A usual day for Henry where again today, he received love letters and cute gifts from what people usually called fans. He wasn't even popular but somehow since he is in the athlete circle, he just happened to be famous. It won't hurt to have people like us, but it hurts when we know the person we like won't like us back.
Henry and Grace were having a free period and they were sitting on the lounge together while Grace waited for Caleb to finish his class. Henry was playing a game on his phone while Grace was scrolling through her social media. Just a peaceful moment for both of them and Henry was secretly enjoying it. When else can he spent time just the two of them again? Since Caleb came into Grace's life, it was impossible for them to hang out like this.
"Hey..." Grace started and looked up at Henry who was also looking at her. Grace was thinking hard. Henry put his phone down and gave his full attention to Grace.
"Do you want to go on a date?" She asked. No stammering, no hesitating. Henry was dumbfounded.
"What? What do you mean a date?" Though the question sounded straightforward it was still ambiguous. Henry didn't want to get his hopes high so he asked.
"There were many people confessing their feelings to you and yet you still single? How did you manage that? Why don't you ever take a look at them and get yourself a girlfriend?" Grace sighed out. Frustrated to be seeing her best friend still single when she was so lovely with her boyfriend.
"I...um... I'm doing just fine alone." He replied.
"Yeah? I feel bad you know. Every time I went with Caleb I feel bad leaving you..."
"I'm fine, Grace. I'm not that lonely though, I have Zac." He cut in.
"Yeah, Zac..."
A moment of silence.
"Henry, are you... like... you know... like a..."
"No! Grace. Just to be clear... I like girls. Okay?"
"Hmm... then why don't you find a girl instead of hanging around him all the time? He only cared about his journal and astronomy." Grace let out another sigh.
"Then, don't you have a crush on someone or something? Or are you actually already have a girlfriend behind my back?" Grace asked slightly increasing her voice as in threatening her best friend.
"I don't have a girlfriend. But I do have someone I like..." Henry stated as he lowered his head hiding his expression.
"Oh, you do... do you need help to talk to her? Because I can..."
"There's no need, Grace. I will sort it out on my own. Okay?" Henry replied assuring Grace that he could manage his own life and there's no need for her to be worried.
"Fine... but if you.."
"Grace... I'm alright. You are so nosy about my personal life..." He teased Grace because he knew that's the only that will make Grace stop talking about something.
"I'm not nosy! Fine... I won't care about your life anymore. Don't come to me to ask for anything later." She faked sulking and scrolled on her phone again just in time for her phone to ring. Her face lit up as she saw the caller ID and she immediately picked it up. Then, she left Henry after bidding him goodbye.
Henry smiled a little. He was happy to see his best friend happy but at the same time, he was sad because it wasn't him who made her that happy. He turned his attention to his game again but there's only a bold gold and red word displayed across his phone.
It said: 'You Lose'
"I know..." He whispered to himself.
On his way home, he stopped by the mart to buy himself an ice cream. There's nothing that can cheer him up when he was feeling down other than his favourite cookies and cream ice cream. He entered the mart and immediately went to the frozen section.
He wanted to just quickly grabbed his ice cream and went home but there's this one girl in front of him who took so much time in choosing ice cream.
"Excuse me..." He said and the girl turned around in surprise. Their eyes met.
"Henry!"
"Shoes!"
They said at the same time.
"Um.. sorry, what?" The girl asked.
"I mean... Amber.. right?" He awkwardly replied. He didn't even know why the word 'shoes' came across his mind first.
"Yup, that's my name," Amber replied cheekily not even mad at the fact that Henry just called her shoes.
"Haha... yes. What are you doing here?" He asked trying to reduce the awkwardness he felt but it seems like the question added it more. What an obvious question is that? It's as clear as the sky is blue that she was here to buy ice cream.
"I thought of getting an ice cream but there are so many flavours in there, I don't know what to choose..." She shyly stated. "Oh... you can go ahead and choose first. I will take my time to think..."
Henry nodded and went to the fridge. He grabbed two cookies-and-cream ice cream cones and handed one to Amber. Amber was confused but she took it anyway.
"This one is my favourite, I'm not sure if it will suit your taste. But, it's faster having someone to recommend things to you rather than standing there for hours." He said. Amber nodded in agreement and smiled. She thanked Henry and they went to pay for the ice cream. Amber insist on paying for the ice cream herself but Henry won't let her get away with it. So in the end, Henry got to pay for their ice cream.
They walked together side by side in silence while eating their ice cream. No one knew what to talk about. While walking that close to each other, Henry noticed a few features of Amber that he didn't pay attention to before, probably they only met twice and the time was too short.
Henry noticed her faint freckles across her face and her pink cheeks, not sure if she was blushing or it's just natural. He also realized that Amber's hair wasn't originally reddish, it was dirty blonde. The dye already fading away and the true colour were showing across the braided hair. He was just staring at her until she spoke up and Henry back to reality.
"Do you live here?" Amber asked.
"Oh yeah, my house is up there." He pointed straight up at the hill they were going to walk on in a few minutes.
"Gordon Road? Really?" Amber asked in surprise.
"Yeah, why? Do you live there too?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah... my house number 22." She replied.
"No way... my house is 25. Just three houses apart. How come we never see each other?" Henry was confused.
"Of course we won't see each other. I usually just stay at home and never go out. Plus, when we go to school, we go in different directions. Our school were just opposite each other but the entrance is facing away from each other. That's ridiculous." Amber said in dissatisfaction for no reason which resulted in Henry laughing.
"Why are you so mad? It was built like that, what can we do to change?" Henry said and continued to laugh.
"Yeah... you are right.. why am I mad anyway?" She chuckled at herself too.
Soon, Amber reached her house and they parted. Henry was smiling alone on his way back to his home. For some reason, he was thankful for meeting Amber today. He was almost dispirited but she made him laugh. As he reached home, he went to his room and lay down on his bed smiling like an idiot over the little happiness.
Suddenly, his phone notified him that he just got a message. It was from Grace. He opened it and saw a picture of him and Amber laughing in front of the Gordon Road signboard.
the text under it said: 'your girlfriend is cute ;)' - grace
Henry let out a sigh and type a reply then send it.
'she is not my girlfriend' - henry
'yeah.. not yet' - grace
'get ready to introduce her later ;)' - grace
"Damn..." He sighed out.