Hey, do you like me? - True Crush story

Hey, do you like me? - Part 16

<Sorry I haven't updated in quite a long time! It's been a busy few weeks... Enjoy!>

I stood there, on the train, silence between Kian and I, I only heard the subtle subway sounds. Kian stared at the train floor, I could tell he was thinking hard. 

"Ya? What do you want to tell me?" I asked again. Kian looked up, his eyes were filled with worry.

"Umm," he started, fidgeting with the sleeves of his sweatshirt. He inhaled and continued, "I think I have a new crush." He looked at me, straight in the eyes. It was serious, I could tell.

"Who!?" I asked excited. Kian looked away and rubbed his neck. 

"Um don't get mad, but..." Kian started, he breathed out and stated, "Reina."

My mind went blank. I didn't know what to say, how to react. It felt as if my heart stopped beating, as if the entire world just stopped, as if the earth stopped rotating and so did the rest of the milky way. But time never stopped, and I couldn't go back in time and erase what had happened. I just had to accept. Calmly, I responded,

"How?" Kian pressed his lips and twisted them, which was his thinking face. He then smirked a little and chuckled to himself. What?

"It happened yesterday. I met her at the ice cream shop. She was sitting at a counter by herself. I kinda felt bad for her, because she looked pretty lonely. I said, 'Hey' na dhe greeted back. Then we started to talk about things," Kian replied. 

"What things?" I asked, desperate.

"Like just random things. Our favorite ice cream flavor. Favorite fast food restaurant. We then started to talk about the Valentine's Dance. She asked me who I was going with and I told her 'Not with anyone, at this point' and then she wrinkled her nose and said 'It was weird how I haven't gotten a date, since I was so likeable'. And them, I think I just fell in love." Kian explained. His glance fell to the ground, and his face was turning into a shade of red. 

I didn't know what to say. Reina thinks Kian is "likeable"? I tried imagining Reina and Kian sitting together in the ice cream chatting away. It made me feel a burn inside, some kind of urge. The train started to slow down. It was Kian's station. Kian looked up and swung his bag over his arm. He faced towards me and stared at me for a few seconds, before saying,

"I'm not trying to steal Reina from you or anything, but you will drive me mad, if you hurt her feelings." Kian walked out of the train and the train doors closed. 

As I trotted home, I tried to process what had happened, what Kian had said. I still couldn't believe it. Kian likes Reina? Kian likes the same person as me? My best friend has a crush on the my crush? What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to let Kian get a hold of Reina? I shook my head. No way, was I going to let that happen! I huffed and made a fist and marched the rest of the way home.

Suddenly, at a street corner, someone came crashing into me. I blocked myself by stretching my hands in front of me. The person, tripped over my foot and was about to toppled over, so I dropped my hands on the person's shoulder to hold her into place. The person steadied herself, and apologize profoundly, still not looking up at me. After forgiving her, I finally got a glimpse of her face. It was Reina! 

"Reina?" I asked, with surprise. Reina looked up and our eyes linked. Her eyes, were full of fear and worry filled up with worry. Her hands, resting on my arms, were trembling. "What happened?" I questioned, with a concerned voice. Reina was breathing hard and she grasped my arms stronger. She had all of her weight on me. There was a few seconds of silence, until Reina made out the words,

"H-help, run, please!" I wasn't really sure why she sounded so panicked. But because she sounded so desperate, I felt an urge to do what she said; to run. I turned on my heels and started to run, but stopped shortly, when I heard a thud and a small squeal. I turned around, and found Reina on the ground, rubbing her ankles. Right, I forgot that she was still hurt from her sprained ankle. Apologizing, I went back and helped her up. As she winced, she got up gradually and then limped on the other foot. To help her, I swung my arm over her shoulders, and grabbed her arm and dropped on my shoulders for her.

"Hey! Wait up!" said a grudging voice. The voice was heard from where Reina had come running from. The voice sounded angry, sounded scary. Reina started to breathe harder, every breath, I felt on my cheek. This must of been what Reina was trying to run away from.

 Reina transferred most of her weight on me and I dragged her across the ground as fast as I can, as Reina moved her functioning leg to keep up. As we ran as fast as we can, I heard the man yelling even more and every time we heard him, I would feel Reina's hand shake. She must have been really terrified. Without talking at all, we just ran. My shoulder got tired, but I still ran. I heard Reina moan in pain a few times and felt really sorry for her. Occasionally, I would ask her if she was ok, and she would nod. After running for a few minutes, we came to a place I've never been to and we couldn't hear the man, so we slowed down. Reina and I were breathing profusely. We settled down on the ground and leaned against the wall. For about a minute, we just breathed really hard and didn't mention anything. 

We still had our arms nestled on each other's shoulders. After cooling down, I ask,

"Who was that man you were running away from?" Reina dropped her arm off of my shoulder and started to rub her ankles. 

"Umm, so basically, I was walking home and then I accidentally tripped over my foot, and stumbled into this man. And he got really mad at me and started to insult me. I apologized, b-but he was really angry. So, he started to chase after me," she answered. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. She wiped her tears with her sleeves and started to sniff. She tried to force a smile and giggled a little. "It's so pathetic, I don't even know why I'm crying. Sorry," she added.

I shook my head, "Not at all! I think that man was really messed up for being mean to you just for bumping in to you. I mean he didn't even try to talk things out!" I rambled, I just wanted Reina to stop crying. It made my chest pain. Reina looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and assured her that everything was ok. She nodded and we just stayed quiet. 

After a few seconds passed. I patted her back and got up. "You wanna go home?" I asked her. Reina nodded and tried to get up, but fell down back on the ground. She started to giggle, so did I. 

"I suck at standing up, no, I actually suck at walking too," she said, matter-of-factly. I nodded and laughed. I put out my hand in front of me and gestured for her to grab on. She took my hand and I pulled her up. With my arm around her, to support her, we walked home steadily. At one point. she told me that she would try to walk on her own, and she did so, one step at a time. 

I, then, realized. How brave Reina is, how strong she is, how caring she is, how funny she is. No wonder Kian likes her. No wonder I care for her so much. Now I really couldn't argue with Kian. He liked Reina, I did to, so I don't really have the right to barge into Kian and make him stop liking Reina. It was up to Reina.