Thomas Sangster (a collection of short stories)

Always on my mind

Everyone loved him. He was loveable, how could they not be drawn to him? He was charismatic, funny and athletic, and I fell in love with him. After some time of drowning myself in a sea of obsession and regret of not acting upon my fantasies, I confessed. It was no easy task, let me tell you that much. After I'd told him how I felt, he smiled back and said verbatim, "I'm so happy you said that because I like you too."

Three words. When I confessed, only three words slipped out of my mouth.

"I hate you," I said, one month ago.

After blatantly telling someone you hate them, you'd think things would go cross, yet here I am on top of the boy I love and hate, half naked and grossly sweating inside his car parked behind our school. I cannot properly explain to you how things became the way they are now between him and I because I'm not exactly sure of how it happened either. Interesting how things are now. We have a lot of fun together, Thomas and I.

Funny how the person you hate the most is also the one you can't get enough of. I hated that I couldn't get enough of him. It's like fucking ecstasy, like you're floating above the clouds. I always felt good whenever I'm with him. We're both tightly wrapped around each other's fingers and we both know that and took advantage of it.

I've always asked Thomas how he was able to see through me. How he was able to figure out that I didn't really hate him in the way most people would think. The day of my confession I told him that I hated him, but he and I both knew that wasn't true.

"I'll see you later," he said, smiling slightly. I love it when he does that. Though, I hated how it made my heart flutter.

In response, I smiled back and said, "okay" and headed to class.

Classes are boring without him in it. Too bad we don't have any together. Nobody knows we're together. Not even his friends or my friends. We prefer to keep it that way and besides, nobody needs to know. Although, sometimes it does get tiresome hiding and sneaking about, being careful not to get caught.

As soon as my English teacher dismissed the class, I packed my things neatly inside my backpack and headed downstairs to meet up with him. I navigated through the crowd of students, occasionally bumping into some of them. Then I saw Thomas standing against the rows of metal lockers, looking down at his phone. As we've done countless of times, I walked passed him and entered the empty mechanics classroom to his right and he followed suit after a few seconds had wasted away. As I hear his nearing footsteps climbing up the stairs to the terrace, my heart thumped faster.

"Hey," I smiled at him.

Thomas had an impish look about him while he looked at me, sitting on top of an unused table. Without wasting any more time, he dropped his backpack on the ground and hurriedly walked towards me. He pinned his hips against the edge of the table and snaked his right hand across my back and pulled my waist closer to his, while his other hand tightly cupped my cheek as he desperately kissed my lips. I closed my eyes and leaned forward, returning the favour. His mouth was cool and minty, and I made it heat up. None of us said anything for a while. He just stood in front of me and I just sort of sat there wishing for time to stop so that we could stay that way forever. Then, all of a sudden, he detached his lips from mine.

"You're burning up," Thomas commented.

Of course his comment only made my cheeks heat up even more until I was embarrassed to show my face, so I rested it against his chest. What should I do? Why was I embarrassed by that? Thinking about it only made matters worse for my now reddened face.

He chuckled quietly and slowly ran his hand through my hair. It felt nice and relaxing, so I closed my eyes.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"