Coffee & Nerves (boyxboy)

[10] The Tortoise And The... Porcupine?

When I return to the table I pick at my food, barely eating anything. My stomach is practically growling as loud as my dog does by the time everyone goes to dump their trays. I'm almost drooling just thinking about the contents of my packed lunch.

As we walk toward the trash cans, Jack bumps into my shoulder and leans over my tray to inspect it commenting, "You barely ate anything."

I just shrug and reply, "Had a big breakfast," hoping that will be a satisfying enough answer for Jack.

He bumps into me again, "What?"

"I had a big breakfast," I repeat, louder this time.

I didn't.

Jack bringing it up makes me feel even worse about wasting food and lying about the reason why. I honestly do hate to throw away perfectly good food, but I didn't want to force myself to eat this stuff and then throw up or something. That would be embarrassing. Lord knows I've already had enough humiliating moments today.

Jack keeps his shoulder in contact with mine for a second longer than seems necessary. I dump my tray and as I turn to get away from the shameful situation he grabs onto my forearm and pulls me toward him.

Although he's only about 6'1, the couple inch difference between our heights makes me feel like a small child being scolded by a big grown up.

He leans in close, his breath tickling my ear. Goosebumps rise all over my neck and spread down my body to my arms, where Jack has a firm grip on me.

"Not so fast Mr. Sunshine," he chuckles lightly at his nickname for me, sending shivers down my spine. "We need to solidify our plans with Max," he explains in a low whisper. Him breathing on my neck is making me feel uncomfortable in more ways than one. I turn my head away from him, hopefully hiding the bit of color rising on my cheeks.

"O-oh okay," is all I can muster in a voice that I try to make sound confident but resembles more of a small squeak.

I realize that even though Jack has loosened his grip on me, I haven't moved away from him. The sensation of his hard body up against my back stirs feelings deep inside me that I'd rather ignore. But... he hasn't moved away yet either.

Although I can't say that I'm necessarily hating this, it's not quite what I had imagined when I planned on 'pushing Jack and I together.'

This is very different.

As he loosens his grip completely and his hand falls down it brushes up against my hand, surprising me. This skin to skin contact sends tingles through my body and squeezes the air out of my lungs. Apparently, there was a breath in there that I didn't know I was holding in.

He steps away and I barely feel more relaxed now that he's exited my personal bubble.

I manage to squeak out a few quick replies to set up the meeting with Max after school, then dash off around the corner. I don't necessarily know where I'm going, but I know I'm getting away from Jack. I look at my schedule for the room number to determine where I have to go to get to class, referencing the map of the school provided on the back of our schedules.

Yes, I'm a senior and have attended this school for three years. But it's a big school! Don't judge.

Anyways, next up is trigonometry with Mr. Vanark and I'm relatively excited, not because I adore the intricacies of trigonometry but due to the fact that I can finally eat.

I walk into the classroom and choose a seat in the middle so I'm hidden enough to eat my lunch, but not so far in the back that I can't read anything on the board. I have awful vision, even with glasses. I guess that makes me a blind turtle.