When I eventually bump into him, I resist the urge to quickly balance myself and reluctantly allow myself to fall, trusting that he won't let me hit the ground again.
Just when I think I have made a big mistake trusting him like this and I am about to feel the grass underneath my rear again, the feeling of his arms snaking around my waist assaults me unexpectedly. I get pulled back up into his chest and my hands wind over his strong shoulders from my shock.
Our eyes instantly lock openly, explicitly and effortlessly. He does as he was instructed to do, staring into my eyes deeply, penetrating through my physical being and searching my gaze. It almost feels like he is looking through my very being. My breaths grow shallow and for some weird reason, my heartbeat quickens in my chest, drumming loudly in my ears.
From this close, I sink into his eyes unwittingly.
The golden rims lightly shading his chocolate brown irises glow in the aureate light shining on them. His pupils are dark in the sunshine and it almost looks like a nocturnal colour. I try not to jump out of my skin when his hands tighten on my waist, drawing me nearer. A gasp of shock leaves my lips and uninhibitedly I tiptoe a bit from his actions, my arms wrapping around his neck.
Wait a second, did I tell him to do this? I can't seem to remember that.
I think I only said to catch me, stare into my eyes and apologise. He said no to apologising so is this his backup plan of some sort?
My chest is pressed firmly against his and I can feel the warmth his skin is exuding even through his shirt. My eyes bug out in surprise when I notice his eyes flickering down to stare at my lips.
What is he doing?
A sense of panic fills me and my breath hitches in my throat when his nose softly touches mine.
I don't recall telling him to do this either nor do I want him to. He can do this with Jodie when the real thing happens. I don't appreciate being used as a test dummy for whatever it is he plans to do with her tomorrow. He best not be doing what I think he is planning to do.
When his eyes shut close as he inches closer towards me, my heart skips a beat and then continues to flutter rapidly.
"Ew," a chorus hits us.
I rear my head back rapidly and we both abruptly snap our head to the side to see a group of children watching us with expressions of revolt covering their faces.
"He was going to kiss her," one boy exclaims, pointing at Dominic in an accusatory manner. "That's disgusting. Girls have cooties."
"What?" I snap angrily, glowering at the kid who gasps at my next words, "I'm not a girl, you little prick."
"She just said a bad word," he tells the rest of his comrades who nod approvingly at his words. "Let's get out of here before we catch her cooties."
They all start screaming and running away from us in a panicked array, leaving me in bemusement. Except for one little girl who remains standing there, watching us with a small smile and awe, making her eyes twinkle beautifully. She's wearing a white dress which makes her look like an angel and I notice a violet, toy wand in her hand. Meeting her gaze again, they brighten even more than I thought possible as she waves the wand at us.
"Tammy wishes that the beautiful pwince and the pwince chawming live happily ever after," she says, mispronouncing some words from the fact that she's still young and her dialect is still improving. "Tammy is going back to tur' mowe fwogs into pwinces."
She turns around and skips over to a familiar looking, little boy who is playing in the sandbox. Well, that was not weird at all. Rapidly, I blink myself out of the strange moment. When I look back up at Dominic and realise that his hands are still holding me and mine him, I clear my throat awkwardly, removing my hands from his shoulder.
"Um… th-that was good. Nice catch, Domi."
I pat his chest with an impressed look on my face, trying to lighten the tense mood. Before I know it, his hands aren't holding me anymore and I end up tumbling down onto the ground with a yelp.
"Ow..."
"Don't call me that."
* * *
We are finally at school on this windy Monday to initiate step one of the very unplanned, crusty plan. That's the operation name I came up with yesterday whilst my mum was reprimanding me for leaving the house while I was very sick. That is until she realised how healthy I looked and figured out that I duped her to get out of going to church.
She grounded me.
I'm not allowed to hang out with friends after school which really isn't much of a punishment since I already don't do that. At least she did not take my phone away. I would die without it.
