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turkish coffee

"YOU CAN'T AVOID HIM FOREVER."

"I can try."

Riley rolled her eyes at me as I peeked out from behind the wall. Isaac was nowhere to be seen. I sighed in relief, stepping out from my hiding spot with a wide yawn.

I'd had a sleepless weekend. After Isaac had stormed out of the kitchen, he had left William's house, leaving me to overthink everything for the entire weekend.

I had skipped the café this morning, not sure how I'd be able to face Isaac – not sure what I'd say.

Had I done something wrong? Was I that dreadful of a kisser that he had to leave in the middle of the movie?

It had been so embarrassing, I could barely tell Riley and William about it – the words coming out like razors through gritted teeth. And coming to school today was like that multiplied by fifty. Every squeak of a shoe, flash of leather, scent of tobacco, and my heart rate was spiking all over again.

I was tired.

Riley rubbed my back as we walked towards my art class. I prayed Isaac would skip class today. Out of all the days he had skipped class, today was the day I really wanted it.

"Told you so."

My eyes widened at Riley's teasing voice as we reached the classroom door. There, in my usual corner, sat Isaac Hensick.

His eyes reached mine, and I turned quickly to face Riley only to find she had disappeared. Because of course she had. Because of course I had to choose a class with none of my friends in it, even though I hated art.

His eyes were still on me when I turned back. My cheeks burned. I took in a deep breath.

I've got this.

I exhaled, turning to walk into the classroom, completely avoiding eye contacting with Isaac.

Instead, I marched over to the opposite side of the classroom where Sebastian chatted jovially amongst his friends – he seemed to be friends with everyone.

I paused beside him, folding my arms over my chest.

"Sebastian."

They continued chatting as if I wasn't there. I cleared my throat, mustering up the confidence to try again before the adrenaline wore off.

"Sebastian. You're my partner today."

The group fell silent, their eyes moving to focus on me. I steadied myself, keeping my focus trained on Sebastian.

He raised his brows at me, a cheeky smile on his lips. "Am I now?"

I nodded, ignoring the way Isaac's eyes continued to burn into the back of my head.

Sebastian turned to the girls beside him. "You heard her. Move."

They didn't say a word as they grabbed their sketchpads and slid down a desk, making room for me to sit beside Sebastian.

Seconds later, Ms Laney entered with the loud taps of her heels against the classroom tile.

"Settle down, everyone," she shouted, moving to the front of the class. "We'll be continuing our abstract portraits from our last class. Find your partners."

I couldn't help but glance at Isaac in the corner, wondering who he was planning to partner with. More accurately, wondering if he'd be partnering with Lacey. I dragged my eyes to his seat only to find him already staring directly at me.

I blushed, spinning to face my desk, pulling my book open. We had paired up in our last class and I'd ended up with a terrible portrait of Isaac in my sketchbook. I stared down at it, feeling waves of longing and embarrassment rush through me.

It really was a mangled sketch of a portrait. Somehow, the eyes had ended up half the size of the nose, and the jawline – let's not even discuss that.

A smile pulled at my lips as I imagined what he might say about it. Probably something like, "Geeze, Aspirin. Maybe you should reconsider this subject." 

"Did something happen between you two?"

Iblinked, turning my attention to the curly-haired boy beside me. I raised a brow at Sebastian while he smirked back at me, leaning on his hand towards me. His eyes twinkled mischievously as he regarded me. I warmed beneath his gaze.

"Why would you think that?"

"Aspen," he laughed. "You're as red as a tomato."

My hands flew to my burning cheeks.

"No, I'm not."

"Besides," he leaned closer, lowering his voice to a whisper as he stared over my shoulder. "He's staring at me like he wants to murder me."

I spun to find Isaac glaring at us, his jaw set, and fists clenched. He'd partnered with a boy named Jack, though he wasn't being a very cooperative partner. Instead of drawing, his gaze flickered between Sebastian and me. I swallowed thickly and turned back to Sebastian.

"Well," I began slowly. "Maybe something happened between you and him."

Sebastian chuckled, shaking his head. "Fine, keep your secrets."

"I think I will," I quirked a brow at him, grabbing my pencil and beginning to sketch lines onto the paper.

Sebastian barked a laugh at me, opening his own sketchpad to begin his portrait.

"Make sure you get my good side," he said, wiggling his brows at me.

I rolled my eyes, opening my mouth to insult him only for a loud yawn to cut me off. Sebastian furrowed his brow, scanning my face.

"Tired?"

"You have no idea."

"Oh." He paused, his eyes flickering to Isaac before widening. "Oh!"

"What?"

"I see now," he winked at me.

I stared at him for a second before my cheeks began to heat up. I whacked him on the arm.

"No!" I exclaimed, my heart pounding at the suggestion. "Nothing happened. Especially nothing like that."

