The Solitary Enigma

Silence and Absence

This was what I was listening to while I was writing this chapter.

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I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh.

God, why does he always have to see me at my absolute worst?

But more importantly, why did I care?

Wishing I could stay like this forever, or at least until Seth left, but knowing that I can't, I tried to get up. My muscles screamed in protest. Gritting my teeth, I leaned on Lisa and James to support my weight, while Kate rubbed my back soothingly.

Minutes later, I felt good enough to open my eyes, only to find a pair of gorgeous silver ones looking straight at me.

I sucked in a sharp breath. I didn't even hear him coming. I could feel my friends questioning gaze on both of us, but as always, I couldn't look away from him.

After a couple of moments of silence, he cleared his throat and spoke in a soft voice that did nothing to hide his concern.

"Are you okay?"

For a moment I considered telling him that no, I'm never okay when you're this close to me, and you have no right to sound so concerned about a girl who you didn't even know existed until a week ago and make me feel weird things; but stopped myself. No need to embarrass myself anymore by being creepy and weird.

I sighed. I didn't even want to think about how red my face must be right now. "I'm fine, Seth." I replied as casually as I could, and tried getting up. Only I hadn't counted my friends gripping my arms hard and gawking at the two of us and accidentally holding me down.

Just as I was about to fall again, Seth caught me, and that jolted Lisa and James out of their shock. After helping me stand up, Seth still kept his arms around me. And I knew that I shouldn't, but I liked it too much to move away.

I wasn't big on physical contacts, but his touch felt ...different. Yes, there was still a voice in my mind warning me, but for once, I could ignore it, and think about how it felt to have his arms around me.

He felt warm, and that smell of mint and something I hadn't recognize earlier, spice. I didn't know why I liked it so much. Finally, I worked up the strength to move away from him, and found my friends looking at us with questioning look in their eyes. Except for Lisa, whose face was completely blank.

I cleared my throat to assure them that I'm fine, when Aaron spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Tasha. I wasn't-"

I cut him off, knowing him, he'd go on forever. "I'm fine, Aaron. Just don't go picking me up again, okay?"

"What do you mean, you're okay?" Seth demanded. "You fell, and you couldn't even get up by yourself!" he exclaimed.

I'll admit, I was trying to pretend that he wasn't standing beside me, but now it was just impossible.

Whipping my head towards him, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"Why do you care?" I demanded.

It came out more aggressively than I'd intended, and could tell that he was taken aback. Just like the first time I'd asked him something like this.