Chapter 4: TGIF!
Friday's here. Finally. I'm going on a trip with Peter tomorrow. I am very excited and I can't stop myself from smiling. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning.
"Lara Jean, are you awake?" Em's calling me from her bed. We both don't have early morning classes on Friday, so we are still lying on the bed doing absolutely nothing.
"Mmhm," I hum lazily. "What's up?"
"Just wondering, what do you have planned for today?"
"Hmm, let me think," I try to make a to-do list in my head for a few minutes. Then, I continue, "I only have one class today at 11. Then, I should finish my Calculus homework and pack for tomorrow. Why did you ask?"
"Just curious. So, what are you going to bring to wherever it is you two are going?"
"Yeah, about that… I'm planning to ask for your opinion. What do you think I should pack?"
"Well, the weather's still warm. Just pack anything summery, like dresses, cute tees, maybe a couple of bikinis, you know, just in case."
"Maybe I should just pack now so that you can help me figure it out."
I can hear Em's suddenly jumping out of bed and running to my side of the room. This is another advantage of having a fashion photographer as your roommate. She makes sure you always dresses well without you even needing to make an effort for it. Em always says I have a good taste in fashion. But having her styles me once in a while makes my life a lot easier, especially for special occasions. Take right now as an example, she's already rummaging through my dresser, considering every available options.
She throws a lot of things to my bed. I see a white tank top, black short overalls, an off-the-shoulder top, ripped denim shorts, a couple of midi dresses, five pairs of bikinis and a couple others. I am pretty surprised by the amount of clothes she tells me to bring.
"Em, I'm only going for 2 and a half days," I remind her. With all the clothing she just chose for me, I can wear them in more than a week.
"I know. But you always need options, right? We don't know whether or not Peter's going to take you to a fancy dinner, that's why you should bring this," she says, showing a racy red dress. "And what if you guys g—"
"Woah, woah, woah, hang on," I suddenly stop her. "I don't remember buying that dress." My eyebrows met in confusion.
"Cause it's mine, I lend it to you just for this occasion," she rolls her eyes.
"Em, it won't even fit me. We have height difference, remember?" I am trying not to laugh as I imagine myself inside that dress.
"It will. Trust me. This is way too short for me, so it will be perfect on you."
"Nope. I will just bring some of these," I say as I start to put back some of my clothes inside my dresser and try to fit the rest into my traveling bag. "Thanks for your help, Em."
She looks a bit disappointed at me cause I dismissed more than half of the clothes she chose for me, so I give her an encouraging hug.
"Come on, let's get ready for class."
"Hang on. Do you think you're going to need protection?" She raises an eyebrow, looking at me intently.
I don't immediately reply since I am not sure myself. Will I be needing it? Emily seems to understand the confusion that is obviously shown on my face, so she adds, "I think it's better for you to bring it, just in case. Better come prepared, Lara Jean."
I clear my throat and reply, "I guess you're right."
She opens her nightstand drawer and hands out a few packs to me. "Have fun, Lara Jean," she playfully teases me, giving a wink before she steps into the bathroom.
—
As I walk out from my class, I see Emily is coming towards me from across the hallway. Her class has just ended too. We march out of the building together along with hundreds other hungry students, discussing what to eat for lunch. We decide on eating pizza nearby the campus.
"Lara Jean, there's gonna be a party tonight. Will you go with me?"
I give it a thought before I answer, "Sure. But I can't stay for long, I wanna go to sleep earlier tonight."
"Alright," she smiles at me. "Oh by the way, you can bring a plus one."
"Aren't you my plus one?"
She ignores me, a wide smile is still fixed on her face.
—
We are walking across the field, talking about Em's plan for the weekend.
"Maybe I'm going to hibernate in our room until you come back."
I roll my eyes and laugh, telling her, "There's no way you can survive three days doing nothing. You have way too much energy for that."
"I can always watch Netflix or read a book."
