bold of you to think that Ryan McKenna, the basketball star, the Brown's most handsome guy, the one who could have any girl he wanted to, would be intrested in something else. No, no, and no! He's on Mandy Summers' list of Unattainable Things and that's where he should stay. ”
"Mandy, what happened? Are you upset with someone? Are you sick? Talk to me, friend!" - May's expression was concerned. Mandy tried to open a smile to reassure her, determined not to comment anything. She was a very closed girl with her own feelings and hated to worry about others.
"No, May. I'm fine. I just have a little headache."
"Oh, damm it! I hate it when that happens. I'll leave you alone to see if it gets better. Do you want a painkiller?"
"No, thanks. Soon I will feel better" - she replied, feeling even worse for lying to her best friend.
The teacher came into the room and started the lesson, but Mandy was completely unaware of what was happening, going over the morning's events, as if it were a movie in which Ryan and she were the main characters. She recalled the moment when he held her so she wouldn't fall. His arms wrapped around her so tightly that she didn't want to get out of his heat. Closing her eyes, she remembered his smile and his bright eyes when he stroke up a conversation during class, seeming interested in knowing more about her. Guilt hit her at the thought of her rudeness when he was just nice.
Sympathetic and seductive, that romantic voice murmured and Mandy remembered the moment when he leaned against her, bringing his lips close to her ear, raising the hairs on her body while whispering in her ear. It would be enough to turn her head a little and their lips would meet and she could taste his taste.
Where’d that come from? Gosh! I haven't even kissed anyone, how can I be thinking that kind of thing?
A shake on her shoulder drove her out of her thoughts.
"Mandy, come on. The class is over, let's have lunch."
She looked at May, confused, wondering how an hour of class could have gone by without her noticing. If someone asked her anything the teacher had said during the class, she wouldn't know how to answer it, because she spent the whole time thinking about Ryan, his easy talk and his beautiful blue eyes.
Shaking her head, she tried to shake the memory of the boy, put her backpack on her shoulder and followed May out of the classroom towards the university cafeteria.
She walked beside her friend, who kept talking about the torture that had been her history class. As she turned in the corridor, a strange sensation enveloped her, as if she were being watched. She lifted her head, looked around and found the same pair of blue eyes that had destabilized her all morning. Their eyes met, he blinked and she felt her face heat up.
"Mandy? Earth calling!"
The young woman broke eye contact with Ryan and looked back at May, who was watching her curiously.
"Are you alright? You look a little flushed" - the friend said and Mandy looked away to the floor.
"Um ... I am," he replied under May's scrutiny. But she gave up on lunch. It was better to go to her safe place to put her head in place. - "Friend, have lunch with the boys." "I'm going to the library. I'm not hungry and my head is hurting a lot."
"Do you want me to go with you?" - May asked, stopping in the middle of the hall. She felt guilty again for lying again, but she needed to be alone and try to understand what was going on.
"No, no need. It's quiet there and that's exactly what I need now."
May seemed a little reticent about allowing her to go there alone.
"Are you sure?"
The young woman shook her head, trying to smile slightly.
"Okay, see you later, then."
Mandy quickly moved away from May and went to the opposite side of the building, where the large library was located. She entered the old hall and waved to Polly, the librarian she had met on the first day she went there. The woman smiled back, put Mandy's things in a small reception cupboard and went to the back, where the classics were. Polly had told her that hardly anyone showed up in that section of the library during the break. Actually, rarely did anyone go there. Maybe that's why it has become her favorite place.
She walked slowly down the hall as she passed the shelves full of books. She went to the bottom, sliding her fingertips over the thick, old spines of the books she loved so much. Halfway there, she stopped in front of Jane Austen's books and took Pride and Prejudice off the shelf, hugging the old, hardcover copy to her chest.
She sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, with the book in her hand. Her fingers felt around the cover, outlining the gold letters. She opened the book on some page and brought it close to her face, smelling the words printed on the yellowed paper.
"I thought that poetry was the food of love"
She read the sentence spoken by Mr. Darcy and closed the book, resting her head on her knees, which were bent close to her body. With her eyes closed, her thoughts returned to the exact moment of the bump. It had never happened to her. Never, never really, she has been so rocked by anyone, so unstructured as she was. She needed to get him out of her head.
She was silent, with her eyes closed for a while. Then, a light touch of her hair made it fall over her shoulders. Lifting her head quickly, surprised, she found Ryan himself kneeling right in front of her. He looked at her intently, his blue eyes looking darker, almost the color of night.
"Are you OK?" - He asked as he put a lock of hair behind her ear.
Mandy was unable to speak. The words failed her and she just nodded, despite not being well. The tension in the air was almost tactile and she couldn't understand why he was so close to her, almost invading her personal space.
"Ah, Cinderella," he murmured, without taking his eyes off hers, moving closer. - "I can't get you out of my head."
Ryan leaned in. His eyes strayed from hers and wandered toward her mouth. Mandy's lips parted and she ran the tip of her tongue over them, trying to moisten them. He smiled slightly, getting closer and closer. They were millimeters apart. She could almost feel the brush of his lips against hers.
Tired of resisting and trying to rationalize what she was feeling, she closed her eyes and lifted her lips instinctively. She felt the hot breath very close to her face and when Ryan's mouth finally touched hers, she was startled: several books fell from the top of the bookcase over her head.
Mandy opened her eyes in alarm and realized that there was no one in that hidden corridor. She should have dozed off and dreamed of him and, somehow, pushed the bookcase causing all those books to fall.
I shouldn't have lied to May, she thought, rubbing the top of her head. That was her punishment for lying and wanting something she knew she could never have.
Well done, Amanda Summers. Now, her headache was real and she still had an extra job, which was putting everything back in place.
***
As Mandy headed for the library, May stood in the cafeteria, watching her friend walk away and feeling her chest tight with worry. They were like sisters and, despite the difference in age between the two being a few months old, the friend always awakened May's protective
