7. Avoiding the fall.
1108 Words
CHAPTER 7: Avoiding the fall.
"I can't believe you don't know how to use the camera," I say to Ryan, looking at him sideways, "You study audiovisual media and you have the best camera in the market!" And he lunges at me to cover my mouth with his hand, but I dodge him as I laugh.
"Don't say it so loud" he looks around slyly to make sure no one has heard me.
No one has, we're the last ones in the classroom.
"Do you want me to teach you how to use it?" I ask, pulling a chocolate from my bag. I break it in half and give him a piece. As I chew the sweet cocoa, he nods, "What would you have done if we didn't share this class together, Ryan?"
"I probably would have died," he says dramatically, "or just asked someone else for the favor, navel of the world."
I let out another chuckle and bite into more chocolate.
"Shall we go to your place or mine?"
"Are you making me an indecent proposal, Aurora?"
"Just teaching your fingers to be nimble with a camera, I think they need a lot of practice."
He laughs at my words,
"Shall I come to your place tomorrow? You text me the address."
"Done" I sling my backpack over my shoulders and stand up to head for the exit. Ryan catches up to me, awkwardly carrying a stack of books in his hands, the half-eaten chocolate bar held in his mouth.
I'm a little surprised when, on my way out, I find Jeremy leaning against the wall in front of the classroom, waiting for me. His thumb flicks boredly at his phone, scrolling through pictures or videos, I don't know.
As soon as he sees me, Jer puts his phone away in his pocket and lowers the foot he had propped behind him on the wall. He moves slowly toward me, looking curiously from Ryan to me.
"Hi" he says hello.
"Hi" Ryan returns the gesture, his voice sounding funny from the chocolate still in his mouth.
I laugh, reach out and finish stuffing all the chocolate inside for him to eat. We both laugh as he chokes. He's so clumsy, it's so funny to me.
"Do we know each other?" Jer asks, making us look at him.
"Sure" Ry roughly swallows the chocolate and clearing his throat, adds: "I think you were with Aurora on registration day, you left her with me to show her around campus."
Jer's eyebrows rise in disbelief and he purses his lips almost angrily, then turns to face the hallway, giving us only the view of his profile.
"Shall we go?"
"Yes," I agree, then say to Ryan, "Tomorrow, okay?"
"Really thank you, Rora" and he leaves, giving us both a smile before disappearing to his next class.
"Tomorrow?" Jer asks, taking the backpack off my shoulders as we move toward the parking lot.
"I'm going to teach him how to use his camera, we'll meet at my house."
"He calls you Rora" he adds with a strange tone in his voice.
"Almost everyone calls me that" I remind him.
"You give him some of your chocolate, he is invited to your house and calls you in a way that only family does."
"Jeremy..."
"And you just met him."
"Do you have a problem, Jeremy?" I face him, stopping by the back door of his car before he can open it to put my backpack in.
"None, let's go" and he gently pushes me aside to put the backpack in, then moves stiffly toward the driver's door to get inside the car. I sigh and count to three before finally following him and getting into the car.
If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's jealous.
He starts driving and doesn't look at me the whole way. If the morning drive was uncomfortable, this one is worse because more than discomfort, there is a latent bitterness and anger in the air. When we get home, I am about to get out of the car, but his hand holding my wrist stops me.
I look at him.
"I'll ask you out tomorrow" he says.
"What?" I ask, stunned.
"We haven't been to the movies in a while, let's go."
"We went to the movies recently, Jeremy."
"Let's go again."
"What time?" I give in, seeing that it seems to be important to him.
"What time are you meeting this guy tomorrow?"
"I don't know, I guess in the afternoon, after classes"
"Well, I'll invite you in the afternoon."
I stare at him from breath to breath, not believing what he's saying.
"Jeremy..."
"I invite you out at the exact time he wants to come to your house."
What's going on?
I slowly deny, looking at him in disbelief.
"No, I'm meeting Ryan."
"Call him off" he orders me.
What the...?
"No, I'm not going to do it" I try to walk away, but he grabs my arm. "Let go, Jeremy."
But he doesn't, instead, he pulls me closer to him and his hand wraps around my cheek gently, making me look up at him. His cool breath bathes my lips and my eyes blink several times, resisting the urge to close them and surrender to his gentle touch.
"Tell me yes, Rora," he whispers.
"Why are you acting like this?" I murmur in a breathy voice.
With a sweet tenderness, he caresses my nose with his.
"I don't know" his lips brush mine, but I pull away in time before things escalate.
"Don't kiss me, Jer," I beg.
"Rora..."
"We both know you're going to regret it later."
That shuts him up, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows, without arguments.
I sigh and drop my forehead on his shoulder, breathing calmly as I wait for my racing heartbeat to slow.
"Why are you acting like this now that you're not with Sabrina? Suddenly you've forgotten about her and you're attracted to me? Don't play games with me. Don't ask me to be your rebound, Jeremy, please," I implore him, "You know I'd say yes, I'd say yes to anything you ask me to. So, if you're a little bit fond of me, be the brain that my heart lacks and don't let me sink."
"Aurora..."
"Please."
I grab the backpack from the back seat and get out of the car without allowing myself to look at him.
He has the power to destroy me and if I myself am not able to stop my fall, I hope Jeremy will.
At this point, he's the only one who can do it.
- Writer
