The heat was bad enough in the house, but you step outside and it's like stepping into an inferno. I shield my eyes looking up at Jace with a smile. He looked back at me and a light pink flushed across his cheeks as he smiles back.
"So what are we doing today?" I asked bumping my hip against his as we start walking down the sidewalk.
"Hmm..." He pondered looking off into the distance. He just smiled and glanced at me smiling mischievously. "It's a surprise" He says, setting his arm on my head like an arm rest. I hate it when he does that and he knows it. I ball my fist, growling like a feral cat, looking up at him. He just laughs it off until I playfully punch him in the side. He takes his arm off my head and holds his side defensively, giving me the hurt puppy expression.
"Oh don't give me that face you jerk." I glare at him but it fails because I have a smile plastered across my face. "besides, I know that every time you say "It's a surprise" your gonna take me out to get ice cream." I smirk. I totally know him, I smile to myself and a warmth spreads across my cheeks. We've been best friends since middle school, and we even ended up going to the same college together. The college has a great art program that I'm in, so I can become a professional artist, and Jace is going there to become a history teacher. With each step we take I lean a little closer to him, hoping he'll grab my hand or show some sort of sign that he likes me.
Our words were slowly replaced with silence, walking down the sidewalk side by side, the only sounds were our footsteps reverberating through the empty streets, and the soft wind pushing through the trees. I walked so close to him that our hands brushed against each other, sending my emotions of fear and excitement reeling and my head spinning with anticipation of how he would react. But when our hands brushed he just looked the opposite way from where I was and widened the distance between us. The feeling of disappointment flooded through me and I could feel my eyes burning, and a lump growing in my throat, with the need to cry.
We passed a shop and I asked if we could stop. When I went inside I just kept my head down making a B-line for the bathroom. The one place I could cry and he wouldn't see. I'd stay there until my emotions were in check, then go back out and act like none of that happened. But when I was walking there, someone rammed into me sending me onto the floor with a hard Thump.
"Hey, are you okay?" I just kept my head down and nodded.
"S-sorry." I spoke quietly pushing myself up. A rough, calloused hand gently helped me up. I looked at the person attached to the hand, and it was one of the guys from my college. No mistaking it, the white scarf, no matter how hot the weather was, and the messy pink hair. It was Natsu. Aside from the signature scarf he wore he was wearing an open black vest and no shirt underneath, and a pair of faded, ripped up jeans. The sight made my heart leap. He had an odd red tattoo on his right upper arm. It almost looked like a flaming gladiator helm.
"Don't be sorry, it was my fault." He said looking at me with concern. "What's wrong?"
"Why do you ask?" I said trying not to look at his bare chest, my voice, cracking with nervousness.
"Because you're crying." My eyes widened as I reach for my face feeling the warm tears on my hand. I take a step back from the worried Natsu in front of me.
"S-sorry!" I dash for the bathroom, and the minute I got in I started sobbing.