Later that day, I stood nervously watching the twins chatting it up with some girls. I needed to talk to Hikaru, but I was so scared I felt butterflies in my stomach. I didn't really understand it, as I've never gotten this worked up over someone. I wanted to cry, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Haruhi, my beautiful little angel, is everything alright?" Tamaki-senpai's voice showed genuine concern, but that didn't change the fact he basically just snuck up on me.

"Oh! Senpai, I didn't see you there. Yeah, I'll be fine, thanks though."

"What do you mean you 'will' be fine?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Now, listen here, Haruhi," Tamaki grabbed me gently by the shoulders, looking me in the eyes. He was trying to sound comforting, but honestly seemed like he was genuinely getting irritated with me, which was kind of rude, "You can tell me anything, okay? Daddy's here. What happened?"

"I said don't worry about it, now leave me alone!" I yelled a little louder than I thought I did. I felt people's eyes from all over the room. Tamaki backed off- probably to go sulk in the corner again- but people were still staring. I tried to run and hide, but, of course, of all the things that could possibly happen to me, I ran straight into Hikaru. Where did he even come from? He was just on the other side of the room a second ago.

Everything started to fade away around me, it's like it was just me and him in our own world for a moment- our own horrible, horrible world. We made eye contact and just stared for a solid 30 seconds before he turned to walk away. No. Not this time. Like Kaoru said, I can't avoid this forever.

"Hikaru, wait!"

For a moment, it seemed like he was going to ignore me and walk away, but he stopped. He didn't look at me, though.

"I'm sorry, Hikaru, I-"

"Haruhi, you don't have to do this."

"Excuse me?"

"I know you're only talking to me because of Kaoru."

"That's not true."

"Isn't it? I saw you two were talking earlier."

"We did talk, but that's not the only reason I'm talking to you."

"Oh yeah? Then why didn't you say something to me sooner?!" He yelled, tears of frustration in his eyes.

"Okay, first off, I don't appreciate you yelling at me!" I snapped, "Second, maybe because I didn't know what to say, you jackass! It's not like I didn't want to. I just didn't want to hurt you."

He scoffed, "You didn't want to hurt me? That's so funny I forgot to laugh! You haven't said a word to me since, even though we're supposed to be friends. How is that not hurting me?"

"Hey, conversation goes both ways you know!"

"Okay? Fair, I guess? Except that I spilled my heart to you and you said nothing! You just let me walk away. I was so embarrassed. You really expect me to be the one to start a conversation after that? I mean, what was I supposed to think? Maybe I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore, so I respected that and tried to give you your space!" He was getting really choked up at this point, and I started to feel really guilty. I realized I was being a bit hard on him, and that being mad right now wouldn't solve anything.

I took a deep breath to try and calm down. "Hikaru, you're right. I'm really sorry."

"You think you can just say sorry and that fixes everything?"

"No. But it's a start, right?"

He slid down into a sitting position. "I guess."

I leaned down a bit to put my hand on his shoulder, "To be honest, Hikaru, I got scared. I know I didn't react the right way, and I really am sorry. I just didn't know how to react, and you were gone before I could really think about it."

I could tell he was trying to hold back tears, but I didn't draw attention to it.

"I know this might not be what you want to hear, but I'm honestly not sure how I feel about you, Hikaru. I can tell you at the very least that I like you as a friend, and I want to be a part of your life. I hope that's enough."

He pushed my hand away, but gently. "You can just say you don't like me, it's okay."

"But that's not true! At least, not necessarily. I really don't know. It's all so confusing for me."

"Well, then, if I could figure it out, why can't you?"

That took me aback. I almost couldn't believe he said it. I had to remember to stay calm. "Not everyone experiences everything the same way, Hikaru. I don't know what to tell you."

We were silent for a while. I didn't want to leave him, as he looked like he had more to say.

"Are things always going to be this awkward now?" He asked, as if begging for a no.

"Only if we make it awkward, I guess," I replied, shrugging. "I don't think it has to be at all." He started to get up, so I offered my hand to help him. He took my hand and gave me a small smile- one that tried to hide so much hurt.