A/N: Oh wow, thank you SO much for your reviews! I've read them a few (dozen) times each...what wonderful words of encouragement and enjoyment. Thank you. I'm happy you are liking the story so far, and hope I don't disappoint. I'd like to get a little smutty soon, but want to meander my way toward the sexiness...in the interest of character. ;) Seeing your long reviews is especially exciting, and so I've been trying to get this chapter out quickly.

Please keep talking to me via reviews, letting me know your thoughts and what's going right/what isn't, or what you'd like to see. Thank you again, friends! Hope you're all staying healthy.


OCTOBER 24-26, SENIOR YEAR

The next few days were weird, honestly.

It was the morning after Port Angeles. Kim pulled into the parking lot at La Push High and had just nudged it into PARK when there was a swift tap-tap-tap at her passenger-side window.

Jared was leaning down, grinning at her hopefully and holding a bouquet of flowers.

She managed to close her gaping mouth, shake her head, and get out of the car without pinching herself. When she got out of the car, she held his gaze across the roof of her car. "What're you doing?" she asked mildly.

Looking closer, she saw that Jared's eyes were actually ringed with dark circles- and his complexion looked ashen, like he was ill or hadn't slept all night. He held the handful of flowers across the breadth of her car. "These are for you."

She didn't move to take them. "Why?" she asked, still distracted by the subtleties of his appearance that indicated that he was not well.

"Because- I don't know, I wanted to give you some...flowers." He looked down. "Please."

As if compelled, Kim accepted the flowers, but immediately tucked them into the backseat of her car. At least her car would smell pretty by end-of-day. She shut the door, but continued to stare at the bushel through the glass. The looked like the kind bought at the grocery store; they looked fresh enough that she wondered if he had bought them this morning.

His voice was exhausted as he admitted, "Yesterday didn't end how I'd wanted. I'm glad you got home okay."

"Yeah. I bet you had a lot to talk about." Kim pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Autumn seemed pretty upset."

"She was. I...probably could've handled it better."

"Sounds like it." Kim slipped her backpack on.

"We're good now, though." Jared drummed his knuckles lightly on the frame of her car-door. "It's never...easy to break up with someone."

Kim made a general sound of agreement, thinning her lips and squinting up in the general direction of the school. She wouldn't really know anything about breakups, but that wasn't exactly a topic she wanted to broach with Jared.

"D-d'ya ever think about how great it'll be when, you know, someday, you...don't have to worry about that anymore?" Though his voice was light, and a chuckle lit his words, she sensed something heavy with implication under the statement. She looked at him again curiously.

"Hmm?"

"I mean, when...when you find the right person, and break-ups aren't really...a thing anymore...you know?" Jared's voice got weaker with every word.

After talking with Monica last night, and all the reproachable behavior she'd witnessed from Jared since they started high school, Kim wondered if that "someday" was still quite a ways off for him. Her attention drifted back to the flowers again. She genuinely didn't know what to make of all this.

"I guess I didn't really ask…" Jared cleared his throat. "You're not seeing anybody, right, Kim?"

Her chest tightened unpleasantly. Why was he asking her that? Kim had replayed yesterday's events over and over in her mind, and of course found moments that felt...peculiar. Exhilarating. Troubling. Almost like Jared was flirting. But then...that seemed highly unlikely and illogical. Then he'd ask things like this, in a tone that was lacked all playfulness; that wasn't how flirting was done….at least, not from Jared Cameron. She'd watched him flirt with girls plenty of times; whatever he was doing with her didn't really seem to fit his style.

She squinted at the sky, unsure of how to answer. Was he just curious? Looking for someone to empathize? Vaguely, she replied, "It is hard to get your point across, when the other person is so intent on trying to make something work." Another point of wisdom she'd overheard her mom telling Becky during her senior year breakup.

He just nodded, glumly.

"Should we get inside?"

His head perked up. "Oh. Of course." Jared was right beside her in an instant, tone earnest. He smiled although the expression still held a sort of heaviness to it. "Can I walk with you?"

