5. Making us
“I think I’m starting to like him.” I say.
Zachary spits out his hot cocoa and started choking on air. I watch quietly at him as I take a sip out of my coffee mug. Then once he recovers, he stares at me as if I could tell the answer to whatever question he was silently asking.
“What? Are we doing a staring contest now? You know I always win at that.” I said.
Then he started laughing. He slapped his leg and doubled over in laughter. “Y-you,” He swallowed, “You really got m-me there.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The joke. About liking Alex.” He caught his breath.
“What? I wasn’t joking.” I said and his head slowly turned to me. It was creepy. As if he was Annabelle. “What?”
He didn’t say a word. He just slowly got up and walked to the narrow hallway surrounded by doors to rooms. I heard a door open and close and I’m assuming he walked into our room.
I walked towards our room too, following him and opening the door. Just in time to see him hold up his cellphone to his ear. “Hello?... It’s Zach…. Yeah, so Alex-“
He wasn’t able to finish his sentence because I quickly slapped the phone out of his grasp, quickly catching it with my prepared hand, and ran out of the room before Zach could have any chances of reacting. I press the phone onto my ear, “Hey, Alex?” I ask as I run away from a now annoyed Zach. Us running around the apartment.
“Yeah, hey…” He trailed off.
“Solitaria.” I finished.
“Ahhh, hey Sols. I thought you’re brother was calling, what happened?”
“Ahhh, don’t worry about him. He’s a bit drunk. He found my uncle’s wine and drank a bit to much.” I lied.
“I did not!” Zach screamed from behind me.
“Yes you did!” I call to him. “See Al? He’s completely in denial, and we know that drunk people deny they’re drunk.” I say. I spot an opening that could lead me back to our room.
“Oh okay. He does drink a lot.” Alex said.
“Really?- I mean,” I cleared my throat. “Yeah, he does!” I shouted, when Zach almost caught me. I run into our bedroom and quickly close the door, slamming it shut and locked in the process.
“What was that?” Alex asked, sounding genuinely worried.
“Hm? You mean the door slamming?”
“Yeah.”
“That was just Zach throwing a tantrum.” Then loud banging of a fist onto the door was heard. “Yeahhhhh…” I trailed.
“Oh, well okay then. I wouldn’t want to bother you.” He said.
“Alright, thanks. I gotta study for the exams nearing!” I said.
He chuckled. More loud banging was made. “You such a nerd.”
“I am a nerd Mr. Sweet.” I said, calling him by his last name.
“Haha, oh right. Well, study well.” He said. “Wouldn’t want to fail in class right?”
The banging on the door was much more persistent. “Oh please, I don’t think I even need to study. I’d obviously pass the exams no matter what.”
“Well you stick to that. You better take care of your brother though, sounds like somethings gonna break.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Okay.” He said.
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I hung up and ripped the door open, making Zach fall into and on our bedroom floor.
“When I tell you about these things, I expect you to keep it a secret! Not to rat me out!” I scold him.
He groaned and stood up. “How would I know that you weren’t planning on confessing?”
I glared at him.
“Okay, okay, geez.” He said, walking out of our room.
•
I read the seat work that my English teacher gave us and play with my hair. I glanced up at the circle my group of four created in the corner of our classroom which consisted of me, Alex, Haley- the president-, and some other girl whose name I forgot.
Our teacher had us make a poem about love. Anything related to it really. The poem was free verse, 7 stanzas, and each stanza needed to have no less than four lines. Our group decided that each of us would make a poem and show it to the group. After that, we will decide which parts will be used for the poem.
I had embarrassingly glanced at Alex at the mention of love and he caught my eye. Needless to say that I had turned bright red, causing the president to worry about bit about my health. If Haley hadn’t already had a group of friends, the both of us probably would have been good friends.
I was struggling a bit on what to write. Alex seemed to be having no problems with this. I bet he already likes someone in school and is thinking about her while writing his poem. That made my heart sink and I tried to focus on the task at hand. I tried to remember times where I felt loved, or saw someone loved. But I came up with nothing to write about them.
I glanced at Alex once more, studying him until an idea popped up in my head. I thanked God he didn’t notice me staring as I wrote down whatever popped up in my head. I glanced at Haley, seeing she too was struggling a bit. I thought of all the things that could have happened if there weren’t any negativity in this school.
After a few minutes I finally finished my poem just as Alex finished his. Haley and the other girl were the only ones we were waiting for now.
“I see that you’re done now.” Alex said.
“Yep. Pretty hard but it’s worth it if my grades are going to be just as good as this year’s valedictorian.” I said.
“Why strive for second when you can be first?” He asked.
“I’d rather not write another one of these speeches. Besides, I’m sure that they’d all just laugh at me and I’d have another embarrassing thing to remember for the rest of my life.” Just imagining it made me shiver.
“I certainly won’t laugh.” Haley piped in.
