"So, the date went well?" Zack asked, still half asleep.
"Yeah, really, really well." Lawrence said with a sigh. "I know it's only been one date, but I think I actually really like Esme. She's so sweet and funny and I feel like she really gets me, you know?"
"Don't you think you're saying that too soon dude?"
"You told Freddy you liked him before you even started dating."
"Yeah, but I met Freddy when I was six and I found a crush on him ever since. You met Esme just over a week ago. I just think you should slow down is all." Zack explained.
"Ok, I still wish we were able to go out on Valentine's Day though."
"What happened?"
"She had work, nothing I can do about that." He said with a shrug. "I plan on surprising her today though."
"That's really nice of you." Lawrence smiled and held up a bracelet. "What's that?" Zack asked.
"It's her bracelet. She left it at my house when she left."
Tomika listened to their conversation from around the corner. She was growing more jealous buy the day to the point where she did her best to actively avoid talking to Lawrence as much as possible, but still followed him around to keep and eye on him.
"Creepy much?" Freddy asked, causing Tomika to jump.
"Shut up, I'm just making sure things are ok." She said, peeking back around the corner.
"Just talk to him." Freddy told her.
"What makes you think that'll work?" She asked sarcastically.
"You see that guy Lawrence is talking to? That's my boyfriend, we're dating because I told him." Freddy explained.
"I know," she said getting annoyed.
"Then why don't you tell Lawrence?" He asked.
"Because...he's got a girlfriend now." She said without looking back at Freddy.
"And why didn't you tell him before?" He pressed on.
"Because...I…" She mumbled something under her breath.
"What was that?" Freddy asked.
"Because I couldn't ok?" She asked.
"Why not?" Freddy continued to asked. "Why is it so hard for you to just tell him that you like him?"
"Because I'm scared! I'm scared of what he'll say. What if he says he doesn't like me back? Then our entire friendship is over and I can't do that."
"And what if he says yes? Have you thought about that?" Tomika remained silent. "If you don't even take the risk then you'll get your happy ending." He told her right before the bell rang and he headed off.
After school, Summer made her way to the mall so she can get a haircut. She walked into the upstairs hair salon and took her usual chair. "What're you looking for?" The hairdresser asked.
"Just taking off a few inches, nothing too fancy." She told the slighter older girl.
"No problem."
"Hey Babe," A guy's voice came from the door.
"Just one minute hun." The girl said to Summer. "Baby!" She said running over
"I know you can't make it today, so I thought I'd surprise you." He said, picking her up and spinning her around. "Hey, where's your bracelet Babe?"
"Oh crap, I must of left it at Ash's house last time I hung out with her. I'm sorry Baby."
"Hey, it's ok Babe. At least you know where it is. Well I gotta go, don't wanna keep you from your job." He said as they shared a quick kiss and he left.
"You got a boyfriend?" The girl asked summer as she walked back.
"Yeah, he can be a pain sometimes though." Summer said, her eyes trained on her phone.
"Boys huh?" The girl said with a laugh.
"If all else fails, I'd say just kiss him." Freddy told Tomika as they and Zack had all gone to the mall to meet up with Lawrence after he said hi to Esme. Zack and Freddy were trying to get Tomika to tell Lawrence.
"Yeah, that won't jump to far ahead of things." She said, rolling her eyes.
"It worked on me." Zack told her.
"That's cause you had the fortune of liking each other." She said, sitting back in her chair.
"You really got a one track mind don't you?" Zack asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tomika shot back at him.
"...nothing," Zack whispered sitting back.
"Esme?" Another voice came from the door. Summer looked over and saw Lawrence with a small bouquet of flowers.
"Larry? What are you doing here?" The girl asked walking over. "Are those for me?" She asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to surprise you. And give you your bracelet back. You forgot it at my place."
"Oh my God. Thank you so much."
"If you're not busy this weekend, would you like to go out again?"
"I'll have to check my schedule, but I'd love to." She said with a smile. Lawrence left and Esme walked back over to summer. "Looking good."
"Um, yeah, thanks. I gotta go." she said running out after Lawrence.
"Guys, what are you doing here?" Lawrence asked, running into the other three.
"Tomika has something she wants to tell you." Freddy said, pushing Tomika forward a bit.
"Um…I want to say...that I really-"
"Lawrence!" Summer ran up and stopped to catch her breath. "That girl of your's, you gotta listen, she's-"
"I know, she's great huh?"
"No, listen she's got a boyfriend." Summer said, finally catching her breath. She needed to run more. Everyone looked shocked by what just came out of her mouth.
"You're talking about me right?" Lawrence asked.
"No, I was getting my haircut and this really tall blond guy came in and the two called each other Babe and kissed each other."
"Oh," Lawrence said, his voice dropping. Everyone went silent.
"Listen Lawrence, I-" Tomika said, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder, but he took a step back.
"I need to go think things over." He said before he ran off.
Lawrence didn't talk to anyone for the entire weekend. His friend's tried to go to his house, but his father said he wasn't feeling well. Monday morning came and Tomika felt odd going to school without him in the car. However when she arrived at school, he was already there talking to Marcus like nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Lawrence? What happened? Are you ok?" She asked walking up to him.
