The beauty of chapters: I thought he was the one

Chapter 10

It was easy for everything to push at the back of my mind once I had a book opened in front of me. Out of pure kindness, I noted down the information from today's class in the empty notepad I used earlier, doing the same process of highlighting and using different coloured ink to emphasized on important points like I did for mine.

I went about with my normal routine, completely forgetting all about it until a text buzzed in right before five in the afternoon. I forced myself to get up from my chair, my right leg ached from being prompt up on the table for too long as I dragged myself over to the bed for my phone and slumped down.

Michael♥: I'm coming to get it. What's your room number?

My room number?

He coming to the dorm was the last thing I was expecting but considering the time and the situation, that was the least he could do. So I texted him my room number and not even two minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I checked my phone for a text only to find no new messages, not even one to acknowledge he got my last one.

Without the want to waste any more time, I opened the door.

With one arm up to the hard surface of the door frame, he lifted his head up from where it was resting against his arm and looked at me. Eyes stained with red patches of tiredness, his messy hair falling in effortlessly perfect waves around his face, justifying the fast pull in my chest that overlooked the reality of him just being a boy who didn't matter to me. Except he wasn't just a boy, he was a boy I almost kissed without knowing if I may have been the cause of his breakup.

"Hey, the notes." He held out his opened hand in front of me, giving me a small glimpse into his mind where he saw me as a simple classmate helping him out. Which was good.

"The least you can do is say thank you." I muttered under my breath as I fetched the notepad from my desk.

"I can't say thank you to something I haven't received yet." I gave it to me. "Thank you." He made sure to express while he went through the pages. "You're gonna need the book for the other notes, right?"

I didn't answer, instead I asked a question of my own. "For how long do you want these notes? Why not just go to class? There's a lot of explanations I wasn't able to write down."

He shook his head before turning to show me a page that I had made a colourful table with pros and cons. "This is pretty." The very well deserved recognition and compliment brought a smile to my face before he answered my question. "I might go back to class but not in the near future. I don't like it. I never wanted to continue school, I only did cuz I made a promise to someone." He answered truthfully, that introduced me to an opportunity to get my honest answers.

"Can I ask you something?" He didn't answer but I didn't expect him to. "Why did you and your girlfriend break up?" my voice came out lower than the previous question, softer with the sensitivity of the subject.

The arm he pulled down to go through the pages was place back up against the door frame as his eyes moved with full attention to focus on my face. His height didn't build much distance between us as he slightly leaned down, observing every inch of my expression like a math equation. The nervous feeling from last night that made me forget how to breath came back.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Cuz you almost kissed me." I shrugged, stifling a shudder that made no sense of existing at that moment. He was close. So close I could see the light shades brown dancing with the darker ones in his eyes.

"If you're concerned about the timeline it happened prior to the party. I'm not a cheater." His face distorted at the final sentence, like the words tasted bitter on his tongue.