He narrowed his eyes at me, a lopsided smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "It's going to be hard to capture your bright red face in this portrait. Do you have a red pen?"

I laughed rolling my eyes, feeling my blush creep up to my ears. "Shut up."

Another laugh rumbled from his chest and he turned back to his portrait, scribbling across the page. I followed in suit, struggling to keep my eyes open. I'd skipped my usual morning coffee – part of my master plan for avoiding Isaac – and with even less sleep than usual, it was hard to stay awake.

The rest of the lesson faded into a blur and before I knew it, the bell was ringing signalling lunch time. I blinked, surprised with how fast the class had sped by, and found myself glancing to the corner.

Isaac was gone.

I raised my brows.

"He left half way through the lesson," Sebastian leaned towards me, his eyes following my gaze.

I staggered back, eyes wide. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Isaac," he smirked at me. "That's who you were looking for, right?"

I blushed, turning away and packing up my sketch pad and pencils. "No. I was just looking around."

Sebastian quirked a brow at me, following as I scraped my seat back and headed for the door. "Sure. See you around, Aspen. Tell Isaac I said hi."

"I'm not seeing him!" I sputtered out, but he only continued smirking at me.

He slipped around me, strolling out of the room and walking away. I rolled my eyes. As annoying as he could be, he was a great laugh for getting my mind off things. It was nice having a friend in art class.

I heaved my backpack over my shoulder and sped out of the classroom, heading straight for the library. I was desperate for a nap. Riley and William knew how tired I was after a sleepless weekend of over-thinking about Isaac and probably expected me to spend the lunch period asleep in the library.

The library was warm and quiet when I stepped in. I sighed immediately, the warmth enveloping like a blanket, and shuffled towards my usual windowsill.

I sat on the sill, leaning back and closing my eyes. The warmth lulled me, wrapping around me, stroking at my skin. My exhaustion called to me, pulling at me until I couldn't open my eyes if I wanted to. The world around me rang dull.

Sleep hit me abruptly, and just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared.

The school bell sounded, signalling the end of lunch, and I snapped awake.

I bolted upright, my eyes wide, and quickly wiped the drool pooling on the corner of my lips. How long had I been asleep? Somehow, I felt worse than before my nap.

I groaned, turning to the side and rubbing my eyes. I yawned, feeling incredibly groggy and drained. I stretched my arms up, blinking my eyes awake only to find Isaac Hensick sitting on the floor by my feet.

I raised my brows, my hands reflexively flying to my hair as I attempted to make myself look somewhat presentable.

"Isaac," I stuttered out. "I –"

I cut myself off, struggling to find the right words. What was there to say? We hadn't spoken since... well, since Riley's birthday. Since he'd left me in the kitchen, doubting everything I'd done and said.

He turned to face me, his face neutral as he raised a hot take-away cup to me, the logo of Café de Fleur clear across the cardboard.

I blinked.

"I noticed you were more tired than usual," he said simply, his expression remaining neutral.

I paused. He looked so handsome in this light. His dark hair swept just above his brow, his sharp jawline clenched, his lips plump and pink and –

"Thanks," I spat, jumping up from my seat, my cheeks beginning to warm. I took the cup from his hand, ignoring how our fingers brushed in the process.

I turned, taking a sip of the coffee in the cup – soy latte, no sugar. I sighed, the hot liquid immediately warming me up, and began making my way to the library exit.

Isaac quickly fell in step beside me.

"Listen, Aspirin," he began, his eyes trained on me. "About the other night –"

"The other night?" I sputtered, my heart racing at this sudden confrontation. I picked up speed, taking larger steps towards my next class – this was exactly why I was avoiding him. I pushed the library door open, stepping out into the hallways.

His stare sharpened. "Aspirin, you know what I mean."

"Oh," I said. "That night."

Suddenly, he was in front of me. He swerved to step in front of my way, forcing me to come to a stop. I let out a shaky breath, keenly aware of how empty the hallways were around us.

"Look, I was just caught up in the moment," he began, searching my eyes frantically. "It was dark, and you were there and... Can we please just forget about it?"

I furrowed my brows. He'd kissed me. The cutest, hottest boy in the school had kissed me–the boy I'd been watching in the corner of the café for years – and now he was asking to pretend it never happened. I knew it was too good to be true.

I'd spent the entire weekend thinking of how he'd cupped my cheek, how he'd pressed his lips to mine. I'd replayed that moment over and over in my mind – and the way he'd sped out of the kitchen without so much of a glance in my direction.

He was right, it was better to forget it all.

"Forget about what?" I sent him a small smile. "Nothing happened."

He grinned at me, opening his mouth to say something, but I cut him off, sliding past him.

"Got to get to class," I said, making my way down the hall. "Thanks for the coffee!"

And I left him behind.

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a u t h o r ' s n o t e

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So, what do you guys think about Isaac? Why do you think he wants to forget about it? Let me know! I'll see you guys soon!