Xavier
"You're going to the camp?!"
"And you're yelling." I raise a hand to block my ear.
"I have every right."
"As do I."
My retort must have stung because she takes a step back, leaving me to feel guilty in my own space. These past few weeks spent with her have been enough to bring me so close that I don't even want to depart, but in the end, it's better for me, and I have to put myself first.
Lies
I need the extra credit from this.
"I'm not leaving until Monday," I grin, "We have the whole weekend to spend together."
The slight hurt she must have felt disappears in an instant and is immediately replaced with a smile.
The smile she puts on is beautiful, breathtaking, and real
Real
She smiles, yes, but not like she is now. The smiles she's given have never felt as real as they are now.
"Sleepover?" The question catches me off guard, but she's already talking before I can respond. "I can already picture it, we'll build forts" – her voice trails off as she opens the passenger seat of my car and gets in, with a shake of my head, I open the driver's seat and enter – "watch movies, tug of war" her ranting ends with a squeal.
"Well, someone's excited," I laugh.
"Of course I am, I'm gonna be spending a weekend with you, and you're gonna drop me off at school on Monday."
"Don't I always drop you off?" I raise an eyebrow
"Yeah, but next time's gonna be different." There's a glimmer in her eye, adding depth to her already deep ocean. "Start the car already, I need to get home and pack up."
"Jeez, commanding much," I mutter under my breath before starting the ignition and backing away from the school's parking lot.
The ride to her house is anything but quiet. She hasn't stopped talking since we left school, and honestly, I'm not complaining.
I pull up into the underground parking lot of her apartment and park my car next to hers.
"You know, I still can't believe you chose to leave a perfectly working G-wagon just to ride with me to school every morning." I slam my car door shut and walk next to her.
"You know what I can't believe?" I arch an eyebrow. "That I actually even forgot I had a car."
We're soon in the elevator, making our way to the top floor.
We're making our way to her house.
The ride up is relatively short, and soon, with a ding, the elevator opens up to the entrance of her house.
"Change your shoes here," she gestures to a rack filled with flip flops. I bite back the urge to ask why I have to change, thinking of it as nothing.
"I'm Spanish," she answers my unsaid question
How did she know?
I quickly push the thought out of my head and focus on changing out of my shoes.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah," I'm standing on my feet now.
"Okay, you're gonna wait in the living room while I go up and pack my stuff, Kay?" She's already running up the stairs, leaving me alone.
Great – what now?
I'm sitting in silence for the longest while staring at my phone's screen. What is she doing up there?
The sound of the elevator disrupts the silence.
"Xavier?"
You know what, I take it back, it wasn't long enough.
I don't bother turning my head around to figure out she's inching closer to me.
"What are you doing here?" Sandra's voice is as loud as it is annoying. Ignoring her question, I try to face my attention back to my phone.
I don't think she has the mental capacity to read a room because soon enough, she's sitting right next to me, close enough to make me sick.
"You are aware that there are several other couches in this room, right?" I don't spare her a glance from my phone.
She simply shrugs. "My house"
"Didn't say it wasn't." My gaze doesn't leave my phone, and that makes her inch even closer. "Do you mind?"
"Yes, I do actually," she's making even bolder movements now. With a resigned sigh, I finally look up.
"What do you want?" My tone is anything but pleasant in an attempt to discourage her from striking up a conversation with me. But of course, it falls on deaf ears because she opens her mouth to speak again.
"Well, since you asked", she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "I want to get to know you better."
"What?" I practically choke out
"Get to know you better," she repeats the words, but it does nothing to change the expression on my face. She abruptly gets up from the chair and crouches down beside me.
"I mean, come on, it's not like I'm asking for too much. Just a little conversation wouldn't kill you, right?"
"Might I ask why?" I said, instantly regretting it. Great – now she looked alive again, like I just promised her the world. I was already exhausted, and we hadn't even begun.
"Because you seem fun to hang out with."
Raising an eyebrow, I ask, "And you know that how exactly?"
"I've seen you around other people, and you always seem to make them smile, laugh, and I want to have that kind of relationship with you too," she's trying to make herself seem innocent by fiddling with her hands.
But I don't dwell too much on that; what I do dwell on is the fact that she said I make people laugh. Where in hell did she get that wrong information from?
I don't hang around people; I see no reason to. If I do hang around you, it's cause you've made me want to. I can count on one finger how many people I talk to at school, and it's just Daniel – my cousin, Zane – teammate, and Sofia – her sister.
I face palm myself as realization smacks me right back, twice as hard.
This girl is trying to befriend me because I'm friends with her sister
I turn my attention back to my phone, not wanting to continue this conversation anymore.
"You're fucking yourself real hard if you think I want to be friends with you." My tone is flat and dismissive.
"W–what?" " The look on her face is priceless after hearing my choice of words.
"Did I stutter?" The glare I give her finally makes her move away from me.
The fact that she thinks she can use me to annoy her sister is laughable. I've never met someone as stupid as her in my whole damn life.
I'm suddenly missing Sofia a whole lot more. She's back on her knees again, even closer this time. Dear God!
"But you're friends with my sister, why can't you be friends with me?" she says the exact words I knew she would, and I'm ready to give her a comeback, but it's not my voice I hear. The voice I hear has me raising my head, drawing my attention from my phone.
The voice I hear has me smiling at the retort.
It's hers. Calm, low, and very much annoyed.
"He just doesn't. Why can't you get that through your thick skull?"