Get up Whenever You Fall
Thea
After a couple minutes of walking, Travis and I find ourselves meandering, soon arriving at the skatepark. Travis and I trade casual glances to each other as we now slow our pace. A smirk snakes across his lips, and he notes, "You look pretty tense."
My gaze descends to my feet. "Because I don't know you very well," I respond quietly, nibbling my lower lip. "I don't know what to say around strangers."
He stops for a second, which brings me to a halt as well. Staring at me seriously, he admits, "I like you. Go out with me?"
His eyes are an abysmal depth of secrets that I can't unveil when I peek at them. The world takes a rapid swirl around me, and the air feels heavy, like everything is just made hazy as soon as he confessed. I feel so confused and helpless. I part my lips, however, not a word flows out.
Then his lips tug up to a smile, emitting a low, brittle chuckle. "I was kidding. See? Tension's gone now."
I clench my fists. "That wasn't funny," I exhale in relief and nudge him gently. "Really, you almost gave me a heart attack." I inch closer to him without realization, and I feel our clothe fabrics brush against each other for the slightest second.
"You know, I think Adriel might have planned all this." Travis pull down his hoodie zipper a little, which creates a blush on my cheeks. The sun's just warming him up too much, I convince myself. I quickly watch the sky and answer almost immediately, "Yeah, I kinda noticed he's been pushing you to me a lot. I wonder why."
He smirks, a thing I've grown attached to now. "Because he thinks like a pervert and acts like a lunatic."
A laugh escapes my throat. Then I notice his smirk still in place, and I examine him deeply. "Should I trust you when you smile like that?" I blurt, my tone coming out more innocently than I anticipated.
"No, probably not," he replies. The smirk now fades and pulls to a tight, straight line, far from being a smile now. Gazing into the distance, we both start to enter the skate park.
Then, once I tilt my vision back to the street view, I see Nico and Kyler. I jerk away from Travis impulsively, shocked. Travis mirrors me and appears just as flabbergasted. "We interrupting something?" Kyler questions, lifting a brow at Travis.
Travis composes himself and responds with his smirk. "No, are we interrupting something?" He refers to Nico and Kyler being alone and seeming to have had something going on.
"No." Kyler blushes.
I notice something about Travis' smirk. It looks wrong and forced, and I've taken note at how sometimes when he does smirk, there's no dimple. I somehow know that Travis has a dimple when he smiles for real.
"Oh, Thea, I'm so sorry!" Nico jumps me and gives me a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry!"
It takes my mind a whole minute to register the fact that Nico is squeezing the life out of me. She chucks me an apologetic smile, resembling a child who stole the cookie from the cookie jar and got caught. "It's alright," I assure her, barely able to resist her expression.
She has different smiles each time, I realize, and each smile a bona fide one.
"I don't blame you for it," I add casually, and my eyes now trace towards Adriel. "I blame him."
"It wasn't me!" Adriel is backing away from Travis, who is popping his knuckles with a murderous intent. "Hey, Trey, you know it wasn't me, right? Trey, calm down. Dude, I—"
I instantaneously grasp onto Travis' arm, clinching it with all my might. "Travis, don't. Hey, it's probably not Adriel's fault at all," I fib, urging Adriel to step aside with a curt nod. Studying my eyes, Travis eases up his balled knuckles, now having a weird quirky line on his lips considered to be a smirk.
Travis raises his arms up in defeat, smirk still in place, and says, "I was just joking around." No, he wasn't. He's obviously smirking without a dimple, which equals to a simple no-brainer: his smirk/smile is most definitely not real.
I let it slide because I know there wouldn't be any point arguing about it.
"If you say so," I mutter under my breath, my eyes roving over the audience who is watching us silently. "What should we do now?" The first person I glance at is Nico, who is most likely the one with the most sensibility here, and shift the whole question onto her. "What do you think, Nico?"