Kim's eyes fluttered up to the entrance of the school, where people were gathered and already watching them. Most had confused expressions. Luckily, no sign of Brad Adams, or Mallory or Amanda. She'd dreamed of Jared being interested in her, in even the smallest most pedestrian capacity, for years...now, she felt like she'd been spun around upside down on a merry-go-round.

"Sure," she whispered, uncertainly.

"Do you need help carrying anything? I could carry your backpack if you want."

"I'm fine, thanks."

"I read the first 40 pages of Heart of Darkness last night," Jared said conversationally. "It's pretty good. I see what you mean about the narrator and eavesdropping."

"Yeah," Kim said distractedly. They passed the confused onlookers, and she was relieved that he was talking about homework at the very least. That shouldn't be anything remarkable. Never had she realized before just what a blessing it was to be nearly-invisible. She'd moved through school events for years, unperturbed, with a camera in her hand for the school yearbook, and attracted barely a second glance. Now she felt eyes from every angle and realized...being popular must suck.

They barely got past the Main Office when Mallory appeared, eyes glittering and set on Jared. Kim picked up her step- and shit, so did he.

"Jared!" Mallory called. She was right behind them.

In a low, rushed voice, right near her ear- Kim realized he'd leaned forward, keeping pace, but whispering in a voice meant only for her, "Kim, please forgive me. I want to talk with you later. Please."

Having no idea what to say, her brain slipped into auto-pilot. "Yeah, see you in English."

Then she abandoned him to Mallory.

Luckily, once she lost Jared, the stares all glazed over and she was back to being unremarkable by the beginning of first period. The day went off without a hitch, but she was careful to keep an eye out for Jared. She couldn't explain it, but knew deep in her gut that something was happening. Something that was beyond her comprehension, but magnetic all the same. If she wasn't vigilant, she'd be swept into Jared's orbit without even realizing it. He had a way of doing that, and she saw firsthand- several times over- the state it left a girl's heart in. Her instincts kept whispering that this was...different, somehow, from all that, but her brain tapped out unfettered logic: that's what every girl says, and then she's driving to Port Angeles crying and chasing down for answers.

And besides, she reminded herself, she couldn't afford to be distracted. She had only six months left in La Push to get as far up the ladder as she could, to count toward her future.

At Lunch, she was cramming for next week's AP Chem test by sequestering off in the Library. She was still mentally reviewing notes as she made her way to English, though her brain was starting to skitter ahead of her- she had no idea what awaited her in regards to Jared, but her heart began to thump a fraction harder with every step closer to Mr. Banks's room.

Sure enough, she was barely through the threshold of the door when Jared was at her side. He didn't look as tired. His eyes danced when they met hers, and he breathed her name like she was a celebrity or something. "Kim. You're here."

"Hi Jared," she said, unable to keep a small smile from her face. It was hard to have someone say your name like that, and not feel affected somehow. But no. No, she had to keep her head straight. Figure out what his angle was. "How's it going?"

"Really good, now that- that it's English." He cleared his throat, then gestured toward their seats. "Shall we?"

"Sure. Is English your favorite class?" she asked.

"As of lately, yeah." A deep laughter reverberated in his chest. "I read another 15 pages after PE this morning. I hope Banks gives us time to work in pairs today, don't you?"

Uncertain how to answer without sounding weird, or making him uncomfortable by thinking that she liked him or something, Kim asked, "What part are you at?"

"Just got to Part II."

"Oh yes, it'll get really good now." She read it last summer, at the behest of the Forks Librarian who saw her interest in Victiorian classic lit. It was better on a second read, admittedly.

Jared cleared his throat as they took their seats. Kim watched as he glanced over his shoulder, before asking her in a low voice, "What are you up to, tonight?"

Odd. Was he making sure no one saw him talking to her? A little late for that. Or was it...he didn't want people to overhear what he was talking to her about?

With a tingling suspicion in her throat, Kim hedged, "I'm not sure yet."

