Book Girl and Chestnut Boy

Chapter Ten

They met again at lunch the next day. May arrived before Layton did and was sitting facing the doors so she saw him walk in. The lunchtime throng was in full flow behind him but when he caught sight of her, he froze. She heard people complain as they walked into him. A few people swore as they walked around him but he didn't even seem to notice. He finally came to after a few awkward moments and he walked over, hand frantically smoothing down his beautiful chestnut hair.

May couldn't deny that she was nervous too. Part of her was unsure that she'd heard what she thought she'd heard yesterday. Maybe he'd said something else. But the way he was acting made her think maybe that wasn't the case. Anyway, he'd hugged her an awfully long time in her bedroom.

"Hi." he said, all but falling into the chair opposite when he pulled it out.

"Hey." she said, suddenly feeling so timid that she couldn't even look up. Would he ask or would he just wait for her to? If she didn't, would he just ignore that he'd ever said anything? If he waited for her, would she say it? Just the idea of it made her want to hunker down somewhere and hide for the rest of her life!

"So, what're you reading today?" he asked, getting his usual lunch out. His voice was shaky.

"Um..." she blanked. What was she reading? Was she reading? She had to cast her gaze over the table before she remembered that she hadn't taken a book out. She'd been too busy overthinking this encounter, although she hadn't had much time to sit down and consider her options before he'd arrived. "Nothing, yet."

"Really? That's unusual!"

"Hm. How was chemistry?"

"...It's pretty awful right now, actually."

"Huh?" she looked up, wondering at the little pause.

A beautiful smile spread across his lips. "It was a joke."

"Huh?" she said again, feeling like an idiot.

A blush rose to his cheeks. "Um...The...The...You know...The..." unable to look at her, he gestured between the two of them.

"Right." she mumbled, though it took her a long moment to wrap her head around what he'd said.

He made a start on his sandwich. She took to finishing hers, though she kept stealing glances at him every few seconds. Then she'd look down again because he was looking.

"I just want to say something." he said when he finished. He had an apple in his box too but he didn't bother with it. Instead, he tossed the whole lot back into his bag. "If...If what I said yesterday bothered you, I'm sorry. We can just forget I said it and continue as before. I hope it doesn't get in the way of us being friends."

"That's not it," she said, rewrapping the edges of her sandwich back in the Clingfilm.

His eyes lit up and his smile made a reappearance. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "I just...I didn't really know what to say to you. It just...Well, you kinda sprung it on me."

"Yeah. I guess I did. Sorry."

"It's all right." When she didn't add anything onto this, he said, "I suppose you want some time to think it over?"

She shook her head, berating herself for not using words. When she'd been very small, long before Martin had come along, her parents always used to tell her to say what she wanted, instead of pointing and nodding or shaking her head.

"...Oh." He scratched at the back of his neck, embarrassed and clearly at a loss for what to say.

She put her stuff into her bag and stood up. "Should we go for a walk?" she asked. It was hard to think in the din of the cafeteria. And though she'd had a boyfriend – kind of – once before and had gone through a similar discussion, she couldn't deal with this kind of issue in view of strangers. "I'd feel much better away from other people right now."