The Way Things Go

Chapter Seven

This morning when I woke up I just had a feeling that today was going to be a bad day. I can't explain how, but it is going to be one. It is just something I feel inside me. Pulling myself out of bed I get ready for the day. Cranking my radio as loud as it will go I dance around my room and sing as loud as I can trying to shake the feeling that I felt when I woke up. I am still only in my long sleep shirt when I hear a laugh from behind me. To my discomfort I turn around and see Xander. 

"Do you mind?" I ask him giving him an are you serious look.

"No, not at all. Just enjoying the view. Can I join?" he asks with a devilish smirk on his stupid beautiful face. 

"How many times a week do you spend the night here anyways? You seem to be here a lot lately?"

"I do? Huh, guess I never noticed. But you did. Why?" he questions me as he takes a few steps forward closing the the distance of the few feet of space we once had between us with his long strides.

"Um.. because you keep walking into my room early in the morning? Plus, you have been here at dinner more nights than at your own house," I state while stepping back to add more distance between us once again. Only he doesn't take the hint and once again closes the gap between us. With one more step backwards, I am up against the wall. Xander then comes closer to me again resting his hands on the wall right next to my head before he brings his head just mere inches away from my own. I can feel his warm breath on my face as he breathes before he replies to me.

"I'm here because I want to be, Jo. I want to be here because I want to be near you," he says with a small smile causing me to blush and turn my head. Looking away from his eyes trying to hide what I am feeling isn't working though because he is to close to hide from. 

"Xander... I really do need to get ready for school now," I say softly. Once I finish my sentence he lets out a small sigh evidently disappointed that I didn't have a response to what he just confessed to me. Slowly he stepped back away from and walked towards my door without me moving a muscle, still frozen in place from what just happened. But when he gets to the threshold he looks back over his shoulder and mumbles, "I see you Jo," before leaving the room entirely. 

Did Zander just say I see you to me? Just like the note? The first note? And the song lyrics in the other letter I remembered someone sing in the car? The person in my memory had eyes that looked exactly the same as Xander's. Is it possible that Xander is the one that has been leaving them for me? And then I remember everything. He caught me when I fell from the tree. He stayed with me in the nurse's office. I remembered everything he said out loud when he thought I was sleeping. I remember being safe and warm in his arms as he held me on the small cot. I remembered it all. Every last little detail.

Knowing what I have to do, I quickly change into shorts and a cute tank top. Throwing my hair into a messy bun with a few pieces falling around my face that I can never seem to keep in place, and applying a coat of mascara before grabbing my backpack and the letters before bolting after him before he leaves for school. I need to speak to him right now! If I don't I don't think I will be able to concentrate the rest of the day. 

I reach the front door just in time to see him throw his leg over his motorcycle and start it up. Before I even know what I am doing I run over as fast as I can and jump on behind him. This startles him as he yells, "Holy shit! What the hell?"

"I need to talk to you," I say to him with confidence. 

"Fuck Jo. You just scared the shit out of me." 

"I'm sorry Xander, but we need to talk."

"About what? You jumping on the back of a running motorcycle? Um yeah I think we do! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Jo, I mean really what were you thinking?" he asks me with so much concern that I remembered more of that happened the day I fell out of the tree.