No Turning Back

Can We Talk?

"Looking for someone," I heard a female voice say. It was Monday morning and I was at my locker, scanning the halls casually. I turned quickly to see Mia standing there with a soft smile on her face. Her blonde hair was in soft curls around her face, her wide blue eyes staring at me curiously. Her smile grew as our eyes met. "Hey," she said happily. She jumped up to peck a kiss at my cheek.

"Hey," I murmured. "How are you?"

"I'm good now. How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?" Oh god, how did I know she was going to ask that question? I felt my stomach twist into butterflies at the thought of what I'd done the past weekend. The events of Friday night and Saturday flew through my mind. From kissing Jayden to our deep talks to our pillow fight we had since I decided to start talking shit about his music. I wished I could have gotten to see him on Sunday but he had to go to Church and then work afterwards. He did call me when he got off and we talked for an hour or so before I let him go to sleep. Somehow, after hearing his voice, I felt a bit better and I was able to sleep peacefully.

"Not really," I lied. "How was your college trip," I asked. Her eyes widened in excitement.

"Oh my gosh, UCLA is beautiful! I think I'm going to commit there! Literally, I loved it so much!" I smiled.

"That's good, Mia. I'm happy for you."

"Have you figured out which Ivy League school you're going to yet? I mean its November, I'm sure you have your choice picked out already."

"Um, I'm actually not going to an Ivy League. I'm going to Stanford." Mia raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Why Stanford if you don't mind my asking?"

"I just really like it. Their premed program is great, their campus is great, the school spirit is great and I just feel as if that's the right choice for me."

"I'm happy you made the right choice," Mia said with a big smile.

"Yea," I murmured. Mia tilted her head at me. "Is everything alright, Danny? You seem a bit out of it."

"Yea. I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind." She put her small hand on my arm and gave me a soft smile.

"You know I'm here if you need to talk about anything." I forced a smiled down at her.

"Thanks." I finished getting my books and such before I shut my locker, grabbed her hand, and began to lead her down the hallway to her locker. Mia babbled on about her visit to UCLA as we walked and I partially listened to her. I caught a few sentences here and there but really I was looking around for Jayden. He told me that he was going to come to school today but I felt myself get a bit worried that he wasn't going to be here. Although I knew that we couldn't be lovey dovey in public, I still wanted to see him. I just wanted to see his beautiful green eyes and that tiny smile of his. I didn't see him until we finally got to Mia's locker. He was across the hall with Bethany who was talking animatedly at her locker. His ice wall was back up, his eyes hard and his mouth tightened into a line. He didn't really seem to be listening to his friend. Instead, his eyes were roaming around aimlessly – or at least they were until they landed on me.

His eyes immediately lit up a bit at the sight of me, his lips started to tug at the ends as his tiny smile threatened to come out. His eyes appreciatively analyzed me before they fell down to my hand that was intertwined with Mia's. As soon as they did, I saw the light in his eyes go out and they hardened. Then, for the first time in forever, he looked me in the eyes and glared at me. His deadly look lasted for a moment before he turned to Bethany, murmured something to her and walked away. He didn't look at me again as he walked in the opposite direction. I felt the high I'd felt when he'd looked at me fade as I watched him go. I suddenly felt guilty and ashamed. I did tell him that I was going to break up with Mia but I just didn't figure out when I was going to do it yet. I guess he figured that I would have done it as soon as possible so that he wouldn't have to share me. I knew that I couldn't blame him if he were angry with me. Instead, I just had to try to hurry up and do what I needed to do.