Watch You Cry

Her hair was different today. Not strikingly different, like a bold new colour or a drastic cut, but it was pulled back and away from her face, pinned to the sides to stretch away from her middle part. Left wavy - wavier than usual - falling down her back, Alex Gaskarth was sure Declan Slade had never looked... Prettier.
He hadn’t seen her all day. In fact, during Lunch he had convinced himself she had done a no-show only to avoid hanging out with him (and his friends) later that day, but there, in the Dulaney High hallways, was Declan Slade herself, walking ahead of the end-of-day crowd towards the exit of the school.
Alex loved the way Declan dressed. The way she wasn’t showing off, but managed to take the attention away from the insecure and underdressed. His attention, at least.
She was heading his way at that moment, adorning a pair of high-waisted dark washed denim shorts over-tucking a loose grey t-shirt. A simple outfit outshining the rest, Alex had thought.
Her long blonde waves hung down her front, mixing in with the long chained necklace she was wearing that day, anchored down by a silver owl.
Alex had been so caught up in her appearance that he hadn’t been able to notice that the figure he was watching had stopped right in front of him, wringing her hands around a bottle of water in a sign of tension.
“Um... Alex?” She had questioned, crossing her legs over on the spot.
Alex smiled happily; previously convinced she would walk straight by him. “Hey Declan, what’s up?”
For a moment, Alex wondered if Declan had ever scrutinized his own way of dressing. His tight jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, his occasional beanie.
He offered for them to keep moving and she followed along beside him, leaving the school building together.
“I was just wondering if you, you know, wanted to still...”She trailed off, looking up at him slightly.
Alex chuckled, “You wanna’ hang out?”
Declan forced down a warm blush. She didn’t want to appear the only one of the two who was interested in having the other as company.
“I mean, if you still wanted to...”
“Of course, yeah. We’ve all planned to go to Jack’s today, if you’re interested?” He offered as they reached the school parking lot.
Declan breathed in heavily, nodding to the boy slowly. “Yeah, okay.”
Alex stayed quiet for a moment, consumed in Declan’s characteristics, the way she constantly thought things over before creating finality to her decisions. He grinned nonetheless.
“Just follow my car, his house isn’t too far.”

• • •

Jack Barakat’s house was not far at all. In fact, it only took Declan four minutes to follow Alex’s car into the large driveway. Four minutes to collect her thoughts and gather topics in her head that could smother any awkward silence that was sure to arise.
“Jack’s not her yet. I’ll just text him or something.” Alex informed Declan as they regrouped outside the two-story house.
“We’re just going to go in?” Declan questioned, eyes wide as she noticed Alex’s intentions to enter the house with or without the owner nearby.
Alex lifted his gaze from his cell phone screen with a quizzical look. “Well... Yeah. Unless you wanna’ stay out here?” He chuckled, earning no laugh from the girl beside him.
“Oh, right.”
Declan, in all honesty, felt ridiculously stupid. Of course he would just go in, it was his best friend’s house and surely the trust between them was strong enough to reassure the Barakat’s that Alex had no intention of stealing or breaking anything.

“Make yourself at home, nobody’s here anyway.” Alex smiled, motioning to the couch.
Declan listened silently and placed herself on the beige sofa situated on the outskirts of the living room. After declining food or a drink, Alex joined her.
“Jack said he’ll be like, ten minutes or whatever, so we’ll just wait.”
Declan nodded, crossing her legs over the same way she did in every class.
“Can I ask you something?” Alex looked away for a moment, then back into Declan’s blue eyes.
She hesitated for a moment, unwilling to answer certain questions given to her, but nodding anyway. “Sure.”
“Why did you accept to hang out with us when Jack asked you to? Do you like him or something?” The brown haired boy didn’t dare look into her eyes then, afraid he might find her answer more there than in her words. But the only thing he heard from her was a small snorting chuckle. He looked up.
“Jack?” She asked earnestly, sure he was joking with her. “No, I don’t like him like that. He’s nice, though.”
Alex smiled at her, enjoying the fact that she had just admitted to not liking Jack, as well as complimenting him. “Right.”
She continued, though, to Alex’s surprise. “I accepted his offer because,” she paused, twisting a stone ring around her middle finger distractedly, “you seemed like the kind of distraction I needed.”
Alex’s eyes widened at this, replaying her words in his head over and over, each time hearing the double meaning in it.
“Both of you. You’re both quite distracting.” She smiled, finally clasping her hands together.
Alex’s mind fell back into concentration as he found himself being lumped into the spotlight with his best friend. Both of them, she had said.
“You’re a bit more distracting, to be honest.” She chuckled softly, raising her hand to fall into her hair as her elbow rested on the edge of the couch.
“Am I?” He laughed, watching her hand disappear into her waves of golden hair, wondering if it was as soft as it looked.
Alex and Declan fell into silence, each having their thoughts running wildly through their minds.
Alex thought of how perfect he felt at that moment; how beautiful Declan looked when the sunlight hit her at that angle.
Declan, however, thought of how relieved she was to not have to be worried over and how, under Alex Gaskarth’s gaze, she didn’t feel as weak as she was made out to be.