Half of My Heart ✔️

17 | face to face

almost 5k freaking words. enjoy :)

also, weird note, but there are SPOILERS for the book Atonement in this chapter, so if you plan on reading it, just skip over a few paragraphs after the book is first mentioned.

♔

Over the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Break, Jack and I spend as much time as possible together while still keeping our relationship on the down-low from everyone else. College basketball season picks up pace and Jack's pre-med course load is insane, but between study and practice, he spends what little free time he has with me.

Both of us try not to think of how little time we'll get together a few months from now when his playoffs and away-games will consume even more of his time.

When I'm not doing schoolwork, hanging with Mya or Jack, or dancing, I'm thinking of how terrible I feel about what happened between me and Levi on Halloween. He hasn't talked — or even looked — at me since. And he never answered the text I sent the day after Halloween.

I just want him to talk to me. To stop avoiding me like I actually have a disease. I want to go back to how we were before Halloween.

The week before we're off for break, I set my eyes on straightening things out with him. I get to film class as fast as possible, almost plowing over pedestrians. Levi has been making a point of getting to class early and sitting in the crowded middle of the classroom so that when I arrive, the seats around him are filled. It's a small, silent gesture that is basically a giant middle finger to me whenever I get to class.

I walk into the classroom and immediately spot him sitting right in the middle. The seats around him are filling up quickly, and I rush over to get the only available seat on his immediate right. When I'm just a few steps away, a girl starts to put her stuff down on the desk, intending to sit there. I practically jump toward the seat, moving my body between her and the chair.

"I was going to sit here," I say with an innocent smile. I put a sharp edge to my voice, determined to get this seat.

She looks at me for a few seconds, rolls her eyes, decides it's not worth her time and goes to look for another seat. I drop the smile and sit down next to Levi, who doesn't even look up. The only movement between us is the pen twirling between his fingers.

"If only she knew that your bark is far bigger than your bite," he says, still not looking at me.

I try to hide the relief from hearing him talk to me for the first time in almost a month. "Are you done giving me the silent treatment? Can we talk about what happened on Halloween like adults?"

"Scarlett," he says slowly, grasping the pen and putting it down on the desk. "Just because you've tracked me down and cornered me doesn't mean that I have to listen to you talk."

His voice is even colder than it was on Halloween, with an impatient bite to it, and I begin to lose my courage. It's weird, awkward territory that we're in right now. I press my lips together, picking my words wisely and powering forward. "Just listen. I don't know why I didn't tell you about Jack. I shouldn't have kept such a big part of my life from you. Jack and I are just . . . complicated."

"Complicated," he says, testing the word out on his tongue. "Isn't that just the perfect word." Levi lets out a quiet laugh, leaning back in his seat.