Hello again! Here's the second chapter, up quicker than I thought it would be. (Truth is I quit paying attention in class and worked on this instead.) -_-... I'm ready to be done with the semester. Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!- Aralara
Chapter 2
There was a new face in the ever changing sea of people in the hallways. I didn't always recognize a new kid, but he stood out. I mean, this guy was way attractive. I know that sounds shallow, but it was like he was glowing. Like in a way, way attractive way. He was tall; with hair so dark it was almost black. His eyes were a dark green that seemed to glow with an inner light. He was talking to a girl I recognized, but couldn't place her face with a name. He laughed and I managed to tear my eyes away and continue walking to the stairs, to the theater. To Jason. Ugh.
After I dumped my stuff in a chair near the front, I sprinted to the back when I heard the door squeak open, hoping that when he came in, Jason wouldn't notice me back in the semi-shadows. But it wasn't him. It was the new face. The new guy looked around and when he noticed me sitting in the back, he smiled. I melted a little, feeling my face go red. Why in the world was he affecting me this way? I had just gone through a break up for goodness sake. Well, that was probably why. He had a gorgeous smile. He started toward me when Jason walked in the door, scanned the room and then turned in my direction. I ducked down behind one of the seats with the pretense of dropping something and waited for him to sit down. I heard them talking, faintly.
"Hey, Ty, where are you going?"
So Ty was his name. Good, I wouldn't have to be creepy to try and find it out later.
"Oh, nowhere. Just exploring the new territory."
Okay, arrogant much? The new guy's attractiveness decreased a few notches. I snapped back to attention when I heard Jason's voice say, "I wonder where Emily is… she's usually in here by now."
I peeked over the top of the seat in front of me at him. His back was turned to me. Why can't he just leave me alone for like, two days? He knows how I get when I'm upset. I would have to control my emotions and ask him why all the weird drama later. But, not today. I didn't think I could handle talking with him. Not quite yet.
I waited for a moment until I was sure he had sat down. I sat back in my seat and was relieved to see he didn't seem to notice me. After a few seconds, he pulled out his phone, held it up to his ear, and then walked out the door. I noticed that Ty had vanished as well.
"Wondering where I went?"
I jumped out of my seat and whirled around. I practically yelled, "Geez!" I pressed my hand over my heart, feeling it pumping wildly. "You scared me, dude."
"Sorry," Ty said. I didn't really believe him from the half smile on his lips. "So," he said, "I'm guessing you're Emily." I nodded and he asked. "Why're you sitting way back here? Not with him?" He jerked his chin in the direction Jason had just disappeared. I looked away. I wasn't sure if I should tell him. I wasn't sure I wanted to.
"Aw, come on. I'm not that scary, am I?" I looked back over at him and laughed at the thought of his undeniable gorgeousness being scary. "No." I said. I turned in my seat and took a breath. "I'm not inclined to have nice thoughts toward Jason at the moment." I said. "He broke up with me last Friday, and… and-," Then I spilled the whole thing. It was like the flow of words just wouldn't stop. "And I get scared easily, like, jump easily, so that's why I freaked when you were just suddenly there. Next to me." I finished and caught my breath. I looked over at Ty, suddenly embarrassed. "Sorry." I said. "I don't know why I laid all of that on you like that. I don't usually do that to people I don't really know… or to anyone at all. Not even my best friend, even though she tells me it's okay to do. I just-," I cut myself off with a laugh. "Sorry... I ramble when I get nervous. Especially around new people…" I felt myself blush and looked down at the floor. "Sorry."
He laughed quietly. "No, it's okay. Sometimes you just need to get rid of all your problems and tell someone. I understand. Besides," he glanced sideways at me. "I don't mind. Come to me anytime." I slipped my phone out of my pocket to check the time. I felt like the bell should have rung ages ago. I looked down at my phone in surprise. It had only taken me five minutes to tell everything to Ty. There were still two of the ten minutes in between classes remaining. "So he didn't even give you a reason?" Ty asked. I looked up, snapping out of my thoughts. "No." I shook my head. "But I think he's been trying to. I just haven't wanted to listen. I don't want to talk to him right now."
"Wow. I don't remember him being so lame when we were younger." He lowered his voice some as more people started to come to the theater for class.
"You knew each other when you were kids?" I asked in surprise. Jason had never mentioned him, but then we had never really talked in depth about our childhood best friends. It wasn't really a subject that attracted that much attention. Ty gave me a look. "Yeah." He drew the word out as if he was surprised that I didn't know that. Obliviously, I continued, "Why'd you have to leave?"
"My parents wanted to move. So we did." His face had closed off and his eyes, that were so expressive a moment ago, were hard and unreadable.
