Mesmerized

Beautiful

He thinks that by now, he's gotten used to how beautiful she is and how pretty she looks. Enough so that his staring has gone down to a minimum, now being only a few (longing) gazes per day.

His feelings on the other hand have intensified.

Sometimes he feels at peace with the thought of...having a crush (loving) her. At other times, his emotions are all-consuming and he finds himself wishing that she was next to him. He starts smiling in the middle of fights simply because his thoughts drifted towards her and finds himself looking even more at the pictures that he has of them. There's no erratic thumping of his heart or sweaty palms anymore, but now there's the feeling of warmth that spreads through him, the inescapable need to hold her close and never let go, and the conviction to make sure that she's always.

More and more, he tries to compliment her to see her smile, brushes his hand against hers, takes her hand in his, stands closer to her than strictly necessary. Anything to fulfill those needs.

Aside from that, he's now more in control of himself when it comes to the whole staring thing.

Or so he tells himself.

But it's a fudging LIE.

Because when he walks through the school doors on Monday morning, his breath hitches. He's absolutely forgotten about the phone in his hands and his interest in whatever Mary and Trent had been talking about on the morning news.

She looks breathtaking.

Red lips, white shirt, jeans that are hugging her perfectly, her Doc Martens and a leather jacket. Her hair is down, curls framing her face so beautifully and all he can do is stare.

She turns around to talk to Jasper, and his eyes drop down.

He wants to be respectful, he really does. She's his best friend and he shouldn't be staring at- This is disrespectful towards her and yes, her butt looks perfect and

He doesn't realize that Oliver is lying on the floor (Why is Oliver lying on the floor?). Henry's feet collide with Oliver's body, he hears a groan, and then suddenly he's falling.

He swears that it all happens in slow motion.

He falls down with a thump, his phone is sent flying to the other end of the hall.

He's sure as heck glad that he's not wearing his glasses today.

His legs are partially on top of Oliver's body, so he rolls over until he's on his back, taking his feet away from the groaning person on the floor. A few beats after that, Charlotte and Jasper appear in his line of vision, looking down at him, one concerned and one vaguely concerned but grinning.

"You okay, Hen?" Charlotte asks. And all he can do is nod. Because

She looks so good.

Sydney runs towards Oliver, yelling at him about being on the floor and being dramatic.

Henry (and probably everyone else) ignores it. The two of them having arguments has become such a normal part of their lives.

Jasper holds out a hand for him, which he gratefully takes.

"How can you not notice a entire person on the ground?" Charlotte asks exasperatedly when he's up on his feet again. She frets around a bit, trying to see whether he's hurt.

"Yeah, Hen. How?" his other best friend asks. And with the way that he's grinning, Henry really, really feels like zapping him at the moment.

"I wasn't," he runs a hand through his hair, feeling his ears starting to tint red, "I- Well why was there a person lying on the floor anyways! Shouldn't we be asking ourselves that?" he yells out, feeling flustered.

"So you just didn't see anything?" Charlotte asks dubiously.

"Oh, he saw something alright," Jasper murmurs.

Sadly both of them hear him.

Both of Charlotte's eyebrows fly up as she looks first at Jasper, and then at Henry.

He doesn't know what to do, but he doesn't have to.

The bell rings.

"Hey, would you look at that! The bell! Well got to go! Nice talk guys!" he yells out, and immediately hurries away to class.

He's pretty sure now that life hates him.

--------------------

Tbc.