Severed

5

We pull up opposite to the park, and the nerves start to make me feel ill. My whole body is trembling and my hands are clammy. This always happens to me when I meet new people. I otherthink things, and I start to panic about how I look, how I act, how I talk. I step out of the reluctantly, the feeling of safety trickle away. Slamming the car door behind me, I start to walk slowly towards the park. Tristan quickly catches up with me and I can see he's looking at me. 

"Tahlie, please calm down, they're not going to hurt you or anything." he says, frowning down at me, confused. We continue to trudge over towards the menancing black iron gates, and then the panic becomes too much. My breathing quickens with every step I take, and I can't walk anymore. Stopping dead in my tracks, I grab Tristan's hand, forcing him to come to a halt too. He looks back down at me, frustrated with me being completely ridiculous and then notices that I'm holding his hand. His frown disappears in a flash, and the corner of his mouth tugs up a little. All of a sudden, I'm pulled forward and wrapped in Tristan's arms. Leaning my head forehead to rest on his chest, I take deep breaths and the smell of his aftershave calms me. As my breathing slows, I'm suddenly aware of Tristan's arms around me. Closing my eyes, I saviour the moment. I take in his smell and how his body feels against mine, I'm trying desperately to stay realistic about this...situation. It's only a friendly hug, one to comfort a friend. It's nothing more, and never will be anything more. 

"Tristan" I murmur, loud enough for him to hear, "I'm okay now, you can let go of me." But he doesn't let go. Did he hear me? I said it loud enough.

"Tristan, I'm fine now" I repeat, louder this time so he could hear me without difficulty. He mutters something quietly, too quiet that I couldn't quite catch it. His arms detach from body, the warmth around me evaporating as quickly as it appeared. Stepping back, I look up at him, and break into one of his stupid grins. I grin as wide as I can, and scrunch my eyes tight together. 

"You do know it's not Halloween yet?" he jokes, laughing loudly at my impression of his signature smile. 

"Hey!" I shout, opening my eyes to glare at him. His laugh turns into a snigger and he pushes me towards the gate. We walk through the entrance and turn left towards the football field. Rolling my eyes, I groan internally over the possibility of having to show my "football skills". We get closer and I start to make out five figures, three boys and two girls. One of them could be Tristan's girlfriend, I think. A pang of jealousy follows soon after. Tristan waves to his friends, and they start walking towards us. When they finally reach us, I manage a small smile. I think about doing a little wave, but throw away that idea almost immediately. 

"Sorry we took so long, had to...erm...help an old lady" Tristan says, stumbling a little to find an excuse for my panic attack. He peers down at me for assistance, and I cough a little before I speak.

"Yeah, she had a lot of shopping, so we gave her and her shopping a lift home." I mumble. God, this is mortifying. I glance back up at Tristan, begging him to just introduce us already. The sooner this is finished, the sooner I get to go home. Thankfully he notices.

"Anyway, guys this is Tahlie" he indicates to me, which is when I actually do a little wave. They all smile back politely, "Tahlie, this is Brad, James, Connor and Aisling" he finishes, pointing at each of them seperately when he says their name. They all repeat the same little wave, and I chuckle a little. Brad had chocolatey-brown hair, which was just a mass of curls. His eyes were the same colour, and they sparkled a little. He was shorter than Tristan, which was hardly a surprise. Tristan's huge. James's hair was a golden brown/blonde colour, and his eyes were the complete opposite to Brads. He was nearly as tall as Tristan, which surprised me. Looking at Connor's hair, I couldn't help but just want to touch it- it just looked so fluffy. It was dark blonde, and his eyes were blue like Tristan's. He was similar height to Brad, maybe just a little smaller. Aisling was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, her brown curls swishing in every direction. Her green eyes danced with humour, and I couldn't help but take an immediate liking to her. 

"Can I hug you? You look really nervous!" Aisling asked. I laughed quietly, and nodded, holding my arms out a little. For the second time today, I was gripped into an almighty hug. Obviously the first one felt different. She stepped back a moment later, and her smile was just infectious. 

"Thank you" I giggled and broke into a smile, "not a lot of people hug me when they first meet me" I added. Brad was fidgeting a little, impatient to get on the field.

"Come on then, I'm about to beat your arses at football, unless you're too scared of being embarrassed?" Brad teased and started making his way over back to the field. 

"Shut up Brad, you can't play for shit" Tristan shouted back, resulting in Brad pointing a middle finger back at him. Walking along, I peered up at Tristan and grinned. Looking back down at me, he smiled and then winked, sending my breathing into difficulty. Shaking my head, I  looked back out to the football, but all I could think about was Tristan's smell, Tristan's smile, Tristan's face.

Basically, I couldn't stop thinking about Tristan.

So the rest of the boys are in it now, and a new girl called Aisling. Had so many mental blocks writing this, it was unreal. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!