Not Different but Unique
[Mandy's Diary at Senior Grade]
"Billy, stop." Justin's forefinger stuck in Billy's face. He gave a threatening look. Instead of keeping his mouth shut, Billy spoke again.
"What? Is there something wrong? You deserve someone better." Billy's hyperbolic smile spread sickly. "Rebekah for example? What's missing from Rebekah? She is beautiful, fashionable, rich, captain of cheerleaders, and everyone wants her. You threw away beautiful girls to defend this creature?" Billy pointed at me without the slightest respect, it made my eyes water and heat even more. "Eww, Dude."
"Enough," Justin's tone rose. "Don't you dare..." Before he could finish his sentence, I turned my body away from them. Walking furiously while wiping the tears that were waiting in the corners of my eyes to fall. Don't cry, Mandy, don't cry. Just let Billy say what he said because what he said was rubbish. Don't Cry.
There were slams and groans of pain behind them, but I didn't want to look back to see what was going on. Without even looking back I could already guess that Justin had landed a hard smack on Billy for his insult. I ignored Justin's defense because I was already hurt by the insult, and chose to speed up my pace while holding my cold arm with tears streaming through the darkness of the night.
"Mandy, stop. Please." From behind, someone grabbed my arm causing me to turn around. The first sight I saw was a pair of honey-colored eyes in front of me, staring at me apologetically.
I lowered my head, hiding my wet eyes or my lips quivering against the sound of sobs.
"He's right, Justin," I whisper, tilting my head to look at him. "You deserve someone better. I'm nothing. I don't even deserve to be your friend." Two drops of tears that fell from my eyelids entered the corners of my lips as I sobbed softly. "I'm not popular, I'm not attractive, I'm not rich, I'm a drama queen." I shook my head faintly, letting another tear roll down my cold cheek. "I'm different. And I don't deserve to be loved."
"Hey, hey, shh..." He touched both of my cheeks, forcing me to look into his dark eyes. Instantly the tight feeling in my chest disappeared as soon as I saw those two eyes. "You're no different. You're unique." He wiped the tears on my cheeks, brushed away some of the hair that was stuck there, lifted my face to meet his gaze more deeply.
My legs went numb for a moment. He looks at me like I've been staring at him all along.
"You deserve to be loved," he continued. "You deserve to be loved, Mandy. Because you are who you are."
I smiled a little. He easily made the tightness in my chest disappear. And I realized one thing that he, who managed to calm me down again, would never be mine because we were separated by the walls of reality.
Beyond my expectations, Justin took off the jacket he was wearing, then took it off my shoulders without taking his eyes off me. His lips curved into a honey-sweet smile. Then he pulled me into his warm embrace, making my brain and heart feel as if they had been stung by a swarm of bees. I was stunned for a few seconds with open lips, felt his warm comfortable embrace, heard his steady heartbeat, got a soft caress from his hand on my head, inhaled the refreshingly masculine scent on his body.
Felt all the things from him that I wanted to feel all along.
My wet eyes didn't blink an inch and my lips moved into a small smile. I lifted and wrapped my arms around his back. I hugged back tightly. And put a smile on my face.