“Me neither.” The other girl said. “I actually wanted to be friends with you this year but I was too shy.”
“Yeah, I think I saw Daphne here try to talk to you a few times but she was interrupted by a few other bullies.” Haley mentioned.
“Thanks.” I said shyly. “And maybe I’ll try to be friends.” I smiled.
“It’s weird for me to see you act this shyly when I remember you shouting at me the first time we met.” Alex said.
“Oh, that’s because Solitaria had boy problems before. She may be called a loser but you can’t deny the beauty that’s Solitaria Cross.” Haley said.
“Yeah, she is a beauty.” Alex commented. That made me blush.
“Most of them were only trying to sleep with me. Others were in on bets, and I only rarely got someone who purely liked me.” I shrugged.
“Anyways, let’s get going with the poem. Are you two done?” Alex said.
They nodded their heads.
“You go first.” Haley told Alex.
“Okay.” He said. He then took a deep breath and started to read aloud his poem.
“The color of red
Red roses, chocolates and wine
I can picture it in my head
A whole family and house of mine
I didn’t know what is was
I never understood what love was
But just a picture of us
I knew exactly what love does
You’re always stuck in my head
From morning and until I go to bed
When I go somewhere to chill
The moment I see you it all goes downhill
Nothing is more important
I just want to see you this instant
I’d do anything to see you
Just tell me what I have to do
You drive me insane
I guess that’s what love does
It makes you go crazy
Over the person you realize you love
My heart is now in your hands
Accept my love dear maiden
For my love is only for you
And my heart is only yours
Love may be something big
It may be something abstract
But only love cannot describe
This burning feeling I feel for you.”
He finished.
We gave him compliments as I thought of his poem. Was he writing about a girl? Was she from this school? Or did he just write that because that was all he thought of? But I didn’t get anymore time to wonder because it was my turn to read my poem. I took a deep breath, and started saying the words I wrote.
“Love conquers all
If that one phrase is true
Then this love burning inside of me
Would conquer galaxies for you
It may have just been a few months
It may have just been a few days
We could have just been with each other for a day
But I cannot deny this feeling anymore”
I caught their gazes as I continue speaking, but I didn’t miss the glint in Alex’s eye when our eyes met. My heart leapt.
“I don’t want to beat around the bush
Nor do I want to make this all too sudden
I want to make this a good experience
I want to make you feel what I feel
With the past problems I’ve had
All the fake acts and fake feelings
I wish you wouldn’t act the same way
I wish you’d show me your genuine side
I was trapped under judging stares
Until you came and took my hand
From under their penetrating glares
You led me away from my dark land
You whispered sweet thoughts into my ear
Cradled me in your arms as if I were a baby
Rubbed my back to calm me down
And sung a tune that steadied my breathing
You enveloped me in your warm embrace
You saw my flaws but ignored them anyway
As you wipe my tears away you’d say
‘Don’t cry sweetheart, I’ll never go away.’”
They all clapped as I finished, making me blush. I look around, checking to see if we drew any attention. To my relief, no one was looking at us. “Thanks.” I said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex looking at me with a look I couldn’t decipher.
•
The library was a bit packed today. Considering exams were coming up, it was an understanding that most students would study late at the library.
Besides, I was studying on the counter too.
“Hey.” Alex greeted as he plumped down on his seat beside me.
“Yo.” I said, lifting my fingers from my book in an attempt to wave.
“What are you studying about?” He asked. I lifted the cover of my book, just enough for him to see. “I thought you were studying on an exam?” He asked.
“I am studying for an exam. Astronomy is our topic in science. Sometimes it’s better to study outside of your textbook and read a book solely about that one topic to understand it more. Books about a single topic usually explain stuff in more detail and at the same time, show what the topic basically is.” I told him.
“I’m keeping that in mind for college.” He said as he took out his history textbook.
There were a few minutes of silence of us reading. It was a comfortable silence.
“….Uh, Sols?”
“Yeah?”
“Can…” He cleared his throat. “Um… Can you please help me with this?” He asked, pointing at something on his book. I giggled, coming closer to him, I looked at his book and saw it was the biography of a president.
“Hey, you’re still too far away how can you see? Come on.” He said, grabbing my chair and pulling me closer to him until our chairs bumped together.
“Okay.” I said. Then I started to explain to him everything.
•
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed as I walked right out of the classroom of my last exam. I landed into Alex’s arms. ”I’m ready to die now.” I said.
He chuckled. “Don’t you dare die on me.” He said wrapping his arms around my waist. My whole body had this tingling feeling right now and fireworks seemed to be rocketing inside of my stomach.
“I swear that was the hardest exam I’ve ever encountered.” I exhaled.
“Wanna get ice cream then? I think there’s an ice cream parlor a few blocks away.” Alex recommended.
“Did I just hear ice cream?” My amazing brother suddenly popped up from nowhere. I mentally face palmed.