"Maybe you will meet someone tonight at the party, then you can go on dates with the guy."
"I love the sound of it, meeting the love of my life," she says dreamily. "Then I can plan an entirely different activity in our room, focusing my energy on something else." She winks at me.
"You can do whatever you wanna do with the lucky guy as long as you stay away from my bed."
We are both roaring in laughter, when suddenly I feel a hand sliding into my back pocket. I turn my head around, ready to let out an angry retort, then I see it's only Peter.
"Oh Peter, don't scare me li—," I pause.
I stop walking, trying to process what I just saw and said. My heart stops beating. Did I just say Peter? I look up and there he is, Peter Kavinsky, my handsome boyfriend. I still cannot believe my eyes. He is standing right in front of me. His eyes light up and his face breaks into a huge grin. He wears a white short-sleeved button down shirt that I bought for him and short khaki pants. He looks pretty much the same as before we are in college, only his hair is getting a little bit longer and he looks more muscular from all the practices he's been doing. He looks more handsome, if that's even possible. My heart starts to beat again, gradually getting faster. My stomach flutters.
Peter steps forward and before I know it, he is hugging me tightly, making me forget where I am at the moment. I bury myself inside his embrace. I can smell the familiar detergent his mom's using, his soap and his scent. I never thought I can miss someone's scent this much.
"Oh Peter, I can't believe you're here," I shriek in excitement, circling my arms around his back. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Cause it won't be a surprise if I told you," Peter responds softly in his raspy voice, planting a kiss on my forehead.
He inhales deeply into my hair. "I miss your coconut scent so much. I was seriously thinking of buying the shampoo and putting it next to my bed."
It feels surreal to be able to listen to his voice in person and physically touch him after being separated and only get to connect over the phone. I am grinning from ear to ear to be back inside Peter's hug. I don't want to ever let go of this, I think Peter won't mind. We can stay like this forever.
Emily clears her throat, "In case you forget, I'm still here." She teases us since it looks like we totally forget that we are not the only two people here.
We laugh at ourselves, but reluctant to let go of the hug.
"Come on, Em. Let us hug a little longer," I plead. I look at Em with my best attempt for adorable puppy eyes. She only smiles at me. She doesn't look as surprised as I am to see Peter, so I ask her, "Did he tell you about this?"
She shrugs at me with a smirk on her face. "I'm giving you guys exactly fifty two seconds starting from now, then we're leaving. I'm famished."
She's seriously staring at her watch waiting for that fifty two seconds to be over. "Time's up."
"Okay, let's go," I reply as I hesitantly free myself from Peter.
"Wait, hold on. We never properly introduce each other. Hi, I'm Peter Kavinsky," Peter offers a hand to Em.
"Hi, Peter Kavinsky. I'm Emily Visscher," she says her name with a sexy Dutch accent. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you in person."
"The pleasure's all mine."
—
Peter and I are laying on our stomach at my favorite corner in my room. I am doing my Calculus homework, while Peter is watching an old episode of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix.
"You should've told me you were coming. I would've done my homework yesterday if I knew," I accuse him, pretending to be mad.
"And miss the fun of looking at your nose crinkles when you're trying to solve the problems? Why would I do that?"
"My nose doesn't crinkle."
"It does, you do that all the time. I've been studying together with you for two years. When it comes to you, I am very observant, you know."
I roll my eyes at him.
"Do you know that you also pout sometimes before you write down an answer?" He tries to mimic my pout.
"Aw, stop teasing me, Peter." I roll my eyes again and smack his forearm. He bursts into laughter.
"Hey, don't be mad. You look super adorable when you do all those cute little habits of yours." He slightly leans forward to kiss me on the lips.
This is the first time we kiss in a month. I just realize that I really miss having his lips on mind. He softly touches my face, planting a deeper, more passionate kiss. So, I kiss him back with the same amount of passion.
