"I wasn't thinking about Clarence." I scoffed.
Jen chirped after slamming her hand on the table. "AHA! I knew it was about him."
"I said it wasn't--"
"We didn't mention a name, sweetheart." Then Mariel winked at me. "You did."
I groaned as I rolled my eyes. "Okay, it's Clarence."
"Knew it!" Mariel snapped. "Lover's quarrel." she then chirpped, as if it was a good thing.
"And we are not lovers." I drawled, glaring at them.
I looked at Jen and she was also giving me the same look Mariel was giving me. I sighed before telling them what happened. I had no choice. These two wouldn't stop pestering me about it if I didn't tell them.
"You're horrible!" Mariel slapped my arm. "How could you leave him waiting in the rain?" She spat while giving me an incredulous look. "Are you crazy?"
"I don't know if you heard me or not. I said I didn't know it was gonna rain!" I snapped back. "Besides, I'm pretty sure he left when he realized it was raining bad." I added.
Jen shrugged. "As much as I wanted to be on your side, I couldn't. That's too much, Alex. What if he really waited for you?"
Mariel nodded her head, agreeing with Jen. I sighed as guilt started eating me. I knew what I did was wrong but I wasn't sure how he was going to react to this. What if I was just overreacting and it was nothing to him cause he didn't really care?
I felt like I've ditched the class, cause my brain couldn't really process anything. Good thing my professor was so into teaching he didn't even noticed me not giving a shit in his class. I couldn't wait to see him at lunch. We didn't have same classes today so I could only meet him during that time.
"You know what? You couldn't even convince yourself. Look at you looking so guilty." Jen said as she slide the plate of vegetable salad in front of me. "Eat!"
Mariel gave me a tight smile, "You could just explain. I'm pretty sure your boyfriend would understand."
I scowled, "He's not my boyfriend."
"Who?" A familiar voice asked.
"Hi, Harry." She greeted, batting her eyelashes as she closed her eyes. Fortunately, I didn't have to answer cause Marielle started fangirling and the talk about my 'boyfriend' was forgotten.
"Can we join?" Harry asked.
"Of course!" Jen and Mayeh answered enthusiastically.
"How was the article going?" Jenrelle asked, putting his tray down in front of me.
"On going." Jen answered, "Oh, by the way, we'll be having a photoshoot for the school magazine. Tell us when you're free so we can sched." She added.
Harry then beckoned his bevy before seating down beside me. I found myself looking for a specific face.. But couldn't find him.
"Looking for someone?" Mariel whispered, teasing me as she nudged my shoulder.
"Of course not." I whispered back.
"So.." Jen started, "I see you're not with Clarence."
I glared at her.. Giving her the 'I know what you're doing' look and she just winked at me.
"He never missed any class.. Today's a first." Jenrelle answered before lounging his NY Deli Platter.
"What happened?" Mariel prodded, didn't wanna end the topic about Clarence.
"He's prolly sick. Saw him at Sunken last night while I was on the way to the parking, soaking wet." Lawrence interjected, getting my full attention.
I felt movements under the table but I decided to shrug it off since my mind was focusing more on what I heard.
"You- you saw him? Did you give him an umbrella? What time did he leave?" I continuously asked.
"Woaah! Easy with the questions." He kid. "I didn't have an umbrella as well but I tried to convince him to leave. He refused. Said he was waiting for someone." He said while chewing his food. "Not sure what time he went home though cause that was around 8:30 when I left and he was still there."
I didn't know I was gripping Jen's wrist as I listened to Lawrence. I just realized it when she gasped, trying to free her hand from me. I automatically went through my phone to check what time he texted me. It means he just got home that time.
"Gahd! I didn't expect he would wait for me." I gasped when I realized I had spoken those aloud. Too late, I already got their attention and the smile on Mariel and Jen's faces didn't go unnoticed.
"I went home.. with Jen." I explained looking anywhere but their prying eyes.
"Did you tell him?" Jenrelle asked.
"No."
I could hear their gasp and I already knew what it meant. "It was all my fault."
"Hey." Harry called, then I felt his hand over mine. "Don't blame yourself. T'was his decision to wait for you. He could've leave before it started pouring." He assured while his thumb was slightly brushing my knuckles.
Everyone on the table were now looking at our hands together so I kind of felt awkward and quickly pulled mine away.
I exhaled audibly before standing up.. Again, the sudden act got their attention so they all looked up at me. "Need to go somewhere."
Harry grabbed my wrist again before I could even walk, "Where you going? You haven't touched your food."
I just shook my head and started walking, he reluctantly let go of my hand but he might've realized he didn't have the right to stop me, he let go of my wrist.
I didn't explain myself to any of 'em. Pretty sure Jen and Mariel knew where I was going. Not gonna let my guilt eat me if I was really the reason he was sick right now. Besides, I wasn't in the mood to listen to boring discussions anyway.
Once I got in our building and reached our floor, I realized that I didn't know where the hell on this floor his pad is. I took my phone out and started calling him.. It took me a few calls before he finally answered.
"H-hello?" He croaked. His voice was hoarse, prolly because he's sick or he just woke up.. Or maybe both.
"I'm outside your door." I said, even though I didn't know which one of these was his door.
"A'right." He answered, but came out as a whisper or a breathy response. He didn't say anything after that but I heard shuffling from the other line so I assumed he was on his way to his door.
I stood in the middle of the hallway, watching every door to see which one's gonna open. Surprisingly the door next to my unit opened.
I walked towards his door, he was just standing there waiting for me with his droopy eyes. He smiled once I reached him, but the smile looked to weak.
