Dorothy Ann tried thinking of anything else. Anything that had nothing to do with the past ten minutes. She really was trying; her new, advanced physics book, was lying open on her lap, and she was leaning as uncomfortably as possible on the back of the jagged cave wall. But it was a lost cause; no matter what she tried to do to keep her mind off of him, the words kept coming back.
"Your eyes... They're blue."
Her eyes were blue, she had seen them enough times in the mirror to be sure of that, and... his favorite colour was blue. The prettiest thing the rainbow could offer him. But what did that mean?!
Dorothy Ann slammed her book shut - it was no use anyways - and looked outside the cave. Carlos had left to brush his teeth in the river nearby. He just wanted an excuse to get out of there. She would have said the same thing if he hadn't. Her startled reaction to his answer had made them both more than uncomfortable.
"Your eyes... They're blue.."
"Yeah, and yours are brown. What are you - " Then her eyes had gone as wide as saucer plates. It was almost as if he declared, full on, that he was in love with her. That was how she reacted to the simple statement.
And, despite the fact the cave was as dark as the surface of Pluto, Dorothy Ann could tell Carlos' face had turned as red as a beet after that; her face was feeling rather warm then too actually. And her stomach has suddenly felt like it was filled with live snakes. The silence didn't last very long, thank God, Carlos had quickly muttered something about having to brush his teeth and pretty much bolted out of there. Dorothy Ann did what she always did when she was nervous or wanted to forget about something, grabbed a book and read.
Which was why the physics textbook was lying, closed shut, on her lap. Physics had never seemed less interesting than it was now. Dorothy Ann fidgeted with the zipper of Carlos' jacket absentmindedly. How could the question, 'what's your favorite colour' be so personal? Was that possible?! How could it be the reason they were avoiding each other now. The reason he had ran off and she had hidden behind a book. A violet book...?! DA turned away from the cover in horror. What was happening today?!
Dorothy Ann tossed the book away from her in disgust and reached up with one hand to grab a fistfull of her blond hair in frustration. She searched through her flustered mind, trying to find some sort of solution that would make this whole nightmare just a little less worse. It's not like Carlos would bother.
She groaned in frustration. She did not have a crush on Carlos. Couldn't. It didn't make any sense. None. He was too impulsive for one. It drover he mad how he never thought things through and just did whatever popped into his head. Just last week he decided it was a good idea to let a squirrel loose in their science classroom! The fact that she could find someone like that attractive was revolting. Really.
And when Tim had asked her on a date last week, the reason she had turned him down so sharply was not because she had been in love with Carlos for what felt like all her life. The only reason she had even told Tim it was because she already liked someone else was because she didn't want him to ask her again. It was to push him off. She hadn't even said it was because of Carlos. Did she?
Dorothy Ann frowned, she couldn't remember. She exhaled heavily and groaned again. Okay, maybe it was obvious. She had fallen in love with one of her best friends. The one that drove her completely up the wall with every little thing he did.
DA looked back over to her purple physics book, tossed dangerously close to the fiercely burning fire. Why deny it... She turned so that she could see the outside of the cave, it was too dark to spot Carlos. How long would she be stuck with him on this mountain anyways? Oh God... what if it was forever! No... she forced herself to calm down. That was impossible, they'd find the cabin tomorrow. Dorothy Ann felt her stomach clench suddenly.
Dorothy Ann then jumped up abruptly. She didn't have a crush on him, she didn't have anything to hide, honestly. But... but just to make sure - and because things couldn't get more awkward between them... she nodded and held her head high. Yes, it was the only way... Okay, maybe not the only way.. but, it was the most appealing way...
xxx
Carlos stared at the gently moving river as though it was putting him into some sort of trance; his toothbrush was hanging limply in his open mouth as he watched the water break at the base of the rocks on the shore. It was so dark; he could only see the moonlight bouncing off the little ripples in the water. The gentle roar was drilling itself into his mind, blocking out all other sounds, like a buzzing in the ear. It was very cold, very windy, but he wasn't really paying much attention to that.
He had been so close.
The moment kept replaying over and over in his head like a broken record. He had basically admitted everything he had ever felt for her with that little statement. Admitted it to himself.
"Your eyes... They're blue.."
And boy her eyes had gone wide when he said that. He had let it slip. Someone like Wanda wouldn't have caught something like that. Dorothy Ann always seemed to know what was going on in his head. Or at least, when he least wanted her to. When he did want her to, she couldn't. Or maybe she could and she could just keep a secret really well. Like, maybe... just last week by her locker.
Tim had told him he was interested in Dorothy Ann, Carlos dug his teeth into the brush as the memory replayed itself in his mind. On they day that Dorothy Ann had returned to school after being sick, he rushed right up to her; he had had no idea about what exactly he was going to say, rushing up there that fast. Because when he had, he mind sort of went blank and he had made some sort of quip about the amount of books she had been carrying. Seriously, she had been staggering under the weight. So he helped her out, took a few off her hands, and walked with her to her locker before Tim could find them hanging around the front of the school.
