I gave him a desperate look hoping he would catch on. I could tell by his eyes that he definitely caught on. He looked at the guy, then back at me. And he… he pivoted on his heels… and walked away. As I scanned everyone's faces, they were just as lost as I was. I could've sworn I caught him staring at me yesterday. Alby had even come up to me and told me he had a little crush on me. Did they think it was funny to mess with me? Was it all a joke? Because it was not a funny joke. I could feel the blood rush to my face. When the eyes began to return to me, I sprinted out the door as fast as I could. I headed towards the deadheads. I ran until I reached the stone wall. I climbed up the closest tree as far up as I could get. Suddenly all my feelings spilled out. The fear that filled me when I arrived here. The realization that I'm alone. I'm the only girl. The embarrassment. The heartbreak. It feels cliché to call it that because I had only known him for six days, but it felt like weeks. I liked him a lot more than I had thought. Tears soaked my shirt. I tried to be as quiet as I could, but I was failing. When you're this emotional, you can't help it. Someone must've heard me because I could hear footsteps. Two pairs of them. Someone was running toward my tree. I notice how amazing my hearing is because they are still quite far away. When they got close enough, I tried my best to clean up my face and stop crying.
"Get your shucking butt up there and fix it," the first voice said. I couldn't tell who it was yet.
"Why me? Why can't someone else calm her down first? Yeah. Get someone to calm her down. I'd prefer to keep my face the way it is." I was pretty sure that was Minho.
"Why should some other shank get their face messed up when you're the one who deserves it? If I were her, I would've hunted you down already. I would think she's more hurt than angry"
"What do you know about girls? Nothing. She could want to feed me to the grievers for all you know."
"Get up there or I'll do it for her" Alby. It was Alby talking to him.
I'm guessing Alby finally convinced Minho to climb up because I began to hear some leaves rustle. I braced myself and tried my best to look like I wasn't just bawling my eyes out. Then I saw his hand grab a branch or two away from me. His tan, muscular arms pulled himself up enough to go up one more branch and he sat across from me. I tried my best to hide my face.
"I shouldn't have done that" He said. He sounded pretty sincere but I wasn't willing to surrender that easily.
"Really?" So much sarcasm was weaved throughout one word.
"Look at me." I thought about looking at him, but then a tear fell down my face. I realized I still hadn't stopped crying although I had tried so hard. I couldn't let him see me cry.
"Rose. Look at me." His voice was gentle and was laced with sincerity. Suddenly his fingers were lifting my chin and turning my face toward him. "I was a coward." My eyes met his. He wiped the tear from my face.
"Yes. You were a coward. If you don't like me in that way you could've just told me instead of letting me embarrass myself."
"But that's the thing. I do like you. I like you a lot. I was just too much of coward to admit it." Another tear. I let another tear escape from my eyes. I tried to restrain it but I couldn't. I looked away hoping he couldn't see me. He did. "Rose"
"Minho" My voice cracked due to the fact that I was basically crying.
"I'm sorry. I should've spoken up."
"Minho!" Alby yelled and you could hear the alert in his voice.
"Geez Alby! What now?" Minho was obiously irritated at the inconvenient interruption.
"Remember the guy from dinner? Neil? Yeah, he's closing in fast."