Peter suddenly breaks off the kiss to sit up and pulls my hands, telling me to sit on his lap. I do as he says. Then, we're back at it, he kisses me like we never stopped. There is a hint of urgency in his kisses, his right hand on my hair and the other behind my back. We are so consumed with the kiss, that I can feel both of us are a little out of breath. Still, we do not stop, even when his phone is ringing.
But, when it rings for the third time, I tell Peter to pick it up since it may be important. He protests, but he knows I'm right. It's his mom. So, I step down and let him talk to her.
From Peter's conversation with his mom, I can hear that she sounds a little panic. It seems like Owen accidentally hurt himself at school during PE class. She is now waiting for the test results to come out.
Peter doesn't sound as worried as his mom when he tells me what happened. "It's probably just a sprained ankle. It's nothing serious. My mom gets worried a lot. She says she's going to call me as soon as the results are back," he explains.
I give him a nod, then I ask him, "Do you need to go back home?"
He shakes his head, which makes me feel relieved. I know I sound so selfish right now, but I really want to spend time with Peter.
"I am going to finish my homework as fast as I can. Then, we can do whatever you wanna do."
"Like, whatever, whatever?" Peter asks with a mischievous grin on his face.
"Um—" I pause. Now I'm nervous. What does he want to do with me? So, I add, "As long as it's appropriate and you think that my dad would approve, then sure."
"Aw, you're impossible, Covey! Anyway, don't we have a party to attend to?"
"I almost forgot about that. How do you know?"
"Em told me about it. She said I can stay over in this room as long as I make sure you go to the party with her."
"And you agreed to that?"
"Yeah. I'm down for anything as long as you're with me," he answers, with a playful smirk on his face. He tucks my hair behind my ear, staring deeply into my eyes.
I start to blush. I'm still not used to having Peter in the flesh, sweet talking while playfully smirking and gazing at me with his deep flirtatious eyes. "I forgot how distracting you can be."
Then, he bursts into laughter.
One hour later, Em comes back. She teases us with, "So, what have you guys been doing while I'm not around?"
"Nothing," I respond quickly.
"Seriously, Lara Jean? I left you with a hot, good-looking guy for almost 3 hours and you did nothing?" She asks me in disbelief, a little hint of disappointment in her voice. Then, she adds to Peter, "I'm not complimenting you, Kavinsky. Sorry to burst your bubble. I'm just trying to make a point with Lara Jean." Peter shrugs.
"I need to finish my homework which I could've done in 2 hours, but he keeps distracting me," I defend myself.
"What kind of distraction are we talking about?" Em sounds intrigued.
I throw a pillow at her direction that she easily catches and throws back at me, which thankfully Peter saves me from before it hits my face. He breaks into another roar of laughter.
"Come on, Lara Jean, let's get ready."
"Can't I just wear what I'm wearing right now?" Em looks at me like I'm not in my right mind. Then, I quickly say, "Okay, okay, point taken."
—
"I'll go get drinks. You want some, Em?" Peter asks politely.
She shakes her head.
"Alright. Be right back." Peter gives me a quick peck at the side of my forehead and leaves.
"Look at that guy standing by the stairs, Em. He's been checking you out since the first time we step in," I tell her, giving her a meaningful look.
Em looks around to see who the guy is. She comments, "Ooh, he's pretty cute. I think he plays for the football team. I've met him before, but I can't remember—"
"He's approaching," I whisper to her.
"I know right?! That's what I've been telling him this whole time. If only he listened, it wouldn't happen in the first place," Em suddenly changes the subject, trying to act cool.
I don't realize it at first, but then I play along. "Yeah, poor Tim," I respond, not sure why I said it. Em cocks an eyebrow at me, but that guy is now standing next to us.
"Who's Tim?" The guy is curious.
"No one. Just, um, my cousin," Em answers quickly.
"I'm Karl, by the way," he introduces himself.
We introduce ourselves and talk for a bit. He looks like a nice guy, and good looking too. He has green eyes that hypnotize you when you loot at them.
