Pawnshops and Carousels

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hello everyone! A little late again, but I'm still counting it as a post for Sunday. (I haven't gone to sleep yet, so for me it's still Sunday.) This is one of my favourite chapters so I hope you guys like it too. Don't forget to leave me a review and I'll see you guys next Sunday!

Chapter 6

Seth: I met Sabrina when I was a Junior and she was a sophomore. And it was love at first sight. Or at least it was for me. She always claimed to have not have been very impressed by me when we first met. But that doesn't matter. You see, it was that day and that first date that change my life.

It started when I bumped into her.

She was this small little brunette and I hadn't even noticed her. But the second my shoulder checked hers and the books spilled out of her arms she had my attention. Normally I wouldn't care, normally I wouldn't give a second thought about knocking books out of someone's hands, but something about the way she squeaks when the books hit the floor makes me stop.

My friends leave me behind because they don't care either, and for a second, I just watch her. I don't know why but suddenly I'm crouched down beside her and helping her with her books. I don't know why this girl is carrying them, but I recognize them, they're sophomore books, so I know she's a year younger than me. Not that it matters, I'm only into older girls but when she finally looks up to me, when those green eyes link with mine the older girls rule goes out the window because I've instantly decided that I'm taking this girl out… tonight.

"Sorry," I say just as she says: "Thank you."

I stand up taking her books with me, and she follows after me. I take a good long look at the girl in front of me. She's wearing her kilt at the right length, which is shocking cause most girls roll their kilt up at least two inches. The white of her dress shirt is impeccably starched and her green blazer is nicely pressed. She's a good girl. The kind of classy-type girl that had nothing to do with bad boys like me unless they were trying to disappoint daddy on purpose. But I also realize the reason she's carrying her books is cause her book bag is broken. She'll need someone to carry them to her class. That's gonna be me.

"Can… can I have my books back?"

I counter with a: "Where's your next class?"

"Uh… second floor, History with Mr. Cripnick," she answers. Only one of those answers was the one I wanted but that's okay. I figure she's rambling because she's nervous and that's a good sign for me. I head off in that direction and she trails after me.

"Wait… uh… you don't have to… I mean, thank you… but I'm fine… I can carry my own books."

I immediately think that she's not from Detroit. She's too nice, too polite. Or she's a pushover. I'll need to toughen her up if I'm going to date her…. Wow where did that come from? Okay, move on, focus on the first step. A single date, tonight. That's the goal here.

"I know, but uh… I figure you could use the help," I say. I hold open a door for her and she thanks me as she walks past. "Uh… are you new here?"

"No," she whispers. "I mean… sort of… I transferred this year, but I've been here all fall."

I take that in. So, she wasn't here last year. She doesn't know me or my friends… which means I could stand a chance with her… unless she's heard the gossip. Then maybe I don't.

Not that I was a really bad kid or anything, but uh… I had a certain… uh… reputation for uh… running through girls, running my mouth, and starting fights.

"Cool. Explains why I haven't seen you before."

"I don't think we're in the same year."

"No, you're sophomore, right?" I ask and she nods. "Yeah I'm a Junior. But I never forget a pretty face, and I definitely wouldn't have forgotten yours."

She blushes and lowers her eyes to her books in this cute way that makes me smile, we're silent until we get to her class. She should be going in soon, the bell's going to ring. I know she's gonna be the type of girl that doesn't want to be late. I quite frankly couldn't care less.

"Thank you for all the help and the escort but can… can I have my books back now."

"Mmm, not yet," I say and that lovely smile I'm already used to fades off of her lips. "How about we make a deal?"

"A deal?"

"Mhmm…" the bell rings and a frantic look dawns on her face.

"This isn't funny you're going to make me late!" she cried.

"Then make me a deal."

"Me make a deal?"

"That's what I said isn't it," I say with a devilish smirk on my face. "Tell me what you're willing to trade."

"Trade?"

"Come on," I say quickly as people begin to file into their classes. "You better hurry up."

"But I don't know what you want."

