The 7 Year Endearment. √

Chapter 7

"I'm sorry." His words hung in the air and looked at me expectantly as if waiting for me to breathe them in. I blinked at Jason clearly not knowing how to respond.

I had completely changed from the stalker Eleanor after Jason insulted me in front of the whole school and his other set of rude behaviours he displayed when I didn't do anything to offend him. I had even convinced myself to not type his name on every social media even when he had blocked me on almost all of them. I had toned down my thoughts about him and kept replaying the cafeteria scene again and again in my mind. We never spoke during Biology classes and I never once took notice of him, atleast when he was looking. I pretended that I sat alone in my seat with no partner beside and dashed out of the class first thing when the bell rang. I know it's too hard to get over your crush even when you have zero memories to play. But trust your imagination to cover that for you. I was pretty shocked myself when I became firm in forgetting him. I didn't even tell my friends about my seating arrangement which I would have, had he not humiliated me and I also didn't want to start a Jason topic which was going to drain all my efforts to forget him.

But when he stands there and looks at you with pleading eyes, expecting you to accept his apology, all of the I am not going to think about him goes flying out of the window.

No, no, no.

First he offends me, avoids me like the plague and now he suddenly becomes the good guy, comes to apologise and expects me to forgive him?!

"Why are you apologising now?" I gave a shallow laugh which died in my throat when he took a step towards me.

"Because," he stopped as he sighed, his minty breath crowding my nose. He ran a hand through his face and I might be mistaken if I saw his fingers shake a bit. He quickly put them in his jean pocket before he continued, "It was rude of me to behave the way I have been with you since the past few weeks. And it wasn't to hurt your feelings," he now scratched the back of his neck as he was embarrassed to say what he said next, "I just thought you'd be like..." he trailed off waiting for me to get the hint. I narrowed my eyes trying to figure out what he meant as he looked everywhere but at me.

And then the realization hit like cold water.

"So?" I snorted and sarcastically replied, "Are you going to offend every girl in front of the whole school and then apologize when there is no one around once you conclude that she's not like Alex?"

Jason really thought I was going to stick on him like glue that never wears off, the way Alex used to behave around him. That kind of explained why he was being so dramatic about sitting beside me. But that didn't mean his behaviour had to continue for this long. The guy was supposed to get the memo that Eleanor is not going to wear 'I love Jason' tshirts after a few days, not after weeks!

"No, I wouldn't do that with anyone ever given how much I hurt you. I'm not a jerk Eleanor," he shook his head and sighed before he stopped for a moment and considered something. "Will that make you accept my apology?"

His reply made me throw completely off guard. "W-what?"

"You said I'm apologizing to you in private," he looked around and as I mirrored his gesture I took in the deserted hallway, "So Eleanor," I tried to calm my breathing when I heard him say my name for the second time in a row, "will I make it better for you if I apologize in front of everyone?" He looked at me intently, waiting for a response.

If I looked like I was considering his proposal on the outside, then he had no idea that my brain was frantically pacing back and forth in the little confined space up there.

He was proposing a public apology for me and I was not sure how to react to it exactly. I wanted to retort yes in that highly manner like this one might work and examine my nails but I knew better not to do it. But then another thought struck me which made my little balloon of hope deflate. What if he was saying this out of politeness? He didn't mean it and maybe he expected me to turn the proposal down, accept his apology and then he walks away triumphantly like meh that was easy.

I shook my thoughts away and as I tucked a lock of brown hair behind my ear, I noticed Jason's eyes following my gesture. I tried to ignore it and was also conscious of how much blood must have travelled to my face by now, the rest of my body facing a drought.

But before I could reply, he quickly held my hand in his and started dragging me to the middle of the school hallways.

"What are you doing?" My eyes widened in horror as I looked down at our interlocked hands making my heart all excited and giddy again. The students were now filing out of the classes signalling the end of the period. I also realised that we both skipped class but that was not important right now.

"Trying to make things right." He turned back for a moment to look at me and smiled before setting his determined eyes in front of him.

"You don't have to do this!" I hissed at him but this time he chose to ignore me.

But it was too late. People were already curious to see us together and had gathered around as he slowed down with me in tow. He turned around to face me and I gave him an abort now! look but the golden hair guy just smiled at me showing his gorgeous dimples. I saw my friends swim through the sea of crowds to catch sight of the scene I was standing in. They were shocked but still they all smiled teasingly at me. Even Rebecca came forward and I swear I saw her mouth fall open and touch the ground when she saw us.

Jason, on the other hand, continued his unbelievably sweet gestures and the kind of mixed feelings I was getting from this guy now weighed down to my stomach and I wanted to puke...... metaphorically.

Without wasting time, he began, "I have been a jerk to you since you came up to me and told me about your feelings. I should have respected them but instead I insulted you in front of everyone. I can't easily say that I am not that kind of a guy when my actions prove otherwise," he looked at me with a certain kind of intensity in his brown eyes as he continued, "But like I said, I want to make things right. I didn't mean to hurt you the way I have since the past few weeks." He paused and the crowd seemed to hold their breaths waiting for the climax, "That is why I am sorry Eleanor. Will you forgive me?"

"Say you forgive him!" Someone in the crowd bellowed and lot many other responses were thrown in our direction.

"Yes I forgive you." I said as calmly as I could and I noticed his smile grow wide, his brown eyes twinkling with happiness.

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