His eyes widened. "Really? As in, you think you might be free?"

Kim shrugged. "I mean, not too late. I'm free after school."

"That's great!" his voice rose for just a second, and then, remembering himself, he said, "Well, maybe...maybe we could hang out?"

She considered it. "I don't know. We just hung out yesterday, and…" she trailed off, not really sure how to say and it didn't go that well.

Jared seemed to anticipate the rest of her unspoken sentence, because his face turned stormy. "Last night sucked, I know."

"No," she protested, weakly, studying her worn copy of Conrad's novella. School-issued books always got so beat up. Her fingertips ran over its torn, battered edges.

"Don't lie, Kim." His voice was tired. "It sucked. And it was my fault. Let me make it up to you."

Kim glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't exactly sure. "There's no reason to, Jared. Last night was fine. We're cool, and we're friends now so...you don't have to overthink it."

"Well...I get that," Jared said quietly, carefully. "I was hoping..maybe we could...I don't know. Just keep talking, if you want."

He must've noticed her posture stiffen, because he hastily added, "Talking as friends."

What more was there to talk about? Kim couldn't really remember the first stages of her friendship with Tina and Sarah, but she was pretty sure they didn't specifically make plans to hang out and "keep talking." Kim's dark eyes narrowed at the chapped wood of her desk. "Why?"

"Because we were interrupted," he said, like it was obvious.

"Is there something in particular you want to talk about?" she asked, genuinely befuddled. They'd talked about their extracurriculars, their favorite movies and actors, a bit about their families, their jobs, their plans for after Graduation. The only thing they hadn't talked about…what else was there, that he could reasonably want to cover? Kim felt like she was blindly feeling around a dark closet, hands grabbing for the light-string. In a strike of clarity, she said, "Did you want to talk about the book?"

Jared's expression now was confused, and maybe a bit affronted. "What? This book?" He jerked his chin at the book on her desk.

Evidently, not the topic he'd had in mind. But then what? Why this insistence? Why the flowers? Even now, the way he was talking to her so candidly, so earnestly, didn't fit the Jared Cameron persona she'd come to know so well (albeit, from afar).

Something- either the look on her face or her silence- prompted him to speak again.

"Kim," he said quietly, "I'd like to just talk to you. No agenda. Just….be around you. I'll do anything you feel like doing. We could get food or just drive, if that sounds good."

"Hmm." She didn't know if he heard her thoughtful groan. Probably, if his freakishly good hearing from yesterday was any indicator. Hanging with Jared...it would be a bad idea. On several levels. And he wasn't exactly a winsome model-of-behavior after yesterday.

And he'd been talking to Mallory earlier.

Probably up to his old tricks.

Kim's head was beginning to pulse; this was a lot to compute. Sudden and incessant change, after 10 years of routine. There was no guessing to be done on this; she either had to say no, and put an end to all of this, or say yes and take a chance- and maybe get some asnwers.

"Please?" he asked, in a voice so soft and clear she could swear she actually felt it brush across her skin like velvet.

She thought back to his SUV, and the cologne that lingered inside the cab...the same scent that made her insides feel gooey whenever he sat next to her in English, like now, or passed her by in the hallways. Before she could psych herself out, she agreed, "Okay. A drive and chat is fine. But I have to...go to Sarah's tonight. We're studying AP Chem together at 5." She just had to let Sarah know first. But an end-time was a good strategy regardless.

"Perfect! I work tonight at 6, so maybe I can drop you off at Sarah's? We'll drive and talk first."

"Just hanging out," she reiterated, studying his face. Those dark eyes that so quickly warmed to a tempting caramel were entrancing.

"Yes," he said with an underlying excitement that she didn't quite understand.

"I'll take my car home after school, and if you want to give me maybe 25 minutes...I can get my study stuff, and you can pick me up?" She sloped her voice up at the end, to give it the air of a question...but really, it was just kind of a statement for him to agree to. Did that sound too demanding?

