Chapter 13. Past II

He lived at the house directly beside us. That day, I was crying in my private balcony that was coincidentally opposite his. I was picked on during gym class and it was more than usual, normally I would brush it off but that day, they succeeded in getting into my head. Therefore, immediately the bell rang I dashed out of the gym and raced home forgetting my bag and even leaving my clothes in my locker. I got home and raced for my room, locking the door, ignoring the worried look from my mother.

I was in the balcony crying for a long time and suddenly something hit my head. I looked down to see a rolled up piece of paper, I looked around and found nobody. I picked up the paper and unrolled it; I smiled as I saw the drawing: it was a drawing of a girl, kneeling and crying out nail shaped tears, the tears falling on a cracked heart. Another piece of paper hit my head and I picked it up not bothering to look for the sender. This time it was a drawing of a traffic light on the ground (weird, I know) with the red deeply shaded than the others, so I knew it was in stop: and a girl with blue hair crying into the red sign, I laughed quietly this time. Another thing hit my head, a little heavier and more painful than the others; I picked it up thinking it was another drawing only to open my palms and find a rock. I raise my head to look around, only to lock eyes with the prettiest boy I have ever seen. Time went still for a moment as I examined his looks, the midnight hair flopping on his forehead, his extremely noticeable blue eyes, damn his eyes were so beautiful: they were the deepest blue I had ever seen, even from where I was crouching, I was already drowning in them, it was so difficult to look away and focus on other things. He clearing his throat, finally brought me back to reality; I blinked at him as if I was just seeing him the first time. He took in my look of confusion and repeated was he said earlier

"I said you laughed, finally," I looked away; ashamed he had seen me crying. I hated the fact that he saw me at this weak moment of mine.

"Well then," he nodded, rubbing the nape of his neck. And before I could get anything out, he retreated to where he came from. I squinted into the dark the room trying to make something out with the sinking sunrays hitting my face. I never knew a person was in that room, I thought that the room was a spare room. Heck, I did not know the Johnsons had a son, I only saw their daughter Hannah who was already in her sophomore year of college when she came to visit. I knew all this things because my mum had become very good friends with their mother Ava. One would think they were friends since the beginning of their lives. I had only met Ava a few times, and she was very warm and outgoing. I met her husband only once and I had only one thing to say, he was totally in love. It was weird seeing two grown up people being lovey dovey with each other. My mother and West also had their PDA moments but they never dared to do it in my face. It was better that way or else it would scar me for life. Back to main issue, I never knew the Johnsons had a younger son, or maybe I never really paid attention.

For the next couple of days I spent more time in my balcony than I ever did, trying to get a chance to meet him again, although I had nothing to say to him when I met him. I kept those drawings he gave me on my bedside table and anytime I caught sight of them, I always smiled. He could draw well: it was evident. The lines showed confidence in his ability. However, despite all my efforts to see him, I did not. I was at the brink of losing hope when I saw him again. I had returned home from school, tired from the days work and was about slumping on my bed to black out when I saw through the window, a shadow moving across the opposite house balcony. I was out of bed in a blink, all thoughts of rest fleeing from my mind as I sped towards my balcony. His body encased in black was about to move to the room beyond when I yelled out,

"Hey!" He paused his movements for a second before he slowly turned to me, hitting me with the full blaze of his blue eyes

"Me?"

"Yes, you," It sounded so different from the way I envisioned it in my head: it sounded bad and I internally cringed

"I mean, yes you." okay that sounded the same, if possible worse. I shut my mouth to trap any other words that would further humiliate me. His lips stretched in what I assumed was a smile,

"Yes?"

I took a deep breath and let out the first thing that came to my head,

"You are a savior." I cringed visibly this time,

"I meant, thanks for the other day. I really needed it."

He rubbed the nape of is neck

"Huh, it's cool. It was clear that you needed it,"

"Yeah," I flushed embarrassed.

"I'll go now." he gestured at his dark room with his thumb. I nodded awkwardly. Even after he left, I remained in my balcony watching the setting sun.

I did not have any chance to meet him until the next day. My mum called me to the kitchen and told me we were having joint dinner with the Johnsons. I did not object to it and went back to my room to prepare. At approximately seven pm, we were at the doorsteps of the Johnsons, and fifteen minutes after seven pm, we were all around the table, light conversation going around. I barely heard a word, for the boy clothed in black sitting across me at the table distracted me. He hardly said a word since he arrived, it was as if he was afraid of making a sound, and his hair was repeatedly falling to his eyes and he kept pushing it back, it was a remarkable sight. I know right, very creepy. I jutted back to reality when I heard my name; I reddened, when I found the eyes of everyone at the table on me.

"Are you alright dear, you look like your soul is already in heaven?" Ava asked worriedly

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I waved it off

"You were saying?"

"You are due to enter high school?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You plan on going to Crestwood high don't you?"

"I do."

She clapped her hands enthusiastically "Well that's absolutely fantastic,"

"Huh, why?" I asked reluctantly, looking around at the smiling faces of everyone there, except him of course. I still did not know his name

"Because Blake is also going there," she answered my minds question. Therefore, Blake is his name. Nice.

"Okay?" I replied uncertainty clouding my voice

"Blake, dear,"

The dark haired boy raised his head from his food, and blinked as if he just remembered that he was not alone,

"Yes ma,"

"Why don't you talk to this girl about your school?"

I held my breath expecting a no but was proved me wrong when he muttered a 'sure', then to me

"Why don't you follow me."

I nodded and stood up from the table to follow him. In short, we actually had a good conversation that night despite the fact that we had a very awkward start. He was quite reluctant to talk at first, but it soon wore off and we were able to have a good conversation. For the next days that followed, we talked to each other at night, in our balconies. It was just light nonsense talks, but made me find out things about him like, he was a year older than I was, so therefore, he was a fresh man, and he loved art so much and was aiming to become a well-known artist in the future. He was in the process of venturing into photography so he had to covert his room into a dark room. He had a best friend named Jonathan. In addition, through this he was able to find out some things about me: like my dad's disappearance, my mother's neglect, the fact I wanted to become a biologist, and the fact that I was a procrastinator (lol).

A new school session began and I enrolled into Crestwood high. It was nice to know someone there when I resumed. Although we did not talk much in school since we did not move in the same circles, it was okay. Our friendship blossomed and we became very close. It came as a surprise to both our families since they did not expect it. His mother never thought he could associate well with someone other than his best friend Jonathan. It was inevitable since Jonathan was a talkative. I met him a couple of times and damn he could talk a lot. It was a wonder they were friends since Blake did not talk much.

Two years into our friendship, we suddenly began dating.