A Witch As A Mate

Chapter 5

            She knew that he was disappointed as they parted ways. Getting close to her wasn’t a good thing for him. It was better if he didn’t get more involved than he needed to. Even as she reminded herself of this, it bothered her that she pushed him away after all his help. No, it had to be this way so he stayed safe. The less he was close to her the better.

            Moving to class she walked into the art room and allowed herself to get lost in the world of paint. The time flew by like it always did and the bell rang for lunch. The first objective on her list was to make sure to head to the office to get her locker figured out. She really didn’t want to use Nick’s for too long. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long for her to get this taken care of. Lunch was only a half hour long.

            Walking in she noticed Mrs. Richardson on the phone and stood waiting for her as she held up a finger a mouthed one minute. The conversation seemed to take a while, really it was probably only minutes but when you feel rushed it seems like you are losing a great deal of time. Lylah paid little attention to her conversation, except she zoned in when a goodbye was said. “Sorry about the wait. What can I help you with?”

            “I can’t seem to get in my locker. I’ve tried a few times and even had someone help me before third period ad neither of us were able to get into it. Would you be able to get someone to check on it for me? It’s locker 168.”

               Mrs. Richardson wrote down the information and then smiled up to her. “Of course. I will get someone on this and you can stop by after classes end. I’m sure they will have it all figured out by then. Will that be okay?” With a nod she agreed to the arrangement. Even if she wanted it done sooner it might not be manageable for the one who has to fix it. Plus, her backpack wasn’t too heavy since Nick had taken a few of her books to his locker. “Alright, then we shall see you then.”

               Leaving the room, Lylah looked to the clock on the wall and noticed how she only had twenty minutes left of lunch. She calculated that if she were to get in the lunch line she would have ten or fifteen left. At least, that’s what she configured when she walked out of the office and realized that might not be necessary. Nick stood holding a couple bags of chips and two wrapped subs. “I know you said fourth period, but I thought since you were going to figure out your locker situation you might not have enough time to just enjoy lunch.”

                The way to most girls’ hearts was probably shoes, clothes or jewelry. That wasn’t the case with Lylah. Food was the way to her heart. She knew that taking his offer was against the whole idea of keeping her distance, on the other hand he did have food that looked delicious. Walking over to him she took the chips from his hands to help him while she smiled at him. “Thank you. That’s really very kind of you.”

                “Where would you like to sit?” He really was too kind to her. If he ever found out about her past would he still be like that? No, she doubted it. Still, maybe she could just enjoy this one moment with him. That wasn’t too much to ask for was it?

                “How about outside? I enjoy the fresh air.” She may not be able to connect magically with the elements, but she still liked to be close to them. “Unless you had another place in mind?”

                He shook his head and moved towards the front doors that led outside. “Sounds great to me.” The day was a perfect temperature with being warm, yet a cool breeze made it a perfect for wearing a long sleeve shirt like she had on. He walked over towards one of the trees that was out front and sat down before it while taking his back pack off. Patting the ground next to him he rummaged through his bag until he came up trumpet with two water bottles.

                She couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she took off her bag and sat down where he indicated. Handing her a water bottle she took it graciously. “Thank you and you really thought of everything.”    

                He offered the subs over to her next while smiling at her. “I tried, though I’m not sure what type of sub you would prefer. I just grabbed on ham and one turkey. You can decide which one you’d like.” Ham was definitely the one she preferred, however she felt rude taking one that he might actually like.

                Looking straight into his eyes she made sure he understood she meant business. “You were the one to get the food and be so kind, so which one would you prefer? And you can’t say that you’d be fine with both.”     

                A laugh emerged from Nick. “Sorry I shouldn’t laugh. I just can’t help it. That face you gave along with what you said it caught me slightly off guard.” Calming down his laughter he smiled a wide grin at her. “How about this. I will take the one I prefer, but you have to hang out with me tonight at your house?” He couldn’t have said that, could he? She wasn’t exactly the best to him today in hopes of pushing him away, then again, she wasn’t doing the best at that either. “I’ll even get a movie you like and any type of food you like.”

                The mention of food had held her interest. No, she couldn’t let him suck her in this easily. However, he really had been kind to her and in many ways, he finessed himself in the best scenario for himself. If she didn’t let him pick his type of sandwich she would feel bad that she had taken it after he had purchased them and she would also be saying no to his invitation. On the other hand, she could just continue to push him away by taking the sandwich she wanted. One would be kind while the other not so much. He really wasn’t going to make this easy for himself, nor her.

                One time. That’s all she would give him. Sighing she held both sandwiches before him. “Which one would you like to have? Also, I just want to make sure my mom is okay with it.” At his beaming smile, he selected the turkey sandwich which made her feel like she could have selected the one she preferred any way. Dang. “For some reason I don’t believe that you prefer turkey over ham.”

                Unwrapping the sandwich, he gave that grin of his that caused butterflies to flutter in her stomach. “I promise this is the one I prefer and I already asked your mom earlier when I asked about handing out when you had free time this morning. I found it might be best to just ask. Now, which movie would you like to watch and what type of food should I be getting?”

                Lylah couldn’t believe he had already talked with her mom, yet it made sense because he had talked about wanting to hang out this weekend. She had agreed on those terms and honestly it wasn’t surprising that her mom was fine with it. After all, Nick was supposed to watch over her. Letting it go with asking her mom since that was a loss in her court she contemplated his question while unwrapping the ham sandwich. “To be honest. I don’t really no what movie I would prefer specifically to watch. All I know is I don’t care for horror movies.” No, not after what she had seen. The last thing she needed was to see something that helped remind her of it. “Comedies are nice or action movies, but I don’t really know any specific ones within the last few months. Now for food. I think for something like this I’d prefer pizza.”

               While she had talked he had started in on his sandwich and between bites he agreed to her demands. “I can work with that. I know a movie you might enjoy and there is a great pizza place that you would probably love. What is your favorite type of pizza?

               “I like most pizzas, as long as there is at least pepperoni. What’s your favorite pizza?”

               “Hmm, I’d have to say stuff crust with pepperoni, ham, olives and peppers.”

                Once he mentioned all the toppings to his favorite pizza she found his to sound very delightful. “I think I would like to try that kind of pizza. I haven’t really tried one like that.”

               “Well, I will do that then. Now I will stop asking you questions so you can eat your sub and chips. Would you mind handing me a bag?” A small blush came to her face as she realized she had horded the chips from him. Handing him over a bag, she decided he was right about eating her sub as lunch was rearing to an end.

                One might find the silence between them awkward, though strangely she felt calm and at ease. She didn’t know if Nick felt the same way and looked up through her eyelashes to him. He had opened the bag of chips and was chewing on some with his back to the tree and eyes closed. Then his eyes opened as if sensing her staring and she looked back down to her hand. A blush crawled up her face again at being caught peeping at him. He didn’t mention anything though and just continued to eat while she finished her sandwich.

                The bell rang just as she finished her sub. Before she could even get up, Nick was up offering his hand to help her stand. Placing her small hand in his larger one he picked her up to her feet with ease. “Thank you for the help and also for lunch.” Both had been great. It made it a bit difficult for her to want to continue to push him away.

                “You’re welcome. Now let’s get to class. I’m ready to get this day over with so we can have a movie night.” Lylah went to grab her bag and there again was Nick helping hand it to her while picking up his own. She then grabbed her water and bag of unopened chips to place in her bag for later. They both moved back towards the entrance to get to their next class together. 

(Sorry a little short on this one  >_<. Next one will be much longer.)