She could barely second-guess herself because Jared was nodding enthusiastically. Perhaps she was mistaken, but it even looked like he started to reach toward her, but stopped himself. Kim blinked. No, she had to be mistaken about that.

Was she going to regret this?

Mr. Banks drew their attention to the front of the room, and Kim allowed herself to focus on the lesson- with only 75% of her brain fixated on the boy beside her.

Not bad, Kim had to admit. But...there was no denying it. Jared was certainly a distraction.

Possibly more so than ever before. And she really wasn't sure what to do about it.

Jared opened the car door. "You changed!"

"Yeah, just wanted to get comfy. I'll probably stay late at Sarah's, so…" Kim wanted him to know that she could get comfy and casual without- well, looking like she did the night before, when he surprised her at her door. She still couldn't believe that a classmate saw her looking that way- letalone this guy who she'd been obsessively in love with for ten years. But no, she couldn't think about that now. Kim fiddled with the sleeves of her hoodie while Jared raced around the front of his SUV and climbed back into the driver's seat.

As he turned the key in the ignition, Kim said, "I put your flowers in water. They're really pretty. Thank you."

His ears pinkened, but his smile was slow and earnest. He was looking in the rearview, checking the road as he pulled out. "I'm glad you like them."

"No one's ever gotten me flowers bef-" she cut herself off, realizing that she might be admitting to something embarrassing. She mashed her lips together, back-tracking, "I mean, m-my dad got me a rose last Valentine's Day," oh God, that sounded even more lame, "a-and Sarah and I got each other corsages at Homecoming-"

Just shut up, Kim. Quietly, she just said, "Anyway. Thank you."

"So...sounds like you and Sarah are good friends? Is that the Sarah who's on Student Council? Kind of tall, with the short hair?" He made a right turn onto the road.

"That's her."

"Cool. She seems pretty nice."

"Yeah, she is. We became friends a couple years ago, before I gave up Student Council to do Yearbook." Kim glanced in his backseat. "Why do you have so many pairs of pants?"

Jared huffed out a bark of embarrassed laughter. "Oh, I-well, I sometimes, um, need a change of clothes after work. Not all the time, but once in a while it can get to be dirty work."

"Oh." Kim faced forward again. "...So."

"So?" Jared echoed, happily. When she glanced at him, he met her gaze with a warm, familiar smile. It was the sort of smile that just permeated coziness, ease. Her heart struck a beat, and this time, the thought that accompanied was unconscious and as true as anything she ever knew: his smile felt like home.

She zapped her eyes forward. Her heartbeat was so loud now that she was sure he could hear it. Hell, they probably heard it out in Seattle. She exhaled through her nose. "So, speaking of friends...how was Mallory? She seemed excited to talk to you today. Are you guys dating again?"

The desire to bonk her forehead on the dashboard was instantaneous. With the following thirty seconds of silence that oozed through the car, filling the empty air between them with a tense and heavy quiet, Kim genuinely contemplated throwing herself out the passenger door.

What to say?! Say something, anything! "Uhhhh." Genius, Kim. Her eloquence was only slightly better than Jared's utter silence.

"Mallory," he stated, tonelessly, eyes fixed ahead.

Her mouth was drier than sandpaper. "You don't have to answer. I don't- know why I keep bringing up your girlfriends. Girlfriend. Sorry, your- just, like, your personal life. I don't know why I'm doing it. I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. Sorry." She glanced at the door. No child-locks. She could throw the door open, right now, and tuck-and-roll, and dealing with any resulting bruises might be significantly less uncomfortable than this conversation.

Especially because, deep down, Kim knew exactly why she kept bringing up girlfriends. Because...for so long, Kim had wanted to be one. They had been such an unattainable category of girl, a type that Kim knew was a lofty aspiration for someone like her, when the two of them were so fundamentally different.

