Breathless by Heather C. Hudak

nodded.
     
    “ It’s later.”
     
     
     

Chapter 9 - The Next Day
     
    “ Why are you here,” I finally asked. I had been fighting the question for so long that it was hard to contain any longer.
     
    “ Honestly,” he asked rhetorically.
     
    “ Honestly,” I said, nodding.
     
    “ I was compelled,” he said. “That first day, in the hall, the way the light reflected in your eyes and your hair wisped across your cheek…”
     
    My heart skipped a beat, and my cheeks flushed. I looked down at my hands that were fidgeting with the edge of my duvet. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. In fact, I was fairly certain that no one had ever really taken notice of me before. There were so many beautiful girls in Evergreen that I was never a consideration. Especially not for a specimen as stunning as the one before me now. I felt particularly self-conscious as he stared at me in silence. He was examining my every movement as though he were dissecting the finest thread in a cashmere sweater.
     
    “ Is this really so hard for you,” he asked. “To hear that you can inspire even the coldest heart to beat a little bit faster?”
     
    I nodded and jumped up from the bed. Grabbing my biology textbook, I sat back down at my desk and turned to the chapter on fungal anatomy.
     
    “ Where should we begin,” I asked.
     
    He looked at me with a puzzled expression.
     
    “ I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” he said, seeming genuinely confused. “I thought we were going to talk.”
     
    “ I thought you needed help getting caught up with your classes,” I replied, pointing at the book spread open across the desk. “Biology seems as good a place as any to get started.”
     
    Chaseyn stared up at me through his heavy brow, he shook his head once and grinned slyly. Standing slowly, he walked two paces to where I sat anxiously awaiting his response. Gently, he flipped the book closed and looked at me curiously.
     
    “ I wanted to see you, but I don’t need any help in school.”
     
    With that, he turned and walked to the door. I stared blankly in Chaseyn`s direction as he placed his hand on the knob and began to twist his wrist lightly to the right.
     
    “ I should leave, but I’d like to see you again.”
     
    I nodded, and he was gone.
     
    I sat for a long time just looking at the empty hallway. Moments before, a strange boy had occupied that space, and now, it was as if he had never been here at all. His steps were silent as he walked down the stairs. If I hadn’t heard him thank my mom for the lovely meal, I would have thought he was standing in silence just past my line of sight.
     
    “ Lia,” my mom yelled. “I just started watching a movie. Do you want to join me?”
     
    My mind was racing, and I thought it would be better for me to put my brain to use in a way other than to stew over the evening’s events alone in my room. I had finished my homework earlier in the day while I was waiting for my mom at the clinic, and I was banned from using the phone, so I decided to cut my losses and join my mom in the living room.
     
    A cool breeze blew through my bedroom window. To avoid returning to an icebox at bedtime, I sauntered to the open pane and started to shut it tight. That’s when I noticed his green eyes glowing in the dim moonlight. Chaseyn stood beneath the streetlamp looking up at me. A weak smile drew across his full lips, and then he turned on his heel and walked away, looking back once quickly. So quickly that, had I blinked, I may have missed it. He was an enigma, and I was determined to crack the code.
     
    I skipped across my room and flew down the stairs, my feet barely touching the steps as I made my way across the dark room to a reclining chair in the corner. Nothing had changed in that room since my father’s death. Only, when he was alive, that chair was always occupied by him. Now, it was my safe place. I curled up in a ball on the soft fabric and wrapped a