The Cassidy Boys

Chapter Twenty-Two: New Mission

Chapter Twenty-Two: New Mission

     I slowly pivot on my heel, slowly turning to face the person I've been avoiding. The second we lock eyes, Xavier's mouth tips up to one side.

     "Or should I say Maxine?"

     I try to smile, but it comes out as more of a wince with the white straw of my juice box still glued between my lips, and I finally release it, allowing the juice box to fall back into my hands. Xavier takes a few steps closer. His steps are casual, his pace is casual, even his attire is casual as if he doesn't have a care in the world.

     "So, how've you been?"

     I don't know where to look. My eyes land on his nose, his chin, and then his hair before finally falling to his black high-top covered feet. I have no words, so I meekly shrug my shoulders while my conscious calls me a coward.

     "Are you sick?" A crease forms in between Xavier's eyebrows, and he leans down in attempt to catch my gaze. "I haven't really seen you around, and you never answered my texts."

     "No," I squeak before opting for another shrug. "I've just been . . . busy, I guess."

     "Oh." His eyebrows go up for a second before he nods once. "Well, you missed a fun taco binge. I had to drag Ryan along with me instead."

     I shrug again, and I don't know about Xavier, but I'm ready to punch myself in the face for the lame gesture.

     "Well I better—" I take a step forward.

     Xavier mimics the step, and my stomach drops at the fact that we're closer than we were two seconds before.

     The eyebrow crease reappears. "What's going on?"

     "What do you mean?" Now I'm all defensive. My big mouth had nothing to say before, but now I'm spitting out unnecessary defense.

     "It seems like we're back to square one." Xavier leans down to try and catch my gaze again. He's successful, but I all but flinch away. "You're not even looking me in the eyes, just Max." His voice is light. "Did I do something wrong?"

     A switch flicks on, and the light turns off.

     Xavier's shadow falls over me as he takes a step closer, but what has me flinching again are the fists at his sides. "Actually, I didn't do anything wrong, so what's really up?"

     Just like that all the nerves are wiped from my system, and replaced with a slow tea pot like boil. My spine straightens, my jaw clenches, and I finally meet his gaze in what feels like the first time in months. I open my mouth, ready to pour out all the anger boiling inside me, but then everything stops.

     Both of our eyes are a dark, middle of a sunflower brown. That's something I've always known. I also know that his haven't changed.

     Since the day I smashed into Xavier's locker, his gaze has always remained the same. His pupils never dilated, his eye lids never widened. His iris never softened, or brightened. And if my detective skills are of any worth, they should be. The internet may be wrong, but even if it is, there's still a saying. That saying I always thought was kind of pathetic, yet secretly wished was true.

     If a guy likes a girl, you can see it in his eyes.

     All I see in Xavier's eyes, and all I've ever seen in Xavier's eyes, is a shadowy, and slightly distorted reflection of myself. A regular, blank reflection that is nothing more, nor nothing less than it should be.