And now that she knew Autumn, and knew of his weird habits when it came to Forks Girls, and Amanda and Mallory, and his sexual promiscuity in general...now Kim seemed to be appointing herself onto the Jury to criticize, analyze and judge all areas in Jared's life pertaining to that subject. Was she always this judgmental? No wonder she wasn't invited to parties and stuff. She eyed the door handle again.

Jared then said, slowly, "She wanted to go out this weekend."

"Oh." Kim adjusted her glasses. Well, that was that.

"Kim, do you have a boyfriend right now?" Jared's voice sounded a bit….tight.

She contemplated saying "Yes, and he's really brilliant and loves when I snap at him all the time and make slut-shaming digs. That's his kink. In fact I have four boyfriends. Lots of men, waiting for me to make things awkward and weird...sign up here!." Ugh, why had she said yes to this? What did Jared even want to talk about? Clenching her sweaty hands in her lap, she realized she'd been quiet too long….well, long enough that it seemed Jared was now holding his breath.

Unsteadily, Kim replied, "No. Not right now." She studied the sky ahead through the windshield.

Another beat. Then, in a more thoughtful voice, he asked, "Have you...ever had a boyfriend?"

She really hoped he wasn't asking this stuff to embarrass her later, somehow. Jared made another turn, and then the beach was visible on her right. They began a slow drive south-bound. A scenic, tourist route.

"Kim?"

"No, I haven't."

"Oh." There was a moment of quiet, and Kim just then realized that his radio was playing softly, vaguely. Was that Counting Crows? She wondered if she turned up the dial, if he'd be distracted.

Before she had a chance to touch the dial and perhaps spare herself this abject humiliation, Jared asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why haven't you had a boyfriend?"

How insulting. Kim wanted to give him a baleful look, and ask, "I don't know, why don't I make a short list of possible reasons for you and you can tell me? You've ignored me for most of my life, so you'd be a good resource as to why all the other guys do, too."

But she didn't ask that. No, she brought this on herself. So instead, she said in a careful and rational voice, "I realize I've just kept prying and judging your dating life since yesterday in class. I'm sorry."

"No, no," he quickly said. "It's okay. You're- curious. And I can see where there's...a lot of explanation needed."

"You really don't have to explain yourself to me." She almost added "Or anyone," but realized that wasn't quite true. From the sounds of it, he had quite a few partners to explain himself to these past few years. But she wasn't one of them. Kim fiddled with her sleeves again.

"Have you...ever wanted a boyfriend?" he asked slowly.

She didn't know how to answer that one. Especially to him, of all people.

"Um."

"Well," he rushed to say, "I just heard- how like, some girls don't really have interest in dating. I wondered if that's how you felt, or if you were open to...to the right guy, if he asked." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I should say that I'm trying to stay focused," Kim said, truthfully and only hedging a teensy-tiny bit.

Jared seemed to be intent on a real answer, though, and didn't let it go. "Should say? But...but you want one?"

She shrugged again. "I don't think it's going to be an issue I have to really thinking about."

His brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Because Graduation is coming up."

"And you'll be off to WWU. Then Oregon." He sounded so dejected.

….was he trying to ask her out? Her eyes slid over to him.

"I mean, I guess- if it were the right guy…" Kim started, softly.

"Yeah?" His tone sharpened, and when their eyes met, Kim felt like she'd just touched a live sparkler. "You'd consider dating him?"

"I guess."

A satisfied smirk was curling at the edge of Jared's mouth, and he was doing a pretty poor job of concealing it.

Monica's voice whipped through Kim's head: "I think you're too smart to fall for that kind of thing, right? I know I am. High school guys are all the same breed. Maybe one-in-a-thousand are made of noble stuff, but that rare case isn't Jared Cameron."

Kim felt that same strange, tingling guilt return; how would Monica be looking at her right now? And he didn't actually answer about Mallory earlier. He said she'd wanted to go out...but didn't say what his response was. If history demonstrated anything, it was likely that those two would be "hanging out" this weekend.

But then that look on his face. The smile which even now he was biting back, like he'd won somehow. Or was going to win.