As open as he wanted me to be with him, I was surprised at how fast he closed off. I switched the subject, not wanting to pry too much into his personal life after he'd been so nice to me. At least, that's what I told myself. "So why'd you come back?" I mentally face palmed. Great subject switch, Emily. What if his dad had wanted to move back? Total conversation killer. Ugh. I'm such an idiot sometimes. Plus, it sounded like I didn't like him. Not that I did in that way, but it sounded like I wasn't interested in talking to him at all.
"I wanted to."
"Oh, okay." I put on my best news reporter voice and asked, "So… how's it feel to be back in town, Mr.-?" I stalled on the end, realizing I didn't know his last name.
"L'Ange. Tyler L'Ange, but everyone calls me Ty." He filled in for me, "And it's great." He grinned and I struggled to keep a blush off my cheeks. "Especially since I met you."
I gave him a look as I forced a laugh. Forward much? The easiness I had felt with him disappeared. "That was, when? Ten minutes ago?" I asked.
"Best ten minutes of my life." He said earnestly. I looked away from his intense gaze as I made myself laugh again and said, "You must use that line with all the girls." No matter how much I liked him, and I had to admit to myself that he was a pretty likeable guy, even after the whole 'new territory' thing. I reminded myself, I didn't need to be in a relationship yet. That is if he even wants to be in a relationship. He might just want to be friends and I'm taking this all the wrong way because of my breakup. Yep. Probably it. Not very many guys had shown interest in me like that before I started dating Jason. That wasn't the reason I started dating him, though. I'm not that shallow.
Lost in thought, I shook myself out of my reverie when I realized that the bell had rung and almost everyone was in the theater, waiting to start class's rehearsal. Ty sensed my discomfort and changed the subject. However, my level of discomfort remained the same, even with the new topic. "So he gave you no reason whatsoever about your breakup." I shook my head. "I'm pretty sure he tried to yesterday, but I wouldn't talk to him. I'm not ready to. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. Honestly," I confided, still slightly surprised at how open I was being with him, "I thought I was going to marry him." I tried to squelch the anger building up and let out a snort. "Guess not."
Ty reached up and wiped off yet another stray tear that had escaped my notice. I looked up into his green eyes as he said, "I'm sorry, Em." He opened his arms in a comforting gesture and an unspoken question. I answered by falling forward and wrapping my arms around him. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep any more tears from falling. I relaxed, the moment starting to feel uncomfortable, and Ty let me go, somewhat reluctantly I thought. Or maybe I just missed getting hugs like that every day. Yeah. That was it. I looked over at Ty and saw him staring off into the distance. I followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at Jason. His back was to us and it looked almost like Ty was glaring at him. "Well." I stood. "Thanks for listening to my sob story. I needed to vent. It really helped."
"Anytime." He said. "Well, actually, hopefully there won't be another time." He winked. I felt my face heat up for the millionth time that day. I was reading too much into this. He was way too gorgeous for me. I joined the rest of the class just as our drama director, Mrs. Radley, walked in. The class quieted. "All right," She yelled, "start from where we left off yesterday!" As the crowd of students moved toward the stage, I wondered why she hadn't introduced Ty to the class. She usually did that with new students. I shrugged off this abnormality and we began to rehearse. While we ran through everything, some of us getting a break as certain scenes only called for a few cast members, I noticed that Ty still sat and watched in the audience. His gaze was intense. He wasn't looking at me; he was watching everyone on stage. I felt that it was almost a critical gaze, that he could do better than what he saw. But then, he might be able to. I'd obviously never heard him sing or seen him act. I didn't know what to make of this charming but arrogant new guy. There were too many mixed signals coming from him to form an opinion yet; which, honestly, only intrigued me more.
I stretched as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. I walked off the stage and down the stairs into the pit. I grabbed my stuff from where I had slung it at the beginning of class and started toward the one of the doors. I heard Jason call my name and I turned, half forgetting that "we" were no more. "Hey." He said. "Meet me outside the theater at the end of the day, okay? I want to talk to you. Please. You don't have to, but I would appreciate it." He looked determined to get me to hear him out, but his eyes were sad and worried. That was not something I was used to seeing in them. It bothered me so much that I decided to really consider meeting up with him. He opened his mouth to ask again but I spoke before he could.