I'm not being dramatic. I seriously need it. Dominic and I are communicating with one another through it. Without my phone, I am as good as internet famous, because I'm pretty sure he would just carry out his threat if he thought I was ignoring him on purpose. He has my number from wherever he got it from, and now we need to tell each other where and how things are going to be initiated.
From underneath the stands with the smell of freshly trimmed grass tickling my senses, I spy on the fish whilst chewing on the normal granola bar. I should probably ease up on this junk because the flab in my belly is starting to show.
I'm waiting for her to stop sucking face with her next conquest and head to class already. Hasn't she heard the late bell ringing? I need to leave; I don't know how forgiving my teacher will be this time around. My not so clean record is on the line.
"Domi, the fish is not moving," I quietly whisper into the device pressed against my ear. "I repeat, the fish is not moving. Over."
"Stop calling me Domi," he mutters warningly and an amused grin tugs onto the corners of my mouth when I notice how annoyed he sounds. He must be pretty fed up with me by now.
"No way, it's way easier to tease you this way. Also… you need to say over at the end of your sentence so that I know that you're done talking. Over."
"This is not some James Bond movie, Starr."
"It isn't a James Bond movie, but if it was, I'd be him and you'd be my bitch."
"Just keep your eyes on Jodie and tell me when to start moving."
"You're no fun. A bland imagination makes young Domi a dull, sour worm. And you know sour worms are great, but you're one dull one. You make my taste buds fall asleep."
Dauntingly, his side of the call grows quiet for far too long and when I remove my phone from my ear to check if he's still with me, I see that he is. He's just choosing to remain quiet, I'm guessing.
"Why the fuck are you talking about sour worms and not keeping an eye on Jodie?"
"I have my eye on her." I shake my head at him unnecessarily worrying about something that would be difficult for even a toddler to mess up. "I'm not going to lose her just like that. What do you take me for? An amateur?"
As I ponder over my abilities to keep an eye on Jodie and update him about every move she makes, I can't help but feel a sense of confidence in myself. Despite what he may think, I am not an uneducated donkey and I know how to handle situations like these.
As I shift my gaze towards the stands, my eyes suddenly widen in surprise. And to my utter shock, the stands are completely deserted and the fish is nowhere to be seen. This unexpected turn of events leaves me completely taken aback. I did not anticipate failing at such a simple task.
"Shit," I hiss and quickly fumble with my phone. "Um… you need to like hurry into the hallways because the fish has moved. I repeat, the fish has moved. Over."
"Yeah, I see her. You're useful for nothing."
"Improper sentence structure. Over."
He doesn't respond which makes me look down at my phone's screen again and I see that he actually hung up on me this time around.
Quickly, I dash over to the entry of the school. I need to see how this step of the plan plays out. I catch a lot of people rushing into the school building, filling the corridor like a stampede of buffaloes that need to get to their respective classes urgently. Ducking below the fumes of marijuana, I distractedly wave a quick greeting at James who I'm not surprised to see amongst the bad apples who just loiter outside, blowing smoke from their lips like they don't even give two shits.
Passing the doorway, I luckily catch the back of the fish and the dreadlocks of who I'm going to assume is Savannah walking towards the bumping point which is where Dominic will suddenly appear and shove her to the ground while seamlessly making it look like an accident. But then like the knight in shining armour he is, he will swoop in and save her from her fall just like we practised the day before.
Then hopefully the fish will start sucking faces with him as well.
Just as Jodie is about to walk past the point, Dominic comes out from his hiding spot behind the turning point and bumps into her just like we practised he should.
A yelp leaves the fish's mouth and I watch in horror as Dominic's hands limply stay lying by his sides. Jodie gets sent to the ground.
I facepalm in exasperation. What was that?
He just stood there like a lamppost. And he has the audacity to call me useless.
I don't know how many times we went over this at the park and he got it right all of the time. Now, when the real thing is happening, he can't even do that. What was all that practising for then? I watch the entire scene and I'm almost sure that the entire plan has just been screwed. He seriously messed this up for himself.
