eleven : thirteen

you shove your hands into the pockets of the light winter jacket you wore. the cold air of the river biting into your skin as you walked out of your friend's apartment building and into the street. mark trailing behind you for a short huff of breaths before you see the white puffs of air in front of you.

the light in front of you becomes a red blur. the normal hand sign that indicates no crossing missing a couple of fingers from flickering led lights. you shiver, the jacket you're wearing not doing much to stop the cold of the night even if you're jumping up and down in a weak attempt to get some heat. you can feel mark next to you, his gaze on your shivering body as he speaks, asking if you want his jacket. you shake your head, a small smile grazing your features because though you were cold mark without his jacket would freeze.

at your shake, you hear his chuckle, and you turn your head slightly to take the boy in. brown hair disheveled from the wind, but eyes bright, laughter escaping his lips. "well I wouldn't have given it to you, either way, I was just trying to be a gentleman" he tells you, grin never leaving his face. you can't help but laugh as the light turns a green-white color and you grab mark's hand pulling him along with you.

you tug him along, laughter trailing you as you walk quickly through the streets of the city in search of cheap alcohol your friends had requested. you only meant to grab his hand for a quick second, a tug of the hand to get him to move along because the boy would have been too distracted by the way the white smoke came out of his lips or the red lights of the cars to cross the street. yet mark never pulls away, the warmth of his hand is like a small hug on your freezing ones. something he comments, something along the lines as to "why are your hands always cold as fuck?" you don't have an answer for him. wanting to keep his hand on yours for as long as possible as you feel your body heat increase as you pull mark slightly closer to you so that the fabric of your jacket's touch.

every time you catch him smiling at you, hand in yours as if it were the most casual thing you wish your heart didn't skip a beat. you wish you didn't think how it would feel to be kissed by him, you wish you didn't feel the way your heart was just seconds away from imploding in on itself out of pure joy by having him near you.

moments like these that leave you breathless. emotions to raw too overwhelming to ever put out into words, and lay them in fron of you. so you do what you do best. you keep that feeling that love that challenges the stars to yourself and reflect it back when you smile at him. keep it safe in your heart for the day you are brave enough to let him know how you feel.

and mark wonders as he holds your hand, swinging it back and forth through the streets if every time you smile at him you feel the same way. if your cheeks feel warm when he makes an awkward compliment that leaves him in a jumble of words. or if you know that every song he has on queue, the muffled music coming out of his phone is his confession to you.