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“Well, I have plenty of brothers,” I replied, “so I’m used to boys saying the wrong thing.”
Ticking the yes box, I signed my name to the page, and then tore it out of my notebook before handing it back to Johnny.
The smile Johnny rewarded me with was wide, genuine, and breathtakingly beautiful.
God, he looked like a different person when he smiled.
His entire face transformed. His eyes lit up. The dimples in his cheeks were visible.
He was simply beautiful, and I almost told him just that.
Thankfully, I stopped myself just in time, scrambling together, “You look brilliant,” instead.
Johnny’s brows shot up, expression quizzical, while I sank further into my seat.
“I look brilliant?” he asked as he watched me with interest, a small smile still teasing his lips.
“In brilliant condition,” I quickly corrected and then cleared my throat several times, buying myself some time to scramble for a lie before finding one and adding, “considering you’re carrying such a bad injury.”
A flash of panic lit his eyes for the briefest of moments before the shutters clamped shut. And just like that, the playful, tender version of Johnny was gone.
“Don’t go there, Shannon,” he warned, his smiling lips flattened into a thin line as his entire body visibly tensed. He looked around, noting the line of students all piling onto the bus, before turning his attention back to me. “And especially not here.”
His reaction was like a smack in the face.
“Are you okay?” I asked, hating how uncertain I sounded. “You know I didn’t mean—”
“I’m fine,” he finished for me. “And I know. It’s okay. I just… I can’t… Please forget it.”
Rejection and dismissal were never nice feelings to endure, which was exactly what happened to me whenever I foolishly opened myself up to this boy. He had a knack for building me up with words and smiles and false hope, only to crush me with silence. It hurt more than it should.
It crushed me.
Several students filed back into the bus, their loud chattering distracted us both.
“About fucking time,” Johnny muttered under his breath.
Shrinking away from his sudden change of mood, I concentrated on the line of students all piling back onto the bus.
Several lads from the team passed by our seat, stopping to clap Johnny on the shoulder as they went. He ignored them all, keeping his attention glued to the sheet of paper in his hands.
“Exchanging love letters?” Gibsie taunted as he made his descent to the back of the bus. “How romantic!”
“Go fuck yourself, Gibs,” Johnny shot back, sounding irritated as he folded up the note and shoved it in his pocket. “I’m not in the form for your shite today.”
“Yeah, well, I’d tell you go fuck yourself right back, but I can see you already have that sorted,” Gibsie called back with a laugh.
His comment received plenty of attention from other students, who decided to jump on the bandwagon and toss out suggestive comments.
“See that, lads? They stayed on the bus when we were inside.”
“He wasn’t hungry for what they had in the shop.”
“Hup out that!”
“Gowan, Johnny boy!”
“Get in there, kid!”
