A loud clap of thunder woke Meg with a jolt. Meg looked around the dark room and realized she had fallen asleep in Flynn's basement. From what Meg could make out in the dark, it looked like everyone had. Flynn shifted quietly next to her.
Meg got up and headed upstairs to the guest room she was supposed to be sleeping in. She washed the makeup off her face and brushed her teeth before getting into the bed. She turned on the lamp next to the bed and pulled her book out of her bag. The book was worn with dog-eared pages, creases on the cover and little tears here and there.
It was the tenth- and final- book in the The Tales of Flynnigan Rider book series. Her favorite. It was the book where Flynnigan Rider and Princess Ara finally get back together and live happily ever after.
There was a quiet knock on her door.
It's probably John, she thought. They were sharing this room.
"Come in."
The door opened slowly and Flynn stepped in. "Is everything all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
He closed the door. "I saw you leave and you didn't come back."
"The bed is more comfortable than the floor."
"But, you're not sleeping," Flynn pointed out. He arched an eyebrow when he saw the book in her hand. "That book looks familiar."
Meg nodded as Flynn sat down on her bed. "It should."
"You stole that, didn't you?"
Meg shrugged. "A little."
"Tsk. Tsk. Bad girl."
"I needed this book."
"Ya know, there are things called bookstores…"
Meg gave him a playful shove. "Stop it. I needed this specific copy."
"Why's that?"
Meg looked down at the cover of the book, suddenly embarrassed. "Every time I was scared or sick or couldn't sleep for whatever reason, I'd go to the rec room and you'd always be there. No matter what. It was like you always knew when I needed you. And you'd read to me from one of these books. When you left, that was when I needed you the most. I went to the rec room every night and reread all of the books. They were the only thing that comforted me. And then I found out I was leaving and it scared the hell out of me. You were gone and now I was leaving the only familiar place I had. I needed something to comfort me. I knew I couldn't get away with taking all of the books, so I just took my favorite."
A small smile formed on Flynn's lips. "That one's my favorite, too."
Lightning flashed outside the window and the power went out, casting them in darkness. A fantasy flashed through Meg's mind of Flynn kissing her right now. But, he didn't move.
"I have a confession to make," Flynn said, quietly. "That first night you came to the rec room during the storm I just happened to be out there because I couldn't sleep. I remember when we finally went to bed that night, I lied awake thinking about how if I hadn't been out there you would have been alone while you were scared. That made me really sad and I didn't want that to ever happen. So, every single night from that night on I went out to the rec room just in case you needed me."
Meg stared at him in disbelief. "We were seven. There's no way you sat in the rec room every single night for ten years 'just in case'."
"I did. I couldn't sense when you needed me, Meg. And it wasn't a coincidence that I was always in the rec room when you needed me. It was because I was there every night."
"For me?"
"For you."
Meg took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Since we're confessing, I have a confession, too."
"Oh yeah?"
"I started crushing on you when we were fifteen. I used to stay up late after everyone went to sleep and go to the rec room, hoping you'd be there just so I could hang out alone with you." Meg felt her cheeks get hot with embarrassment as she waited for Flynn to respond.
"I was a little late to the game when it came to that," Flynn finally said. "Do you remember Naveen?"
"Yeah." Naveen came to the orphanage when they were sixteen. He was charismatic and charming and funny. Everyone thought he was great, especially the younger kids because he made up funny voices when he would play with the puppets with them. He was seventeen when he came to the orphanage and ended up aging out of the system six months later.
"He and I were shooting hoops the first day he was there and he saw you asked, 'Who's the hottie?' I thought it was really weird that he thought you were hot and I told him you weren't hot and he said, 'Are you blind? She's gorgeous.' I looked over at you. You were on the swings with Cody. It was when the two of you were having that jumping contest where you'd jump off the swings and see who could jump the farthest. At that moment you were swinging and laughing and that was the first time I saw you as a real girl and when I realized I loved you." Flynn let out a small laugh. "It's silly, right? I mean, you weren't even doing anything special or out of the ordinary. It wasn't like in the movies where you step out in some beautiful dress and all made up and I suddenly see you differently. You were on the swings wearing cutoff shorts and a t-shirt that were donated to the orphanage."
Meg didn't know what to say to that. She remembered that day; mostly she remembered the jumping contest with Cody. It had been such a normal day; she had no idea it was the day that changed everything for Flynn.
Flynn shifted uncomfortably as he waited for her respond.
"You were dressed as Llyod Dobler," she finally said. "It was the Halloween party; you went as Lloyd Dobler and I went as-"
"A black cat."
Meg nodded. "Yeah. I was in those skintight black pants and a long sleeve leotard. I was so uncomfortable all night."
"You painted the tip of your nose black and painted black whiskers on your cheek. You looked adorable."
Meg laughed. That's what Leah said. Anyway, in honor of your costume, Leah played In Your Eyes and you asked me to dance with you. It was while we were dancing that I realized I loved you. I briefly considered actually telling you right then and there, but our dance was cut short when one of the younger girls cut in and wanted to dance with you."
"I honestly don't know what I would have said if you had."
The power came back on then and Meg blinked in the sudden brightness of the lamp. She immediately felt self-conscious around Flynn with the light on. Even though they had just told each other about the times they fell for each other, it didn't seem as real in the light as it had in the dark.
Flynn got to his feet. "I'm gonna go down to the basement and go back to sleep."
"I'll see you in the morning."
Flynn paused in the doorway and looked back at Meg. "Do you wanna hang out tomorrow? Just you and me?"
Meg smiled at him. "Yeah, I do."
"Good. Then, it's a date."
