“Yeah, it was,” I replied and briefly relived the day again in my head.
“We should hang out again sometime,” he suggested. I wanted to look over at him, but couldn’t make myself do it.
“Yeah……..we should,” I said in a guilt ridden tone. Again, I thought of Antonio and how horrible a person I was for not letting my relationship with him stop me from whatever I was starting to feel for AJ. As soon as I thought Antonio’s name, he breezed past AJ’s car, but luckily didn’t even turn in our direction. That brought our brief rendezvous to an abrupt end.
“I should go,” I said quickly and reached for the door handle.
Just as I was stepping out, AJ reached for my hand and didn’t have to use much force at all to convince me to wait. When I turned around to see what he wanted, he’d leaned in slightly and immediately grabbed my attention with his gaze. I looked at his lips, then back at his eyes, then again at his lips longingly. Is he about to kiss me? Would I try to stop him like I knew I should, or…..just let it happen? In the midst of my questioning, he smiled and lifted my bag from the floor of the car. “Don’t forget this,” he said.
I felt myself blushing again because I was pretty sure that he knew what I was thinking. “Oh…….right…….my bag………thanks,” I said and then turned away to reprimand myself for being such an idiot. I couldn’t even look back at him as I paced away, fearing that I’d find him laughing at my expense. Of course he wasn’t gonna kiss me! He barely even knows me! And why would I be thinking like that anyway? I needed to keep my mind off of AJ and back on Antonio. Inside, I found him posted against the wall at the front entrance, apparently waiting for me. I was skeptical at first when I thought about how close he was to AJ’s car. Maybe he did see me with him. “Morning,” I said and then looked away quickly to avoid eye contact.
“Hey,” he said and furrowed his eyebrows together questioningly. “I saw your car out there, but I thought you would’ve been here waiting for me like usual. Where’d you come from?” He asked. Lying isn’t a good look for me in the least, but you’d be surprised what you’re capable of when someone calls you out.
“Oh, this girl from my Math class called me over to her car so she could look at my notes from Friday. She was absent and just wanted to make sure she knew what material was gonna be on the quiz this morning,” I said and smiled innocently. Antonio’s inquisitive expression didn’t change at all as he continued to stare at me.
“……Just thought I’d check ‘cause Leslie hadn’t seen you yet either, but I guess we should get to class.”
I wiped away the beads of sweat that were forming on my forehead and blinked nervously. In my peripheral, I could see AJ strolling in with his sunglasses on and his bag slung carelessly over his shoulder, looking like he didn’t even belong in a high school like this. We were all too normal and everyday, while he, on the other hand, looked like someone had brought him to life from a magazine cover or something. I wanted to keep my eyes on him soooo bad, but Antonio was right beside me and would definitely be on alert after AJ’s gesture at the dance.
Antonio and I continued down the hall. I was painfully aware of AJ’s presence behind us as we made it to Mr. Talbert’s room where the rest of my classmates were standing around socializing for the last few minutes until the bell rang. His locker was across the way and he watched me as he put his things up and grabbed something from inside his bag.
“You feeling better?” Antonio asked, calling my attention away from AJ
His question shocked me a bit because I’d forgotten the lie I told him the day before. “Huh? Oh yeah, much better. Thanks.”