~•Aden•~
"Cut the crap guys, and leave those two alone."
The words were enough to force us all to turn our attention to the owner. I couldn't help but smirk when I saw him making his way towards us. It wasn't a wonder that I found the voice familiar. It was after all my best friend.
But his interruption also piqued my interest. Why was he helping me out at the moment? Didn't he dislike Amara? Then why was he being so nice to him. He could vividly recall how he had stayed silent throughout their lunch even when the rest of them were trying to build a conversation with her.
It didn't require one to use much of his brain juice to figure out that Amara wasn't feeling comfortable. I could count on my fingers the number of times she spoke up. She only bothered to say something when she was asked questions by them. Except for Michael, everyone was trying his best to make her feel at ease.
"Didn't you hear me? I said leave them alone." He spoke up once again. His words only added to our baffled state. I could bet that everyone else must have been having the same thoughts as me.
His steps came to a stop before us. Folding his arms across his chest, he threw a threatening glare at the rest of our friends before shifting his eyes to me. His eyes briefly trailed off to Amara, who was staring at him intently, before they snapped back in my direction.
"I am sorry about their pestering behaviour. They are just teasing you." He muttered out, his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear it clearly. But why was he staring at me when saying that. I already knew that. There was no point in telling me something with which I was already familiar. He was surely telling all of that to Amara, but what was the use of staring at me.
"Let's go and do some laps around the ground." He added as he shifted his gaze to others. With these words, he turned around and walked away, his steps taking him towards the stand where the rest of the team members were waiting.
Given no other choice, the bunch of fools I referred to as my friends, followed him away. But before leaving us alone, they didn't forget to bid their byes to her followed by a couple of waves.
"I am sorry, they can get a little overwhelming at times, but they don't mean you any harm." I mumbled as I explained it to her. I wouldn't like it if she ended up misunderstanding my friends right after she was starting to get along with them.
Based on what I knew about her, it wasn't easy for her to get along with others. And I really wanted her to experience something normal for once. I wanted her to be at ease around my friends like she was around me, just a little less.
"I know. I am not dumb. They might have never seen you with any other girl except for Dana. That's why they couldn't help themselves but tease me a little. That's their way of getting at you. Isn't it?" She turned her face around so that she was looking straight into my eyes. A faint smile was tugging at the corners of her lips as she looked at me expectedly.
I couldn't help but smile back at her. I was about to question her about what she wanted to talk to me when she continued.
"But Michael surely hates me." The smile on her face was no longer an amused one, but rather a pitiful one. Who was she pitying? If it wasn't me then it could only be her own self.
"He doesn't hate you. He just…" I didn't know how to continue with my words. I didn't want them to be hurtful to the lady.
"He is just not fond of me." She let out a chuckle as she finished my words for me.
"Yet…" I added only to get a quizzical look in return. "He isn't fond of you… yet." I spoke up, elaborating my own response.
"Yeah, sure!" She let out a sarcastic response which only added a frown to my face.
"What was it that you needed to talk to me?" I thought it would be better to shift the topic to something else. I hated to see her looking down on herself. I was sure that Michael would come around like others had. If it wasn't for the fact that he was close to Dana, he wouldn't have been biased when it came to Amara. Both of them had their own places in my life, and it would be better if he learnt to respect both of them in the same way.
'I better have a chat with him later on.' I thought to myself before turning my attention back to Amara.
"About that, I need you to return back the note to me." She replied to me while extending her right hand towards me.
"What note?" I was a little confused by her sudden demand, but the confusion didn't cloud my thoughts for long as I realized what she was referring to. "You mean this note." I slid my hand inside the right pocket of my trousers and pulled out a crumpled note.
I don't know why, but I decided to bring the note along with me when I changed into my sportswear. I felt a little off when I thought about leaving it back in the changing room.
"I thought since the note was meant for me, why not keep it." She gave me a bright smile and it took me more than a second to realize that something was not right.
"You came all the way to the field, skipped a class, just so you could have the note back when it was you who sort of shoved it in my palm in the first place." I gave her a skeptical look as my fingers began to work on the piece of paper.
"Spit it out, little foxy."