Finding You

chapter 4

I woke up that morning full of life. Unlike usual, I had an easy time getting up. And the walk to school was faster.

When I got into my first class I saw Zay at his usual spot near the window. Memories of the afternoon before flooded my mind and I couldn't help but smile to myself.

He looked over, catching me staring. I moved my gaze to the empty seat beside him, and walked over before I lost my nerve. I sat down and was about to greet him, but as soon as our eyes met he turned to look out back outside.

Hoping he wasn't purposely trying to be rude, I focused on the teacher. She went to the front of the class.

"Ok class," she said in mono tone. "You will need a partner for our next art project. You will be drawing anything of your choice, and then compare what the results are between you and your partner. This will show how unique each and every piece of art can be."

Everyone turned to their neighbors or moved seats to partner up. I peeked at Zay, who was still looking out of the window. It seemed like everyone had a partner but us. What amazing luck.

"Um, Zay?" I said to get his attention.

"Partner? Sure," he said before I could ask.

"Ok. But what if I was actually gonna ask for your lunch money?" I questioned him.

"Oh, I don't know, I just got a feeling." He still wasn't looking at me. "So what do you want to draw?" he asked.

I already had an idea for that. "An eye."

Zay finally ignored the window, but gave me the strangest look, like I told him I wanted to draw him jumping into lava. "Okaay. No comment."

I couldn't feel anymore judged. "You know Zay, before yesterday, I didn't even know you were capable of carrying on a conversation," I said.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I can," he said.

My heart started to flutter for no apparent reason, so I smiled. He stared at me and then said something random.

"Where do you live?" he said without looking away, as if to see my reaction.

"Should I feel violated by this question?" I asked.

"No, I'm not stalking," he said with a hot smile.

I tried not to blush. "Right next to you. I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

"You haven't either," he pointed out.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did. But you may ask another."

"Why have you just all of a sudden started to talk to me? Or started to talk at all? Really. You seem like a totally different person."

He didn't say anything for a while, but then he looked out the window and spoke. "I guess, I enjoy your, presence. Or, no. I can talk easily to you. No, I like you. Talking to you! I mean. I like talking to you. No. I. You're not," he paused. "You're just different, than others. I guess.." He trailed off quietly.

He looked more embarrassed than I did whenever I stumbled with my words around him. And all I could do was stare at him silently. His eyes escaped to the window, again. Trying to hold his attention, I asked him something else.

"One more thing. Why do you stare out of the window like that?" I asked him. He looked flustered by the question.

"Um, why do you notice that?" he asked, not answering. Now I was the flustered one.

"You do it every day."

"How do you know I do it every day?"

"Because I see you do it every-," I stopped midsentence. He didn't need to know I stare at him every day.

He raised his eyebrows. "Ok, then," he said making the moment awkward.

I looked away and pulled out the eye that I was working on. His stubbornness made me feel like ignoring him.

I had already finished the pupil. It looked like an animal eye. With the way that the outer strikes connected, there was no way it could be a human eye. I got out my colored pencils.

"Could I see yours so far?" Zay asked me.

I shook my head. "We're not supposed to see each other's," I said taking in the color of his eyes.

The deep color was enthralling, so I decided I would use that color for my eye. It was a really dark brown, and boy did it looked hot on him.

"Fine, then you can't see mine either," he said as if I really cared to see his. Which I did.

I drew the outline of the eye and drew in the lines in the iris. I got the darkest brown color pencil I owned and tried it out. When it was too light, I tried a few other shades. After those were the wrong hue, I decided to finish it later. And then the bell rang.

I got my stuff and walked away from him and the classroom, not expecting him to follow or catch up. But he was next to me in less than a second. And he was smiling. I looked at him in awe.

"So Amber, um. What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because you're smiling," I told him.

"What, you don't want me to smile? I can stop if you like," he said and stopped smiling.

"No, smile! It makes you look.." Hotter, I was going to say, but I caught myself. "Better," I said instead.

"Oh. Well, I was going to say-," Zay started but got stopped when Savannah came up beside me and started to talk.

"Hey Amber, I was. Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt you guys?" Savannah said, looking from me to him with wide curious eyes.

"Um, I don't know. Not real-"

"Yes, you did," Zay interrupted me, his mood noticeably dampened.

"Oh, you can talk? That's a shocker."

She was just joking, but the humor didn't reach him. He gave Savannah a hostile once over before looking at me.

"I'll catch up with you later. Amber," he said addressing my name to make sure Savannah knew who he was talking to.

I smiled, half to myself, half to him. "Ok. Bye," I said delighted that he even wanted to talk to me again.

When he was out of ear shot, Savannah pulled on my arm. "Ok. What was that about? I did not just hear Zyler tell you he would catch up with you later, did I? Are you two dating? Man, I didn't think he was single. As hot as he is, I doubt he's ever been single. Have you guy's ki-."

I stopped her. "First of all, no. We're not dating. Second of all, I do think he's single," I said with a smile. I hadn't even considered that it looked like we were dating. Zay had never talked to any girl at school, or any one at all for that matter.

"So let me get this straight. Zyler, the Zyler Maclo, who never talks to anyone, just comes up to you one day and decides, oh she seems cool so I'll talk to her? And just be her friend?"

"No," I said in a no duh voice.

I rolled my eyes and told her about me following him home and having dinner at his house. She was probably happier about it than I was.

"He invited you to have dinner at his house!? And you think he doesn't like you? Gosh, you really need some help from the love doctor."

I laughed. She was always giving advice, whether I wanted it or not. "Do you really think he likes me?" I asked her.

"Yes! Why wouldn't he? You're like, the beautifulest girl I know!" she exclaimed. I couldn't deal with her excitement. This wasn't even that exciting.

"You've really got to calm down. It's not like he proposed to me. We need to get to class, before we're late."

And then, almost as if on cue, the bell rang. I said goodbye and headed off to my next class.