A grin made its way to my lips. The thought of crying blood and it would take millions of years for him to agree vanished, leaving hope inside me. Looking around, I quickly formed a plan. “Okay, so… Since the deadline is on Monday, let’s start it already… Is it okay if we start today? The sooner the better,” I don’t know where this sudden friendliness of mine came from.
He thought about it for a minute before nodding in agreement.
“So, what about the library? Is that okay?”
“Okay.” Just after he replied the bell rang and Mrs. Johnson dismissed us. “I’ll go and tell Luke about it first,” His slight nod was all I needed before putting my things in my bag and quickly slung it over my shoulder. Walking out of the room, I spotted a boy with blonde hair and green eyes. His usual boyish smile didn’t leave until I was near him.
“Hey,”
“Hey,” I replied. He motioned for my bag and I stared at him in confusion. He sighed and went over to me to get my bag and carry it.
I can’t help but smile. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Carrying your bag, obviously. I am courting you, right?” he said sarcastically.
“But I can carry it on my-” I protested but he put his fingers on my mouth, silencing me.
“Don’t refuse, Snow… Just let me, okay?”
I heaved a sigh, “Okay.” Remembering that I have something to tell him, I jolted.
“Luke, do you know about the literature task? Well, me and my partner… want to finish it today at the library,” I bit my lip, waiting for his reply.
“Oh yeah, we also have that task. My partner and I will finish it tomorrow…” He shrugged. He stiffened when the realization hit him, “Wait, who’s your partner?”
I contemplated whether to tell him who, but finally decided. “Eion.”
“My cousin?” He raises his eyebrows. I nodded. His eyebrows creased for a minute before smiling.”That’s awesome! At least I’ll know you are in good hands.”
“Yeah, right.” I snorted. “I think it will take us long, though. You can go home if you want,” I said.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“I don’t want you to get tired of waiting,”
“But I’m always waiting… waiting patiently for you to say yes to me and be my girlfriend,” he dramatically pouted. I chuckled at him, hitting his arm playfully.
The sound of a phone ringing broke our moment. Motioning his hands to wait, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and pressed the answer.
“Hello?…… What?…… Okay, I’ll be there.” He hung up then kept his phone back in his pocket.
I was looking at him curiously. “What? What happened?” I asked. His cheerful expression turned into a serious one.
“Emergency. Something happened,” he quickly said. “I need to go now,” his eyes apologized.
I nodded understandingly, “Okay.”
He saw Eion that was leaving the room.
“Hey, dude.” Luke greeted Eion and gave him a bro hug.
“Do me a favor and take care of her, man. Something emergency came up,” he patted his cousin’s shoulder. Eion looked shocked before masking his expression into his calm expressionless face.
I could tell he wants to protest but nod his head, yes, having no choice. Chuckling at his expression, I looked at both of them who were talking. After minutes of Luke asking me if I would be okay, he seemed hesitant to leave me.
“We should probably get going,” Eion said after a while, cutting off Luke’s hundredth question of my state.
“Okay. See you, Snow!” Luke kissed his palm and sent a kiss on my way. He waved his hand and turned around.
“Cmon, stop gawking. We don’t have the whole day,” Eion snapped, pulling me off from staring at Luke’s retreating figure which was slowly fading away. I glanced beside him and he seemed irritated. While his other hand was in his pocket and the other was clutching his bag, he started to walk ahead, leaving me.
So much for being his ‘friend’.
“Wait!” I shouted and sprinted into a run.
*************
When we arrived at our destination, ‘our expression’ turned into disappointment, or rather ‘my expression’ since he didn’t have an expression. The library was on a hectic schedule. Students were running around, busy doing their work and tasks.
The chairs were all occupied and full now. I look at Eion questioningly wondering if we should continue and finish our task here.
“Sorry!” A girl said that was carrying piles of papers, bumping into me. I smiled at her telling that it’s okay and she smiled at me in return. She turned around and walked away.
“Guess that we can’t do our task here then, I chuckled lightly, becoming dizzy, staring at the students running left and right.
“Do you have any place in your mind?” he asked.
I stopped to think. Hmmm… The ice cream shop? Or another cafe? I was about to suggest to him the shop was available when a reminder came to me. Mom said that I should go home early. Nathan was alone in the house… I raised my arm to see what time it was but then stopped when I remembered I left it at home. Eion seemed to notice it. “What?”
“What time is it?” I asked awkwardly.
“It’s…..” He glanced at his wristwatch and read, “Three-thirty?” He said.
My hand reached up and slapped my forehead.
I don’t have a choice but to do our task there…
I smiled wryly at him. “I think I have an idea… if you’re okay with it?”
His eyebrows meet each other, looking at me curiously. “Where?”