I bounced happily on my bed, smile permanently etched on my face. Staring down at my hands, I admired the pair of black fingerless gloves that hung on them. After our moment in the car, Reid had given them to me. When I'd asked why, he'd explained it to me while slipping them onto my hands.
"So everyone knows you're mine," he'd chuckled before cupping my face and kissing me again. I'd blushed madly as my now gloved hands covered his. It had been perfect.
I blushed now, thinking about the day we'd had together yesterday. Deciding that driving lessons could wait, Reid had pulled me back into the mall and we'd walked around, gloved hand in gloved hand for an hour or so. Right around five my stomach had rumbled and we left. He drove me to a happy little breakfast joint not far from school and we'd enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner together, sharing pancakes and kisses.
When we'd finally made it back to Spencer Academy, it was going on six and the sun would soon be starting to set. Reid had held quick on his promise of teaching me to drive and for another hour and a half he let me go grinding around the parking lot in his shiny car. Eventually I was near tears from denting his bumper five times and he'd let me quit, kissing my temple as reward for all my 'hard work'.
We'd strolled back into the dorm rooms then, me leaning consciously on his shoulder as we went. I just couldn't believe my luck. Or my stubbornness for that matter. I kicked myself for not accepting his offer sooner, wasting precious time that I could've spent with him. Granted at this rate it would've only been hours but still. I'd turned my hot face into his arm and felt him squeeze my hand.
We'd reached my door and I'd smiled up at him, face beginning to hurt from never stopping. He'd smiled back and backed me into my door. From inside I could hear Lilly blasting music and talking animatedly to someone. Probably the whole group of girls. I winced, thinking of the third degree I was no doubt in for. Reid gave me a curious look and pulled me slightly away from the door. He probably thought he'd hurt me and my tiny frame.
I'd just smiled up at him and stood on tip toe, offerings my lips. Even in my near ballerina stance I was still too short to kiss him myself. He'd smirked at me, bending down and snaking his arms around my waist. Lifting me off the ground so that we were level, he kissed me again and rested our foreheads together. I blushed, resting my tiny hands on his broad shoulders.
"See you tomorrow?" he murmured, looking at me seriously and yet still managing to fit in his trade mark smirk. I nodded excitedly, gnawing on my bottom lip. Noticing this he kissed my mouth quickly and set me back down.
He'd stepped back and waited until I opened my door before beginning to walk backwards away from me. I waved, shyly, half- way into my room. He'd winked and turned on his heels, whistling lightly as he left me behind. I'd sighed happily once before being yanked in from behind.
"Ok spill," Lilly demanded as she slammed the door shut behind me. "Where the hell have you been the last four hours?! I was worried sick!"
As I landed clumsily on the edge of my bed, I'd realized that they had me surrounded. Sarah and Kate sat on either side of me on the bad. Lilly towered over me, hands on hips, with Taylor and Kimberly sitting on the ground by both of her legs. Glancing behind me I noticed Hannah sitting cross armed on the window sill. No way out.
"Well I-" I started shakily only to be cut off by an ecstatic Taylor.
"Have you been with Reid this whole time?!" she screeched, clutching at my stuffed penguin.
"Well yes but-"
"Oh my god what have you been doing?!" Kate cut in with a gasp. I turned to her, poised to answer when Sarah interrupted me.
"Are you guys together now?"
This seemed to be the million dollar question, as they all quieted down to listen to my answer. I didn't reply immediately because I was half expecting someone to cut in with another question I wouldn't get the chance to answer. When they all just stared I blushed, eyes wondering semi-casually around the messing room.
"Y-" it was at this climactic moment that my eyes wondered over my night stand and the stack of papers with my unfinished essay scrawled across it. "Oh my God!"
I'd jumped up, nearly tripping over Kimberly and knocking down Kate at the same time. Hurrying over to the papers, I picked them up. They were still crushed and crinkled from the intense group hug Friday night and I could barely read my hand writing. Groaning, I'd turned to the other girls and started shooing them from the room.
