Not Protagonist Material

"When She Almost Kissed Me"

ERIC'S POV:

Her chest was rising and falling steadily underneath mine, her bottom lip quivering as her breathing quickened. And her eyes. Her eyes were wide open, but I still couldn't see into her world, where her secrets were lying. But her eyes were so big, I could have sworn she had seen my heart's intent for the next day and the days after. It was almost unnerving, but she didn't say anything, like she was baiting me, only pretending to be frightened and caught off guard. She wanted to win a game I didn't realize we were playing. My stubborn ass just could not let that happen. So I leaned down, my lips grazing hers lightly.

A hitch in her breathing touched my ears and my attitude softened for a brief moment. Is she legit scared? I don't know her too well... maybe that whole tough guy thing is just an act? But I want to... I want to do it again. I was so close to pushing it further but the door screeched open on its hinges and I leapt away in the same manner of a surprised cat.

Devin sprung up in the bed and rotated her body to look at who entered the clinic, her hand clenching and unclenching around the blanket. Her tension dissipated, well most of it did, and her defense dropped when she saw the intruder was nothing more than the clinician. She smiled brightly at Mrs. Majita and hurriedly justified why I was in the room in the first place. "My fri-, I mean, classmate, yeah, my classmate thought to bring me my things because I slept through the bell." The nurse nodded and waved her hand at the both of us.

"No need to explain anything to me." With that, she walked off into her actual office, the one with the desk and file cabinet.

"What was that?" I whispered to her from the spot on which I landed.

"What was what?" She responded at a congruent volume, sitting up properly with her legs swung over the side of the bed and her Converse tapping at the tiled floor. She had no clue, did she? I wasn't that stupid, I caught when she corrected herself from calling me a friend. And it stung more than it should have. I shook my head, sighing and rubbing a hand over my bum as I got to my feet.

"Nevermind," I bent down to pick her bag up off the floor.

"No, what is it?" Peeking back at her, I could see Devin was also standing up. Her thumbs were hooked through the belt loops of her jeans and she was leaning on one foot then the other then the former again.

"It was nothing," I insisted, swinging her bag in the air now and patting my pocket to reassure myself that my cell phone was still on my body. She was a persistent little person.

"It clearly wasn't nothing if you were going to ask me. So, go on, ask me." She had taken a step in my direction, a quiet baby fire sparked under the usually calm and unfazed surface I was so far from breaking past. With any other person, I would have just gotten straight to the point and asked, but seeing her like that, all worked up and mad, was worth it. Especially when I was so close to not bothering to hold an equally hot flame in any longer.

"Just leave it alone, okay? Drop it." My voice dipped, deepening dramatically. An uneven tune of amusement cut through the growing silence. She was laughing at me. I whirled around on my heel, finding myself unnecessarily offended. "You thought that was funny, huh?"

"Why? Did you think it was scary?" She chuckled some more, her body threatening to double over from the laughter. I wanted to reach out to steady her but in my little fit I, instead, shoved her to the wall. "Hey!"

"Is this funny to you?" I wondered to her, my long fingers wrapping around her wrists and slowly constricting their blood flow, a terrifyingly dark side of myself daring to rear its head after spending years behind a curtain of happy-go-lucky mischief certain to be dismissed without a second glance as "just a rebellious phase". Her cacao-stained irises glinted with the artificial luminescent lighting that graced the speckle-tiled ceiling.