The Girl With Five Watches

12: Noblest of Barnes

Standing away from the door, I caught up to where she was and we walked closer to the front of the store. It looked like she was out of breath. She must've been doing a lot of running.

"Are you OK?" she asked. "I saw you leave Denny's. You didn't even eat your food."

For a moment I just stood there unsure of what to say. The only thing I could think of was the truth, but I didn't want her to hate me for the truth.

"I don't know. Just seeing how you reacted to when Conner showed up. It was like I wasn't even there. You were excited and..."

She began laughing not letting me finish what I had to say. This lasted a good thirty seconds until she was able to calm down and took a deep breath as she hugged me resulting in a kiss on the cheek.

"Jimmy, you have nothing to worry about. Conner is actually engaged. When you were walking out of the bathroom, he showed me his engagement ring. He's getting married in September. And I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable and ignored you."

With that, she held both my hands and looked straight into my eyes with a vibrant smile. The war in my body began to calm down. I couldn't help but smile back at her while looking at the spark in her innocent eyes.

"You know, you're cute when you're jealous."

In reaction, I chuckled and she began to slowly fill in the obvious space between us. My heart was beating faster and faster the closer she got. And before I knew it, our bodies were against each other with her hands on my shoulders. In a panic, my hands found themselves on her hips. Things began to grow a little awkward with us just smiling at each other. And with our bodies against each other, I could hear Sara's heart beating faster than the beat of my own heart. What was about to happen? Let's be real, I knew what was about to happen, but part of me wanted to deny it. Was I really ready for what was about to happen? If I did exactly what Sara was expecting, everything between us would be different. What if she about to make the first move? I could only wonder if she was wondering the same thing.

"You know, we might as well walk into the store," I interrupted. "We're already here."

The distance between us died and Sara agreed. Although, she didn't seem enthused by it. I could tell in her eyes she was disappointed. A little tear even came down one of her eyes. Dang it, was I a jerk? As we walked in, Sara stayed right by my side. Something inside of me wanted to stop and recreate the moment we almost had outside. Only this time, it wanted to finish that moment. But I guess if Sara wanted that moment, she could've done something. Probably a good idea not to make a scene in the store. Instead, we headed straight for the books.

"Look, I found 'A Walk to Remember.' You want to buy it?" She asked with the book in her hands.

How could I say no? I didn't want to disappoint her more than I already had that afternoon.

"Let's get it," I smiled pulling out my wallet and getting out the gift card.

With the book in her hands, we began a search for 'Tiger Eyes.' After what felt like a long maze, we finally found the book. With the two books in our hands, we continued roaming around the store until Sara stopped me. Her eyes were on 'The Fault in Our Stars.'

"I heard so many good things about this book. Can we use your gift card to buy it?"

I found myself chuckling. "Interesting. Everything I heard about this book has been pretty negative. A lot of people think this book sucks."

"Who did you hear that from? Your mom?" she joked.

But she really wanted to get that book. And never would I have expected to someone use puppy eyes on me. Such a sweet and innocent girl wanted to read a book about a couple with cancer. As if one book about a girl with cancer wasn't enough. What can I say? Those puppy eyes worked on me and I agreed to add that book to our collection.

"We can read a chapter every day starting tomorrow," claimed Sara. She was growing more excited each passing second. "Oh my gosh, let's meet tomorrow night at my dorm and we can read it. Karla will probably be with Roger so we'll have time for ourselves to read it. Maybe we can do a project on it for our English Class."

Wow, calm down girl. I was amazed that she wanted to spend all that time with me to read a book. But it was almost impossible to complain. Everything she wanted to do sounded amazing. Even if I ended up hating that book, at least I would be able to spend some time with her.

After all the excitement that Sara was going through, she took a moment to sit down claiming she felt a little lightheaded. A moment later, she headed to the bathroom and had me pay for the three books. Once the books were paid for, I waited at the Starbucks inside the store and texted Roger about all that had happened.

"Dude, you really screwed up," one of his messages claimed.

"Make your move on your long walk back to campus."

"I think I might wait at least another month when I'm ready."

"Another month? Are you serious? Karla even agrees. She called you a wussy. Only take out the 'w' and replace it with another letter."

Sara spent at least twenty minutes in the bathroom. What was taking her so long? Once she was out, we made our way outside and headed back to campus. How was this walk going to play out?

Hope you enjoyed this nice chapter! I bet you want to buy some books now. Remember to comment, vote, and share!

Were Jimmy and Sara about to kiss before they entered the store? If so, should they have?

Does all this reading they're going to do sound fun?

How is the walk back to campus going to play out?