Falling In Love With A Highschool Bully...

Hurting

An early Tuesday morning.. maybe a few weeks since me and this guy has been "talking". My heart raced when he came up to me... "Hey Liana.." he whispered. "Oh hi M-michael", my voice trails off as I stutter. "So.. uh-m.. I wanted to ask you.. it's been a few weeks now and I really like you..", he played with the lines in the tile floor with the sole of his shoe. "Oh.. I-I'll think on it.. not that I don't like you or anything, there's just things I need to be sure of.." I shyly answer back with panic pounding at my throat. DID HE JUST TRY TO ASK ME OUT?!?!? Oh no...

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
(Around 1-ish after lunch ends)

"Hey Liana, have you thought if what you are gonna say?" He asks with worry and hope in his eyes at the same time. "Um Michael.. right now, I think I need a little more time, I'm not exactly as ready as you probably want me to be." He looks at me with great confusion and scratches the top of his head. "W-what?? I'm confused..", he blurts out. "What's to be confused on? I'm simply not ready to take the next step right now... could you respect that?" I stood in the middle of the hallway staring at him. As I watch him walk away, he turns and says," I don't know..", then disappears around the corner and up the stairs. I wasn't sure how I felt at that moment. My chest grew heavy and tears stung my eyes but I managed to keep myself pulled together. As I'm walking to my class, my mind keeps replaying what Michael said over and over. The more it played, the more hurt I began to feel.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Class is about to start and I just couldn't hold back then tears anymore. Once I reached the door, the tears began to pour out. I walked in the room and threw my backpack down at my desk. I say down and put my head down, sobbing as quietly as I could. A warm hand sits on my left shoulder.. "hey are you ok?" This voice wasn't too deep but it wasn't high pitched either. I looked up without wiping my face.. ,"y-yea.. I'm fine", I managed to form the words. "Come with me- Miss.. I need to talk to Liana, we will be right outside the door". The teacher looked up and just waved him off and he pulled me out my seat into the hallway. He leans against the wall and stares straight into my soul which only made me break down even more. "Come on, talk to me..", he said watching me try to gather myself. I explained everything that recently just happened before class. He shook his head, still watching at my movements. I got so open with him already that I was ranting to him. "How can someone say they want to be with you but don't want to put forth the efforts-", right in the middle of my sentence, he pulls me close and wraps his arms around me. "By the way.. my name is Alberto but people call me Aj.. just in case you didn't already know. But just know it's going to be ok. You don't need him either.". I pulled away and looked at him. The way he looked at me made me feel comforted but also exposed like he could read me like a book. I didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing but I was honestly a little amazed by him. He gives me this sly smirk then walks back into the classroom.