"I think you can guess," I say to her and for the first time I don't mean anything R-rated. But the way she pales you'd think I asked her to blow me right there in the hall. I mean… I had done something like that before, but that girl wasn't as classy as this girl right in front of me. But I got slapped then and I'd definitely get slapped again if I tried it.

"I'm not that kind of girl!"

Of course she's not. Doesn't mean I won't ever be able to convince her to be. I had the allure of an older man, and I was a bad boy. Plus, I was the son of Les Gold, there wasn't anything I couldn't negotiate.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm only asking for a date."

"A date?"

"Miss. DeRose," Mr. Cripnick snaps coming to the door. "Stop socializing and get inside." He takes one look at me and frowns. I drove Mr. Cripnick crazy last year, he does not hold the best opinion of me. "If you know what's good for you, you wouldn't be wasting your time on Mr. Gold either.

I scowl at him but she turns to him, quite flustered and said: "Thank you sir, uhm… I'll be right in."

He glared at the two of us a bit more before going back into the class and she turns to me again and quickly says: "Fine. You can treat me to milkshakes and burgers at MOTZ this Friday."

Friday was two days away. No. I needed something sooner. So I counter with: "Wednesday."

"That's today."

"Yep. Wednesday. After school. All the burgers and Milkshakes you want. On me," I say.

"Miss. DeRose!" Mr. Cripnick shouts from inside the classroom and she throws a frantic I'm coming over her shoulder before glancing back at me.

"Fine. Fine. Today after school. Meet me at my locker."

She rips the books from my arms and then turns away from me and that's when I start to panic, cause I don't want this to end just yet. "Wait where's your locker?"

She shoots a playfully challenging smirk over her shoulder as she says: "You're the man with all the answers, I'm sure you'll figure it out," before she disappears into her class. I smile. Standing there all alone in the hallway, watching the door to her history class close I'm grinning ear to ear because she thinks she gave me an impossible task. All she did was prove that she wasn't as good as she was making herself out to be. That was going to make this more fun.

It doesn't take long for me to find out who I was talking to. My friends are on me the second I'm out of history class. Everyone had heard the news by then, it had spread like wildfire.

Mousey new girl, Sabrina DeRose was talking to Seth Gold. And not just talking to, but walking with, having him carry her books, and got asked out by, Seth Gold. The Seth Gold.

They kept saying that like I was supposed to know who he was. I did not. But boy did I learn.

Seth Gold is a bad boy. His father owns a pawn shop, which explains why he was so good at negotiating. He flies through women. He only dates older girls. He's rude, late, never in class but somehow passing all of his classes, and always in detention. He's constantly getting in fights and he's never, ever carried anyone's books before, he's never even stopped in the hall when he's bumped into someone.

He's also never asked out a girl younger than him, he only asks out older girls. He's never walked any of his girlfriends to class either. And he's never nice to other people.

So, what the hell was he doing asking me out, walking me to class, carrying my books and generally being nice as old hell to me?

That's what everyone kept asking me. And well… how the hell was I to know? It wasn't like I asked him to do any of that for me. I just thought he was cute… and nice… and… and… I'm new here so I don't know who's bad or not. Okay… I mean I could tell he wasn't good just by looking at him, but he had been nothing but a gentleman to me. Guess my first impression of him was wrong.

Being new was going to be my saving grace. Maybe, if I was lucky no one in his circle of friends would know me and therefore, he wouldn't be able to find my locker at the end of the day. But despite not wanting to go on a date with Seth Gold I still found myself looking for him in the halls or during the lunch hour. I guess I thought… maybe if he saw me… he'd come up to talk to me again and I could explain how incompatible we are. But I never saw him.

Until it was the end of the day.

And there he was.

Leaning against my locker with a thick leather fall coat on and a side satchel across his chest. I actually stopped walking I was so surprised. Both by his appearance and by how attractive I found him to be.

This had never been a problem before. I have never been this attracted to a person this strongly before. It wasn't like I hadn't found boys to be cute, but no one had ever taken my breath away like this boy had. To be honest, I barely paid attention to other people let alone boys. I was always more interested in books and reading.

He smiles when he spots me, a confident cool smirk and his hands go from being crossed over his chest to deep into pockets.

