Cedric
Leah stood there frozen, her hand still hovering in the air right where it had brushed against me. Her eyes were wide, cheeks burning a deep, unmistakable red. For a second neither of us moved at all. The silence between us was deafening in a way that made every second feel twice as long as it actually was.
Then she let out a nervous laugh, the kind that’s more reflex than amusement, like her body was desperately trying to defuse the tension before either of us had to acknowledge it directly.
“Wow,” she said, her voice shaky but reaching for playful anyway. “I didn’t know I had that effect on you.” She bit her lip, her eyes dropping briefly before she caught herself and looked away quickly, cheeks somehow going even redder.
“Leah, I — it’s not — I didn’t mean—” The words came o