“Yeah, we were just talking about how nice it would be to get some ice cream. Too bad Sols isn’t allowed.” Alex said. I was confused at first, until he said “Right Sols?” He nudged me.
“Oh, yeah, right.” I said. “Grandma... doesn’t let me go out… after school.” I lied. Technically, I wasn’t lying. She really doesn’t let me roam around the city after school. Today’s an exception because she knows I like to treat myself to food after a hard exam.
“I’m sure your allowed as long as your big brother here along with his friends come along, right?” Ron said, nudging Zach.
“Yeah,” Garret agreed. “Right Zach?”
“Actually... They’re right guys. I kind of got as much time outside as she does. Meaning I barely get out of the house anymore.” Zach sighed. “Alright, guess I’ll see you later.” He said then he turned to his friends. “Let’s go to the gym, some of the basketball club must be celebrating for seniors today.”
Both me and Alex watched them as they disappeared on a right turn. Then I turned to him with curiosity. “How’d you know I didn’t want him to be there?” I asked him.
“You didn’t want him to come with us? I actually didn’t know.” He asked, surprised. “I just wanted to go out without them you know.”
My mind went back to the phrase ‘I just wanted to go out’. I didn’t wanna get my hopes up, so I shook my head smiling. “Okay, then let’s go get our well deserved ice cream.”
Once we walked into the ice cream parlor, I ordered one scoop of vanilla, cheese, and chocolate cookie fudge topped with marshmallows and chocolate syrup. Alex ordered two scoops of chocolate, and a scoop of vanilla. I guess I prefer multi-flavored ice cream. I mean, who doesn’t? Wait, no. The answer is standing right in front of me.
We sat lazily on a table in the shop, eating ice cream. “So I’ve noticed the we’ve known each other for about 2 months and a half now and we don’t know much about each other.” I said.
Alex raised an eyebrow. “And? Wait- let me guess. We’re going to play some kind of ice breaker game aren’t we?”
I raised my eyebrows. “No. Just a plain conversation talking about ourselves.”
“Okay then. Let’s just ask questions like truth or dare but minus the dare. I’ll go first.” He said, clearing his throat. “So do you like someone? If you do then who is it?”
I laughed. “Do you really think that I would tell you? As if.” I said, nibbling on my spoon.
“You’ve got no other friends to share it.”
“I could tell Daphne.”
“Let’s face it, she hasn’t earned your trust.”
“Fine.” I said. Should I really tell him I like him? That could ruin our friendship.
“So tell me… is it one of Zachary’s friends?” He asked, smirking.
“You do realize, that my brother has lots of friends, right? But either way, yeah it’s one of his friends.” I said, glancing anywhere but him.
“Okay, is it me?” He asked.
Startled, I abruptly turn to him. He looked like he was genuinely asking. Traces of his smirk were gone and, if I weren’t mistaken, hope shined in his eyes. I’m gonna kill myself for this.
I stood up abruptly. Maybe he thought I was going to leave because he was about to stand up too. But before he could, I strode to his side of the table and sat down. I pulled his collar towards me and gently pressed my lips to his. It was only a peck that lasted about 5 seconds. Before I pulled away with wide eyes and hiding my face from him.
“Oh my gosh I am so, so, so, so sorry! I don’t know what came over me. I should have asked you first, oh my god I’m such an idio-”
Before I could finish, Alex pulled my hands away from my face. Then he pulled my arms so that I’d move towards him, and his kissed me.
This time, I was shocked.
He kissed my softly and gently as if I was a fragile piece of glass. As if I would run away if he made one wrong move, he moved his lips against mine. Seeming to notice that I wasn’t kissing back, he pulled back, face red with embarrassment.
I looked at his lips and licked mine. His mouth tasted just like his ice cream. I guess chocolate and vanilla are a kind of yummy blend.
My lips felt tingly from the kiss as I brushed my fingers above my bottom lip. I bit my lip as I glanced back up at Alex’s eyes. He had his nervous face on.
I leaned forward, he leaned forward. As I started to close my eyes, I felt his lips meet mine once again. I rested my hands on his shoulders as he kissed me and I could feel his hands around my waist.
I followed his lead as our kiss was now conveying what we couldn’t say out loud. His head tilted a bit to the other side and our noses brushed together, sending a spark through me. He kissed me gently but passionately. While I kissed him sweetly and I just tried to savor this moment.
We pulled away breathing a bit heavily than before. We rested our foreheads together and he brushed his nose against mine in an eskimo kiss. I opened my eyes and saw that we were both smiling.
YOU ARE READING
That Girl No One Understands
Short Story"No one has ever understood me..." Solitaria Cross is a shy girl. She's religious, smart, and lovable. Her family loves her, she the perfect granddaughter, and niece. But she has no friends, she has no parents. Her mother died in a shipwreck, her fa...