"Hello Sabrina."

The way he says my name is enough to give me chills. He knows my name. He did his research. I wonder which one of my friends told him about me.

I force myself to walk over, my arms clutching my books tightly. "Hello Seth." But he doesn't look pleased that I know his name.

"And how long did it take for someone to tell you who I am?" he asks. Ah so he thinks he's hot shit. Confident and cute and he knows it, that's the worst kind of guy to have. Or so my books have told me.

"Almost immediately. How long did it take you to figure out who I was? The whole day?"

"Two periods."

"Yeah and which one of my friends sold me out?"

He laughs and I almost jump at the sound. He thought I was funny? Really? No boy had ever found me funny before, or at least no boy I was interested in dating had found me funny before. A hand comes out to take my broken bag from my back. The only reason I'm carrying it is because it's holding my wallet and bus pass in one of the pockets.

"What happened here?"

"Guy tried to mug me this morning, broke the zipper before he realized I had nothing but school books and bus pass. Doesn't zip up anymore, therefore making it impossible for me to carry anything in it."

"Someone tried to… are you okay?"

He looks concerned. He looks angry, something in his jaw is pulsing and I wonder why he cares so much.

"Yeah… I'm good. I can handle myself if I need to."

It doesn't look like he believes me. But he peels his eyes away from me and looks into my locker like it's the most interesting thing in the world. "And which books are you taking home?"

I look at the books in my arms and the ones in my locker and try to remember what I needed for homework. I had worked on my homework during my spare period and my lunch break so I didn't really have much left. Just math, science and religion.

I take out the three books but before I can settle them in my arm, Seth has taken them again and is fitting them in his bag.

"Don't forget they're in there… or you know… go a head, any excuse to have me drop them off at your place, right?"

I stare at him, my breath catching, the desire to ask him what this is all about dancing on my lips but I don't ask him that. Instead I look away and say: "You don't have to… you know… I'm younger than you and we… we probably don't have anything in common so if you wanna run now you can…"

He frowns and kind of scuffs his boots against the floor. "So they told you like… everything then…"

"You mean, like how you only date older girls, and you're never nice to anyone and you're always in trouble and rarely in class?" he scowls and looks away and looks… well… upset. "You know I'm younger than you right?"

He nods. Okay well, that's good at least. But he looks so crestfallen that I feel bad. Maybe he actually did want to take me out, I don't know. Maybe he's not as bad as everyone says he is. "Okay, uh… well… I'm a big believer of trying everything once, so if you're okay with me being like your polar opposite and the girls you usually date and a year younger than you I'm down for at least one date. One date won't hurt right?"

He's smiling again and I realize that I like that smile, and I want him to always smile. I quickly shut my locker and then I fall into step beside him. I wonder if he'll take my hand, I wonder if I'll let him take my first kiss tonight. He smirks at me and I'm certain that I'm going to make him wait, cause he's the kind of guy who's gonna run the second he gets what he wants. But when he reaches out to hold my hand, his fingers interlacing with mine, I have a feeling that it'll be harder than I think to not cave the second he asks me to.

It was surprisingly easy to talk to her, to be around her. It was like I could be myself with her and she wouldn't care, she'd like me the way I was. Her hand, it fit in mine perfectly. Her smile was breathtaking, and her skin was soft. She laughed at all my jokes, like she genuinely thought I was funny, and she actually ate her entire burger, all her fries and drank her whole milkshake.

She was the perfect girl.

I was actually quite upset to hear that everyone had warned her about me. That their warnings might have changed her mind about wanting to go out with me that night. And while it might have affected her to begin with, she had changed her mind right back and we had gone out after all. I had escorted her home because she was a lady and I wanted to make sure she got home okay. Though, the main reason was because I didn't want this night to end. It wasn't even late but she wanted to be home to finish her homework.

Plus, with the bus being as busy as it was, I got to hold onto the overhead bar and she held onto me… well my jacket but I'd take it.

We walk about a block before she comes to a stop and I sigh. This was it, this was there was our night was going to end. But hey… at least I'll probably get a kiss out of it.

