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SHE IS LATE AGAIN. I glance at the clock, then back at the empty chair across from me. Same as last time, I think to myself.
Not that I mind, Carmen showing up late is almost expected by now, but something about today felt different.
The doors open and my head immediately snaps up. When she finally walks in, it’s like the air shifted. She doesn’t seem like her usual self, not even close. Her head is down, her hair falling into her face like she wants to hide behind it. She doesn’t even bother with a sarcastic comment or her usual eye roll when she sits down
“Hey, Blondie,” I greet her like usual.
“Hi,” she mumbles, barely sparing me a glance.
I lean back, trying to get a read on her as I scan her face. Something is definitely off. “You good?”
“Yeah, fine.”
It was a lie. I can tell by the way she avoided looking at me, the way she fiddled with the strap of her bag like it might snap under the pressure. I can just tell by looking at her tired eyes.
I set my pen down, deciding to push just a little. “You sure? You don’t seem-“
“I said I’m fine,” she cuts me off, letting out a frustrated sigh.
The silence stretches between us as she starts to get out her book. Without thinking, I lean forward, lowering my voice, “You wanna skip this?”
Her head snaps up, her eyes narrowing. “What?”
“I’m saying, let’s ditch the session. We have plenty of time to study another day,” I explain, shrugging like it isn’t a big deal. But it is. Seeing her like this, it just isn’t sitting right with me, so I have an idea.
A risky one? Maybe.
For a second, she just stares at me, like she can’t decide if I’m serious or not. Then, finally, she lets out a soft laugh, barely audible. “You’re such a bad influence.”
I grin, grabbing my bag. “You love it.”
“Do I?”
“Mhm,” I hum proudly. “Now, hurry up.”
She raises a brow at me before complying, picking up her bag and standing up. “Do you even know where we are-“
I quickly cut her off. “No, no, no. Blondie, have you ever heard of a surprise? Stop ruining it for yourself.”
She rolls her brown eyes at me. “I’m rethinking my decision now.”
“Too late,” I tell her, throwing an arm over her shoulder. She stiffens for a second, then lets out a soft huff, like she’s too tired to argue.
We slip out of the school unnoticed, which is easier than I thought it’d be, and head down the street. It’s colder than I expect, my breath visible in the air as we walk. Carmen pulls her jacket tighter around herself, her bag hanging loosely off one shoulder.
“So, can you finally tell me where we are headed or are you still trying to be mysterious?” she asks, her tone light but still carrying that undercurrent of weariness.
“You’ll see,” I say, smirking. “Patience, Blondie.”
“Why do you still call me that?” she asks, looking up at me with her brows knotted.
“Because,” I shrug, “I like it.”
“Well, I don’t,” she mutters but I can hear the hint of untruthfulness in her voice.
“You don’t think it’s cute?”
“Cute?” she repeats with wide eyes, taken aback by my comment.
“Yeah, cute.” I love doing this. Teasing her, I mean. She gets so flustered and faint red always blushes her cheeks.
“No,” she quickly replies before pushing herself off of me, removing the arm I had over her shoulder. “And enough with that.”
“With what?” I ask, throwing my arm over her once again.
“That,” she huffs before trying to push me away but I pull her flush against my chest instead.
“You’re freezing,” I sigh. “I know you want my warmth, Blondie.”
“As if,” she grumbles yet doesn’t make a move to push me away.
A smile tugs onto my lips as I stare down at her, her curls draping over her forehead due to the wind blowing against us. It doesn’t take long before we reach the corner shop. The bell jingles as I hold the door open for her, and she mutters a quiet, “Thanks,” as she steps inside.
I make a beeline for the sweets aisle, scanning the shelves. “What are you going to get?” I ask her over my shoulder.
She hesitates for a moment before grabbing a bag of prawn cocktail crisps. “These,” she says, holding them up.
“Solid choice.” I nod, grabbing a packet of sour belts for myself.
