Kristen already sat inside with her math book and tests spread out in front of her. She was doodling away on the corner of her notepad and did not even notice him enter. He quietly crept up behind her in hopes of seeing what she was so concentrated on. It seemed to be some sort of animal, though her hand covered most of it and Jonathan could not make out what exactly it was.
"What'chya drawing?" he spoke up suddenly.
Kristen yelped in surprise. She spun around, wide eyed. "Jonathan! I didn't hear you come in!" she cried out.
He chuckled as she began dropping papers on the ground in an attempt to cover whatever she had been sketching in her notebook. "Clearly," he said, "You need some help there?"
"No, no! I got it!" she said, scooping up the papers in her arms.
However, with her arms full of loose papers, it conveniently left Jonathan an open opportunity to look at her notebook which was still laying open on the table. He picked it up and his eyes found her small drawing in the corner. It was a deer with someone standing next to it.
Kristen finally stood up straight and saw Jonathan holding her notebook. She gasped and dropped all her papers again. "That's mine!" she cried, lunging towards him.
Jonathan instinctively held the notebook up out of her reach, which wasn't hard considering he was over a head taller than she was. "What's the big deal?" he asked as she jumped up and down, grabbing at the notebook, "It's just your drawing of a deer and some guy. What? Are you embarrassed by your skill as an artist? Do you not want your work to be known?"
Kristen didn't say anything and merely continued to try and grab the book. She was making an awfully big deal about this. Maybe he had missed something on the picture. He looked back at it and began to scan it once more, which was rather difficult to do since Kristen had begun to try and climb up his back.
Oh wait, the deer and the guy were saying something, there was tiny writing. Jonathan squinted to read what was in the speech bubble.
""Deers are the best!"?" Jonathan read it out loud, "Are you embarrassed by your bad grammar?"
"They're bold and majestic animals!" Kristen said, still clinging to his back, "You said so yourself!"
"Yeah, but..." Jonathan stopped, "Did I say “deers”?"
"You always say “deers”!"
Jonathan looked at the drawing once more. Then it clicked. "Is my nose really that big?"
Kristen slid off his back, head hanging slightly. "You weren't supposed to see that," she said, "I was just bored waiting for you and I was thinking about how you liked deer and I thought I had never drawn a deer before then it turned into both you and a deer and then you just walked in and..."
"Hey, it's okay. I like it," Jonathan said, smiling.
Kristen smiled timidly. "Really?"
"Really," Jonathan said, "In fact, can I keep it? I've never had someone do a portrait of me before."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a portrait..."
Jonathan tore the page from the notebook then held it out to her. "Every art piece must have the artist's signature, you know?"
Kristen giggled then quickly scribbled her name onto the paper and handed it back to him. He smiled and neatly stuck it into his backpack.
Kristen tucked a bit of hair that had fallen loose from her headband behind her ear. "So, um, down to business then?"
Jonathan suddenly remembered why he had been pacing outside the door a moment ago and his good spirits instantly evaporated. Kristen saw the smile drop from his face and grew concerned. "Is... everything alright?" she asked cautiously.
Jonathan looked up into her face. Why did it fall upon him to have this conversation? He felt like her father. Was it really his business? He didn't want to pry. But he did want to help. Maybe just a casual question to start?
"So... how are things going with David?" he asked lightly.
Kristen seemed taken aback by the question, but she answered. "Fine," she answered.
"Just "fine"?" Jonathan asked, "Not "perfectly perfect! We're floating on cloud nine in the highest regions of heaven!"?"
Kristen narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why are you asking?" she asked evenly.
"Well, it's just that I... that is to say Petey, Sam, and I have noticed, er... it's come to our attention that you have seemed a little unlike yourself these past couple weeks."
"In what way?"
Jonathan cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You're just not quite as... perky? It's kind of like you're... tired all the time? ...uh, maybe?"
Kristen pursed her lips. "And you think David has something to do with that?"
Jonathan shrugged. "Could be."
"What about my sister?"
Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck. "We thought about that, but then..."
Kristen folded her arms. "Then what?"
"Then we went to lunch the other day. And we were watching you and you seemed really uncomfortable."
Kristen suddenly looked down. Ah-ha! He had her. "It's not so bad," she said, "He usually isn't that bad. You saw him on one of his worse days."
"So he does that a lot then?" Jonathan asked.
