To The Touch

Chapter 6

Walking next to Lee made me uncomfortable. It was like that feeling you had after seeing a someone you don't know very well in a store. Just awkward. I looked over at him. He really grew out of his baby face, I thought His cheek bones were so defined, as well as his chin; but his brown eyes were just as bright as they were when we were kids. 

Every once in a while he'd look back at me, like he was making sure I was still following him. I tried as best I could to avoid his gaze, that same warm gaze he always had given me. As I was lost in thought, I bumped right into his back. I looked up at him again.

"Is everyth-," I began before he turned around.

"No, everything is not alright. This is the first time seeing me in years and all you could say is that I looked familiar? That you recognized me?" The way he raised his voice made my hands run cold. He was upset, really really upset. 

"I thought we were closer than just 'I remember you'" He said quietly as he looked down at the floor. I started to nervously fidget with my hands, as I felt the tension growing.

"I-I'm so-," I stuttered before he cut me of again.

"Don't apologize..." He mumbled before he turned back around and continued to walk. I knew this wasn't right so I followed him. 

"Lee, Lee!" I said as I turned him back around to face me. 

"Listen, I'm sorry I reacted the way I did, but a lot of things have happened in just a few days that I didn't know what else to say." My voice was shaking but I just kept talking as he looked down at me.

"It's not that I'm not happy to see you, I am! I just didn't know what to do.." I trailed off as I looked up at him. His face had somewhat softened, but he was still hurt. I breathed out and tried to calm myself before continuing.

"I am happy to see you," I said again, "I was surprised to see you after so long, and I'm sorry for the crappy excuses I'm making right now." I looked up at him again, hopefully, and he looked back down and laughed softly. I felt the tension go away a bit and sighed in relief. 

"It's okay. Hey, I'm sorry for scaring you by saying what I did." He patted me on the head gently. His hands were warm. 

"Listen I wanted to talk to you about something, can we go somewhere to chat?" I was taken aback by his sudden change in mood, but I didn't question it. 

"Oh, yeah um, we could go back to my dorm I guess." He nodded and smiled slightly. 

"Lead the way then, Tay." I felt a bit uneasy still, but I covered it with a smile. 

"Alright then, let's go." 

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"Aaand here we are.." I said as I unlocked the door to the dorm. I went inside as Lee followed behind me. He looked around a bit and nodded.

"Nice place." He said as he looked around. I threw my stuff onto my bed and sat down. He sat down on Kate's bed across from me and before I knew it we were sitting in silence. We both were trying to think of something to say when suddenly the door opened, and in walked Kate. I jumped and so did Lee.

"God damnit Kate, you scared me!" I said rather loudly. Kate walked in with a blank look on her face and walked up to her bed, staring directly at Lee, who looked back at her rather confused.

"U-uh Tay, you didn't tell me you had a roommate." He mumbled. Kate looked over at me and smirked slightly.

"Wow, second guy this week Tay. What's changed?" She asked teasingly. Lee looked at me in surprise.

"I'm the second guy? Well who was first?" He said as I rolled my eyes.

"That doesn't matter. Kate, why are you even here? Don't you have engineering right now?" Her nose was already in her textbook when I looked at her.

"The professor didn't feel like emailing us that he didn't feel like showing, so we all just left." She said flatly. I shrugged and looked back at Lee.

"Sooo, you wanted to talk about something?"I noticed he was staring at Kate contently.

"Leee." I said, throwing my pen at him. He jumped and looked back at me.

"Oh, uh sorry. It's not really anything important, I just saw this guy who was..no, never mind." He was embarrassed, I could tell.

"A guy huh?" I said, he nodded in response. This reaction caused even Kate to look up from her book. Lee looked over at Kate and then back at me and mouthed something, like he didn't want Kate to hear. I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head in confusion. 

"I'm.." He said quietly before trailing off. 

"You're?" I asked, looking over at Kate briefly, then back at Lee.

"I'm bisexual." He said before sighing in relief and falling back onto Kate's bed. 

"I can't believe I said it.." He mumbled into his hands. I nodded.

"Oh, oh okay. Well that's cool then." I said, taken aback a bit. I realized what he was getting to earlier.

"So you saw a guy you thought was cute, huh?" I said coyly. He groaned, embarrassed.

"Yeeees..." He said again into his hands. I smiled and then started to laugh. He may look different, but Lee was exactly the same on the inside. He started laughing too and I looked over at Kate who was looking in her book again, she probably didn't hear him anyway. 

Lee sat back up and then, that's when I noticed it. It was faint but, I saw it. Both of their necklaces glowed, ever so slightly. I smiled slightly, but I felt something odd. Like a little pinprick in my heart. I wasn't jealous, I wasn't sure how I felt.