A round of cat-calling and applause startled us both apart. Leo’s lips were slightly parted and he looked about as dumbstruck as I felt. My face felt so warm that I had no doubt I was as red as a ripe tomato by then.
Leo cleared his throat and stood up, holding out a hand for to help me up. “Would you excuse us for a moment?” He asked the group around us. “Momo and I have something we must discuss.”
The cat-calling and cheering intensified when I took hold of his hand and the two of us left the music room to talk. Leo didn’t stop at the hallway, he walked all the way outside, not letting go of my hand. His hand was nice and dry. Mine was already beginning to sweat.
But, when we turned the corner of the building, my sweaty hands were the last thing on my mind because Leo’s warm hands were cupping the sides of my face. His amber eyes were studying my face so intently that I wondered if he was trying to commit my facial features to memory.
“Did…” I began at the same time as Leo, but then stopped to allow him to talk.
“Did you feel something...strange back there when we kissed?” He asked hesitantly “Like someone else’s life?”
"Y-yeah..." My green eyes opened so wide that my stretched eyelids actually hurt. “You were seeing weird not-memories, too?” I questioned. “Who did you see? Were they Egyptian-looking?”
“Yes, I mean I’ve seen one of them before in my dreams…” He began.
“Me too! Which one? The short, tattered one?”
“Tattered?” He questioned.
“I don’t know his name because the only name he ever thought of was of a guy named Nevis-“ I explained, but he cut me off.
“The guy I always saw was named Nevis!” Leo declared. “He kept calling himself an idiot…’Nevis, you fool!’ He’d say.” The taller teen explained as he began to pace. “He was overcome with remorse for not having protected a prince...Prince Raemka.”
Raemka!
I shook my head at the strange echo in my head. The name ‘Raemka’ coming out of Leo’s mouth gave me both an eerie and heart-throbbing feeling. All the while, my stomach felt sick. The wonderful lunch I had just savored seemed to want to jump ship.
“I’m not feeling so good right now,” I confessed.
Leo glanced up at the sky. “It’s getting too hot out here,” he deduced. “Let’s get you back inside.”
As the taller teen rushed me indoors, I felt a sense of deja-vu, as if he had escorted me indoors before. Only, this was surely the first time Leo had done so much for me. I had just barely started talking to him that very day!
The colder air of the hallway did feel better than the heat from outside, but when Leo took hold of my hand again, the feeling all but vanished. As I glanced back at him, for a brief moment, I saw someone else instead...his skin was a warm mocha, and his eyes were brown. Could that be Nevis? I frowned as I concentrated on his moving lips. What was Leo saying?
“I’m sorry, what was that?” I asked aloud.
“I said I’m going to get you some water with ice. We just have to ask one of the cafeteria ladies,” Leo insisted.
“Oh...thank you.”
A cold cup of water later, I was still feeling a residual headache. But, I didn’t know if it was because of the weird things we were experiencing or just stress. Leo and I were the only students in the cafeteria at 2pm, so the two of us sat down on a round table beneath an umbrella outside. Despite my condition, I noted that Leo kept touching my hand every few minutes. Each touch was like a surge of aspirin that soothed the pounding in my head.
I wondered if he felt the same.
“Thank you for staying with me,” I said. “I think we can head back now. I imagine Mrs. Matthews must wonder what happened to us.”
“I’m sure Rick and the others are covering for us,” Leo responded. “If not, we’ll just tell the truth. You were feeling ill and I wanted to help.”
I gave him a small smile. “So, I guess it really is only me feeling these...what? Side-effects?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Leo replied as he threaded his fingers through mine. “I think I’m feeling different ‘side-effects.’ Only holding your hand like this calms me down. I swear I’m not usually this touchy-feely…”
“What are we going to do when we have to go home?”
“Well, thank goodness we ride the same bus back. I’m sure your friend Zoey won’t mind that I take her seat temporarily if we explain it to her,” Leo suggested. “Unless you don’t want her to know.”
“Oh, I don’t keep anything from Zoey,” I responded. “But, I imagine her fanaticism of my dreams will prompt her to ask you like a billion questions about Nevis.”
“It’s so weird hearing you say his name out loud,” Leo admitted. “I only ever told my mother about the dreams I had. Guess, I’m going to have to talk to Rick about it now. You’re making me look like a bad bestie here by having told Zoey.”
I shook my head. “Zoey is more than just my best friend, she’s like family. I don’t have a mother to tell anything to and my dad...let’s just say he’s not the type of guy to tell these things to, especially not if it has anything to do with a gay couple.”
“I swore those two only existed in my dreams,” the brunet insisted. “I didn’t think they were real people. Now, I seriously doubt that they weren’t real. Could it have really been our past lives?”
I lifted our hands and pressed the back of Leo’s against my temple. A shiver of coolness and calm seemed to radiate from the touch. It was both soothing and pleasant.
“If they weren’t, I don’t think this skin-to-skin contact would feel as good as it does," I admitted. If anyone were to have told me yeserday that I'd not only feel comfort in shamelessly holding onto Leo's hand, but that I'd be the one initiating the touch, I'd have never beleived them. "Your hand’s better than an ice pack right now.”
“I’m kind of afraid of what will happen when we have to go to our separate homes,” Leo divulged. “Are you really going to be ok? Should you just sleep over?”
“You’d really let me sleep over?” I questioned hesitantly.
“Like I said, my mom knows...she’d completely understand.”
“She sounds like an awesome mom. But, I think I’ll be fine. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Then, let’s head back to the music room.” He proposed. “Now’s as good a time as ever to test out how you feel without any touching at all.”
We both stood up, and to my surprise, he took hold of my hand once again. The touch was warm that time, urging another blush to rise to my face. “I thought we were going to try to stop touching for a while,” I mused aloud.
“Well, we’re not in the room just yet,” Leo responded sheepishly. “I’ll brave it once we walk through the door. But, for now, this last touch is because I'm the one that need it.”
He still hadn’t told me what he felt whenever we weren’t touching. But, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. After all, my headache was all but completely gone. Holding hands for a little longer was beneficial to me, as well.
A collective breath was drawn in from us both when we stood before the door of the music room. Our hands subconsciously tightened in our grasp. The moment reminded me of the first day of kindergarten. I hadn’t been the only child clinging to my relative.
“Words aren’t the only way we talk to one another,” my grandpa had explained. “But fear gets in the way of everything. You have to push past it before you can make a worthwhile connection.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being afraid. But, we have to push past it if we want to do anything worthwhile," I told Leo despite not being able to push past my own fears. Grandpa Genbu hadn't been kidding. Fear was downright debilitating to me. It was a constant presence in my life.
A frown formed on Leo’s face. “You’re right,” he conceded, slowly letting go of my hand. We both visibly tensed as we fought the urge to reach out to each other again. How the hell were we going to get past this?
“We’ll figure this out," the older teen insisted, though his tone wasn't very convincing. "We’ll get past the fear; together.”
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