She had her hair loose, and it looked a bit messier than usual. There were circles under her eyes, like she hadn't been sleeping much the past two days. Well, she had been sick. It was just like DA to force herself out of bed so she wouldn't miss class, Carlos was the same way with soccer. Wanda, who had been poisoned alongside her, had missed the entire week.
So there they were, Dorothy Ann bent down trying to find her math textbook in her locker, and him leaning on the locker next to hers, keeping an eye out for Tim. Hoping that maybe that dumb bastard was going to leave the moment he saw him with Dorothy Ann. He had forgotten that it shouldn't have bothered him in the first place. Forgotten that his feelings towards her were supposed to be purely platonic.
"Er - Carlos?" she had asked when he hadn't answered her question about what she had missed in science class.
He had jumped, and broken out of his revere. "Er - what?"
"Urg, never mind," she had said, slightly irritated. "I have math with Tim next, I can get the notes from him."
"What?! No, I can give you the notes!" he had said hurriedly, already slinging his backpack over his should to search for them for her.
"No, really Carlos. It's fine. I need to leave for class," she had said. "I can't be late after missing two whole days before."
"No, here. I found them!" and he held out a crumpled set of notes on the circulatory system.
"Er.. Thanks Carlos.." she said, scrunching up her nose and frowning, but taking the papers out of his hands anyways. "Honestly, don't you have a binder or something?!"
"Uh - DA, wait. Before you go - "
DA, sighed impatiently, on the balls of her feet. "Yes? What do you want Carlos, I really have to - "
"I'm really glad you're back," he said so quickly he didn't think there was any way she could have caught it. She didn't, she was readjusting her heavy bag on her shoulders and looking at her watch impatiently.
"I'm sorry? Didn't catch that."
"And - " Carlos grabbed her arm before she could leave him. "Um - are you doing anything the weekend?"
"Not that I know of," she said. "Why?"
"Because, because. I dunno," he had stuffed his hands in his pocked and looked down at his shoelaces. "I thought you could come over and see a movie or something." The he shrugged.
"I'd love to Carlos, but can we talk about it later? The bell - "
"Promise you'll come."
"Y - yes. But - talk to me about it later okay - when I don't have a class to rush to?"
"O - okay..." and then he watched her sprint off in the direction of her next class, towards Tim... If she had any idea what he had really wanted to ask, she didn't give him any sign.
Carlos swallowed and his toothbrush bumped against his teeth. He hadn't asked her on a date. Really. That's not what it was. It was just, he knew Tim would be rejected by her anyways. Of course she would. And if her excuse was she had plans with another friend, he'd leave her alone and never ask her again, right? Well, he hadn't yet...
It just, didn't make sense. Him and her. None whatsoever. Or at least, nothing he could see. But there was still something there that he felt for her. Something more than with Keesha, Wanda, or Phoebe. Which is why he made up some garbled excuse about having to go brush his teeth and bolted out of there before she could say anything.
Carlos rubbed his numb hands together furiously and turned towards the mouth of the cave. His 20 20 vision told him that she was sitting next to the fire with a thick book in her hands. Well, duh. He didn't need his eyes to know that. He could read her like a book. Knew what made her tick, what would make her happy...
Just didn't know that her favourite colour was violet, that's all. Carlos shook his head, he remembered that argument; their immaturity in that sense hadn't really improved. For crying out loud, just last week they were arguing over the pronunciation of 'vase'.
Carlos suddenly jumped and almost choked on his forgotten toothbrush. Something was coming towards him; he could hear the line of breaking twigs and crunching leaves moving nearer. Wait, it was just DA. He squinted. It was hard to make out her face, but there was no doubt it was her storming up to him.
Carlos stood up and started to march right back at her. He wasn't going to let her shout at him without giving her a piece of his mind first.
Carlos stopped directly in front of her and looked down at her, directly in the eyes. She looked back up at him determindly, looking ready for a fight.
"This is stupid!" Carlos said firmly, before she could say anything.
Her eyes widened. "Yes!" Dorothy Ann said, sounding very relieved. "Yes! It is! Really stupid."
"So we should forget it and figure out how to last the night instead," Carlos continued, feeling a bit less worried than he had second before. "Because this is stupid."
"Incredibly stupid!" Dorothy Ann nodded her head vigorously. "And we should forget it ever happened," she decided.
"O - okay..." Carlos stuttered. Wait - what? How could she expect him to forget -
"So... everything's back to normal right?"
Carlos studied her for a moment. Was anything ever normal when it came to them? But what else was he supposed to say? "If you want it to be."
"I want it to - to..." He heard her feet shuffle nervously on the ground. "Wait, what?"
"Back to norm - "
"Wait," Dorothy Ann said, looking down at the ground. "That's not why I wanted to come." He heard her take a deep intake of breath and saw it foggily drift away when she exhaled. "I need to know something."
"What Tim said to me?" Carlos asked. He wasn't worried about the question anymore. In fact, he really, really wanted to tell her, so, why the hell not? "DA," he said it quickly. "He told me that he was going to - "
But he didn't get to finish his sentence.