Then, I excuse myself to give them space to get to know each other. I look around, scanning through the crowd, looking for Peter. I see some of my friends, I come and say hi to them.
Then, I see Liam comes towards me.
"Hey, Lara Jean. I didn't know you're coming," he smiles at me.
"That makes the two of us," I laugh. He doesn't seem to get my joke, so I explain to him, "I come here because my roommate, Emily, asks me to come with her."
"Ooh, yeah. I know her. One of my teammates has a crush on her," he explains.
"I think I know which one," I reply. And we both burst into laughter.
Then, suddenly Peter comes from behind me. He hands me a solo cup and wraps his arms around me. He also gives me a little peck at the back of my head.
"Sorry, my mom called just now. She said Owen's fine and I don't need to worry about it," he says.
I nod. I almost forget that Liam is here. So, I introduce him to Peter, "Peter, this is my friend, Liam."
I see Peter's jaw tightens which makes me a little bit nervous. But, he introduces himself politely, "I'm Peter. Nice to meet you, Liam."
"Likewise. So, you're Lara Jean's boyfriend?" He asks him nicely.
"Yeah. How do you know?"
"She told me before that she has a boyfriend who's a lacrosse player in UVA. So, when's your first game?"
I am relieved that they get along just fine, talking about football and lacrosse. After a while, Liam says he needs a refill and excuses himself.
Peter and I walk around, searching for Em. I see a lot of girls do a double take when Peter passes. I laugh to myself. I almost forget how people reacts when they see Peter. We find Em playing beer pong with Karl and his two other teammates.
"Em, we're leaving. If you need anything, just call me, okay?"
She nods and gives me a hug. Then, she waves at Peter.
—
Peter and I are walking hand in hand, heading back to my dorm room.
"You and Liam got along pretty well."
"Well, I can tell he is a nice guy. And he is very polite. But, I gotta say I was a bit surprised to see that he looks that attractive. I think you forgot to mention it when you told me about him."
"I don't think it's important," I shrug my shoulder off. "He's not you anyway."
"Aw, my sweet, sweet girlfriend," he plants a quick kiss on my cheek. "Hey, have I showed you this?" He takes out his phone and shows me his phone background. It is a candid picture that Em took during the photoshoot. I was talking about Peter's care package when she took it.
"You look incredible in all the photos. But, this one is my favorite. I love this picture so much. It looks very natural, very Lara Jean. You look very beautiful in this photo. And you look really happy too," he says.
"Yeah, the picture looks alright, I guess."
"Gosh, if only you can look at yourself with my eyes, you're gonna see how beautiful you are, Covey."
I feel that my cheeks start to blush. I try to change the subject, "What time should we go tomorrow?"
Peter's trying to decide and he finally says that we're going to leave at 6. He yawns. He tells me that his professor cancelled today's class, so he came up with the idea to come and surprise me. He drove here right after he finishes his morning practice.
When we arrive at my room, we quickly change into comfy clothes and lie on my bed. We lie down with my back to his chest, his arms wrap around mine. He is caressing my hand with his thumb. He always makes me feel safe and loved. He whispers goodnight to my ear and kisses my temple.
"Sweet dreams, Peter," I reply.
A few minutes later, I call his name, "Peter?"
He hums back at me. I know he already fell asleep just now.
"Sorry to wake you up. But, I really need you to know that you coming here really means a lot to me. Thank you, Peter."
"Anytime, Covey," he whispers with a smile, before drifting back to his sleep.
—
Notes: What do you guys think? I hope you guys love it as much as I love Peter and Noah Centineo. The next chapter will be about them going on their trip. I honestly still have no idea what to write LOL But, I have finished writing chapter 6 before I even started this chapter. Weird haha :D Drop me some ideas please. I need inspirations! Thanks a lot for reading and posting reviews for me. It makes me happy to see that you guys like it. Cheers xx