"Get out, out, out," I flushed, nerves over powering my usually shy manner. When they'd begun protesting I'd shook my head furiously, physically ushering them out now. "Absolutely not," I said, glancing over my shoulder at the essay in despair. "Mrs. Peterson is expecting that essay on her desk by tomorrow. Kate you'd be smart to start yours."
At this Kate seemed to remember that she had gotten in trouble along with me. Grabbing Sarah's hand, they both rushed out of the dorm. Seeing that the fun was over, Kimberly, Taylor, and Hannah followed quickly behind, looking dejected. I'd shut and locked the door behind them, rushing back to glance over my essay.
"So," Lilly voice reached me as I started muttering hopelessly under my breath. I threw her a glance over my shoulder before digging out some fresh paper. I'd finally managed to unpack this morning while waiting for Lilly to wake up and drive me to the mall.
"So?" I'd huffed, keeping my back to her.
"Garwin-"
"Why'd you change your mind Lilly?" I'd asked, turning to her. I recalled how she'd warned me off of Reid as soon as I saw him, but now seemed to be set on seeing us together. Which we were, but she didn't know that for sure yet.
"About what?" she'd huffed, obviously annoyed about being taken off subject.
"Reid."
She just shrugged, eyes wondering to the side as she traipsed over to her bed. "He changed my mind."
I turned to face her then, my eyebrows raised in unabashed interest. "How?"
She'd laughed. What nerve. She skipped over to my bed and flopped down on it. "He came to me last night, after what happened with you in the alley" –we both tensed- "he just looked so furious and worried that I knew…I knew he wasn't going to try to sleep with you if I let him drive you home. He cared too much to take advantage of you in that state."
I took a shaky breath as a smiled threatened to flash over my face. Blushing madly I'd turned back to my essay and shot her a girlish grin over my shoulder. "…Thank you."
I smiled now, the next morning, remembering how Lilly had squealed in delight upon realizing me and Reid were an item. I was tempted to join in as well but I'd quickly settled her down and got to work on my essay. For the next few hours she'd continued to shoot off random questions about my day but I'd ignored or side stepped them all and eventually she fell asleep in her clothes and I was left in peace.
Now I was waiting for my roommate to be ready so we could head to first period together. I was practically dead on my feet. I'd stayed up till nearly one rewriting and finishing that essay. I yawned and my face muscles groaned in protest. I was exhausted. My appearance could speak to that. I hadn't bothered really doing anything with my hair and my uniform was sloppy and creased from trying to get dressed while lying down.
"Hurry up, Lilly, please," I groaned, head feeling heavier than usual.
A knock on the door made me jump and I glanced at the bathroom door. I could hear the blow dryer going from inside so I knew Lilly hadn't heard the knock. Pushing up from the bed tiredly, I dragged myself over to the door. With one last mighty yawn I pulled it open and stuck my head out shyly to see he could be knocking on our door this early.
"Hey, baby," Reid drawled, leaning against our door frame. I blushed madly and held the door open beckoning him inside. He stepped forward,and stooping low, kissed me quickly on the mouth.
I smiled against his lips and let myself lean into his chest. I was definitely happy to see him, but I was still exhausted. Reid seemed to guess this as he steered us towards the bed and sat. My face flamed as he pulled me into his lap but I didn't protest. Leaning my head into the crook of his neck, I tried to catch a few more blissful moments of sleep.
This proved to be impossible as Reid was content to run his long fingers through my hair, making me shiver. This made it very difficult to sleep and eventually I simply opened my eyes and interlaced my fingers with his to wait for Lilly. We waited for another ten or so minutes, me yawning like it was going out of style and Reid chuckling whenever I did so. Finally, Lilly burst from the bathroom, fully dress and looking far more put together than myself.
"I'm rea-" she noticed Reid and jumped in surprise. My boyfriend –it felt so odd referring to him like that- laughed at her. She just rolled her eyes and grabbed her school bag.
"Nice to see you too, Cast," Reid greeted, turning his face back down to me. I blushed, having been caught staring at him and quickly vacated his lap.
"Garwin," Lilly greeted as well, holding the door open for us.
