"There's nothing to be curious about me, believe me." I gathered my stuff and got up to leave.
“One date and you’ll start liking me.” He said that proudly.
"Goodbye, Leo."
"Wait, Aries, there's a huge spider on your head."
"What?" I dropped everything from my hand and flung into him so fast, crashing my whole body on his.
"Woh!" he yelped.Then he brought his arms around me and pulled me even closer.
"Could you please, please get rid of it?" I pushed myself further onto him.
"I don't want to." It sounded like he was enjoying this.
"Leo, are you scared too?" I moved closer like it's even possible.
"No." He said as if he was dazed. I felt him sniff my hair.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"I don't know. I kind of like this. You're in my arms. I'd been longing for this moment. Thank you, Mr. Spider, for this opportunity, and you're the only one I'll allow to crawl on her so that she can crawl on me."
'Such a pervert, I swear.'
"Shut up, Leo, and please remove that thing off me."
"Uh, Oh, it's on the move." He said. I swirled in his arms. Then he moaned, "Ahh... Aries."
The way he said my name made me tickle to the places I didn’t know I could feel. His hands ran up and down on my back.
"Leo? What are you doing?" I asked curiously.
"You and your movements... God, they feel amazing against my body." Again something tingled with excitement in me when he said that.
"Leo, stop and could you just flick it?" I yelled at him. "But don't kill it, please," I added quickly.
He chuckled. "Okay, okay."
Leo's one arm stayed on my waist holding me, and the other hand was moving to remove the spider I assumed.
"It's gone." He said and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"You can let me go now." I realized we were still hugging each other.
"I'm not sure I want to though."
At that moment, the school bell rang. I wiggled out of his grip. It was time to go to class.
We started to walk but quietly.
"You seemed to drop something in the class." He spoke.
It looked, as the paper from my notebook, that I'd crumbled into a ball. In which Leo had scribbled his phone number. I'd thrown it away because I knew that I wasn't going to call him.
This situation was very awkward for me.
"It's just a phone number, Aries," He said. and I liked it. "If you need me, anytime, and I mean anytime, just call me."
“Okay.” I smiled and took the paper from his hand.
"Yo, Leo." One of his football teammates shouted, calling him. "Are you coming to practice?"
"On my way," Leo waved at him and then looked at me.
"I saw this morning that you walked to school. Maybe I can give you a ride back home."
"I don't need the ride. Umm...Leo, I don't think we should be friends."
"Hmm..." He pressed his lips together in a thin line. "I agree." He nodded.
He agreed! I don't know if I should feel offended or happy with his comment.
"Look, I really have to go now, but I'll see you around. Okay?" He said and then leaned down and planted a kiss on my cheek.
Perplexed—absolutely baffled by Leo's action. He just kissed me. What does that mean?
Friends don't do that, right? Close friends, maybe, but we're not even friends. I must say he is getting bolder each time we meet.
~*~
When I reached home that evening, I sat in my sad little room, on the bed. I was feeling fatigued. I had too much on my mind. I could not wrap my head around the drama from this afternoon. It kept bothering me the entire time, and I could not focus on my studies. Unconsciously, I kept brushing my finger over my left cheek, the one where Leo placed a kiss. This one kiss stole my whole concentration.
I bit the end of my pencil, thinking about how I ran to Leo for safety from a spider? I could have removed my hoodie and shaken it off, but I ran to him for help. I would be lying to myself if I said that I didn't like Leo being so close to me.
Then I found the paper with Leo's phone number., and then I saved it in my contacts. My fingers were wiggling to text him. It was kind of a bold move to text him, but I did it anyway.
'Hi, it's me, Aries.'
'Hey, can you talk?' He instantly replied.
Talk. I would rather text than talk, emotions can easily get recognized in the voices. I wanted to avoid it but, I sighed and thumbed out. 'Yes.'
Within a nanosecond, my phone buzzed. Leo's name was flashing on the screen. It made me smile.
"Hi," I answered shyly.
"Hey." 'Why did my heart start beating so fast at the sound of his voice?'
I could feel him smiling at the other end. He sounded almost breathless. “Sorry I was just running.” He explained.
"I'm so happy you texted me," he said. Yup, I was right. I thought of getting straight to the point, instead of talking nonsense.
"Leo, this afternoon... You... um... K-kissed me. You shouldn't have..."
"It was just a peck on the cheek, Aries, and I’ll do it again." That was a bold statement he just made there.
"Y-you'll?"
"Yes." He said. "And when you go on a date with me, I’ll smooch—." He said and the phone fell on my lap. The word 'date and smooch' kept ringing in my ears.
I brought the phone back to my ear, but his voice was a muffle.
'What is wrong with this phone?' Then I realized that I was holding the phone the other way.
"Hello... Aries, are you still there?"
"Yeah...uhm...I'm flattered, but I .... don't date Leo. I'm really sorry. I just can't. Um...Good night." It wasn't what I wanted to say, but I couldn't explain it to him. I was about to hang up when his voice came through the speaker, "Wait, Aries."
I brought the phone back to my ear.
"Okay. I think I'm coming