"Maybe. That's all I can give you. Don't push me. Please." He sighed in frustration and gave me a desperate look, but he nodded. He walked around me and left. I leaned up against the wall. Could I really talk to him now? Did I even want to? I didn't know and… yes. I wanted to know why he broke up with me. I needed to know what forced this change, but whether or not that would be today, was another thought process entirely. I pushed off the wall and walked to the doors. I shoved one open as a hand encircled my wrist and I looked back, trying to ignore the tingles I got from the contact, about to tell Jason to just please leave me alone, when I saw that it was Ty. I noticed that the tingles continued, even though it wasn't Jason. I looked up at him. "What'd he say?" He asked. "He wouldn't tell me when I asked him."
"He wants me to meet up with him to talk after school." Ty leaned forward and held me in a hug. I was acutely aware of how close his lips were to my neck. I felt him breathing as he whispered, "Are you ready to, though? Do you want to?"
"Ah- I- I don't know," was all I could manage while trying to keep shivers from going down my spine. He let me go and we went our separate ways to our next classes. I just had two more today. I could make it through this. Why did I keep reacting this way?!
When the bell rang at the end of the day for dismissal, I walked to the bathroom and changed into track shorts and a t-shirt. I slipped on my running shoes and then I walked past the theater and down to the track that ran around the practice football field. Running was a good way for me to stay in shape and forget my troubles while blasting my iPod so I couldn't think about anything. I was there alone. The football team had a game that night since it was Thursday, and the track team was away at a meet, so I had the entire track to myself. Plus, I didn't have to worry about rehearsal for tonight, since there were several athletes in the cast.
Oh, did I enjoy it.
I had decided against talking to Jason. I just wasn't ready. I had run a few miles with reckless abandon, trying to outrun the demons chasing me, before I was gasping for breath and had to stop. I sat down to stretch and looked up into the stands and saw Ty sitting on the bleachers, watching me run. I thought it was slightly weird. He had a laptop with him and a stack of textbooks next to him, so maybe I had just happened to be at the same place he was. He probably wasn't even looking at me. I couldn't tell. I decided I was just paranoid. Besides, it was a beautiful, breezy, warm day. Who wouldn't want to be outside on a day like this? I waved up at him as I finished shaking out my muscles and jogged up the steps on the opposite side of the stands. I walked to my car, saw Jason walk out of the school, and dropped down to the rough asphalt. I winced as I scraped my knee in my hasty descent, but I didn't want to take a chance on him noticing me and thus cause me to spill more tears. I stayed there until I thought he was gone. I raised myself up to look through my car window to make sure, and was startled for the second time that day when I heard Ty say, "He's gone."
I gasped as I jumped a few inches into the air and then whirled around to face him, heart pounding wildly from the scare. "Come on Ty! This is becoming a habit!" I laughed weakly, trying to get my heart rate back to its normal pace. He grimaced. "Sorry." He looked in Jason's direction. "You didn't take him up on his offer, huh?" I gave him a look that said, 'What do you think?' He returned my look and held his hands up, saying, 'Okay, okay!' We stayed that way for a moment, and then we started cracking up. I hadn't felt this relaxed with someone for a long time. Not even Jason. He was always serious about something, could never hold a funny conversation for long, or even just friendly banter, it always turned to a serious topic.
But, I thought, it's not all his fault. I'm no good at conversation either. It was just different with Ty; easy and effortless. Suddenly, Ty enfolded me in a hug. His strong arms gave no room for movement to struggle away like I usually would have. I wasn't always a hugger, but today proved differently. Not only had I hugged him twice- thrice- already, but I found that I relaxed in his hold and the struggles of the past few days just dropped away. After a quick moment of standing in shock, I tentatively returned the hug. As I let go, Ty slid his hand into mine and drew it towards his lips. He pressed a kiss on my knuckles and as he let go, slipped a scrap of paper into my now tingling hand. "Text me sometime." He called as he walked away. I stared down at the paper in my hand. Was I being delusional if I thought he wanted to be more than friends? After that very cheesy, but oh-so romantic moment, I slid into my car and shoved the thoughts of a relationship with Ty out of my mind, as well as struggled to get the red hot blush off my cheeks. I wasn't over Jason yet. Yes, I liked Ty and thought he was a really nice and extremely gorgeous guy, but I was in love with Jason. Or I thought I was anyway. Now, I wasn't so sure. I threw the paper into my glove compartment after I'd glanced at it. I'd give it a month and then see if I still had any feelings other than pure 'like' toward Ty. I guessed not. I couldn't be sure that I really liked Ty or was just using him as a rebound from Jason. Yes, he was gorgeous. And nice. And funny. And really sweet. And he really seemed to understand me and what I was going through. I shook my head to get focused. I was sure that I was just missing Jason. I nodded to myself and pulled out of the parking lot. I had a lot to think about tonight.
There it is! Working on the third chapter now. I probably shouldn't be because finals and projects and no time and you know. See you next time!- Aralara
