"You sure you're fine?"

"I am, Henry... I am..."

"You wanna... lean on my shoulder? You don't look like you got enough sleep last night."

Amber tries to stiffle a yawn and she nods. Sure. A little nap wouldn't hurt.

She hesitates on leaning on his shoulder. The restraint she uknowingly grows into a blush.

So she was just there semi-leaning and semi-not-leaning, ogling at his shoulder.

Henry sighs with a smile, pressing her head to his shoulder

"You don't have to be shy. No one is from school here. You can have my shoulder."

"Idiot." She retorts with a smack on his knee "I wasn't shy or anything. What if you find my head heavy or something?"

He laughs at her denial and pulls her head to his shoulder

"Yeah, right. Just because you're ms. Genius, and you got so much knowledge in that head of yours, doesn't mean your head is any heavier than mine or the dumbest person in school"

"Yeah, shut up and let me sleep already. Such a blabbermouth." She gives him one more smack on the knee before shifting to a more comfortable position and drifting to sleep

Her breath has steadied against his neck. She had fallen asleep. He takes her hand in his and starts tracing circles on it with his thumb

He held her hand for the first time without Amber trying to kill him. They were as he expected them to be; on the rough side but her fingers were really pretty even up close.

He quickly lets go of it when she starts shifting in her seat.

"It's coming..." she mutters, half-asleep

"W-what is?"

"Mmmph..." she sits up straight, eyes fully open and alert

Henry looks at the center aisle and finds the cart of airplane food being pushed by the attendant

"Oh... yeah. We haven't eaten yet."

"We're almost there"  he gladly turns to the sight of her adjusting her jaws because her ears are popping violently
"I swear you look like a llama right now"

"What, my ears are popping! Don't you do that stuff?" She stops after giving him a punch on the shoulder

"Didn't know I was dating a llama"

"Well, congratulations because you are."

They were in a cab on their way to the hotel they were gonna stay in. Amber was still anxious and now lots of things were in her thoughts

"Hey... about the hotel..."

"Don't worry we aren't gonna pay for the accomodation. The event coordinators got that covered."

"Hmmm..." she nods. A tinge of pink was now invading her face and she lowers her head hoping the person beside her wouldn't notice

Damn, I should've sat at the front...

"O-okay..."

I got nothing else to talk about.

The dead air was strangling her. She wishes she would be more open and confident about the silence considering she and this person are seeing each other now.

She just sighs, finally giving up to the awkwardness.

"Are you ready?"
Henry finally speaks up

"F-for what?" Dammit, Why are you sweating over one question?

A broad one at that

"The competition, dummy"

What? Am I even the one competing here?

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"Well, I'm pretty confident. I got the best tutor anyone could have" he leans back and casually slips his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. His heart skips a beat like a high school girl recieving her first confession when she wraps her fingers around his hand in return.

I wonder if she feels the same...

They arrive at a grand-looking hotel along with other youngsters. Probably from different schools as well.

"Smells like competition, doesn't it?" Amber elbows her boyfriend's side

"Psh... smells like a bunch of losers"

Amber rolls her eyes "Overconfident."

"Let's go" he grabs her by the hand and his suitcase with his other hand

Amber looks around as they got in the lobby

Lot's of smart-looking kids here...

Her eyes land on Henry who was at the front desk

I hope this lil would survive and win like he always says

She puts on her earphones while she waits. There were still a lot of people at the front desk and Henry might take a while in getting the key cards

Henry finally sits beside her and presents a single key card

"A-are we staying in the same room??"
Amber's chest felt like it was gonna burst

I thought this was a national competition why are we having an impromptu honeymoon???

Henry was smiling and she was scared if what she's thinking is correct

But then he presents another key card

"No, silly. This is yours, and this one's mine" he grins and Amber doesn't give a second thought in hitting his shoulder

"Disappointed?"

"Shut up"

"Shall we go?"

Amber stands up and leaves Henry sitting there

She secretly smiles and tsks thinking of how it would have felt like sharing a room with him for a week

"Hey. Can I come in?"

"You're already in." she looks over her shoulder as she was just done unpacking some of her clothes

"There are such things called locks you know if you don't want people barging in."

"Like what you just did"

Henry sits on her bed, observing her for a while before speaking

"You look kinda bothered." he tilts his head, looking at her face

She hesitates because she hasn't noticed the nagging feeling she had until now. Aside from her worry her friends aren't responding, of course.

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right..." she looks up at him "What's wrong?"

He ruffles her hair before he stood up "Why are you asking me that? I should start unpacking, too."

she follows him with her eyes and goes back to unpacking.

Something really feels weird.

a/n: umm hi. yes, i'm still alive and oh my gosh this chapter was last updated on 2016 in my evernote. i'm so sorry for the VERY LONG delay. the next chapter may show how rusty i have become since i haven't been writing much TT TT.

anyway, thanks for sticking around, to whoever is reading this. ^^;

til the next update.