I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

I can’t see her face. All I can see is her body. Her legs don’t rock.
Her arms stay tame at her sides. I don’t move until Hikari stands and
leaves her parents at the table. Quickly hiding in a corner on the
other side of the entrance, I wait for her to walk past.
I can’t say her name, but I want her to turn around. I want to see her
and make sure she’s okay. I want, and the anxiety of that crawls like
spiders up my stomach.
“Hamlet,” I call.
Hikari turns around, no tears to stain her cheeks, no sadness in her
eyes. A rush of relief escapes my breath.
“Yorick.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. It doesn’t reach
me. “Is that your succulent?” she asks as it waves from my pocket.
“Oh. Yes,” I say, looking down at it. “It’s wounded. I didn’t want to
leave it by itself.”
Hikari snorts, sticking her hands in her own pockets. She wears
shorts, her legs bare. They look smooth beneath the light, unbruised
and unblemished except for goosebumps and a few bandaids.
“Are you okay, Sam?” she asks. My eyes snap up, cheeks
reddening.
“Um–Yes–I–I just called you, because–well–”
“Because you saw my parents scolding me?” The books in my arms
tighten against me. She has the same look as Neo when I brought
up wanting, a sort of muted disappointment.
“What’s wrong?” she asks when my gaze draws to the ground, and
my chin falls on the head of my books.
“I made everyone mad today,” I murmur.
“No one’s mad at you,” Hikari says.