Chapter 6 SCARY FEELINGS

Brian's Pov

There was just something about her,it felt off but comforting like she had so much to say but didn't want to or didn't know how.

And honestly from the first time I saw her I already knew she was hiding things. Flinching at every touch,very alert and always scared and I felt drawn to her.

I didn’t drive off immediately, I told myself I just wanted to make sure she got home safely but deep down I knew that was a lie.

I was just sitting there feeling my warm chest where she had just hugged me.

The porch light flickered on,and I saw her silhouette move behind the curtains and I finally confirmed she was safe inside.

I started my engine and drove off but my mind wasn't completely on the road it was on her.

“Tessy” I breathed

Her eyes,

Her hugs,

God.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheels.

I shouldn't be thinking like this.

When I got home,my mum was in the living room watching some telenovela

“You're late” she said, without looking at me.

“Had some mentoring sessions”,I replied.

“Ok” she nodded.

As always,acting distant just as she always did. Not even caring how my day went. In her eyes, I always have everything all put together. Good grades,strong and focused.

But deep down I keep losing a piece of myself each day,

My mum never cared about me in any way, i was so used to it seemed she always had something more important than me and my brother's affairs and I didn’t care abit.

The therapy sessions was also my therapy, loved helping people and making sure they never ended lonely as I once did

I left to my room and sat at the edge of the bed, staring at my hands.

Flashbacks from the events with tessy floods my mind.

She was so beautiful, so calm and her eyes

They were small,tired,scared and beautiful at the same time.

But in all these I still felt this strange feeling I had felt once and was scared of repeating. I didn’t like the way this feeling,I was staring to care and it was dangerous

“What if I hurt her?” I thought,

“What if she depends too much on me” different thoughts filled my head.

I tried distracting myself with thoughts other than tessy but it seemed almost impossible,after few minutes of tossing back and forth I finally feel asleep.

The next morning I woke up late, my mum was not around, I wasn't surprised. She must've gone to one of her boyfriend's house.

I quickly freshned up, getting g ready for he day.

At therapy,the counselor was already arranging the chairs

“She stayed late yesterday” she said casually

“Who?”, I asked even though I knew who she was talking about.

“You know who I'm talking about” she said again.

I didn’t respond

“She’s fragile”, she continued

“I know,” I answered immediately.

I knew exactly what she was talking about, she must have noticed the tension that comes up whenever we're close.

Just then, Tessy walked in almost immediately, she looked tired. I mean she always had a tired look. The counselor gave me a “ I'm watching you” kinda look and left.

Tessy waved at me but I pretended not to see.

I tried avoiding eye contact and she must have noticed it too. But I kept stealing glances at her, she looked so beautiful.

The tension between us was so loud. Thankfully, the session ended earlier today. I packed my bags and planned to leave. Suddenly I noticed tessy walking up to me.

“Hey”, she waved,

“Hi”, I replied,

“Thank You so much for the ride last night”, she added with a cheeky smile. This was the very first time I've ever seen her smile this hard.

“ It's cool, I mean what are friends for and you needed my help, I couldn't possibly leave you all by yourself” I replied again.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You're welcome” I replied slightly cold.

I knew she must have noticed my cold attitude towards her,but I was only planning to protect her, I couldn't afford to lose myself again.

I planned to keep things professional and straight forward, nothing personal.

Later that day at class, I noticed mirabel and her little group whispering something vile towards her making mean comments and laughing. I went to confront her

“What's wrong with you?” I demanded.

“What do you mean”?, she asked, pretending not to understand what I'm saying

“Look I don't care if you understand me or not, you can't speak of tessy in that manner, do you understand me?”, I said

“Why do you care?,she's just a slutty bitch” she said gritting her teeth.

“It's none of your business and don't ever call her that ”, I told her,grabbing her arms and my anger was already building up.

“Wait, don't tell me you are falling in love with her already?” she asked me

“Brian,I really like you, you can't possibly do this to me,what about our date?” she said again.

“It's cancelled, I'll be busy”, I said avoiding eye contact

“What!!!, are you crazy?”, she said angrily

“You can't cancel at the last minute, I already made reservations”, she said with tears in her eyes but I didn’t care.

“Then cancel it!!!, let's not make a scene here,mirabel”, I shouted trying my best not to raise my voice.

I left immediately

I couldn't believe the anger In my blood

How dare she call Tessy a bitch

She was more than that

I clenched my fist I needed to calm down

For the first time I felt this urge to protect her,to care for her and this scared me more than anything.