Scarred Hearts [A Hearts of Gold Novel] ✔

Chapter Eleven

Author's Note: Okay, I might have gotten the chapters a bit mixed up, THIS is the chapter that is a little bit different. . . Not really LOL, but I hope you like this chapter! ~ Harper ♥

Chapter 11

Leyda and I had been walking most of the morning. Matt and Dylan were somewhere in town, looking for a good place for us to get lunch. Oddly enough, though I was starving from skipping breakfast, I was rather exhausted. I decided to take a nap when Leyda and I came to a park. We sat down, Leyda offered her thigh as a headrest, and I fell asleep after a few minutes. A while later, I heard someone speaking to me, and I started to wake up, but I could not lift my eyelids.

"Michael, not many people know this about me, but back in high school I liked this guy. He was not one to go with the crowd, but he did fit in with everyone around him. He never treated anyone poorly, even if they treated him wrong. I could never get over the fact that I did not have the guts to talk to him, so I would prank him and his close pals. There were times that I had the chance to speak to him, and I chickened out. One day, I mustered up the courage to talk to him at a school dance, but then I saw him with this other girl. She was a little younger than he was, but he seemed to treat her as his equal. He rarely came to these events, but I was always so happy to see him when he did attend. I just watched him with the girl; he seemed to treat her as though she were his little sister. I had a date, but I had no idea where he was by then. What was bothering me was that I had spoken to this guy the week before, and he had given me the best advice anyone could ask for, even though he didn't know why I was asking for it. There was no difference between talking to him while being wet with tears and having the courage to talk to him and thank him, because both chances came and went so quickly. I never stopped liking him, because I was hoping that one day I would run into him and we would get to know each other a little better. But he went to college to study and I stayed home to work. . ."

By this time, I was fully awake, but I had kept my eyes closed. It was Leyda speaking to me; I found it strange that I could not recognize her voice before.

"Leyda," I whispered, my eyes still closed. "What was it that stopped you from coming up to me, and talking to me?"

Something wet dripped on my face; a tear? I opened my eyes and found Leyda looking down at me, with tears streaked cheeks.

"I had a very low self-esteem," she said, swallowing. "Brandon helped me see myself a little better, but he rarely spoke about that."

"You thought I would not want to talk to you?" I asked, taking her hand in mine.

"I know you would have talked to me," Leyda replied, lifting my hand to her cheek. "I just . . ."

I sat up and pulled her into me, kissing the top of her head.

"Shh, Leyda its okay," I whispered, holding her face in my hands as I met her gaze. "Wanna hear a confession? A deep, dark secret?"

She nodded slowly as I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. I did not know how I was going to tell her this, but I went for it anyway.