We head to the counter, and as she starts to dig into her pocket for change, I step in, slapping a tenner down before she can.
“Hey, I can pay for mine,” she protests, frowning up at me.
“I know,” I say, handing the cashier the money. “But I’ve got it.” There’s no way I was about to let her pay.
She shakes her head but doesn’t argue further, tucking her crisps under her arm as we leave the shop. “Where are we heading now?”
“There,” I reply, pointing to the playground that is just across the street, empty except for a couple of pigeons pecking at the ground near the swings.
“Interesting but okay,” she mutters as we cross the road, and as we do, I turn to her.
“You know,” I start, “I still don’t have your number.”
She stumbles over her next step, looking up at me like I’ve just suggested something insane. “Why do you need my number?”
I chuckle, holding my phone out to her. “Just so if you ever want to skip a session, I can get a heads-up instead of waiting around for you.”
Her cheeks tint pink as she scowls, snatching the phone from my hand. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Am I?” I grin as she types her number in.
When she’s done, she hands the phone back, and by then, we’ve reached the swings. I take one, kicking at the ground to get a slow rhythm going. She sits on the swing next to me, her bag resting at her feet.
For a while, we don’t talk, just tear into our snacks, the crinkle of the wrappers the only sound between us. Then, out of nowhere, she says, “I got a B on my last quiz.”
I pause mid-chew, looking over at her. “Seriously? That’s great, Carmen.”
Her gaze flicks over to me, almost shy. “You think so?”
“I know so,” I say, leaning back on the swing. “Proud of you.”
Her lips part like she doesn’t know what to say. “Proud?”
“Yeah,” I repeat, tossing a sour belt into my mouth. “You’re not as hopeless as you think.” That earns me a quiet laugh, the sound warming the cold air between us.
“Or maybe you’re just a good tutor, Aaron,” she says, catching me off guard with her compliment.
“Don’t let me take all the credit, Blondie.”
She narrows her eyes at me with a playful smile before looking away. We fall into a few seconds of silence that gets interrupted when randomly blurts out, “Let’s see who can swing the highest.”
“Do you feel like losing?” I ask, tilting my head slightly while looking at her.
“Oh, game on, Aaron,” she challenges and starts swinging before giving me a heads up. What a cheater.
Shoving the sweets into the pocket of my coat, I quickly try to catch up to her, which I manage to do easily. For a few seconds, my swing goes higher before I decide to slow down a bit.
The whole point of this is to cheer her up, so if that means I have to lose then so be it.
“Do you see me!” she shrieks. I turn my head to look at her, my lips tilting up when I see the big grin on her face. “I’m going higher than you, Aaron! Look!”
“No, you’re not,” I lie.
“Yes, I am!”
“Fine,” I let out with a huff. “You win, Carmen.”
The grin on her face manages to widen in response to my words. “Don’t be a sore loser,” she teases, raising her brows at me.
Little did she know.
“I’ll let you have the win just this once.”
She narrows her eyes at my reply. “I won fair and square, shut up.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I purse my lips with a nod of my head.
I watch as her eyes dart to her shoes that are messing around with the sand, chewing on the inside of her cheek as if something is bothering her. Before I can get a chance to question if she’s okay, she asks, “What are you doing?”
“At the park, skipping school with the girl I’m supposed to be tutoring right now.”
She lets out a soft laugh, shaking her head at my response. “You know what I mean.”
“No,” I reply honestly, “I don’t.”
“Like,” she pauses, letting out a deep sigh, “why are you here with me? Why did you want to skip school with me, you know?” She looks up, her eyes meeting with mine. “Why did you get so bothered when you saw me talking to Jude? It seems like… I don’t even know, never mind.”
“Because,” I start but suddenly stop myself, not knowing what to say. Because there’s something about her, something special that pulls me towards her, that keeps her on my mind no matter how hard I try to forget about her. I can’t say that though.
