You made Michael realize how much of a bitch Natalie is."

"I thought she's nice." I told him, playing with my spoon and raising my eyebrows. Calum faked a laugh and shook his head, not agreeing with my statement.

"She's with Michael but she flirts with Luke all the fucking time it's ridiculous. I feel that she chose the wrong band member." Calum stated, fidgeting in his seat. "Anyways, you ready to go? I have work."

"Yeah, sure; let's go." I looked at Luke for the last time before exiting the canteen. His skin was shining from the sunlight and his eyes were light blue from it too. He gave me a small wave and I waved back. Butterflies erupted in my stomach and I stayed silent, they were all true: feelings do not go away entirely.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Calum stopped right in front of my house half an hour later. His fingers tapping on his knees as he was chewing on his bottom lip. When he went in the car he took off his beanie and put it into the dashboard, I blurted out how attractive he looked with it but he only laughed it off. Sure, he was attractive and all but I was pretty sure I only liked Michael since I was not trying to be a bitch.

I gulped hard and tapped my fingers on my lap, thinking if I should climb out of the car or not since I was pretty much going to be home alone. Lexi was playing with Michelle in the front yard, running around with their little dresses as I stared.

Calum obviously was not pressuring me, he was not trying to shoo me away or anything like that because he turned off the engine and relaxed. His back on the leather seat as the radio was still playing an old song that my mom would cry about every damn time she would hear it: Wonderwall by Oasis. I never fully understood the song, it had to do with wonderwall.

Michael was in his house since his car was parked into the garage. His shoes left on the porch as I thought he had taken them off in such a rush. I put my reading glasses on top of my head and stared off into the distance, trying not to get a panic attack or anything.

"Take your time, it's not like I have to work or anything." Calum said sarcastically, raising his eyebrow at me and putting on his shades, shielding the sunlight from his brown eyes. "Oh I'll go to the Valentine's Day Dance, by the way."

"Why?" I asked as I popped a gum into my mouth. It was not like he had any business to do in my school because he obviously was the kind of boy that did not really care about social events, especially formal social events that would require him to wear formal attire.

"My girlfriend wants to go, she is a big fan of Valentine's Day shits." He crossed his arms over his chest and turned down the volume of the radio. I nodded and thanked him silently as I climbed out of the car.

Closing the door softly behind me and jogging to Michael's house. My sneakers made thumping sounds to the pavement and the uncut patches of grass. I jumped over Michael's cat and climbed up the stairs of the house and onto the porch.

I really did not bother to ring the bell so I just decided to barge in. A pair of flats caught my eyes near the entrance, situated beside Michael's socks as I knitted my eyebrows together. Peculiar, Karen was still in the hospital and there was no way she was going home.

When I entered the living room I thought I was going to see Michael playing video games alone or actually watching a television series but what I saw there caught my eyes and I dropped my phone. Michael was obviously shocked too because I took him by surprise.

Natalie and him were kissing in the couch, kissing or making out or even doing much nastier shits than that I really did not care. My heart was crushed and broken into millions of tiny little pieces, my head felt dizzy all of a sudden. Tears started to blur my eyes as I stayed silent, lips pursed and all.

"I'm sorry." I quickly excused myself and walked out of the house. Tears started to stream uncontrollably as a hand took hold of my wrist and spun me around on my heels. I was faced with Michael's green eyes, tears started to form in them as his lips quivered.

"I'm sorry," Michael stated as a tear fell down his left eye. Something that I had learnt: when a tear falls down from our left eye it is sorrow and that was plastered all over his face. Michael's expression was unreadable as usual and he tried to pull me into a hug but I refused to fall back into his welcoming arms.

"You haven't fixed it." I told him, my voice cracking at the last vowel. He raised his eyebrow at me and bit his bottom-lip.

"I've fixed your window?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"I wasn't referring to the window, I was referring to my heart." I walked away from him, arms crossed as I tried to wipe away the tears.