A/N: I should be punished for bad chapter titles, lmfao.
Also, apologies in advance for this one because this is more of "fill-the-gap" chapter. I had to cut it short because it was getting too long. Brace yourself, this is a long-ass chapter. On the bright side (I hope?), most of next chapter is their ride back to LJ's house ;)
Wow I really hope you like this one, oops.
5. Covey is a Player
Peter decides to catch her during the class after PE, their last class for the day, to talk to her. While he's waiting, he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. Once, twice, thrice. It's going nuts then, and frowning, he pulls it out.
Gen.
Shaking his head, he turns it off and puts it back in his pocket.
As he waits for Lara Jean, for the first time since in forever, Chris arrives before Lara Jean; she seems equally surprised. She glances around the room in confusion before her eyes land on Peter. She narrows her eyes and when she starts to walk towards him powerfully, he groans internally.
"Where's Lara Jean?" she asks flatly.
Peter shrugs, because boy wouldn't he like to know.
Chris looks at the door once and then back at Peter. She backs away into her seat as she continues to glare at Peter. Few seconds after she's seated, in desk behind the one on Peter's immediate left, she calls, "Hey, PK, can I use your bag to save Lara Jean a seat?"
Peter turns around with a frown. "Why can't you use yours?"
Chris rolls her eyes. "I don't need to carry a bag, genius," she says, gesturing at the scrappy old notebook and singular pen she's just placed on her desk.
He sighs and starts to give her his bag, when he stops midway to look at Chris suspiciously. "You better not throw it out of the window again, Christine," he says warningly.
Chris scoffs. "That was one time," she says defensively before adding. "And I did it to piss Gen off."
"Actually," starts Peter, raising his eyebrows at her and holding up two fingers. "It was twice."
"Again, it was to piss Gen off," she says, grinning at him. "Now, are you giving me your bag or not?"
"Gen is not here today, so…." he says, handing over his bag to her.
She throws his bag in the seat behind her and turns back to him. "She isn't, is she? Wow, she's cutting class a lot these days, huh," she says thoughtfully "Think I should tell Aunt Wendy? Now that would be fun," she cackles.
"I don't care what you do about it, Chris," he says tiredly, turning away and slouching in his chair.
Where was Lara Jean!?
Chris is about to say something else when their teacher enters. The class falls silent and Peter turns to look at Lara Jean's empty seat again, just to make sure. Chris catches his eye and he can tell she's wondering the same thing.
"What the hel l did you say to her, man?" she asks slumping in her chair and throwing her hands up before crossing them.
Once again, he shrugs because he has no answer. No, that's a lie. Technically. He did say something to her, then, but she didn't seem to get what he was saying exactly so she did something to him . And now, here they are. Well, she isn't.
A few minutes later, Lara Jean is at the door, looking sheepishly at their teacher, who looks back at her disapprovingly; not only is she late, she's still in her PE clothes.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Roland," she says, looking really nervous.
Mr. Roland nods his head, gesturing for her to enter. "Only because it's your first time this late, Ms. Covey. And also the last, I hope?" he asks pointedly.
"Yes, Mr. Roland," she says. "Thank you, Mr. Roland."
She scurries towards the nearest empty seat she can find, on the other side of the classroom, and settles down. She seems to realize that she's not brought her bag when the professor starts talking, and Lucas James, who is only sitting a desk behind her, tears a sheet out of his notebook and hands it to her along with a pen. She smiles at him gratefully.
She seems a lot more distracted than usual, and Peter is tempted to pass her a note saying what the hell did you kiss me for. He changes his mind when he sees Emily Nussbaum glaring it him.
He waits impatiently for class to get over, but the end bell rings, Lara Jean bolts out of the classroom. He stands up to follow, but remembers his bag. He turns around just in time to see Chris smirking at him, partly apologetically as she flings his bag out of the window.
"Damn it, Chris, come on," he groans, looking at her disbelievingly, both his hands upturned in a why would you even do that gesture.
"Sorry, PK, you know I had to do it," she grins. "Besides it's like, right outside. Last time I did we were on the first floor."
He grunts in annoyance and Chris sidles away, cackling as Peter heads to the window. At least the classroom was on the ground floor, he thinks, as he places his hands on the sill and pushes himself upwards. Swinging his legs, he lands on the grass and picks his bag up before climbing back into the classroom.
Now, to find Lara Jean and clear the goddamn air.
He steps out of the class, looking up and down the corridor to gauge where she might have possibly gone. Before he can come to a decision, he's suddenly facing Emily, who is looking at him with an eyebrow quirked.
"Kavinsky, that was really dumb what you did."
He ignores her; he's never liked Emily very much.
"Gen is real mad at you. Really, really mad," she continues, shaking her head as she waves her phone at him.
"Oh, yeah?" he says, and doesn't even bother to keep the satisfaction out of his voice. "Why does she care, it's not like we're dating anymore.
Emily opens her mouth to say something but is clearly at a loss of words. There really was no way to explain it without making Gen sound possessive and selfish, and Peter knows this.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have somewhere to go," he says, nodding nonchalantly at her. She steps aside mutely and when he starts to walk away, she calls after him, "Oh and keep turn your phone back on, will you?"