She appears thoughtful for a second, brows delicately being knitted together as her lips pull down into their beautiful rose shape. Gradually, her eyes start to sparkle and light up with an idea. "I know," she says.
My gaze descends to my feet. "Because I don't know you very well," I respond quietly, nibbling my lower lip. "I don't know what to say around strangers."
He stops for a second, which brings me to a halt as well. Staring at me seriously, he admits, "I like you. Go out with me?"
His eyes are an abysmal depth of secrets that I can't unveil when I peek at them. The world takes a rapid swirl around me, and the air feels heavy, like everything is just made hazy as soon as he confessed. I feel so confused and helpless. I part my lips, however, not a word flows out.
Then his lips tug up to a smile, emitting a low, brittle chuckle. "I was kidding. See? Tension's gone now."
I clench my fists. "That wasn't funny," I exhale in relief and nudge him gently. "Really, you almost gave me a heart attack." I inch closer to him without realization, and I feel our clothe fabrics brush against each other for the slightest second.
"You know, I think Adriel might have planned all this." Travis pull down his hoodie zipper a little, which creates a blush on my cheeks. The sun's just warming him up too much, I convince myself. I quickly watch the sky and answer almost immediately, "Yeah, I kinda noticed he's been pushing you to me a lot. I wonder why."
He smirks, a thing I've grown attached to now. "Because he thinks like a pervert and acts like a lunatic."
A laugh escapes my throat. Then I notice his smirk still in place, and I examine him deeply. "Should I trust you when you smile like that?" I blurt, my tone coming out more innocently than I anticipated.
"No, probably not," he replies. The smirk now fades and pulls to a tight, straight line, far from being a smile now. Gazing into the distance, we both start to enter the skate park.
Then, once I tilt my vision back to the street view, I see Nico and Kyler. I jerk away from Travis impulsively, shocked. Travis mirrors me and appears just as flabbergasted. "We interrupting something?" Kyler questions, lifting a brow at Travis.
Travis composes himself and responds with his smirk. "No, are we interrupting something?" He refers to Nico and Kyler being alone and seeming to have had something going on.
"No." Kyler blushes.
I notice something about Travis' smirk. It looks wrong and forced, and I've taken note at how sometimes when he does smirk, there's no dimple. I somehow know that Travis has a dimple when he smiles for real.
"Oh, Thea, I'm so sorry!" Nico jumps me and gives me a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry!"
It takes my mind a whole minute to register the fact that Nico is squeezing the life out of me. She chucks me an apologetic smile, resembling a child who stole the cookie from the cookie jar and got caught. "It's alright," I assure her, barely able to resist her expression.
She has different smiles each time, I realize, and each smile a bona fide one.
"I don't blame you for it," I add casually, and my eyes now trace towards Adriel. "I blame him."
"It wasn't me!" Adriel is backing away from Travis, who is popping his knuckles with a murderous intent. "Hey, Trey, you know it wasn't me, right? Trey, calm down. Dude, I—"
I instantaneously grasp onto Travis' arm, clinching it with all my might. "Travis, don't. Hey, it's probably not Adriel's fault at all," I fib, urging Adriel to step aside with a curt nod. Studying my eyes, Travis eases up his balled knuckles, now having a weird quirky line on his lips considered to be a smirk.
Travis raises his arms up in defeat, smirk still in place, and says, "I was just joking around." No, he wasn't. He's obviously smirking without a dimple, which equals to a simple no-brainer: his smirk/smile is most definitely not real.
I let it slide because I know there wouldn't be any point arguing about it.
"If you say so," I mutter under my breath, my eyes roving over the audience who is watching us silently. "What should we do now?" The first person I glance at is Nico, who is most likely the one with the most sensibility here, and shift the whole question onto her. "What do you think, Nico?"
She appears thoughtful for a second, brows delicately being knitted together as her lips pull down into their beautiful rose shape. Gradually, her eyes start to sparkle and light up with an idea. "I know," she says.