I touched his neck to feel his temperature-- although it wasn't really needed cause by the look on his face, it was already obvious he was sick. "You're so hot." I uttered. That sounded wrong.
His weak smile somehow turned into a sly one. "I've been told."
I rolled my eyes at him and ignored his silliness. I invited myself in and closed the door. He walked to his couch but his pacing was too slow and groggy so I put his arm around my shoulder to help him.
"I can walk." He exclaimed, removing his arm on my shoulder.
I gripped it before he could even remove it and glared at him through my lashes. "I can as well."
I pulled him towards his bedroom. I helped him as he lay and tucked himself on the bed. He turned to me and frown.
"What're you doing here? You're supposed to be in class."
I just shrugged my shoulders cause I didn't wanna tell him that I skip just to take care of him, even though I knew he has a hunch. "Have you eaten anything?"
I didn't get a response from him, instead I found him glaring at me and I could tell that he wasn't thrilled that I skipped classes because of him. I just sighed and gave him a tight smile.
"Just rest and I'll take care of the rest, okay?" Then I walked out of his room and went to his kitchen. Upon opening his refrigerator made me wish I bought a soup or something to eat on the way earlier. Too late I was already here. Left me with no choice but to cook.
I wasn't able to look around his place awhile ago since I focused more on his wellbeing but the place was really nice to the point that I started to feel bad about mine..
It was dim-lighted, except for the kitchen. The walls were painted faded blue and gray while his furniture were consisted of monochrome in color. He has a lot of minimalist paintings on the wall and hanging indoor plants.
One thing I noticed about this guy, was his love for organizers. He has a lot of organizers. Hell I only have a cabinet with a top drawer where I could put anything- EVERYTHING. From a bobby pin to a scotch tape. How are they related? I don't know but they are in one place. Inside that one magical drawer..
I entered his kitchen and noticed the hanging pots and pans above the kitchen island. He must be a good cook to have lots of kitchenware.. Or it could be just for the interior design. Idk.
Good thing he has packed ramens in his drawer. This would do, just so he could take his med asap.
I found him sitting on his bed, back against the headrest. Listening to some lofi instrumental music playing on his speaker. His eyes were closed but I knew he was awake. Confirming my speculation, he opened his eyes and turned to me when he felt my presence.
I put the tray on his lap. "Eat it." I commanded while looking down on him. "Come on.. Don't wait for me to shove it in your mouth myself." I warned.
And to my surprise he just opened his mouth as if he's waiting for me to really shove it in and feed him. I gasped. "Wow."
I rolled my eyes before I sat beside him and started feeding him. He's taking advantage of my guilt, I could tell. Once I was done feeding him, he mentioned he doesn't take medicines cause he doesn't wanna rely on it.. So I forced him and he did.
After that I left to get a towel, basin with warm water and alcohol. When I came back to his room, I found him laying on his bed with his eyes on me and a mischievous smile on his lips.
I frowned at him.. Then it hit me and felt my cheeks burned and flushed. He has no shirt on, just his boxer. My eyes traveled from his face, making a quick stop on his abs and groaned internally before going down and back to his eyes.
"Hungry?" He teased.
I hissed, "You're sick and weak.. And still full of debaucheries."
"Well, I can see you're willing to jump into my debaucheries and take advantage of my illness." He retorted and I just stared at him incredulously.
"What made you think that?" I snorted. "I'd never jump on top of you, even if I felt guilty for leaving you." I uttered, looking down on the basin.
He averted his gaze on me and started gnawing his lips. "So you purposely left me there?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.
I looked down and bit my lips as I nodded as answer. "But I didn't mean to. I mean.. I.. Not the rain. I didn't know it was going to rain and I--"
"So you're here because you feel bad about it, you're guilty?" He asked, clearly upset about my confession.
I didn't know what to say cause I was clearly here out of guilt. He wouldn't get sick if I didn't leave him.
Silence started wrapping us. He didn't continue talking for a reason I didn't know, while I refused to talk cause I didn't know if he wanted me to.
"Just start cleaning me once you're done ogling." He chortled out of nowhere. I, surprised by what he said, turned to him and found his playful toothy grin. He beckoned me to sit on an empty space beside him.
I placed the basin on top of his bedside table, squeezed the towel and chuck it on his face. I laughed at how the towel stayed on his face for awhile before it dropped on his chest.
"Hey! I have already forgiven you. I don't think I deserve that." He grumbled. His hands were raised midair, a sign that he was shocked by the sudden act. I couldn't stop myself from laughing.
"You deserve it for teasing me." I retorted, feigning angry.
"And it's effective." He snapped back, grinning at me again. "Let's get this done. I'm starting to shiver in cold due to my lack of.." He trailed off and ran a hand on his abs, "clothing." He continued in a dangerously low voice.
He watched me intently as I slowly crawled on his bed to get to him. My hands were shaking as I wiped his skin with the towel. The air became thick, and found myself couldn't even breathe properly with the way he was watching me and the way his skin felt against my palm.
After the nearly death experience I had, he managed to get dressed -- seductively in front of me. Yes, in front of me, not giving me any warning or signal to turn around. He enjoyed the flustered look he caused me.
Although after he put on his shirt, he stood up and went to the bathroom for a few minutes before returning to his room with a different boxers on.
I was sitting at the edge of his bed as I watched him strutted his way towards me and sat beside me. He wiped the sweat on my forehead with his palm, making me looked at him in shock. His hands then moved to tuck some of my hair strands at the back of my ear.
He tsk-ed while looking at me. "You ditched classes just to take care of me." He whispered while slowly taking the distance between our faces. My breath hitched once the tip of his nose touched my cheek.
"Thank you." He uttered.