Page 53 of A Minute More

She squeals and blathers on about silly things until my mom takes the phone from her again. We make plans for next weekend just as Simon appears next to his locker, grabbing his things and trying to escape.

“Gotta go, Mom. I’ll chat later.”

It’s abrupt and my mom is left reeling a bit, but she says she loves me and hangs up.

“Hey, Simon. Wait up,” I shout, jogging up next to him and grabbing on to his arm softly. “Trying to run off without me?”

My tone is joking, but my eyes are not. He can see it too, the upset he’s caused by trying to sneak out.

“You looked busy,” he says lamely, and I roll my eyes a bit.

“Yeah, man. I was waiting for you. Was just killing time talking to my mom and sister.”

He nods and then runs a nervous hand down his chest.

“We’re still hanging out, yeah?”

I feel disappointment start to work its way through me at his silence.

“You said we would yesterday. And I think you gave me a nod earlier….”

I know I’m being pushy, but fuck, if I don’t push I won’t get anywhere. He seems determined to keep me at arm’s length, and I don’t know why.

“If we…” he wets his lips and my eyes are drawn to them. “If we hang out today, it can’t…we can’t do anything like we did before. It would have to be as just friends.”

I don’t know if that’s possible, but at the same time, I want to spend more time with him. Want to get to know him. If that’s us being friends, then so be it.

“Is there a reason…did I do something?”

He shakes his head and then meets my stare. “No. It’s not you. It’s me…I just…it’s too soon. I can’t.”

Too soon for what? What’s happened in his life that he needs time?

“I have so many questions,” I say softly as I step toward him. “As friends, will you share the answers to some with me?”

He swallows and then glances away. He doesn’t respond so I let it go, wanting to link my hand with his and yet also wanting to respect his boundaries.

I can totally be just friends with this guy. It’s kind of what we were before things escalated. Mostly.

Aw, fuck. I don’t know what we were initially. Just me being an obsessed fucker right off the bat. He’s intrigued me from day one with those eyes and those clothes and how quiet he is. I wanted to peel those layers the minute he glanced away from me, wanted to see what he was keeping secret.

“Alright, I’ll let it go. What do you want to do?”

I planned to bring him back to my place to watch a movie and make out, but now that he’s pulling away, I’m curious what he has in mind.

“We can go back to my place,” he says and then shakes his head, dismissing it. “Or maybe not.”

I smile at that, realizing that I’m a temptation for him, that being in close proximity would be too hard. So he opts for something public, a local hamburger joint across town.

We drive separately, much to my dismay, but I’m happy when we’re finally back together, standing in line to order our food.

I nudge his shoulder and he leans into me for a second before stepping to the side, putting distance between us.

“What are you going to order?” I ask and he shrugs, looking at the menu.

“Probably a shake and fries.”

“You don’t do hamburgers?”

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