Falling for Ezra

Flashback

The next gruesomely awkward hour consisted of me trying to avoid eye contact with Ezra, my mom putting on her usual pretty smile, and Parker staring at Ezra, who was staring at me.

I was zoned out until I heard my name come out of my father's mouth.

"Yes, she's a cheerleader now, or was at least back in Germany." my father says.

"Oh really? I never took you for the cheerleader type," Mrs. Klein says with an amusingly confused look on her face."

"I was twelve, how would you know?" I say a little harsher than I would've liked.

I tried to save myself by laughing shortly after. "Just joking," I say with a forced smile that probably just came off as bitchy.

That was awkward. If I could disappear I would.

I clear my throat and look at my mom, already knowing she's looking at me.

"May I be excused?" I ask, not being able to bear the stares that I'm getting.

"Of course." My mom says, trying not to grit her teeth.

I mouth a quick 'sorry' and make my way upstairs to my room.

I sigh harshly as I lay flat on my back on my bed.

"Why? Why me?" I say out loud.

I should stop complaining over any minor inconvenience. Some people have it way worse than me, it makes me feel terrible really. I walk around with all that a person could ask for, yet I find a reason to complain. My dad says that I 'beat myself up too much' whatever that's supposed to mean. Sometimes, I think about what my life would be like if my parents never met, or if they were divorced, or broke. Maybe that would save me from the torture of being me every day. That sounded ungrateful and entitled, I'm aware but it'd be a lie if I said I didn't think about it.

Maybe I should talk to Ezra.

I almost laughed audibly, definitely not.

Intrusive thoughts, go away.

Flashback*

"You know this is a terrible idea, right?" Ezra says matter-of-factly.

" Mm...", I fake think putting my finger on my mouth.

"Yes, I'm aware," I say

"We could get in trouble you know," he says raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, would you stop being such a wimp and come on," I say whining.

"Fine, but if we get in trouble I'm not going down with you. I'll say you blackmailed me or something." He says taking his shirt off.

"What are you doing?" I ask covering my eyes. "We're smoking a cigarette, not filming porn."

"No, you're smoking a cigarette. I have an addiction gene so I'd rather..not," he says.

"And it's hot so," he states dragging the 'o' " I'm gonna swim."

"Ezra you could die, and then I could go to jail for the rest of my life for not preventing my idiotic best friend from jumping in a lake. At night." I add.

He inches slowly to the edge of the dock.

"Ezra," I say seriously.

He inches. "Ezra."

"Don't be so uptight. I trust that you'll come to save me if I start to drown," he says shrugging his shoulders.

"I won't, I swear Ezra don't you dare." He cannonballs into the dark lake.

Idiot.

He comes up from the water.

"See, not drowning," he says smiling sarcastically.

"Mm, good for you," I reply.

"Get in." He says smirking at me.

" Uh, no my clothes are gonna get wet," I say crossing my arms.
"Mhm, okay," he says calmly.
A little too calmly.
Uh oh.
He goes under the water and doesn't come back up for a whole forty-five seconds. I counted.

"Ezra! Stop being a show-off and come up!" I yell, hoping he can hear me.

I groan.

I take off my converse and submerge in the water to go save the idiot I call my best friend.

I pull him up and slap him harder than ever before.

He just smiles like an asshole.

"You dick! You could've died." I say while looking him in the eye, unreasonably close to him.

" Yeah but you saved me, so ta-da! Not dead." He says.

"I would've had to come in here and drown myself because you're not leaving me," I say squinting at him.

"Oh yeah? What happened  to ' could go to jail for the rest of my life for not preventing my idiotic best friend from jumping in a lake.' " He says mocking me.

" I was joking, duh," I say accidentally looking down at his lips.

He blushes.

Cute.

"Azalea,"

"Hm?" I say still looking at his lips.

Why do I wanna kiss him?

" Have you ever kissed anyone?" he asks.

Definitely not.

I'm only in eighth grade. But I decided to lie because, why not? "Of course," I say in a whisper-like tone.

"Have you?" I ask, I'm genuinely curious.

"Not yet," he says grabbing my face gently.

Is it getting hot in here? No? Okay.

As I close my eyes and lean in we are interrupted by flashlights and heavy footsteps.

"Utah police!"

Uh oh.

Flashback ends*

That was probably the most intimate thing that's ever happened to me, sadly.

I smile at the memory, so present in my mind it's like it happened yesterday. I decide to grow up and go back downstairs.

Everyone is sitting on the sofa laughing and watching some scary movie, in the dark.

Children, I laugh to myself.

I see everyone but Ezra, maybe he went home?

I turn around and go to the kitchen to be met with Mr. Klein himself.

A little bit of awkwardness turns into a full-blown 'this is so awkward I want to die after we stood there and stared at each other for a while.

I decide to speak first.

Well not really, my mouth moved faster than my brain so yeah.

"Ezra."

"Azalea."

Hi! I actually love the flashbacks, I'll try to update more frequently but I'm going to Florida today so Ill be uploading when I get there.

Much love

-S