Page 70 of Before We're More Than Friends
“Um, I’m just sorry if I did anything wrong in the past.” He swallowed, collecting his notebook and pens. “Thanks again for the gifts.”
“Uh, you’re welcome.”
He clearly was going to say something else instead, but I wasn’t going to push him. I couldn’t possibly think of what he needed to apologize to me for. Had he told the others about our conversation on Saturday?
During our lab, Dallas seemed more anxious than I was, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the lab itself. He kept dropping the equipment every few seconds, stumbling over his words as he read the instructions.
And I thought I’d been miserable to do labs with.
“Okay, what’s your deal?” I asked after he nearly spilled the beaker. “You’re going to cause something bad to happen.” Goshforbid that anything bad did happen, my focus would be gone for the rest of the day.
“I’m sorry!” Dallas exclaimed, and everyone turned toward us, eyes wide with suspicion. Great, here comes another scene.
“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Bennett asked, walking from another table to ours. “Are you having trouble with the lab?” She looked at me with the look of pity that my science teachers usually gave me. All my teachers knew about my OCD. Of course she’d thinkIwas having problems when I wasn’t the one visibly shaking.
“It’s my fault,” Dallas said. “I’m just anxious.”
Because of me. He was always anxious around me. And it didn’t make any sense. Had I scarred him that badly from the Saturn Frenzy? Or was it the thing he wasn’t telling me?
“If you need to step out of the classroom, let me know,” Mrs. Bennett said with concern in her voice.
“I’m going to use the bathroom.” Dallas practically sprang out of his seat and bolted for the hall pass.
I glared at the beaker in front of me, trying to control my flaring temper. It didn’t make sense how I’d given him that gift, and he suddenly turned into a nervous wreck. What the heck could an almost stranger possibly be keeping from me?
What’s wrong with him?
“What’s wrong with him?” Arielle asked as she finished checking her makeup in the car mirror at a red light. “I’m starting to think he’s secretly in love with you or something.”
I scoffed. “That’s BS. It’s just kind of weird that one moment, he’s fine, and the next, he’s all jittery. And it only seems to happen when he’s around me.”
“Maybe when you slammed into him at the Saturn Frenzy, he was struck by your blue eyes and beautiful brown locks,” she said in a whimsical voice. “Suddenly, he was stricken with something unfamiliar in his chest. Or other areas.”
I shoved her, nearly causing her to drift off the road.
“Hey!” She shot a glare at me.
“Sorry.” I swallowed, images of a car accident filling my mind. “Dallas did say he liked my eyes. But if he liked me for my looks, he’d like you instead of the girl who embarrassed him.”
“I don’t know, some people love banter.” She sighed. “I’m just glad school is over. Only three more days until the weekend.”
“Same.” We’d managed to survive the first day back, but Arielle hadn’t been on the verge of losing her sanity like me. She strutted down the halls like she wasn’t breaking inside.
Another thing she was better at than me.
“How do you do it?” I asked.
She blinked. “How do I banter with guys?”
“No, how do you act like you have everything together? I struggle to even crack a smile.”
She bit her lip, keeping her eyes on the road. “It makes things easier.” Her soft tone made my heart twist in my chest.
“You just pull it off so naturally,” I said quietly. “You radiate sunshine while I radiate rainy days.”
“We’re not the same person,” she said, focusing on the road. “We display and handle our pain differently. But it doesn’t take away from the fact we’re both hurting.”
I swallowed. “It was just a thought.”