From what she understood- what years of eavesdropping and last night indicated- was that Jared was the king of having his cake, and eating it too. She remembered his disdain for the girls in his grade (her included), and his tenuous interest in a handful of underclassmen who hit the menu like fresh meat. She thought of that time in class, two years ago, talking about how Mallory and Amanda were the only hot girls in La Push worth his time. How evidence of their weird cheating love-triangle was fodder for the gossip chain for years, and made a little zestier for the student body's palate by the occasional sprinkling in of "Miss Forks."

Kim also thought about...herself. How she was almost away from all this high school nonsense, and away from bruised feelings and being made to feel invisible. How the fruits of her labor were culminating soon. Her loneliness, her insecurity...it was ephemeral, and she was about to eclipse it.

Out of respect for who Kim used to be, and had been for years- that poor, shy, chubby girl with glasses and an unfailing (albeit, semi-pathetic and perhaps unfounded) sense of loyalty to the idea of Jared Cameron- and for who Kim had planned to be in the years to come...she found herself thinking, I deserve better.

The revelation left her feeling a little breathless. A little powerful. Like that triumphant feeling yesterday, when she wanted to jump onto her desk.

With a steady, quiet confidence seeping through her bones, she said, "Actually, I don't know any guy who could be the right guy. Not here in La Push. So actually...yeah, I guess I'm not that interested in guys after all. Not here and now, at least."

"What?" Jared said, in a choked voice. In her peripheral, his face turned toward her, but Kim kept her gaze on the shoreline.

"I've already seen 'the goods' La Push has to offer" she said, with a touch of rueful satisfaction as she harkened back to his words to Brad Adams from so long ago. "Nothing here for me."

"Nothing? Well, maybe- maybe you haven't considered all your options?" His voice was plaintive.

She shrugged. Her point was made. Whatever weird satisfaction he had from his antics the past 24 hours was wiped clean.

The heavy silence was back. Kim could sense a brewing agitation in Jared...the hand on the steering wheel was turning white at the knuckles. His other hand was thumping an anxious rhythm on the ledge next to the window.

Relief was palpable when her phone rang. Sarah's name flashed across her screen, and Kim jammed her thumb against the TALK button. "Hello?"

"Hey, I know I told you 5 was okay, but can you do earlier? I forgot I have a haircut tonight but want to knock down that study guide."

"That works perfectly! Let me come now." Jared's clock glowed 3:55. Meanwhile, Jared's anxious finger-drumming ceased.

"See you soon."

Kim glanced at Jared. "Well...I guess I better get over to Sarah's. If you don't mind, can you actually take me back to my house? I'm going to get my car."
"Sure, Kim," he answered kindly, but his posture was crestfallen. The drive back to her house was quiet. When Goo Goo Dolls started to play on the radio, she turned it up a notch and tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach and the uncomfortable heaviness in her chest.

They reached her house before the song "Iris" was over. Sitting silent and unmoving while the last few flicks of guitar faded through the speakers, Kim finally said, "Thanks for...the drive."

"Yeah." Jared gave her a quick nod and a grimacing, false smile.

Just hurry up and leave. Kim opened the door and stepped down; the gravel of her driveway crunched beneath her boots. As she walked to her own car, she felt his gaze on her. It was almost like a physical burn on the back of her neck.

It lingered with her all night.

The next morning, Kim didn't see Jared at all. She tried not to let it bother her, but his absence nagged at her all day. In English, she found herself looking at his seat sadly. Though she was proud that she spoke up for herself in the car, and glad that he knew she wasn't just some easy nerd who could be flattered...there was another part of her that felt very sad to have been proven right.

Friday passed unremarkably, with no trace of Jared.

She went home and, for nearly an hour, stared at the flowers still on her kitchen counter. Then, with an angry huff, grabbed the bouquet and chucked it into the backyard.

All night she dreamed hot, sweaty dreams of- who else?- Jared. His body, covering hers, thrusting into hers. Her hands trembling against the tight muscles of his back while he grunted with exertion. She woke up with damp panties and an irritable disposition that followed her all the way to her shift at the Forks Library.