“Because?” she repeats, her brows furrowed. “If this is some game playing because you’re bored then I want no part of it.”
“What?” I quickly reply. “No, no. It’s nothing like that, Carmen. I just want to get to know you.”
“But why?”
“You like asking a lot of questions, huh?”
“I like explanations,” she mutters with a shrug.
“Well, there’s something about you.” The words slip out of my mouth, despite me not wanting to tell her that. It makes me sound like a fucking creep.
“What?”
“I mean that you seem cool, you know?” Looking down at the time on my phone, I quickly add, “We should go back to school now before the last period starts.”
“Oh,” she breathes out. “You’re right.”
I stand up, throw my backpack over my shoulder and wait for her to do the same. Once we start walking out of the playground, I throw my arm over her shoulder once again and ask, “Are we friends now, Blondie?”
She looks up at me with a confused look on her face. “Friends?”
“Yeah. Friends.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Is that a bad okay or a good okay?
“We are,” she confirms, giving me a stern nod.
My lips tilt up, happy with her reply. “November 16th, the day we officially became friends.”
Carmen glances at me with an annoyed look but I can see the smile growing on her face. She looks completely different than she did when I first saw her. Happier. More free.
“So you’re feeling better, huh?”
“What do you mean?” she mumbles.
“You seemed upset before.”
“Oh,” she lets out a sheepish chuckle, “I’m feeling better now. Thank you, Aaron.”
A knot forms in between my brows as a smile forms on my lips. “For what?”
“You know what,” she huffs.
“No, I don’t.” I do. I’m acting dumb. I just want to hear her say it.
“This,” she grumbles, crossing her arms. “Making me skip with you. I sort of had fun.”
“Sort of?” I repeat.
“Don’t push it, Aaron.”
I let out a short laugh at her response.
The air feels lighter now, like the heaviness she carried into the library melted away somewhere between the swings and her laugh. I glance down at her as we walk back to school, her curls bouncing with every step. She’s quieter now, but it’s not the heavy, closed-off silence from earlier. It’s comfortable, like she’s letting herself breathe for the first time today.
“Hey, Carmen,” I say, nudging her lightly with my elbow.
“What now?” she sighs, though I catch the hint of a smile tugging at her lips.
“You’ve got crisps dust all over your mouth,” I lie, just to see her reaction.
Her hand flies up to her face, scrubbing at her lips in a panic. “What?! Oh my—why didn’t you tell me sooner, you idiot?”
I can’t help the laugh that bursts out of me. “Relax, I’m messing with you.”
She glares up at me, her brown eyes narrowing into slits. “You’re an absolute dick, Aaron O’Connor.”
“And yet,” I say teasingly, “you still agreed to be my friend.”
“Regretting it already,” she mutters as she continues walking but I can still see the smirk on her lips.
“What was that?” I call after her, catching up easily.
“Nothing,” she says quickly, though I catch the faintest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
We reach the school gates, the faint hum of chatter from the hallways buzzing in the background. Carmen adjusts the strap of her bag, glancing over at me with her head tilted slightly.
“You’re annoying, you know that?” she says, though her tone is lighter than usual.
“Annoying, but handsome and funny,” I counter, flashing her a grin.
She rolls her eyes, but I catch the amusement in her expression. “Debatable.”
I let out a short laugh as we pause by the entrance. She turns to me then, her curls falling into her face as she looks up. “But… you’re not what I expected,” she mumbles suddenly, catching me off guard.
I frown slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know,” she says, almost to herself. “You’re just… different.”
In a good way? Or in a bad way? I don’t know how to respond to that, so I settle for a smirk. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Don’t get used to it,” she quips, turning toward the stairs.
I watch her for a moment, something stirring in my chest as she blends into the crowd of students.
Different.
I watch as she disappears into the crowd, that feeling lingering long after she’s gone. Yeah, she’s got no idea how much she’s starting to mess with my head.
Friends. Yeah, I could live with that. For now.
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