Lean Onto Me

𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑆𝑦𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑒

Chapter 10

A/N title was too long, lmao

~~~

VERNON'S lack of reason to why his heart beat so much around Olivia ended up with him convincing himself it was heart palpitations from the adrenaline of his match.

How convincing.

Spritzing his cologne, Vernon says a quick goodbye to his parents and heads for school.

Arriving in his class, Vernon is immediately bombarded with confetti that had blown up in his face. Ridding himself of the shock, he watches as his peers cheer for him, the guys walking up, sending congratulatory slaps on the back, and some going for handshakes.

"Thanks, everyone." He says, touched by the thoughtfulness.

As he makes his way to his seat, he catches a glimpse of Olivia, who stands behind the classroom door. Signaling him to follow her, Vernon immediately turns back and goes to the girl.

"Hey." He greets smiling at her.

Olivia smiles widely. "You've become a superstar."

"Nah. Everyone is nice."

"You deserve it, though. You did amazing yesterday."

There they were again. Those heart palpitations.

Am I getting a heart attack or something?

No, heart attacks hurt. This didn't. Quite the opposite, actually. Whatever was going on in his heart made him feel all warm inside, too.

Olivia reveals a small black box, her smile not faltering. "Here. This is for you."

"You're not proposing, are you?" He jokes, resulting in him getting elbowed in the stomach.

Opening it, Vernon sees a cute metal charm of a swimmer holding a miniature trophie.

"I thought it'd look nice your bracelet." Olivia explains, suddenly avoiding Vernon's gaze.

Vernon's fingers graze through the small object, a grateful smile on his face. Wasting no time, he clips the object to his bracelet before showcasing it to Olivia.

"I love it! Thank you so much."

"I know that bracelet is your lucky charm. And I... I wanted to add on the luck. Now you won't ever lose."

Without thinking, Vernon embraces the girl, which takes her by surprise. Despite this not being their first hug, Olivia is taken aback by the public show of affection. Vernon is a cool guy who normally keeps to himself. He's only ever been touchy Laurence, who has been his friend ever since they were in diapers. Knowing he hugged her first warmed Olivia's heart more than she'd like to imagine.

Returning the hug, she takes in Vernon's scent eyes closed enjoying the boy's comfortable arms.

Olivia internally protests when he lets go but doesn't show it on her face. The bell rings, announcing it was time for class.

"So I'll see you at lunch?" Vernon says, looking into her eyes.

Olivia feels her throat go dry by the intense stare Vernon is giving her. Was it intense, or was she imagining it? Nodding, she mumbles a quick goodbye before dashing away to her class.

Reaching her class, she immediately takes a seat and grabs her water bottle for hydration. Olivia focuses on the teacher as she tries her best to calm her pounding heart.

Little did she know, Vernon felt the same.

~~~

"You added a new charm!" Laurence points out, looking at the bracelet.

Vernon's hand immediately goes to the object. "Olivia gave it to me."

"She did?" Laurence asks, eyes slightly widened.

The two were at the cafeteria, seated at their usual spot food ready to he eaten. Laurence watches as his feels his chest for the third time in ten minutes, and he couldn't help but feel worried.

"Are you okay? You keep touching your chest. Does it hurt?"

Vernon shakes his head. "My heart has been beating too fast lately."

"Maybe you need to check your BP-"

"Because of Olive." He finishes, cutting off his friend.

Laurence stares mouth wide in shock. Thankfully, he hadn't started eating. Otherwise, he would have choked.

"What did you say?" He asks for clarification, feeling as if his ears were deceiving him.

"My heart has been beating a little too quickly these days. It's weird. Maybe I should go get it checked out."

"It happens when you're with Olive?"

"When I'm around her, yeah." He confirms. "Probably heart palpitations, right? I'm in the water most of the time, so." He concludes, taking a bite of his wrap.

"Heart palpitations? More like Crush Syndrome."

Vernon choked on his food and looked at his friend, who looked dead serious.

"What?"

"You like Olive. That's why your heart is going haywire when you're around her."

Vernon attempts to laugh it off but fails miserably. "I do not. I don't like her."

"Yes, you do. Why else would your heart beat so fast around her?"

"I told you, it's most likely because I spend a lot of time in w-"

"Hey guys." Olivia greets, placing her food tray down and sitting next to Vernon.

"Hey." Laurence greets.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Laurence glances at his friend, who is looking at Olivia.

"Nothing much. More eating than talking, you know."

Olivia nods, and Vernon decides to focus on his food and takes another bite of his wrap. Noticing the mayo that has stained the side of his lip, Olivia reaches out and wipes it off with a tissue and smiles at the boy before going back to her food.

Vernon feels his heart beating loudly as he glances at her.

Is it true? Does he like Olivia?

~~~

By the time the school day ended, Vernon had concluded that his heart went crazy when Olivia was around him.

Yet, he didn't know why.

Vernon stops as he sees Olivia and her friend group across from him, and they seem to be laughing about something. Despite the group having five people, Vernon's eyes were glued to Olivia.

He watched her movement and felt as if everything had gone into slomo. He smiles when Olivia catches a stray braid before throwing it behind her ear. A habit she always does.

Cute.

He feels his breath stop when she smiles again. That smile could light up the world. Not realizing he was smiling too, he saw Olivia notice him and stare at her as she waved at him. Lifting an arm, he stifly waves back at her. Olivia disappears out the gate, leaving Vernon and his beating heart alone.

Laurence arrives and throws his arm around his friend.

"Are you okay?" He asks, seeing his friend's frozen state.

"You were right, Laurie." Vernon says breathless. "I like her."

"I like Olivia."

~~~