There’s no one there so I sit beneath the tree with my phone in my hands. Slowly the students begin to dwindle, one by one until the parking lot is void of anyone. Time ticks away until it’s nearing four o’clock, meaning almost an hour has passed. Part of me says to leave but another part says maybe this girl is too nervous to show up. It’s not like it bothers me either because I sure as hell wouldn’t have the guts to write a love letter or meet with my crush afterwards.

However, waiting is getting to be a pain. It’s so freaking hot out even in the shade of the tree. The humidity is causing me to sweat, the ends of my hair begin to stick to my forehead and neck. It starts to itch and I’m starting to think I should just leave. Obviously this girl isn’t showing up so there’s no point in me waiting.

My thoughts on whether or not to leave are put on hold when I feel something cool press against my forehead. Looking up, I find Preston leaning towards me with a cold bottle of water in his hands. Feeling it pressed against my burning skin is a relief.

I snatch it immediately while asking, “Hey Preston, what are you still doing here?”

“Art club,” he answers quietly while adjusting the strap to his backpack on his shoulder. “Still waiting?”

“Yeah, seems like she isn’t going to show up,” I reply after chugging half the bottle of water. That seems to amuse Preston because he gives a slight smirk.

“She won’t show up,” Preston says out of the blue causing me to look at him in confusion.

“Huh?”

“Mark and Sam are pranking you.”

My jaw drops. What…the…hell?!

“They wanted to see how long you’d wait in the heat.”

“Those assholes!” I scream, jumping up fast enough to shock Preston to take a step back. “I can’t believe they did that, I’m going to kick their ass!”

Preston must find me funny because he lets out a quiet chuckle. The sound startles me since I don’t hear it all that often. Looking over, I find him watching me with that same silent gaze but with a certain upward tilt to his lips. It makes me wonder if he sees me as stupid or something, he has to. I doubt many guys, or people in general, would fall for such a trick.

I’m such an idiot! I should have known, it was too fishy! There had to be a girl involved though cause the hand writing isn’t theirs. Their writing is hardly legible.

I scratch nervously at the back of my neck. “Ah, sorry that you felt obligated to come out here and tell me. The guys and I always seem to be bugging you.”

Preston’s smile disappears, his face returning to an almost solemn expression when he says, “You don’t bother me.”

“R-Really? Oh, that’s…that’s good, cool, I guess I always thought we annoyed you.” That’s a shocker cause I feel like 90% of the time we’re interrupting his reading time or shouting while he’s trying to nap in class.

“Not at all.”

Wow, I’m learning a lot today like Preston doesn’t hate us and all my friends are assholes…except DJ. He’s in the clear unless I learn he was in on it too.

“Must bother you. You probably thought there’d be a cute girl out here waiting for you,” Preston says with a frown. His voice comes off as almost annoyed and it has me wondering why. Does he think the guys hurt my feelings or something? Cause I wasn’t expecting much so it’s all good.

I shrug. “I mean, I didn’t think anything would happen so it’s whatever.”

“What would you have done if she was here then?” Preston inquires, his questioning kind of throws me for a loop. This isn’t the longest conversation we’ve had but it’s certainly the most personal one. I never thought he’d like talking about stuff like this, kind of falls under gossip, doesn’t it?

I’ve never been one to keep things to myself though, sometimes that’s simply because I never know when to shut up. It doesn’t bother me to answer honestly.

“I guess it would have depended on who it was. If it was someone I’m close with I think I’d like to give it a shot because, if we’re close there’s a reason for it, right?” It’s kind of a rhetorical question and Preston seems to think that as well because he simply nods.

“And if it was someone you didn’t consider yourself close with?”

“I guess I’d want us to hang out, get to know each other better and see how it goes from there!”

Preston hums, nodding his head again, his response easily taking us into silence. A slight breeze comes by, slightly cooling us off. Even with the breeze though it’s unbearably hot and all I wish to do is get into some air conditioning.

“What does it matter though!” I laugh, slapping Preston playfully on the arm. “It didn’t happen so who cares! Ah, but it’s so hot out and I’ve been out here for over an hour! If I stay out here any longer I’m going to be cooked on the inside so lets head home! Oh, are your parents picking you up? I can wait with you till they get here!”

My rambling seems to have flown in one of Preston’s ears and out the other because he doesn’t respond. Instead, he stands before me with his gaze locked on the ground. The grip he has on the strap of his backpack tightens to the point that his knuckles turn white. There’s even a slight shiver in his shoulders that worries me.

“Preston, you ok? Is the heat getting to you?”

No response.

His teeth come out to bite at his bottom lip to the point it seems painful. I begin to frown and wonder what I can do to help but time sort of stops when Preston finally whispers something I never thought I’d hear, especially from him.

“I like you, Caleb.”

Huh?

Preston raises his head to look me in the eye, that silent stare of his replaced with one I’ve never seen him wear. There’s a light dusting of pink beneath his eyes that are screaming at me that his words are true. It actually causes my hands to shake.

“I know I’m not the cute girl you probably wanted to hear that from.” Preston lets out a forced chuckle, a sad one that ripples through me to the point I almost feel sick. “But, at least you got a real confession.”

I’d respond but my brain seems to have short circuited. Something within me snaps in that moment and causes every function to simply stop. Preston doesn’t wait around long enough to hear an answer anyways. He gives a quick wave goodbye, backing away as he does before spinning on his heel and bolting towards the front of the school like the hounds of hell are hot on his trail.

I’ve never seen him move so fast in my life.

I’ve never seen him blush before either.

My mind chooses to focus on the latter more than anything else while my heart chooses to focus on what he said.