After organizing the Children's Nook display area, and scanning in the books from her assigned carts, she took a juice box from the Break Room and found a seat on the bench outside. It was raining, but the bench was shielded from the elements and provided a nice, airy retreat. She couldn't get enough fresh air today, it seemed.

Her phone dinged through.

360-555-0993: Hey Kim. How are you?

She squinted at the number for a second before recognition struck.

Outgoing Text: Is this Jared?

360-555-0993: Yeah. Sorry I was gone yesterday. I worked late on Thursday and didn't feel well Friday.

Outgoing Text: Sorry to hear it. Hope you're feeling better.

360-555-0993: Yeah, it was just a headache. Totally okay now.

Not knowing what else to say, she put her phone back into the bag at her feet. Her eyes were just zoning out on a pair of squirrels nearby fighting over a soggy graham cracker in the grass when she felt that hearty bzzz again.

360-555-0993: What are you up to today?

Seriously? Kim's brow furrowed.

Outgoing Text: Working at the library.

360-555-0993: Oh right you mentioned that. Okay. When do you get out?

Outgoing Text: Done at 2 pm today.

360-555-0993: Cool! Would you want to hang out? Maybe see a movie?

Kim's forehead wrinkled with confusion. He was at it again! Kim put the phone down for a second, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Then, she picked it up again.

Alright, yeah, she hadn't imagined it.

Outgoing Text: Aren't you supposed to go out with Mallory tonight?

Then again, she supposed he could've gone out with her the night before...but he was sick yesterday right?

His response was immediate.

360-555-0993: I'm not going out with Mallory? Where'd you hear that?

Outgoing Text: I must've misunderstood the other day. Sorry.

She didn't know if she should see him. She'd made herself clear, several times over. He'd clearly read her on Thursday. There was no room for question.

360-555-0993: So...no plans for me….maybe if you have no plans…

360-555-0993: ...movie?

Outgoing Text: I don't know if that's a good idea.

He didn't reply, and so she finished her juice box and her break in silence with that heaviness back in her chest. Kim rubbed at her chest; sometimes it felt so acute that it almost felt- foreign, like it was being impressed upon her.

She finished her shift with her mind - once again- on Jared. He might as well take up permanent residence there.

At 2:00, she clocked out and bid the Librarians goodbye. She wrapped her favorite magenta scarf around her neck, and stepped outside-

"Hi Kim," Jared greeted quietly, tentatively. He smiled at her, nervously, from the bench at the parking lot's edge. His hands were shoved in his pockets, but he didn't show any sign of being cold in the late October temperature. He wore a blue-striped button up and jeans.

She stared at him with stark eyes. "Jared…"

"Before you say anything, please let me talk." He advanced toward her, with palms open and eyebrows upturned. His eyes were beseeching and reflected something that made Kim's throat ache. "I know I don't have the best reputation when it comes to dating, and I know you don't think very highly of me, Kim. I'm not trying to bother you, but you have to believe me when I say...being around you is the only thing I look forward to, now. It's only been two days, but I feel like so much more makes sense when I'm talking to you. Please give me a little bit more of your time to prove to you that I'm not a total write-off."

Kim stared at her boots. He was so sincere sounding; during their interactions these past few days, he'd seemed to demonstrate more truthfulness, more realness, than she'd ever witnessed from him before.

And he was just...irresistible. He always had been, somehow, to her.

Before she could think better of it, she said, "Let's go get lunch."

And swore to herself: if this ended poorly, then it was a sign.

But right now, the Universe seemed to keep batting chance-after-chance toward Kim, after years of admiring him from afar...and she wasn't quite ready to refuse the Universe.

Jared's expression of relief was dazzling and immediate. "I'll drive."


A/N: Again, thank you x 10 for every single thought you share with me, and even more gratitude for the long reviews you've left so far! Thank you, truly, my friends. I hope to hear from you soon!