We all filed out and set off to first period. Reid had his arm lung around my shoulder, and mine was like wise wrapped around his hip. I buried my face into his side, sighing tiredly as Lilly began chatting animatedly about something or other. I mumbled a soft reply every once and a while, but for the most part, he point of the conversation was lost on me.
When we finally made it outside I shivered as the cold wind whipped around my bare legs. Reid's arm tightened around me and I blushed. We hurried across the vast lawns of Spencer Academy and made it to building 'A' in one shivering piece.
"Why're you so tired?" Reid whispered into my ear making me shiver for a totally different reason now. I turned my blood shot eyes up to him and forced a half-hearted smile.
"I had to stay up writing an essay for, Mrs. Peterson," I explained numbly, letting my head fall and thump back onto his side. He hummed in understanding and kissed my hair. I blushed into his warm jacket.
We reached our room and Lilly pulled the door open with a dramatic flourish as Reid suddenly tensed. I lifted my head to give him a concerned look as Lilly suddenly gasped, eyes focus on whatever was beyond our class room door.
"Wow," she breathed. I turned to her now, brow slowly furrowing past the point of no return. What was going on with these two?
"What's the matter?" The last word was muffled as Reid suddenly wound his arm around my neck, thus burying my face into his chest. "What is going on?"
"Shit," Reid grumbled, releasing me. I pushed away from him, shooting him a confused look before going to stand by Lilly who still hadn't moved from the mouth of the classroom.
"Wow," I echoed as I witnessed the spectacle.
Every single table in the room was covered end to end with glass vases of huge red roses. Their blood red pedals swam before my eyes almost making me dizzy. The heads of other confused students were barely visible over the huge flowers. I blinked, stunned, and turned to Reid, mouth hanging open and hand pointing.
"You've gotta see this," I breathed as he stepped up next to me. Even Mr. Treat's desk was covered in at least six vases!
Reid sighed next to me and I turned to him. I blinked, even more stunned at his face than at the millions of flowers. He was blushing! Reid Garwin, the boy who had chased me unashamedly and relentlessly was blushing at the sight of roses! The world was going to end, I was sure of it.
Grasping his hand, I looked at him worriedly. "What's the ma-"
"Maxine?"
I turned at the sound of my name and saw the top of Mr. Treat's head poking out from behind the vases on his desk. I raised an eyebrow, dropping Reid's hand momentarily as I hurried down the steps. The only surfaces not covered in roses. The smell as I rushed past every desk was empowering and by the time I reached the bottom/front of the room, I was about ready to faint from it.
"Yes, sir?" I asked woozily, resting my hands on the small amount of free space on his desk. He stood and I could still only see from his nose up. He raised a curious eyebrow at me.
"Maybe you would like to explain to the rest of the class why we're all up to our necks in thorny roses?"
"I'm sorry?" I said in confusion to the flowers. I didn't understand how this fiasco had anything to do with me.
I jumped as a hand suddenly shot out from the middle of the rose bush, holding a small vanilla card. Glancing around I noticed that there was one on every bushel of roses. Taking it curiously in my hand I flipped it over and read the elegant script.
Maxine Dillard,
Please go on a date with me.
Sincerely,
Reid Garwin
p.s. I hope you like roses.
My mouth dropped open as my face turned redder than any rose in the room. Turning slowly, I noticed everyone curiously picking up a card from one vase or another. I watched on, mortified, as a look of realization crossed over all my class mates faces and they turned to look at me. Oh…my…
"Reid!" I hissed as he slowly approached the front of the classroom. I stomped forward, hair bouncing wildly around my flaming face. I waved the card at him, mouth still parted in astonishment. "What is this about?! We're already dating aren't we?!"
His eyes wondered everywhere but my face, obviously embarrassed and yet he still managed to smirk up at the ceiling. Oh! "Well I didn't know you were gonna agree when I ordered them yesterday."
My mind pieced his chuckled reply together quickly and I shook the little card again. "This is what you were ordering at the mall yesterday?! God, Reid, this must've cost a fortune!"
