Displacement // Shawn Mendes

Eleven: The In-Between

It truly was funny how the sky was still that same melancholic shade of blue, how the air still smelled of wet grass and cinnamon scented candles, and how I was still in the same spot Reyna had left me.

It might've been around ten minutes, but it felt like an hour. My hands were shoved into the pockets of my denim jeans, soaking up the little amount of warmth they could provide. My feet were still planted into the pavement below me, and it felt like I could not will them to move.

Maybe I didn't want them to.

At first, I didn't mind the cold air causing slight chills throughout my entire body, because my thoughts were way too loud for me to notice. my mind kept drifting to what Amanda had said under her breath about me not wearing a sweater. I'm almost positive she was shamelessly scolding me, because that was the tone of voice Aaliyah had always used whenever I borrowed her charger without permission. It was the kind of tone you'd use when someone did something slightly crazy and left you with disbelief, and sometimes, a little disappointment.

I was shivering now.

It was 5:00. I had been here for 35 minutes.

Just ring it, I told myself. If you ring it, the door will open and you'll get whatever you're looking for. All you have to do is ring it.

My right hand was then embraced to the sudden freshness in the air, leaving the lukewarmness of my pocket. I had absolutely no idea why I was still standing here. I had no idea what the hell I was planning to accomplish by trying to go back inside her house. Why didn't I just wait in my car? Why didn't I just leave?

My palm then made contact with the familiar plastic circle, that caused a melody to ring behind the walls I stood in front of. I heard their voices again; I heard Amanda yell for Rey to open the door, and I heard her footsteps creak quietly against the floorboards paired with my breathing. I heard the crickets nearby, and I heard the wind rustling through the branches of the dying trees in the neighborhood. I heard the pitter-patter of the sprinkling rain that hit the sidewalk, the road, the windshield of my car, the roof of the house, the windows. And then, I heard the door unlock. It would be safe to say Reyna was surprised to see me.

"What are you still doing here? It's cold!" Her right arm moved from the doorway to her bare arms, embracing herself.

"I've been standing out here actually. I-I don't... I-I-" I struggled to be able to form coherent sentences, and was immediately grateful when Amanda Alvarez showed up to Reyna's side, her eyebrows furrowing. Reyna seemed to understand her confusion, and answered before I could.

"Mom, he says he's been standing here."

"Without a jacket!?" There it was.

Rey smirked at me, as if her mom finally flipped the scolding table on someone other than her. I still looked like an idiot, with that same priceless expression on my face.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."
"Sí."

Amanda and Reyna agreed at the same time and my eyes shifted to both of them awkwardly. I reached my hand to the back of my neck and stopped once I realized what I was doing. Reyna smiled and looked at the ground, and I couldn't tell whether it was because of the awkward agreement with her mom, or the fact she remembered she brought my bad habit to my attention.

Amanda was still at the doorway, and Rey cleared her throat as she looked at her. They exchanged a look I couldn't decipher, and Ms. Alvarez nodded, her mouth forming into an o shape, and her eyebrows raising. She had realized something I still had yet to discover.