"This is me," she says pointing to a rundown apartment building. I nod. She's about forty-five minutes away from my house on the transit. I don't even care, I'd travel hours to see her. "Uhm… can I have my books back please?"

I was hoping that she'd forget but I'm not that lucky. I pretend to think about it, and she breaks out in a giant grin and slaps my shoulder. "Give me my books Seth I have math homework to fail."

"I can help you with math," I say with a suggestive grin on my face as I flip open my side satchel and reach for the books I've been carrying for her. Even though I don't want to, my dad wants me to take over his pawn shop one day, as a result I spend a lot of time working on my math and negotiation skills. Both of which I'm distressingly good at, like I just had a gift for it. It's working out in this case cause I can tutor her no problem though to be honest I'd be offering to do it just to spend more time with her.

I offer them up to her and as she takes them I let go of the books and grab her wrists. It's easy to tug her to me, because she doesn't resist but when I move in for the kiss she backs away from me, holding those books to her chest again like they were a shield. She doesn't look afraid, though, instead she smiling at me. She's just playing hard to get.

"Aw come on, not even a good night kiss? I paid for dinner, I let you steal my fries, I escorted you all the way home, I gotta get something," I say to her and she smiles again but shakes her head.

"Uh-huh, I'm not that kinda girl," she says to me and while I know that to be true, I also know that she likes me, I know I can get her to cave.

"Maybe just one on the cheek?"

It's an easy con, she moves in for the kiss on the cheek and with a quick move I'd get her lips, but she's wise to my tricks and shakes her head again.

"You got a mischievous look about you Seth Gold, I'm not sure if I trust you," she whispers and though I'm disappointed I smile because it's one date and she already knows me. It's like we've always known each other. It's never been like that with a girl before. "I don't kiss on the first date."

I take that in with a smile on my face. I make a big deal about sighing at her as I say: "Well I guess that means I have to take you out again, Saturday? Movies? My treat…. Of course…"

She smiles again, her light green eyes darting up and down me in an appraising manner before she says: "I mean… I guess… but I get to pick the movie!"

I offer her a hand to shake which she takes immediately and I say: "Deal."

But she doesn't let go of my hand, she takes a pen out and writes her number on my palm and as she does I just stare at her face while she's concentrating. Her face is lovely and I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at it.

"Here, now you get something out of it and you can call me tomorrow with the details," she says and I nod.

I made sure to watch her get through the door before I turn back to catch the bus home. I called her that night to tell her I got home okay, and helped her with her math over the phone. I was waiting by her locker when she got to school following morning and when she got out of her final class. And that still didn't stop me from calling her the following night as well. From that moment that on, I met her by her locker every morning, I did my best to walk her to every class, I always met her at her final class or by her locker and I called her every night. She had me whipped before the second date and she never even asked me to be.

Seth: Sabrina caved on the not kissing right away thing almost immediately. Like. Legitimately on our second date. I took her to the movies, and didn't try to kiss her once. I let her pick a girly romantic comedy to watch, I bought her popcorn, and though I was sorely tempted, I never once made a move on her. Okay that's a lie, I put my arm around her, but other then that I was a complete gentleman. It was a hunch I was following, that if I didn't act like I wanted it, she'd jump on me. It didn't work. And let me tell you, sixteen-year-old me was not having it. On the way back to the bus she spotted the Brigg's Family Carousel, she mentioned she had never been on it and I was shocked. How could a native Detroit-er not have been on the Brigg's Family Carousel? Sure she was from a different part of Detroit but come on. I got her on it, we sat in the Swan Chariot, so that we could sit together. I put my arm around her again, and she snuggled up into my side. I swear, I wasn't going to do it, but she looked up at me with those wide green eyes, eyes that trusted me… eyes that didn't see the bad boy… eyes that just saw me… and then I was moving in for the kiss and… well… she let me get away with it.

I was sixteen when I first kissed Sabrina DeRose. I didn't know what love was, but I knew, after that one kiss, that Sabrina DeRose was going to be my forever. And five years later, I fucked everything up and neither of us have been happy since. But it doesn't matter because it's been six years since the day I lost her and I still think she's my forever. I just need to get her to see that too.