When through my fingers I catch some movement from him, my eyes flicker and I realise that it might not be the end of the love story between them. Dominic Lachowski decides that it's the perfect time to show the fish a side of him that I've only seen once from yesterday at the mall when I slipped and fell. A side of him that I never thought I would ever see again. And, he doesn't look amused like he was with me which is good.
He kneels in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder and her waist, pulling her up to her feet. She stumbles a bit in her heels, but like the perfect gentleman, he balances her.
Who the hell is this guy? What happened to the logical, unsympathetic Dominic that I know?
They stand a few inches away from each other and I almost feel sorry for Savannah who is just awkwardly holding a candle for the two to gaze into each other's eyes. The eye contact is there, the fervency is perfect, compassion too.
He absolutely nails it.
I see his mouth moving and Jodie shakes her head and blinks, looking like she's coming out of a dazed state. She says something back and in that moment I wish I knew how to read lips. Dominic then lets go of her and takes a step back, keeping a comfortable space between them and I have half the mind to applaud him for being such a natural at this, but that's going to raise a lot of unwanted eyebrows, so no, I am not doing that.
Before he walks away, I see him glancing over at me through the corner of his eye and I give him two thumbs up discreetly, keeping my hands close to my stomach.
Once his form is retreating from the girls, I feel someone else's eyes on me and my gaze leads me to Savannah who is watching me closely. There's suspicion shining in her eyes, but just to annoy her I stretch a wide smile on my face and flutter my fingers at her. She satisfies my ego by rolling her eyes irritably and grabbing Jodie, tugging her away.
"What are you doing?" I jump a bit and turn to see Edward watching me curiously.
I chuckle nervously and too loudly to be natural. I try to lean into something leisurely to make myself appear laidback, but my elbow falls on plain air, so I end up stumbling a bit. "Nothing. I am not doing anything at all. Just standing here and looking… cool as fuck, you know?"
He stares at me for a little while longer and under his intense gaze I squirm and gulp a nervous breath down my throat. Not now, lungs. I need you to carry on respiring because it'll be humiliating for the both of us if I suddenly fainted from merely one glance into those oceanic eyes of his.
Still staring at me suspiciously, he tilts his head to the side and then chuckles softly, deciding to brush off my strange behaviour for another day.
I release an inaudible breath of reprieve.
"You're looking awfully dressed to impress today," he comments, giving me a quick once-over as I gather my imaginary dress into my hands and curtsy, smirking smugly. "Who are you dressed so stylishly for?"
"Maybe I'm dressed to impress myself. Ever think of that?" I suddenly frown indignantly when his words register in my head. "Wait, so are you saying that I don't look stylish on other days?"
He laughs amusedly and with a word to get to class since we're already late in a laughingly tone, he casually throws an arm over my shoulder, pulling us towards homeroom.
Under his touch, I tense, and I smile down into my chest, hiding the way my cheeks are heating up. I know it's a friendly gesture from his point of view, but I can't help but fall for him more. I hope I'm keeping it under wraps though, because I can't be too obvious about my crush on him.
The moment is however ruined when I feel my phone vibrating in my grasp. Switching it on, I catch one new message from the devil himself, How was that for someone with no balls? Over.
I find myself smiling wider as I read the message on my phone. It's not just because Dominic Lachowski finally used the word 'over' at the end, but because he is starting to show a new side of himself. I cannot help but feel pleased that Lachowski is breaking down his walls and showing a more lighthearted, humorous side. It's a side that is not only blunt but also full of wit, sarcasm, and confidence.
As I read the message over again, I wondered if this newfound side of him could lead to a friendship between the two of us. Quickly I type back, For a spineless, ball-less person, that was quite adequate, Domi. Over.
I know, is his curt response.
And what almost splits my head in half transversely is that he doesn't correct me when I call him that, when I call him Domi. It's almost like he has accepted that as his name, a name which I have given to him, a name—
Also, don't call me that. Over.
I spoke too soon.