Aubrey, the Star

20: crater

Aubrey

★

crater - "A large, bowl-shaped dent in the ground. They can be caused by an explosion or the impact of a meteorite."

Harden Parker was waiting for me at my locker this morning.

He was brooding with eyes wild and cloudy and they followed every step I took closer to him. Harden had all the height, but none of the bulk. There were muscles under his uniform shirt. They just weren't the kind you'd get from excessive weight lifting. Still, he was intimidating enough.

When I came up beside him, his face lit up with a grin that looked borderline mischievous. A hand flipped his brown hair out of his eyes. And those silver rings on his fingers caught the light.

"You stood me up," he said bluntly. I looked confused while I made a move to get to my locker. He stepped aside. "Really? You don't remember our date that was planned for Saturday? Dinner and a movie?"

My eyes widened. Fuck! I did agree to go on a date with him. Fuck!

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Harden shook his head. The frown on his face was clear. He was letting his hurt show.

"I'm really, really sorry," I said. My body turned away from the locker to face him. "On Saturday, I had spent all day doing homework. Then, Jameson came over to help me because I suck at all things school. We got distracted with paperballs and papercuts. The night just took a steep decline from there." I was rambling. Harden was still latching onto my every word.

"Wait." He scrunched his eyebrows. "You forgot about me because you were too busy hanging out with Jameson Gray?"

I winced sharply.

"Harden, I'm sorry." I pleaded. "Jameson is my friend. I just forgot about our plans."

"I bought you fucking flowers!" He spat out, scoffing obnoxiously. I looked at my locker, unable to take in the anger he was feeling. "It was embarrassing waiting for a text from you and never getting one."

The inner bitch in me wanted to yell in his face how no one told him to buy me fucking flowers. Too bad I wasn't going to admit that. Especially while Harden was busy clenching his fist. My mouth went dry at his silent rage.

"You have every right to be mad at me," I said. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Let me make it up to you. What can I do?"

He visibly relaxed at my words. Those tense shoulders dropped and he stood an inch or so shorter. "Be honest," he said, "do you actually want to go on a date with me?" Harden stepped closer, pulling at a loose curl hanging over my shoulder. "I won't beg you to make time for me. And I don't want to be in competition with another guy."

I sputtered a laugh. "Competition? No! Uh, seriously no. There's no one else I'm interested in, okay? We can reschedule for this weekend. I'll have my shit together by then. I promise."

His hand came around my face and he cupped my cheek into his palm softly. This was familiar. I remember a blonde-headed boy doing this exact same thing just two days ago. Jameson just caught me in a really intense moment. The emotion was heavy between us. As for Harden...I didn't know about him just yet.

Suddenly, Harden pushed forward, pressing his lips to my cheek. I couldn't help blushing and looking down at my feet. I could tell he'd be full of surprises. He'd catch me off guard a lot. That was beyond what I was expecting him to do. I bit my lip, unsure of how I felt.