Peter doesn't respond, but shrugs as he walks towards the exit, deciding to catch Lara Jean at the parking.
He walks to where he's last seen her park her car, the time she backed into him, but it's empty. She's left already. Unless she parked somewhere else today. There really wasn't any way to be sure.
Frustrated, he walks towards his own car, deciding what was to be done. He's not sure why he's pursuing this so relentlessly, but he feels like he needed to clear the air as soon as possible. He would have to talk to Gen eventually, and by the time that happened, he wanted to sort this - whatever this is.
Well, guess I'll just have to drive to her house then.
~ LJ&PK ~
He knows the way to her house; rather, remembers it vaguely from when he was younger. After a couple of wrong turns, he finally stops in front of her house, and reconsiders if he was being really weird, but shewas the one who kissed him right after he explained his situation to her.
So, no. He wasn't being weird. He was just trying to clear the air, he tells himself again.
~ LJ&PK ~
When he hears the bell, he hears a flurry of footsteps after a muffled "I'll get it!" sounds through the wooden door. The door flies open, and standing in front of him is Lara Jean's sister. She's staring at him, eyebrows raised questioningly, arms crossed and doesn't say a word, waiting for him to say something first.
He clears his throat and asks, "Is, um, is Lara Jean around?"
"You just missed her," she says and frowns before smirking at some memory. "She left in quite a hurry, actually."
"Uhh…" he trails away, wondering if he should ask her where Lara Jean would be when she answers that herself, after seeming to consider something.
"She'll be at Corner Cafe," she says in a very official sounding voice, and adds as an afterthought, "Probably."
Probably. Great.
"Alright, thanks Little LJ," he says and she makes a sour face at him. She starts to say something but instead just rolls her eyes and throws her hands up before turning away to close the door.
He chuckles to himself before heading to his car.
When he reaches Corner Cafe, the parking lot is nearly empty except for a giant truck and a sparkly blue cycle propped against the white wall on one side.
He parks his car and walks out and into the cafe with a sense of purpose. He's passed by the diner on many occasions before, but has not been in here. He takes an instant liking to the place. It looks quite warm and quaint, and he wonders why he's never been here before.
He looks around and recognises her brown coloured bag, propped against a stool on the floor in front of the countertop. He sits on the stool on one end, leaving one empty in between and waits for her.
She comes back to the stool in a couple of minutes, now out of her PE clothes and in a cream-coloured turtled paired with a red skirt pencil skirt. She's absent-mindedly wiping her hands with a tissue. Dumping it in the trashcan in the corner, she hops on to the stool, oblivious to Peter.
A guy, Greg, as his tag reads, slides a straw and a glass, of what is presumably coke, in her direction, two cherries floating on top. Cherry coke. Then, Greg gestures to someone before taking his apron off and going into the back of the kitchen, completely ignoring Peter. He was getting that a lot today, he observes.
She aggressively slams the straw against the countertop, before ripping the paper cover open and thrusting the straw into her drink. She starts to take a sip, and Peter is done waiting for her to catch his eye.
"Hey, Covey," he says lazily, arms resting on the countertop and turning to her.
Her face scrunches into a frown first before she turns to look at him, genuinely puzzled. She continues to sip, and without replying, she just turns back around and there is really no other way to describe the expression on her face except it read what the fuck .
Before he can say something, a waitress appears, and keeping her eyes on Peter, asks Lara Jean, laying a hand on her shoulder, "Oh... Anything for your friend?"
"He's not with me," she says, denying it vehemently.
After a moment's thought, he says, "I'd like a chocolate shake, thanks."
"Sure," she nods with a smile, as she starts to turn away.
Peter returns it in kind. "Yeah."
Lara Jean is still not looking at him, and he twists in his seat to look behind his shoulder. He isn't sure why he does that. Maybe to make it seem like he was here just because and not because he needs to talk to Lara Jean. He did need to talk to Lara Jean, but it might seem weird if he just-
"So what you doing here?" she asks suddenly. Damn she is unpredictable. He was so sure that she was going to just continue ignoring him and was starting to wonder how to broach the subject at hand.
Play it cool.
"What do you mean, I'm just here to take down one of those chocolate shakes," he says, craning his neck in the direction of the kitchen to make it seem more believable.
"Cool," she says, and that's that.
Well, diving straight in, then.
"Actually, I stopped at your house," he says, and she turns to look at him, her eyes slightly wide and incredulous. "Your sister said you'd probably be here."
She doesn't say anything, so he just continues. He's glad she's not interrupting. But she seems somewhat calm for someone who was talking to someone she just made out with on the track for the whole school to see, right after he'd explained the situation with his ex. Maybe he wasn't clear enough.
"Look, I just wanna be super clear, okay?" he starts, you know, just to be clear.
"Okay," she says, like she really has no clue as to where this was going.
"I'm flattered, I am, but…" Her eyebrow twitches and she's still looking at him with a look of incredulity.
