He Was My Ecstasy

He Was My Ecstasy chapter 5

Zuri's POV

3:00 pm, Dean's office. We waited there. I was late by zero seconds. That is what Liam said.

"No detention, but do not repeat the same mistake."

The voice was cold and calm at the same time, and we looked at each other. I did not know why. Maybe it was luck.

"Reason to be told tomorrow," he added.

I headed to class, and my body moved, but I felt numb again. That hollow feeling settled in my chest, and I felt hurt and disturbed for a reason I could not name. It was the same kind of pain I felt two years ago when my elder brother left me. The same pain I felt when my dad left us for another woman and another child. A pain that arrives without warning and stays long after everyone pretends it is gone.

The whole lesson, I could not pay attention because my mind kept slipping. I stared at the board, and the words blurred, and my hands were cold.

Break time came, and I realized I had not heard a single word. I took out my lunch, and it tasted like cardboard. I could not swallow. My throat felt tight, like I had been holding my breath all period.

Tino found me first, my best friend since Grade 8, and she sat down and bumped my shoulder. She did not ask. She just stayed.

Nick was with her, and he made a joke. I laughed because Tino did. Two lines. That was all I had in me.

"You okay?" Tino whispered.

I nodded. I wasn’t.

She squeezed my hand under the table, and I wanted to tell her about the rooftop, about Liam. But the words stuck.

Then my phone vibrated in my pocket.

Liam: "Rooftop"

My stomach flipped, and I should have said no. I stood up anyway.

Questions followed me up the stairs: What if we are seen? What if it is detention again?

My palms were damp, and my mouth was dry.

I found him there, leaning against the wall, tired eyes on me like he had been waiting for hours.

Before I reached him, he pulled me close. We had eye contact, and my heart was loud in my ears. Blood moved fast under my skin. I could not explain it.

The words from that day came back: "I love you."

I looked at his mouth, then his eyes, then his mouth again, and something pulled me to him. Like a magnet. Electricity under my skin. And I moved closer. My lips were almost touching his, and I could smell mint on his breath.

Footsteps. Heavy.

My heart jumped into my throat.

He snapped back, and I did too. We ducked behind the wall, quiet, pressed together, and I wanted to laugh and I wanted to cry.

My hands were shaking, and I could feel his chest moving fast against mine.

The Dean crossed past.

We breathed out, the kind of breath you take when you realize you had not been breathing at all. Shaking. Deep.

When it was clear, we stood, and I realized I was sitting on his lap.

It felt dangerous and safe at the same time. His hand rested on my thigh, casual, like he did not know what it did to me. The second I noticed, heat ran through me.

He teased me, and I almost smiled. I held it back.

"Detention. We were lucky," he said.

I laughed, shaky. "We mustn't repeat it."

He pulled back suddenly, and the space between us went cold, and I did not know why.

"Zuri," he started, then stopped, like there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t.

I wondered: Does he truly love me, or do I love him, or is this just emotional attraction dressed up to look like something more?

A flashback hit me: my elder brother, how he died because he trusted the wrong person, how he was killed brutally.

I swallowed and pushed it down. My fingers brushed the scar on my knuckles without thinking.

*Liam's POV*

The detention escape. Relief.

I met with her. It was okay. More than okay. It was reckless, and I did not care.

I left her and went to the library. Tried to focus on notes. My pen kept slipping.

In the hallway, I heard a cry. Zuri.

My chest tightened.

She was standing there with tears all over her cheeks. She was not speaking. She just stared at the mark on her hand, a thin, pale scar across her knuckles.

"Talk to me," I said.

She shook her head.

What was it? Did it mean more than a childhood injury? Only she could say.

Before I could ask, my phone buzzed. Unknown number.

"We see you. Both of you."

Under it was a photo: Aya, sitting on our front steps, alone. The time stamp was two minutes ago.

My blood went cold, and my hands went numb.

Zuri's phone buzzed too, and she looked and went pale.

"Go to her," she said. Her voice broke.

I was torn, and I did not understand what was happening.

Before I ran, I pressed a key into her hand. Cold metal.

"Shaky house, 4th Street. If anything happens, go there. Lock the door. Do not open it for anyone except me."

She nodded once. Her eyes were wide, scared.

I turned to leave.

Behind us, another phone buzzed. Not mine. Not hers. From the empty classroom down the hall.

And I ran.