"So you're just going to walk me back home while you're shirtless?" I questioned, ignoring how I felt sparks of electricity beginning to rage through my veins every single time our shoulders would brush against each other.

Why wasn't he mentioning the kiss? We're alone, aren't we? Isn't this the best time to talk about it?

He chuckled at what I had said and reached his arm out to ruffle my hair and I gave him a look of displeasure. He proceeded while I attempted to fix my hair, "Don't act like you don't like seeing me shirtless. I've caught you staring at my abs a million times now."

I snorted in response but didn't attempt to deny it because it was the truth, after all. He had nice abs and if I see something nice, obviously I'm going to stare at it.

"Why did you suddenly want to walk me back home?" I questioned, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly. "It seemed like you were trying extra hard to avoid me. So why all of a sudden?"

Alex let out a heavy sigh and averted his gaze down to the pavement, "Yeah, about that.. I'm really sorry, Kairo. I just thought I should try my hardest to focus on football and nothing else, especially since the championships were coming up.. and I guess I didn't really want to bother you either."

"Bother me? How would you be bothering me?" I snorted.

"After the uh.." he began, unable to structure his sentences in a way that would make sense and wouldn't make the atmosphere all awkward at the same time. "The incident we had in the football field that day.. I just assumed you wouldn't want anything to do with me after that."

"Then stop assuming things," I responded immediately. "I thought you hated me or something and that's why you were ignoring me."

"Doesn't that mean that you were assuming things as well?" he retorted with a raised brow. "And no, shut up. I would never ignore you. You mean way too much to me."

Fuck, here come the butterflies again. I swear to God if he doesn't stop saying all these sappy, romantic and cheesy things I'm going to ship his ass to Jamaica like FedEx.

"I can see how much I mean to you," I scoffed, feeling my petty side beginning to show. "From the way you ignored me for like nearly two weeks straight."

"Oh shut up," he huffed, nudging me with his elbow. "You do mean a lot to me. You mean the world to me, Kairo." He mumbled the last part quietly under his breath, however it was loud enough for me to hear and that simple sentence was enough to send my heart and emotions into overdrive.

I found it difficult to hide the smile that threatened to make its way onto my face and cleared my throat, coming up with the most appropriate response my brain could muster at that moment, "Are you calling me big?"

He burst out into a fit of laughter at what I'd just said, leaving me feeling like not a clown - but the entire circus. That's right fucker, I'm funny.

What followed after that was silence. Not the uncomfortable and awkward kind of silence - it was the kind of silence which felt oddly calming - as if being in each other's presence wasn't already calming enough.

"I've missed you," I admitted sheepishly. "I didn't know how long you were going to keep up with giving me the cold shoulder but I was getting a little worried."

"I'm sorry again," he said with a soft sigh. "I hate myself for doing it too, trust me. I'm an idiot."

"At least you're self-aware," I joked, earning a playful glare from him.

And before I knew it, we'd reached my place.

We stood in my porch for a few moments, exchanging our goodbyes - and when I turned to leave, he wrapped his fingers around my wrist to stop me from doing so. I quickly turned back around in confusion with a raised brow, "Yeah?"

He stayed silent for a brief moment before chewing onto his bottom lip and letting out a hesitant hum.

"Is there something you want to say to me?" I urged, tilting my head at him.

He loosened his grip on my wrist before shaking his head, "No, it's nothing. I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, he turned around and left - leaving me more confused than I had ever been in my entire life.