two | h.s. - t.c.

65

he handed his journal to me, and i looked at the page and back at him. it felt too vulnerable—reading anything he wrote, especially since he didn't just hand his journal to anyone. then again, he'd looked through mine without asking once.

"tell me what you think." he jerked his chin toward the page.

he wants me to read a song he wrote and tell him what i think of it? no pressure. it's like he read my mind because he looked away, letting me take my time. i read it twice.

"give me your pen." i said.

"what?" he asked quickly.

"i'll write my opinion down for you to read later."

he handed it over as he hid a smile. "i somehow saw this coming."

i wrote
this is actually really good, i like the word play in each verse. i'm pretending to write more things down because you're staring at me and i want you to get scared and think that i'm telling you this is a very bad song.

i clicked the pen shut and closed his journal, handing them both back to him. "you have to read it when i'm not here."

"i'm reading it as soon as you walk away." he reached over me and grabbed my water bottle.

his face got so close to mine when he leaned over, i swear i think my eyes widened. what's wrong with me today.

"i guess i'm not getting up then, the floor seems comfortable all of a sudden." i watched him open the bottle and drink from it.

"oh no," he raised his eyebrows and held up the bottle,"this is mine now, you should get some water for yourself." he said while nodding.

"what makes you think i'm terrified to share a water bottle with you?" i took it from him, "i've done much more than that." i drank from it.

"oh, i know." he leaned his head back against the wall.

i held back a cough as i swallowed the water, "walking away seems very tempting actually."

"so very tempting."

"never mind you ruined it."

"it's just so tempting, the thought of walking away, you wanna do it so badly-"

i spoke over him, "i love sitting here, i love being here-"

he spoke over me, "getting up from the hard floor, walking away—" i tried to reach over and grab his journal but he quickly held my hands and stopped me with a laugh.

"the song is good, i just like bothering you." i tickled his side and he flinched away, grabbing my hand only to pull it to his lap and hold it.

i heard my phone ring from inside my jacket—which was laying on the table. i sighed as i got up, "i'm not doing this because you told me to, my phone's ringing."

he pretended to agree, saying "yeah yeah." as he nodded, holding my hand until my growing distance made us let go. i watched him as i walked away to make sure he wouldn't pick up his journal.