Title: Remember When

Pairing: Gerald/Phoebe

Prompt: When I first saw her I didn't really see her, just the pile of books she was carrying.

AN: I wanted to write a series of love themed one-shots for Valentine's Day. I used prompts from Pinterest and tried to create a story from them. I hope that you enjoy this series.

When I first saw her, I didn't really see her. All I could really see was the pile of books she was carrying. Her eyes, along with the frames of her glasses were struggling to see over the top of the large pile. I remember wondering to myself, what on earth a sixteen year old girl was doing with all of these books.

Then the books started to topple over, I raced over to reach her in time. Before I knew it, there was a pile of books all over the Hillwood Central High School hallway and there was a girl staring back at me. Her hair was short and jet black and she had the most beautiful light brown almond eyes that I just couldn't stop looking into.

I remembered a similar scene when I first met her. We were four years old at Urban Tots preschool, she was carrying a pile of books—chapter books, books far too advanced for the average four year old but she read them with ease. I remembered, even at four years old being absolutely fascinated by Phoebe Heyerdahl—and that feeling returned the day in the hallway.

"Please, let me help you with that." I said, struggling get the words out. Although we grew up in similar circles, as the years went on our circles moved further and further apart, to the point where we had close to nothing keeping us together. She was the President of the Debate Club, worried about making her college applications look well balanced. Me on the other hand, I was the star of the basketball team—my only worries were staying in shape and maintaining my popularity. However, as I stared into her eyes it was as though a magnet kept pulling me closer.

"Gerald—you don't have to, I can manage it." Phoebe pleaded, we were both on our knees, gathering the books from the hallway, when our hands brushed against each other. That one touch sent shivers down my spine, it was inexplicable.

"This is going to sound crazy—but are you free this Friday night?" I asked, holding half of the books in one hand, with my other hand outreached to help Phoebe up. My heart raced as I waited for a response.

"I think that could be arranged." Phoebe responded, with a slight smile. My heart and stomach were doing back flips. It's not like I was new to the dating world, I was sixteen years old at the time and I had been on my fair share of dates—but none like this.

I was determined to make our first date special, I arranged for dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant, Bella Roma—followed by a sophisticated outing at our local theatre. I picked her up in my red corvette, given to me by my older brother Jamie-O. I wore the best outfit that I had, an all-black suit that I reserved for special occasions. When she walked out of the house, she was breathtaking—her short black hair was lightly curled, her petite frame was adorned in a beautiful blue dress and it was the first time since we were children that I had seen her without her signature cat eye glasses.

Unfortunately, my plans for creating a perfect first date didn't go accordingly. My reservation for Bella Roma was bumped and instead of having a beautiful dinner at an Italian restaurant, we ended up dining outside of Gino's Souvlaki Stand to make sure we made it to the theater in time. Even worse, my attempt of a sophisticated theatre date ended up being ruined. I hadn't seen a play since I was in the fourth grade—I assumed that if it was showing at the local theatre, it had to be a good play. I couldn't have been more wrong as I looked over to see my date yawning at the end of Act One.

I had my hands in my pocket, looking down at the ground as we headed back to my car. My impressive date, was anything but. I figured I had ruined my chances with this wonderful girl. When the date was over, she would go back to her world and I would go back to mine.

"I'm sorry about tonight." I admitted.

"Tonight has been very interesting, but you have nothing to apologize for." Phoebe attempted to console me.

"I'm just—pretty nervous." I confessed, I had nothing left to lose.

"Why don't you just take me where you feel most comfortable?" Phoebe suggested.

We climbed into my car. There was only one place in Hillwood that made me feel completely comfortable. We pulled up to the large building and I grabbed her hand as we walked into the dark, empty room.

"Are you certain that we're allowed to be here at this hour?" Phoebe asked nervously, I struggled to find the light against the wall. When the lights finally flickered on, it revealed the school gymnasium.

"Coach encourages us to come in any time before midnight—although, I'm probably the only one that takes advantage of it." I divulged.

"So, this is where you come to clear your head?" She asked, her eyes wide and curious.

"Yeah—I don't know what it is, but even when this place is completely packed—it just feels like I'm in my element."

Phoebe spotted a ball nearby and bounce passed it to me.

"Well, I don't know much about basketball but how about a game of one-on-one." Phoebe smiled towards me. My heart fluttered and my stomach was doing flips but I was able to contain it.

"How about horse?" I offered as an alternative, bouncing the ball back to Phoebe, when to my surprise she took her low heels and kicked them off to the side. She tossed the ball underhanded from the free throw line—and to my surprise she made it.

"You're on." She winked at me.

Before I knew it our simple game was over and we were sitting in the middle of the basketball court reminiscing about the years after our group split up. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was nearing midnight—I didn't want the night to end but I had no choice.

"I had a really fun time tonight Gerald." She told me and the look in her eyes told me that she was being honest. She started to walk towards her door but I couldn't let her go. I grabbed her arm and she turned around to face me—emboldened by the turn of the night's events I gently caressed the sides of her face before tilting my head and touching my lips to hers.

Although the kiss was brief, it sent fireworks off in my mind. I knew that I was only sixteen, but I was confident that this was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with—and the rest of course is history.

"Dad—how many times are you going to tell us this story?" Gerald's twelve year old son asked with an exasperated look on his face.

Gerald looked over at his wife, her jet black hair pulled into an effortless bun as she held their four year old daughter on her lap. She caught her husband looking lovingly at her, as she often did, and flashed him an adoring grin.

"I'll stop telling it when your mother's smile stops making my heart flutter—so at this rate, you're stuck hearing this story for the rest of your life bud!" Gerald chuckled and Phoebe stifled a giggle. Gerald looked around the living room at his family, he couldn't imagine anything being better than this.