Carmen would’ve also had time to think things through by now, and if he were to ask her once more whether she would be willing to let him in sometime in the foreseeable future, then maybe the two of them weren’t so hopeless after all.
They were fighters, the two of them. And so he knew—he knew—that they had it in them to work this out.
Love alone may not be enough but if he loved her and she him, then didn’t that mean there was still something worth fighting for?
Asa hadn’t seen Carmen so far today but school was almost over now, and he was glad he didn’t have anything for last period.
He was even more grateful towards the fact that it was one of those days when his spare period fell on the same hour as Carmen’s. And didn’t she always spend hers in the art room?
He hesitated once he reached the familiar classroom and it struck him right then, in that split second, that the walls of the room he was about to walk into probably knew more of Carmen than he did, that it held pieces of her that he’d never so much as get a peek into.
It was kind of sad.
But he shook it off, and with his heart in his throat, pushed the door open.
She wasn’t there.
The empty classroom greeted him, all the chairs tucked under the tables and supply closet closed; there weren’t any materials out, nothing to imply that Carmen had been there.
Maybe she was still making her way to the class or she decided she didn’t want to spend her spare in the art room today.
Asa didn’t really know why she wasn’t there, but maybe that should’ve been the first red flag, because if Carmen wasn’t there yet, it either meant that she hadn’t attended school or that she was deliberately avoiding him—two scenarios that were completely unlike her.
But Asa gave her the benefit of the doubt and shook the unsettling feeling off.
He stood in the doorway for a few more minutes before turning around and letting the door close shut behind him, when he bumped into someone.
Asa’s body must have registered who it was before his eyes did, because his right hand instinctively went around the shorter person’s waist and steadied them. And even during the heartbeat that it took for Asa to drink in Carmen’s face, his hand was somehow pulling her closer against him at the same time.
But that was always how it had been so far, right? His senses were always aware of her presence before he ever had a chance to see her for himself.
Whether it was his eyes beginning their search for her the instant he stepped into the cafeteria, or the way he breathed easier when she was just an arm’s distance away, or even how he felt a wave of warmth wash over his insides when he felt her eyes on him.
Why was he still surprised by it all? Hadn’t he already acknowledged Carmen was in his bloodstream and there was no flushing her out of his system?
“Hey,” he breathed, face tilted down as his eyes searched hers for something—anything—but they just stared back, unblinking.
Those eyes of hers looked just like they would any other day, but Asa was beginning to realise it wasn’t that they held no particular emotion in them. It was that they were guarded.
But that was okay. It was okay. Nothing time and effort couldn’t mend.
“H-hi.” Carmen blinked, obviously taken aback at running into him. But it was only a matter of seconds before she regained her composure, and then her hands came to rest on his hips as she straightened herself and found her footing.
Carmen stepped back, clearing her throat, as she removed her hands from his body, causing his to fall away from her waist too.
“Um.” She tried to smile. “I went to the pool. Thought you’d be there cause it’s a spare period.”
“You went looking for me?” he asked with a tilt of his head, a fluttery feeling in his chest. She was here. Carmen was here. And that gaping hole in his chest didn’t feel so hollow anymore. It still hurt, but in the most beautiful way possible—if that even made sense.
She nodded. “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you.”
Asa offered her a small smile. “Good,” he murmured. “I wanted to too.”
He moved his hand behind him, feeling around for the doorknob without taking his eyes off her, eventually succeeding in getting the door open and pressing his back against it as he stepped aside to let Carmen in.
She walked past him, their torsos and arms brushing together for a fleeting second before the moment was gone and then she was inside the room, with Asa following right behind.
“Listen…” Asa sighed, sitting on the edge of one of the tables and scratching the back of his head. “About last week.” His voice trailed off when he lifted his head and met Carmen’s eyes.
Because it felt like—literally felt like—an eternity since he’d last seen her and the sudden overwhelming wave of affection and longing that hit him right then made him falter in his speech.
His chest swelled, feeling like it was about to combust with all the emotions blending into one gigantic knot there. But one emotion—one single emotion—stood out from the rest that were colliding into each other within him.
And it was that heartbreaking but also heart-mending emotion that made whatever he’d wanted to say slip away as he leant forward and wrapped his hand around Carmen’s forearm.
Asa slid his hand down her arm slowly, feeling the smooth skin under his rough and calloused palm, stopping its descent only when he reached her wrist. He unwrapped his hand from around