I pushed my cool hand to my burning cheek as I read over the card again. Even this looked like it was on the most expensive stationary in the world and I didn't even want to wager a guess at the price of just one of these probably crystal vases! And All. The. Roses! God, I thought my heart would stop. How would I ever be able to pay him back for all of it?
"Maxine, don't worry about it," Reid drawled as if he'd read my mind. He gently took my hands in his and I blushed as I noticed that everyone had been watching my tiny rampage. He kissed my cheek sweetly and I sighed. "I'm glad I went, because I bumped into you trying to learn to drive and now we're dating. So don't even worry about it."
"Besides it still applies," Lilly said, making me jump. I'd forgotten she, along with Kate, Sarah, Pogue, and Caleb were standing around us. I raised an eyebrow at my roommate who was reading over a little card of her own.
"How?" I huffed, faces finally starting to cool down. Reid kissed my cheek again and the blushed returned.
"He hasn't taken you on a first date yet," she clarified, skipping past us to get to her seat. I turned back to Reid and saw him beaming down at me. I started shaking my head immediately.
"No, no, no, no, Reid," I begged, winding my fingers fully through his now. "This is already too much. Honestly, we don't need a first date. Really."
I looked up at him pleadingly, not wanting any more expense to be wasted on me. he just smirked and slung his arm around my shoulder and started following after Lilly to our seats.
"Don't worry about it," he repeated, already seeming deep in thought. I groaned and hugged myself to his side. We sat down and I realized there'd be no way for anyone to see Mr. Treat through the mountain of roses. I blushed again as I heard the sweet man sigh.
"I guess we can just have another free day," his voice reached all of us and a cheer went up from the flower beds. I leaned into Reid as the others shot me bemused looks. I just shook my head, not willing to talk about it. Reid laughed beside me.
"How long do you think it'll take for all those roses to be cleared out?" Kate asked, amused smiled still glued to her face as we made our way to the lunch table.
"What roses?" Tyler asked, blue eyes curious as I took my seat next to him.
"Reid sent Maxi-"
"Never mind that!" I cut Sarah off as Reid pulled up a chair next to me. Kimberly took his usual seat across from me and sent me a knowing smile.
From the way she, Taylor, and Hannah were smirking at me, I had a feeling they'd already heard about the rose incident. Probably our entire grade had heard about it. With this idea in mind I made it my mission to make sure a certain Tyler Simms never found out about it. I turned to him now, giving Reid a warning look that he just smirked at and leaned towards the sophomore.
"So how were your classes so far today, Tyler?" I asked casually, forking a piece of lettuce from my salad into my mouth. He gave me a weird look, still glancing at Sarah curiously.
"Um…fine…" he said staring at me as if I were crazy. Glancing down her noticed how Reid had snaked his arm around my hips. He met my eyes and I fought to keep eye contact as my face surrendered to a blush. "Are you two-"
"Yeah," Reid said cockily over my shoulder. I shot him a look and he just smirked, bumping my shoulder with his forehead before turning back to Caleb who he was currently arguing with. Of course.
Tyler nodded slowly, still shooting me worried glances. Finally, after my paranoid staring pushed him over they edge, he stood abruptly and addressed the table at large. "I'm going to get some jell-o," he said to no one in particular.
As he all but jogged away the table burst out laughing and I turned to scowl at them all in turn. It came out as more of a pout though as Reid kissed me soundly on the lips. "Why are you stalking baby boy's every move?" he asked bemused.
I sighed, rolling my eyes, feeling that it should be obvious. "He's the only one -probably in the whole school- who hasn't heard about that rose debacle-"
"Well he is pretty oblivious-"
"If I can keep it from him there's still some hope for us," I finished, cutting across him as if he hadn't spoke. He just shrugged, smiling, as the rest of the table fell back into pleasant chatter. It all ended how ever as Tyler came racing back to the table, eyes alight from gossip.
"Did you guys here about the millions of roses some guy sent to a girl in your first period?" he asked, turning to stare at each of us expectantly.
I groaned and promptly began to bang my forehead on the table as my 'friends' busted out laughing. Poor Tyler never got an answer.