"...Gen and I, like, just broke up so…"
"Are really you trying to reject me, right now?" she says, slouching a little in her seat, and starting to lean towards her coke again. There is an air of chagrined amusement about her, that really, really confuses him, but he goes on.
"Yeah," he says, though he knows it's harsh. The expression on her face doesn't change despite the really solid answer he's just given her. "It didn't really seem like it... took the first time?"
She looks at him with unbridled amusement now, with a hint of resignation. "Peter Kavinsky, I'm not trying to date you," she says flatly, clearly, as if to a child.
He quirks an eyebrow at that because her actions in the last couple of hours said something completely different.
"Your mouth is saying something," he starts, and starts to fumble for words. "But your mouth... said something different," he finishes, scrunching his nose with annoyance at himself because what was that.
Lara Jean echoes his sentiment. "What?" she asks, with restrained horror.
The waitress reappears Lara Jean carrying a chocolate milkshake. Walking over, she hands it to him, and he looks up at her. "Thank you, uh…" he squints, trying to read her name tag. "...Joan.
Lara Jean has a bemused smile on her face, and she seems to have arrived at a decision. She turns to face him decisively as he leans forward to sip his milkshake. "Okay, um... So here's the thing, "I don't actually like you. I just had to make it look like I liked you so someone else wouldn't think I liked them."
"Oh, okay," he says skeptically. He actually had a love letter addressed to him, from her. How could she possibly deny that to his face?! "Okay, who?"
"What?"
"Who?" he repeats smugly, because there was no way she could be telling the truth. What an elaborate lie to get out of a sticky situation; a lie he didn't feel like playing along with right now. "You gotta tell me who this mystery stud is, otherwise I'm gonna go on believing you have a secret tattoo with my face on."
He is trying to provoke her on purpose. There's no way he was going to let her lie out of this.
She gives him one of her microexpression looks again, almost as if saying really? "No," she says shaking her head.
"Should I tell the school that you wrote me a love letter?" he asks. Not that he would ever do that, but Lara Jean doesn't know.
"Okay, okay," she says. "Fine. Fine. Um…" she hesitates, and looks like it pains her to continue, but she does. "It's Josh Sanderson."
"Wait, hold on, Sanderson?" Sanderson!? "Doesn't that guy date your sister?"
He knows she's telling the truth because now he remembers seeing Sanderson walking down the path, and Lara Jean completely ignoring him after… tackling Peter to the ground… as she ran past him.
"Yeah… Well, he dated my sister," she adds hurriedly. "In the past tense," she clarifies, before starting to ramble nervously. "He also got a letter, so you can see how awkward and complicated that's gonna get if he thinks I like him," she says, nervously.
Wait there was another letter?
"Hold on. Stop, stop," he says, cutting her off. "I'm not the only guy that got a letter?"
Is that really the point, right now?
She shakes her head sheepishly in response.
"Wow, you really think you're special, then you find out she wrote two guys." He's not sure why he said that out loud; he worries that he sounds stupid.
"I wrote five," she corrects him, still sheepish. "So don't go feeling too special," she adds, with a nearly rueful smile.
Five.
"You wrote five love letters?" Lara Jean is always surprising him.
"Yeah," she says, like she thinks that was clearly a mistake.
"Damn, Covey," he says, somewhat in awe. "You're a player."
After a moment of silence, he asks. "Who else did you write letters to?"
"If I tell you will you leave me alone?" she asks, raising her eyebrows at him.
Maybe. He's quite intrigued now. Besides, he's not used to dismissals.
"Maybe," he says, shrugging noncommittally.
"Okay," she says. "Lucas James."
"He's... He's gay," says Peter, blinking at her disbelievingly.
"You don't know that," she counters, but she doesn't sound like she believes it herself. Wow, she's unbelievable , he thinks in amusement.
"Everyone knows that," he replies flatly, and she looks away, slightly awkward. "Who else?"
"Um… Someone from camp and someone I went to Model UN with in fifth grade," she finishes. Then she grabs her bag. "So, are we good here?"
"Um... Yeah," he says, as she starts to leave. "No, yeah, we're good."
If anyone has questions regarding this fic (or my other fics) - concept-wise, plot, ideas, anything at all - feel free to drop an ask on Tumblr or even send in a prompt if you'd like! [ my Tumblr is cosmictrashed dot tumblr dot com ] You can hmu on Twitter as well - e13vatorbuttons
A/N: Just to make it a little clear, the above delays with his bag and Emily were imperative because while watching the movie, I was like, why not just catch her outside class, or right outside of school in the parking lot. So I added this in as an explanation to why he drove to her house to talk to her instead of just talking to her at school (like a normal person) which should ideally be possible because they're both in the same class. On top of that, I really like to build depth to the inter-character relationship beyond the movie verse, so I couldn't help myself :(
I also wanted to thank you guys for being patient and bearing with the pace of this story. Know that I appreciate it a lot. I hope you don't get too bored and please, please don't hesitate to tell me if if it's dragging too much; I don't know my own word limits, smh. 3 Sooooo? What'd you think? Is it too slow? Do let me know what you think in the reviews, pretty please?