"Tomika, I'm fine."
"Even after Esme-"
"Tomika, I'm fine. I overreacted." He said calmly.
"Overreacted? What are you talking about?" Tomkia asked, still confused.
"Esme just needs help figuring out who she wants. So I'm going to show her that it's me." He said with a smile.
"Y-you really think that?" She asked.
"Of course, wanna help?" He asked, excited.
"I-uh…" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Lawrence was so far into denial, he still thought he had a chance with her. Time to set this boy straight. "Of course I'll help out." She said with a smile. Um, hello? That's not what we agreed on me.
"Really? Great! I already have an idea of what we need to do. We just have to wait until after school." He said before the bell rang and he headed off to class.
"You're really gonna help him?" Zack asked Tomika after school. The two were waiting outside for Lawrence as Zack, being Lawrence's best friend, was also being brought to "help."
"I mean, I...want him to be happy."
"I see…" Zack said leaning in close.
"Ok, I hoping he'll realize she's a bitch and I'll be there for him." She said, caving.
"Not a bad plan all things considered." Zack told her.
"I'm here!" Lawrence said running up. "You both ready?" He asked, to which the both gave a nod and they made their way to the mall.
"So, what's the plan?" Tomika asked.
"Ok, she really loves whales, I remember her bracelet had a whale on it. I'm going to go into the ball pit on the lower floor and make a whale shape, the same as her bracelet. I'll need both of your help to make it and then one of you to go to her hair salon to get her up to the second floor so she'll me standing in the middle and know that I care about her more." Zack and Tomika looked at each other questioningly.
"If you think that'll work then let's get to work." Tomika said.
"Really?" Zack whispered.
"Really." She said in a serious tone. The three of them got to work moving the balls out of the way. Tomika went up to the second level early to get a bird's eye view of their progress.
"Do you really think this'll work?" Zack asked.
"It has to. Otherwise I'll be alone again. I can't think of anyone else who would want to be with me." Lawrence said. Zack looked up and Tomika watching.
"Yeah, me neither." Zack muttered.
They worked for just a little longer before Tomika told them it was a perfect match and she left to go get Esme.
"Is Esme here?" Tomika asked, walking in to the hair salon.
"Yeah, I'm here. Who are you?" She asked.
"I'm a...friend of Lawrence's. He has something to show you."
"Larry does? Hey Barb, I'm gonna take my break now. Lead the way." The two walked in silence most of the way, Tomika still resenting her for dating Lawrence as well as using him when she already has a boyfriend. "How much further?" She asked, getting annoyed.
"We're just about there." Tomika told her, without turning around. "Ok, we're here. Take a look or whatever." She said, crossing her arms.
"Larry?" Esme asked, looking down and seeing what he made.
"What do you think?" He called up.
"What do I think? What am I looking at?" She asked.
"It's a whale. Isn't that your favorite animal?" He asked.
"No, my favorite animal's a zebra." She told him.
"But your bracelet's got a whale on it." He said.
"Oh that? Brett gave me that last year." She said.
"And would you like to explain who Brett is?" Tomika said facing her.
"Well...um, he's uh-"
"He's your other boyfriend." Lawrence said from the ball pit. "Isn't he?"
"...Yeah. Sorry Larry."
"Was I not good enough?"
"I-"
"Don't answer." Tomika told her. "You weren't good enough from him anyways. You made a big mistake passing up a great guy like him." Esme looked back down at him before she walked away.
The three of them were walking home. Lawrence had his eyes trained on the ground while Zack walked beside him and Tomika walked behind them both with her arms crossed.
"Hey, I'm really sorry about Esme. I'm sure the right person is out there somewhere."
"Thanks man," Lawrence responded without looking up.
"Well, there goes that day." Tomika said aloud.
"Tomika, now's not a good time." Zack told her.
"I just can't believe I wasted the whole day doing this."
"Tomika-"
"No, Zack it's fine." Lawrence said cutting him off. "What did you want to do today?" Lawrence asked.
"You really want to know?" She asked. He nodded. "Nothing much. Just this." She said pulling him in and kiss him full on the lips. He was surprised at first but then began to kiss back.
"You mean, this whole time-" Lawrence started to say before he got cut off.
"For a guy wearing contacts, you are so blind." She said with a smile as they continued to kiss.
"That stubborn Freddy." Taylor said as she sat in her room with her friend Marcy. "I can't believe he still thinks he's gay and living out that fantasy with Zack Mooneyham of all people. I was hoping to make him mine again before Valentine's Day, but I couldn't even get his attention in months!"
"Maybe he's really happy with Zack?" Marcy suggested.
"Don't even joke like that Marcy. What should I do?" She asked, sitting down. "Wait, I got it." She said with an evil smirk.
Hey, sorry about the late update, I've been busy since school started back up and also lazy because of who I am as a person. I'm hoping that I'll go back to my normal update schedule soon, with new chapters of this story every week and new chapters of Thundermans every week. So, I'll hopefully see you next week.