"Took you long enough" Avian said with a smile before leaning back in his chair. I rolled my eyes, placed my bag on the table, and flopped down in a chair across from him.
The library was quiet; some students were typing away at the computers in the corner of the room, some in study groups (most of them the smart kids in the school), and then there were the lazy ones sprawled out on the couches reading novels.
I dragged my attention back to Avian.
"I was talking to Rain," I said as I pulled out my notebook. He lost the smirk and replaced it with a sincere smile.
"I'm glad," he said as he pulled out his notebook and pen "that you guys are talking again."
"Yeah me too," I smiled to myself, my voice trailing off.
It was quiet for some time, and then Avian cleared his throat before pulling out a pile of papers from his backpack.
"So, I brought the notes," he said, pushing the pile of papers towards me
I stared at him in disbelief.
"Am I supposed to read all of this?"
He nodded.
"Are you serious?"
He crossed his arms defensively over his chest.
"Yes, as a matter of fact you are" He said and I sighed, before picking up one of the sheets.
There was a bunch of chemistry equations scribbled on it.
"Let me just put this out there, that I am not a chemistry lover"
He pulled away the papers, his cheeks heating up.
"Sorry, wrong collection"
I smiled as he searched through his backpack, and then pulled out another slightly smaller pile.
"Here"
"Are we doing the bacteria and Petri dishes thing?" I asked as I looked up at him.
He rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"It's easy, so yeah"
"Good enough for me," I said with a small smile and glanced up at him. "So what exactly do we need to do?"
"Yeah, that's for you to figure out"
"What?" I asked, a little too loudly.
The librarian looked at us sternly and told us to be quiet.
Avian snickered.
"This is a group project Avian"
"Yeah and I came up with the idea Hunter" he said, with air quotes "so you do everything else."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, earning a round of laughter from him.
The librarian glared at him this time, causing me to snort. I looked down at the papers with a smile, and after a while, glanced back up at him.
"This seems easy enough"
"Told you"
"So did you bring stuff for the presentation?" I asked, and he shoved his bag towards me with a smirk.
I glared at him, before unzipping the bag.
"A couple of sharpies, some glue, some glitter because Lexi insisted" – I laughed slightly at that – "and some other artist stuff" he said with a smile, before pulling up a sheet of cardboard that had been sitting on the chair next to him.
"Okay, I'll work on the cause," I said as I emptied his bag, hunting for the so-called 'artist stuff'.
"And I'll work on the effect" he said and I glanced up at him with a smile.
He handed me a green piece of cardboard paper and pulled a blue one closer to himself. There was silence as we worked on the project. I wrote down some of the causes he had noted down on the sheets of paper, in colored sharpies on the cardboard, glancing up at him from time to time.
Whenever I did though, he seemed to be looking at me, and if he wasn't, he was staring at the work I was doing.
I smiled.
"Do you want to talk about it now?"
"Talk about what?" I glanced up in confusion, to see Avian staring at me expectantly.
"What happened that night?"
I groaned inwardly and stared at him silently.
How had he found out about that night?
I rubbed my palms as they had begun to grow sweaty, and nervously licked my lips.
"What night?"
"You know, last week Thursday?"
Oh, that night.
I sighed in relief and glanced up from the table to look at him.
"I already told you," I said, retelling the lie I had formed, "I thought there was a burglar in the house…"
"…yeah and you panicked," Avian said cutting me off, "you told me that story many times but you still haven't told me the truth."
I stared at him.
Could I?
For some reason, the thought of that night made me embarrassed that I had let it happen in the first place.
I should have never worn that tank top
"Just drop it" I said quietly, avoiding his stare.
There was silence for a moment, so I glanced up at him.
He was staring at me. Again.
"Sure," he said slowly, running his hands through his hair "you don't have to talk about it"
I didn't say anything, just glanced back down at the poster I was working on.
"Where's the purple?" he asked suddenly, causing me to glance up from my work,
"Why?" I asked, glancing up with a teasing smile.
He rolled his eyes and smirked at me.
"Cause I need it"
"Use another color," I said going back to my work "use blue"
"I have blue paper, it wouldn't show"
"We'll look at you, caring which colors match"
He glared at me and rubbed his temple exasperatedly, before rolling his eyes.
I laughed.
"If both of you can't keep it down, I suggest you leave," the librarian said suddenly, causing me and Avian to jump slightly.
"It's her fault"
"I don't care," the librarian said, slowly pushing the glasses up her nose. "Just keep it down"
We both nodded and muttered "yes ma'am" before she walked away.
I laughed quietly, earning a smile from Avian.
"Just pass me the purple"
I chuckled and searched for the color amongst the rainbow of sharpies.
