Sweetest Pain || Hawk Moskowitz

07 Doctor

Eli felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

He'd run into KT again, but this time he had taken her to the ground. He had been running away from Kyler and his friends after they had stumbled across them in the bathroom. They'd been saying some disgusting shit about his girlfriend, Sam, and how he was going to pull a trick to get her to have sex with him. It was gross.

Girls deserve better than that, he had thought. Then he knocked over a bunch of lacrosse sticks and he and Demetri had run for their fucking lives.

He didn't even know where Demetri was while he was holding himself on top of KT as they laid on the cold floor of the school. He felt frozen, petrified, like he was stuck in a big block of ice over her. His stomach was twisting up out of pure nerves because this was the last position he thought he'd be in with her that night, if ever.

But he couldn't look away from her wide, startled eyes. They were beautiful up close. He could see the ring of hazel around her irises, how it was a stark contrast to the rich green the rest of her eyes were. How dynamic...

"Hello, doctor," she said, voice soft and a little bewildered. She sounded like the wind had been knocked out of her, which he didn't doubt. She had been tackled to the ground by a kid running out of the boys locker room. He had barely seen her before they collided, so he was about as mind boggled as she was, but she seemed to be taking it a lot better than he was.

He didn't even say anything. Her voice broke him free of his icy hold and he scrambled to get up, grabbing her hand in the process in order to help her up. He hadn't even realized he had done it until they were up on their feet and they were holding hands. He looked down at their joined hands, then up at her smiling face, then back. He pulled his hand away shyly.

"S-sorry, I didn't see you- I mean, I didn't mean to- shit!"

She giggled as he stumbled over his words. Wasn't she mad? Wasn't she going to yell at him for running her down in the hallway? What is she even doing out here? Where are her friends?

"It's okay, Eli," she told him.

How did she know it was me? The whole point of his costume was to stay hidden from most of the student body.

"Uh..."

KT smiled patiently, looking up at him. Up? Wait-

His eyes quickly darted to the floor, where he was reminded of her sneakers. No heels, no boots, just cute and sparkly lace-up sneakers that didn't give her any lift or height. He looked at her through his lashes, scared she could somehow see his blushing cheeks through his mask. Something about the fact that she was a few inches shorter than him was making him feel certain things. He had never thought about her actually being shorter than him - why would he? - but something about it was making his heart beat like crazy. Did he like short girls or just a girl that could be shorter and taller than him?

While his mind was spiraling, he forgot to say something.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He swallowed his thoughts and looked away from her, eyes scanning the hall and looking at anything but her. He nodded, once more not trusting his voice.

Suddenly, loud whooping and hollering came from down the hall. Familiar voices cheered in some kind of victory and Eli went frigid again. He tensed as he heard the voices of Kyler and his friends coming near, but his mind couldn't process what they were saying. All he knew was that he needed to run, but his blood had gone cold.

Then, a warm hand took his and started pulling him away. His body followed stupidly as a soft voice tried to break through his foggy mind. He looked at KT, her ponytail swinging behind her as she led him somewhere. The familiar doors of the gym came and went, and before he knew it, she had brought him into a classroom.