"No! I told you that was one of his worse days," Kristen said.
Now it was Jonathan's turn to narrow his eyes. "But if you tell him to knock it off, he does, right?"
Kristen didn't answer. Jonathan leaned closer to her. She didn't look up at him. "Right!?" Jonathan repeated firmly.
"I haven't told him to stop!" Kristen finally said, exasperated.
"If it bothers you, why not?" Jonathan asked, frowning.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"He's had a lot of girlfriends before me. He knows what he's doing," Kristen said, her voice cracking, "He's just my first boyfriend ever, so why should I not follow his lead?"
Jonathan nodded, understanding. "So what you're saying is... you're afraid he'll leave you if you don't bow to his wishes?"
Kristen looked at her hands and nodded slightly, tears forming in her eyes. Oh no. A crying girl, Jonathan could not handle. He scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, look," he said gently, "I don't know a lot about relationships and stuff, but I do know a that if someone doesn't respect you-- in a relationship or not-- they're not worth your time."
Kristen didn't say anything. Jonathan decided to continue. "So, if I were you. Um... I would tell David what's up and if he doesn't respect your feelings..."
"You're right," Kristen said.
Jonathan had not been expecting that. "What?"
"You're right," she said, "I should go talk to him. Tell him how I'm feeling. Stand up for myself."
"Oh. Yes, great!" Jonathan said, still slightly taken aback by her sudden acceptance.
"I'm meeting up with him tomorrow. I'll talk to him then," Kristen said.
Jonathan nodded. It was then that he realized he still had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and quickly removed it since she was no longer crying.
"In fact I'll call him tonight," Kristen continued, "I won't tell him over the phone though. That's just bad etiquette. I'll just tell him I have something important I want to talk to him about."
She tapped her chin for a moment. "Should I just come out and say it?" she wondered, "Or should I casually lead into it? I don't know how he'll take it. I don't want him to dump me, but..."
Jonathan just watched her as she sunk into deep thought. He suddenly felt a strange churning in his stomach as he watched her. Not exactly a sick feeling, but most definitely not pleasant. He suddenly felt very warm and his mouth went dry.
He cleared his throat. "I don't know," he said, rubbing his head, trying to erase the sudden throbbing.
"I'm sure I'll figure something out before tomorrow," Kristen said, sighing. She leaned forwards and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle in a bear hug. "Thank you, Jonathan," she said, "Tell the others too."
She released him and Jonathan felt like he was going to keel over with dizziness. "Um, yeah," he said.
"Now, let's get down to business," Kristen said, turning towards her math on the table.
Jonathan turned towards the table as well, but he could hardly focus. His stomach was still churning and his head was on fire. Did he have a fever? What was going on? He cleared his throat. "Um, Kristen, I'm not feeling too well. Maybe we should cancel tutoring for today?" he suggested.
"Oh. Sure," Kristen said, then she looked at with some concern, "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Jonathan said, standing up, "Just need to go lie down."
He stumbled towards the door. With a small wave to Kristen, he shut the door behind him. He leaned against the wall for a moment. What in the world just happened in there? One minute he's perfectly fine, then all of a sudden he's feeling the heat of a thousand suns.
He began walking, taking deep breaths. The discomfort and heat began to die down a bit as he moved and he began to feel normal once more. As he continued back to his apartment, he began to wrack his brain, trying to find out what had happened to him.
What had he done? He had just been talking to Kristen, that was it. Had something happened at that moment to bring it on? He thought for a moment. Right before it started... he had been watching Kristen think about her problem with David. That was it. He hadn't even said anything or moved or anything like that. He just sat there watching her while she thought about her problem. She wasn't even doing anything remarkable. She just sort of scrunched up her face in this kind of cute way that made her eyes sparkle in a way that made them just look so thoughtful. But then, her eyes always sparkled. And she was always so thoughtful. And then the way that... And there was that churning in his stomach again!
No. Oh no. No, no, no! It couldn't be! Yes, he liked Kristen, but that was it. He did not like Kristen. That was just ridiculous. And also out of the question. She had a boyfriend... who knew for how much longer, but still!
He finally reached his apartment, entered, and flopped down on the sofa. Every time Kristen came into his mind, the churning in his stomach and the heat returned. He covered his face, trying to erase the feeling. He did not like Kristen. He did not like Kristen. He did not like Kristen... Did he?
No comments:
Post a Comment