"There is no purple"
"Then check my bag"
"You check your bag"
"It's closer to you" Avian rolled his eyes, causing me to snicker. I pulled his bag closer to me, muttering profanities while he just chuckled, and started searching for the sharpie.
Instead of a purple marker, I found an orange hospital band at the bottom of his bag. Confused, I put my hand in the bag and fingered the band, wondering how that had gotten into his bag.
At that moment, a million questions popped into my head.
"Well?" Avian said with a smile and I glanced up at him, pulling the orange band out. I placed it slowly on the table and Avian looked at me, completely confused at my change in attitude when his eyes spotted the band.
I looked at him as he stared at the band, looking as if he wished I had never found it in the first place.
Question was why did Avian have a monitor band from the hospital at the bottom of his backpack?
Was he okay?
"Let it go Shay" he muttered, glancing back to his poster. If only he would just look at me, so I could try to guess what he was thinking at that moment, but he avoided all eye contact.
"Let it go?" I asked slowly and he sighed, glancing up at me "why does the hospital need to monitor you Avian?"
He sighed and glared at me, before letting out a long sigh.
"Something happened, I walked into a glass door, I accidentally cut myself when I was cooking," he looked at me, clearly annoyed "whatever makes you feel better"
We glared at each other, neither of us showing any clear signs of backing down anytime soon. I gritted my teeth and stared at the orange band that sat in the middle of the study table.
"Why do you have the orange band Avian?"
"Why won't you talk about yourself Shay?" he said harshly, completely shutting me up. I opened my mouth to say something, and he raised his brows at me so I clamped my lips shut.
What was he hiding?
"Just let it go," he said, his voice a little softer so I glanced back down at the orange band.
There was silence as I tried to figure out what to say. Maybe there was nothing wrong with him, but why then did he have the band?
My mind flashed to Lexi.
"Is Lexi okay?" I asked quietly and he glanced up at angrily me
"What the hell?" he glanced up from his work angrily, "I said drop it!"
I ignored him and stared at the band once more.
"Why is there an orange band in your backpack?"
"Why is it so important to you?"
"If there something wrong with you, I need to know"
"Why? You don't even know me"
Okay, that stung; mostly because he was partially right.
I didn't know that much about him.
But that wasn't my fault now was it? What did all the time we had spent together mean to him?
What did it mean to me?
I clammed my mouth shut and stared blankly at him.
He stared back.
I had to know what he was hiding. My brain would not let it go and at that point, my mind flickered to Lolita.
I glared at him angrily and seethed, slowly folding my hands against my chest.
"What is wrong with you Avian?"
"Shay," he said as though he was trying to keep calm. He let out a low breath and narrowed his eyes at me "drop it"
I could tell he was on the verge of snapping but for some reason, that didn't bother me. It was like I wanted him to snap; maybe then, he would tell me why there was a goddamn orange band in his backpack.
"I can't okay?" I shrieked, picking up the band from the table and flicking it towards him. He said nothing but slowly glanced at the band that had fallen to the table after it had hit his chest lightly.
He glanced up at me.
Realizing how past the line I had gone, I looked at him before snapping my mouth shut.
The entire library, at least it felt like it had turned to stare at me.
That was when I heard the librarian sigh, and then her heels started clacking in our direction.
I quickly turned to glare at her before dragging my gaze back to Avian; he was looking at me, as though daring me to go any further.
"What's with the orange band?" I screamed, glaring at him.
"It's none of your fucking business" Avian yelled then, completely losing his cool. He stood up suddenly, causing his chair to fall over behind him.
I stared blankly at him.
"Just let it go Shay," a tiny voice, probably the reasonable part, in my brain said to me "it's clear he doesn't want to talk about it"
But for some reason, I wouldn't. I couldn't.
"Why are you avoiding the question?" I yelled back at him, also standing up so I could see his face better.
Behind the anger, he looked…hurt
My heart clenched.
"I have to ask both of you to leave" the librarian said and I snapped my head to the side to glare at her.
"Gladly," Avian said, grabbing his backpack off the table. He zipped it up, completely ignoring his belongings that were currently scattered on the table. He threw the bag over his shoulder and then, on his way out, he deliberately bumped his shoulder into mine.
I turned around to watch him go, glaring profoundly at his retreating back.
He reached the glass door and put his hand on the doorknob, before whipping back around to look at me.
"I don't need this" he yelled, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair before glancing furiously at me "I don't need any of this bullshit."
With that said, he yanked the door open and stormed off.
It was only after he had disappeared, that I realized what had just happened. I might just have chased away the one guy that I had seemed comfortable around in a long time.
And I hadn't even gotten the chance to tell him that Rain said hi.