Just A Crush (BWWM)✅

four

I stared at the pink paper while wiping my salty fingers on my jeans. All I could focus on was Kit's finger pointing out important information. I wasn't paying attention to the words coming out of his mouth since I was chewing. He then stopped and I looked up at him to see he was looking back at me. "Huh?" I said dumbly. "I mean! Yes! I get it all the way."

"Okay, then you should have no problem with the research." That's when I almost choked on my fries. He was smirking again which made me a bit angry inside. "I'm joking. I would never leave someone with that amount of work. Maybe we should go to the library after school then."

The waitress came over to refill our glasses which I needed because my mouth was parched.

"The library opens at four and it gets crowded quickly so we should meet fifteen minutes before to get good seats." I nodded along to whatever he was saying and writing on the paper. He then accepted the check before I could intervene, as if I was going to. "Now we can talk about whatever you want to talk about outside of school."

Twirling my straw around the glass gave me a bit more thinking confidence. Kit was obviously waiting for me to start the conversation now since he fed me and all. "Maybe why you all of a sudden gave me the time of day?" I raised an eyebrow at him as he leaned back in his seat.

"Ah, I knew you'd ask that." He beamed at me as if he was about to beg for something. "But... this isn't how this is going to go."

"What are you on about?"

"A question for a question. I have some things I want to know for my own too." I rolled my eyes when he said that. Am I about to get blackmailed for saying the wrong thing? Yes. Is there anything I don't want people to know? Yes. "You stare at me a lot during class and I didn't find anything wrong with it up until I saw you at the party. You were staring at Harvey."

"I was-"

"You were. I have eyes and I know how to use them. You looked at him the same way you looked at me but unlike some people, I like to give attention to the ones who give it to me. So here I am, being your friend."

I wanted to cover my face but I was too humiliated to move. This whole time I thought Kit was clueless about me looking at him and little did I know he took note on my stalker-ish ways. "That's embarrassing," I admit. "But I only did it because your hair... it's always a mess."

"You stared at me because of my hair?" I nodded quickly. Just then, he wildly ran his fingers through it causing blue strands to protrude anywhere they could. I bit back my words of criticism. "Better?"

His hair looked visibly soft. Too soft to fight the urge of touching it but I fought that urge everyday. I knew I'd be labeled as the weirdo if I even attempted to fix his hair without being asked, so I left it alone against my will. That was the only reason I stare.

"Hmm. I guess I could let that excuse slide. Now it's my turn." Here we go. "If you look at me because you want to fix my hair. Then what do you want to fix about Harvey?"

"I never cared about Harvey until he said something to my best friend. It filled her head up and eventually ruined her. There is one thing I want to fix about Harvey and that's how conceited he is."

Kit laughed softly as he saw the disgust on my face. "All the years I knew him and that's one thing I couldn't talk him out of." I shook my head in disappointment. "Your turn."

"Do you know if Harvey really liked Edith?"

He grimaced. "Gonna be honest with you. I have no idea who that is."

"My friend from the party!"

"The red head!" He clapped. I rolled my eyes when he appeared to look like a kid who won the spelling bee. "Harvey has so many flings that I can't keep up. If she's not Sophia then I would never know. She's the only one he really talks about."

"Then why'd they break up?" I scooted forward to make sure I didn't miss a word.

Kit had a suspicious grin on his face and I knew I was pushing it. He then brushed his hair out of his eyes and fell deeper into his seat. "Do you like Harvey?" He smirked.

My heart flew out of my chest causing me to look guilty as ever. "What?!" Kit bursted into laughter. "No! I don't! I'm just looking out for Edith!" He pressed a finger to his lips while trying to control his laughter. The look on his face came off as if he was embarrassed.

"You're so loud. It's just a question."

"Okay, well now it's my turn. Why did the both of you break up with your girlfriends at the same time?"

"Seems to me that April broke up with me. Maybe it's a coincidence." He shrugged while putting the straw to his lips. I watched him take a sip of his drink while staring into my eyes. It made me want to cover my face since I've always felt insecure about my acne. To me, that's what he was staring at. "Done with your food?"

"Yep." I say quickly without being sure if I was done with it or not. He grabbed his drink and his trash then slid out of the booth and I did the same.

When we made our exit to his car, it was dark outside and we were one of the very few in the parking lot. He requested that I drive to the school and I didn't complain since his car was like no other car I've driven before. I figured that we should talk about something other than our friends which was a great idea. I've learned more about the real Kit Richardson than I've learned since listening to rumors in the halls.

"I know I said that I haven't really met Edith, but I'd like to. She sounds really important to you." I slowly unlocked my car door while processing what he said and how risky it is. Edith is the same person who warned me about Kit and Harvey's behavior. I'd be a fool to tell her that Kit is becoming my friend.

"Yeah..." I hesitated. "Maybe. Uh, she's still a little on edge about what happened with her and Harvey. I don't know what she'd think about meeting his best friend." I chuckled nervously while throwing my backpack into the passenger's seat of my car.

Kit nodded once then looked back at me from behind the driver's door of his car. "I hope she'll know that he and I are two different people. Harvey often gives me a bad rep. That's why it was so hard for April to be my girlfriend. I just don't know how to get people to believe that I'm not him."