Gravity - By Abigail Boyd Page 0,34

waited patiently for me, his arms crossed in front of him. I walked to him, because there was nowhere else I'd rather go. His eyes were trained on my every step, and I couldn't walk fast enough. I reached him and our mouths met. Hands sliding through each other's hair. Tongues twisting. I had never had a dream like this.

We were on the couch in the basement then. His mouth broke away from mine, as he pulled his shirt up over his head, tousling his hair. There was nothing but a blur underneath, where his chest should be.

Someone knocked on the door. Persistent, they wouldn't stop, even though I tried to block it out. As much as I feverishly wanted to keep kissing him, I couldn't ignore the sound.

"I have to go," I whispered. His face retained its patience, his eyes soft and watchful.

"I'll always be here," he said.

I stood up off of the couch and walked through the filmy haze. Then I was standing in front of the back patio doors, staring outside. Someone stood out in the darkness, I knew, but I couldn't see them.

That's when I woke up. The black air in my room suffocated me.

Nerves plagued me all day, to the point where I couldn't eat lunch or I knew I'd throw up. The dream I'd had about Henry made me both more aware of my feelings and more conflicted. Henry and I didn't acknowledge each other in school, and I wondered idly if he had changed his mind. I even scrolled through my text messages to make sure his reply was still there; it was.

I didn't talk to Theo about it, even though she had been there when Henry had first brought the suggestion up. Instead we compared notes we had taken in Spanish, our other class together, and kept our chatter to mundane topics.

After the bell rang in Art class for school to be over, I stayed behind as I had the other day. Only this time I was waiting for Henry instead of trying to avoid him. My stomach was a pit of nerve soup as I stood up.

Lainey tried to walk out with Henry and he said goodbye to her. I couldn't help but be a little pleased at the stunned look on her face as she watched him walk back to my seat. I looked down at the floor; a little afraid her eyes would become lasers and bore a hole in me.

"Are you ready?" Henry asked me in a low voice. I nodded. "Do you need me to carry anything?" He held out his arms, almost as if to hug me. I bit down on my grin.

"No, thank you," I said softly.

"Is somebody picking us up?" he inquired, grabbing his own books off his desk and holding them underneath his arm.

"I actually walk home," I said. "I don't live far." My speech stuck behind my tonsils, and I cleared my throat.

"Great," he said, the usually-present smile arriving. "We can take advantage of the warmer weather before it says goodbye."

We walked out of the emptying school and through the parking lot. Out of nowhere, shyness had overtaken me, rending me speechless. I watched the cars pulling into traffic; I couldn't even look at him, afraid I would either start laughing and be unable to stop, or I would faint.

"What did you think of the quiz in History?" he asked as we made it to the sidewalk. I shrugged my shoulders, which had tensed up considerably.

"Half the time I don't know if Wick is being serious or not," he said, shaking his head. "I have a hard time editing my notes down." I knew I should respond with my own opinion, but I couldn't find the words.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, me berating myself inside my head. The sunlight made the gray sidewalk shimmer. I knew I was making a fool of myself, but I didn't know how to stop it. It was like watching a slow-motion video of a person jumping to their death from a skyscraper.

"Won't it be great when we can start driver's training?" he asked, still trying to get me to talk. "Finally be able to go wherever we want." I nodded noncommittally.

"What's with you?" he asked finally, stopping in his tracks. "You've barely said a word this whole time."

"Sorry," I said, finally turning towards him. He was almost exactly the same height as I was, maybe an inch taller, so I looked straight into