Chapter 5
787 Words
"Hey", I said to Arthur and sat next to him in our cafeteria the next day. He had opened a Math book and was solving it. He wore round glasses, which made him appear more handsome, "Is that seat taken?"
He looked up, "Uh-hi. Nope. You can sit here", he said.
"You don't want to eat?", I asked him.
"Not in the mood right now", he said and went back into solving the questions.
I held him arm and turned him towards me, "Look I'm sorry for what I said yesterday, I was upset. And scared for you. What might happen if you were suspended from school."
"No apologies necessary Miss Bridget. I over-reacted the day before. I'm must've simply thought about my suspension then", he said and turned away from me.
His words stung me right now. Will he be like this from now on? I didn't want to lose him just when I thought I would've been at his side.
"Arthur", I said, "Please don't be like this" and a tear escaped my eye.
He looked at me and I tried to turn my face aside so that he couldn't witness my tears.
"Clara, you don't get it, do you?", he said graciously smiling and held my hand.
"Get what?", I said my voice unclear.
"That I may have started to love you", he said so calmly that my heart was at calm too. I breathed slow, my mind was at calm.
"You....love......me?!", I asked.
"Yes I may and you're so innocent that you couldn't even figure it out", he said smiling.
I was melting at his words. His touch was like a solace to my grieve.
I wasn't able to speak anything. I just kept my head on his shoulder. He too, didn't say a word and patted my head slowly.
Everything else was fading away.
"But I....", I was saying when he said, "shhh...focus on the moment. Everything else can wait. The questions, the answers, the confusion, the restlessness."
I closed my eyes and felt him so close to me. I liked his presence.
After school he came to drop me off at my workplace, we both didn't say a word on the way. But never had silence been so much exotic before.
I had started to like him, but I wasn't sure if this was love.
It couldn't be love.
But doesn't love at first sight have a place in real life?
I reached home and went straight to my room. I laid back on my bed and wondered about Arthur. He was so peculiar. He talked like he was from another era or maybe English people talked like that for I had never met an Englishman before.
My dad came up to my room and asked me about dinner. But all I could think was Arthur, his words, his touch, his eyes and his voice. I simply shook my head and drapped a quilt over my head.
I couldn't sleep that night. I kept staring at the ceiling and thinking of Arthur. What was it about him that I was so drawn towards him?
The next day I went to school and thought of speaking to Arthur about my feelings. I stood by his locker and waited for him. But he didn't come.
The bell rang. I went to attend my class. Arthur wasn't even in the class.
Where is he when I'm ready to fess up my feelings to him?
The classes ended and the lunch time too. He still wasn't there till the last class.
I took off from school and as I went out the gate, I saw Arthur's car in the parking lot. He was there next to it. I went to him and spoke in quite a loud tone, "Why weren't you in school today?"
He turned to me and exclaimed, "Clara, what happened?"
I turned down my volume and said, "It's....uh....you were not in school.....I freaked out. You weren't there."
"Yeah, uh I had to be somewhere else, family problems", he said.
"What happened? Are you alright?", I asked concerned.
"Yeah yeah, I'm good. It was dealt with", he said.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't understand that", I said regretting my behaviour.
"No no no, it's fine, understandable. You must've been enshrined with my queer dealing", he replied softly looking straight into my eyes. He was looking way too deep into my eyes.
I felt relieved.
"Would you like to go somewhere with me?", he remarked with a polite smile.
I thought hard. I had a job to attend to after this. But somehow Arthur's presence made everything else on the hold.
"Yes", I managed to say.
- Writer
