Stuck Between Two Walls

Everything went back to normal.

By normal, I mean my definition of normal. No complications. Which translates to having no emotions, no feelings, no life. The existing world of Leslie Diaz. The normal Leslie Diaz. The boring life of Leslie Diaz. The normal boring loner life of Leslie Diaz.

The week rushed by uneventfully.

So, since I have no friends because for some mysterious reason, Ethan wouldn't acknowledge my existence. Well, a not so much mysterious reason because a very familiar name is behind all this Ignore-Leslie-Thing and it goes by the title, Damian.

Ethan seemed to have taken his words too seriously. He is a man of his words, if I do say so myself. He did keep his distance, not wanting anything to do with me. But every so often, I will see him stealing glances at me with a weird expression on his face, a pencil at hand. He would look away quickly though once he caught me staring.

I miss him, to be honest.

Sure, I know the guy for only two days. Two freaking days. But it felt like I know him for much longer than that. He is one of the few persons who made me realize that I am in fact, Leslie Diaz. He made me want to be me. Also, I like his personality. It could be very annoying at times but at least he's honest with himself. He's also fun if you would ignore the fact the he doesn't like Jell-O and thinks that Coke is strong.

He's weird, and he's okay.

His absence, though, had a few side-effects. It made Damian closer to me.

It's a mixed feeling.

---

"I give up!" I announced, throwing my hands in surrender.

Damian chuckled at my side, shaking his head in amusement. "It's a basic formula and it's easy, you have to admit."

I looked at his expression, clearly dazed with the confidence. "Easy?" I asked him in disbelief. "This is way far from easy."

"Look," he started, grabbing the notebook in front of me and pointing at the messy scribbles I made. "You have these two points right here."

"And?" I asked him, staring at the (3,5) ; (-2,6) from the page in boredom. I am making a big embarrassment of myself for half an hour already and I'm still not getting anything to sink in.

"Just follow this formula." He told me, writing delicately in my notebook a certain mixture of words and numbers that had to made sense but it failed miserably.

"Easy for you to say," I muttered in annoyance, burying my face into the table.

I heard his chuckle as he proceeded to ruffle my hair. My face immediately heat up so I was in no rush to raise my head.

"This is just the Distance Formula, Les. How hard could it be?"

"Blah blah blah." I replied childishly, receiving a chuckle from him.

"Alright, let's take a break." He told me, tapping my back so I can face him. My face had returned to its original color, thank the gods.

I sighed in relief, closing the notebook with a big smile on my face. Finally, some time for peace and quiet. No more x this, y that, solve for this, solve for that. Yes, my mind can relax.

Well, I thought it would.

Damian cupped his chin with his right hand, a smile brightly painted on his face. "I had no idea you were this terrible when it comes to Math."

I muttered something incoherent under my breath, rolling my eyes at him.

You might all be wondering, 'Leslie? Not blushing? Leslie? Breathing normally while Damian is there?'

Well, after spending more time with him, I grew very comfortable with his presence. I can't deny the fact that I still have this overwhelming emotions for him but unlike before, I can control it now. I don't know how it happened but I can just say that it's because of Damian.

Or I'm just naturally weird.

"It's not my favourite thing in the world." I told him, biting my lip.

Something sparked in his eyes and he looked away from me, turning his attention to the floor, "Hm."

Frowning, I looked at him in confusion, "What?"

He looked back at me, his expression unreadable. "Leslie, look." He began, his eyes molding into mine. The whisper of his words left a melody in my brain that my heart could only play.

My eyes widened, the familiar feeling washing away my confidence. The familiar rhythm found its way into my heart as I looked straight at his kaleidoscope eyes. I'm going to lose control. Again.

"Yeah?" I asked, my voice slightly shaking.

His expression morphed into concern, sad eyes. "I'm sorry for being selfish."

I said nothing since his words were unexpected. Not to mention that I'm slightly clueless what was he talking about.

"I'm sorry, Les. I'm sorry." He told me, placing a hand on top of my head and giving me a sad smile.

"For what?" I asked him, looking for answers in his eyes but they refuses to give me anything.

He didn't reply. With eyes warmer than the glow of my cheeks, he leaned closer.

My heart fluttered in my chest when his lips touched my forehead, placing a soft kiss on it.

Eyes not leaving mine, he leaned back and gave me a sad smile, bowing his head at me. It could be seconds or years but I watched him as he walked away, not throwing me a final glance.

Which left me here with my mouth hanging in confusion. With my cheeks blazing. With my eyes shining. With my heart loudly pounding. With every nerved into my system electrifying.

What the heck just happened?

---

It's a boring Saturday afternoon and saying that leads me to this specific place.

The Book Store.

I love books. It's an instrument that held thousands and thousands of meanings. It's a device that brought you entertainment that made your imagination go wild. It's something that I particularly appreciate in this world.

So, I'm facing a certain section in this store, looking at random names of books, nodding my head at the titles that seemed fascinating but sadly my poor wallet not having fascination at all.

In that moment that I was in the process of grabbing an interesting paperback, the random sound of something scattering caught my attention. I turned to my side and my hands froze in place.

Standing a few meters away from me is him. He was on his knees, a sketchpad carelessly trapped between his arm and side as he grabbed the fallen pieces, his expression clearly pissed. Knowing Ethan, he might be cursing by the way his mouth moved.

Realization woke me on this trance I was in. Ethan Harrison is here. I wasn't ready to see him just yet. What would I do?

To make the situation worse, the book fell from my hands and hit the floor with a loud 'thud'. Yes, loud since the Book Store is a deserted place not to mention, you also have to be quiet. I don't know. Some people treat this place like the library but I see no point elaborating that.

Back to the scene at hand, I expect the worst. Leslie, just breathe. It won't kill you if you accidently captured his attention. It wouldn't kill you that he's staring right back at you, melting you into place. It wouldn't kill you if his ocean blue eyes stared shamelessly at your dark gray ones.

It wouldn't kill you that he's getting up into his feet and walking towards you with an unexplainable expression.

I gulped the sudden formed lump into my throat. Does that even made sense? I don't know. I don't know anything anymore when his feet dragged him toward my direction.

"Hey," he greeted me, his voice emotionless. "Fancy seeing you here."