SALLY'S POV

I let out a satisfied sigh. "My work here is done" I say to myself. I was all alone just sitting on my bed, but very happy. I just got a very joyous call from Schroeder about a very successful Valentine confession. I was so happy for him. I knew he loved her before he did. It's just how matchmakers do their jobs.

I got one of the most restful sleeps I've had in a while (to be fair I slept till 11:00 am). Ever since Linus and Schroeder came back to Minnesota. I let out a yawn stretching out my hands and sitting up in my bed, I hear the doorbell ring. Who could that be? Frieda slides to the door in her slippery socks and opens it. "Oh Linus I'm very flattered, but I'm not interested. Sorry!" What? "Uh I didn't even say anything." Pfft typical Frieda. You could hear Frieda's mood change by her tone. "Then what are you here for?" Frieda is quite the brat when she's reminded the world doesn't revolve around her. "I wanted to see Sally, is she here?" Frieda's mood changed like the flick of a light switch. "Oh let me get her ready!" She squeals. "You wait right there hon! Sally you have a date!!" Frieda calls everyone hon- wait what. "It's not a date!" Ok phew. Frieda barges into my room in a hurry, I comb my hair as fast as I can while she grabs hair ties and a dress.

I finish combing my hair and look behind me. "Uh I'm not wearing that." I see Frieda steaming a long, flowing, silk dress. "Uh yes you are, I'm already steaming it." I roll my eyes at her and she continues fixing up the dress.

I walk to the door. I was wearing that ridiculously fancy dress with waves in my hair. Linus was wearing some varsity jacket for the Magnet middle school he went to. Linus just stares at me, kind of shocked. "Wow. You look pretty." I blush a bit.

"You don't really get to choose how you look when you live with Frieda." I joke. Linus was fidgeting with his hands a bit, he looked kind of nervous. "I was just going to take a stroll, wanna come?" Wonderful. Just a stroll, in one of my best dresses. This is just wonderful. "Sure why not?" I walk out and close the door behind me. Linus looks down at me. "I never realized how short you are." Linus chuckles. I raise voice a little slightly offended. "Hey I'm 5'8! You are just tall!" I turn my head away crossing my arms holding in my laughter. I can hear Linus laughing behind me.

We arrive at some kind of park. It looked so whimsical with willow trees and over grown grass and flower bushes. "Wanna sit?" He held his hand out pointing out a bench. I nod taking a seat to the side waiting for him to sit beside me. He doesn't. He pulls something out from underneath the bench. "What are you-" I stop in my tracks. I see Linus holding a bouquet of sunflowers right in front of me. What's going on?? "How'd you like to be my Valentine Sal?" He holds out the flowers to me. I quickly nod, taking the flowers and taking a sniff holding them tight. I'm glad I wore a dress for this. I gently place them on the bench and hug Linus tight. I could feel tears falling down my face. I couldn't help it, I was so happy.

I eventually collect myself and wipe all of my tears away. "You know... This would've been nicer if you scattered some rose petals like Schroeder did and-"

"Do you want to be my Valentine or not!?" Linus rolls his eyes looking slightly annoyed. "I'd like to be your girlfriend more." I tease with a smirk on my face. "What if I said you could be both? Would you shut up?" Wait is he kidding. "What? Really?" My smile widens. He nods and all of those recent tears come pouring back all over again. I give him a tighter hug causing both of us to fall over onto the grass. We start laughing making my tears quickly vanish. Linus pulls me into his arms. "I love you Sally." That's all I've ever wanted to hear. "I love you too."

We finally get off the ground brushing the dirt off our bodies. "I'm definitely gonna have wash this dress before Frieda sees it." I chuckle. Before Linus can say anything rain starts pouring down without any warning or even a drizzle. Linus laughs "Well the dirts off now." We share a laugh. It was awfully cold, I was shivering. Linus took a hint and brought me under a large willow tree. He wraps me in his varsity jacket pulling me into his arms.

"Should we leave?" Linus asks. At this point he was only wearing T shirt and jeans so that could've been why. But I honestly wasn't ready. "Can we stay like this for a while? If you don't mind." Linus chuckles and hugs me tighter. We were soaked and freezing, sure, but my heart was warm.

Something changes in Linus' expression. He lets go of me and walks out into the rain holding out his hand. "May I have this dance?" He gives me a grin. "You're crazy!" I smile back at him. He corrects me. "I'm crazy for you." Ok that was really sweet. And one of the nicest things anyone's ever said about me. "Linus we are already soaked."

"Sally I know you want to." He raises an eyebrow at me. Oh fuck it. I grab his hand and he twirls me around in the rain. He pulls me in his arms and sways me around in the rain. "You've gotta be pretty fearless to bring your new girlfriend out in the rain in her best dress." I tease. He chuckles. "You've gotta be pretty fearless to actually do it."

Quick Author's Note: Ok this scene is inspired by the Taylor Swift song "Fearless". In my opinion one of the best songs in her "Fearless" album. Please listen to it if you haven't it's amazing. There are a ton of other songs in the album that also mention dancing in the rain but this scene is specifically inspired by "Fearless".

I was happier than ever. My arms were wrapped around his neck, while his were on my waist. He was smiling right back at me. I still don't get love but I do know that love is exactly what I'm feeling right now. Linus let's go of my waist and cups my face leaning into a kiss. This kiss was slow and passionate unlike the ones we shared in that dusty hallway. This one, this was romantic. It was magical. Once we broke apart Linus pulled me closer into a tight hug as the rain continued to pour harder than ever. This was great. He was great.

"Mind if I stay over for a bit? Frieda will freak out if she sees how dirty this dress got." Linus chuckles. "Why not?"

Linus unlocks the door to a very angry Lucy staring him dead in the eye. "What the hell were you doing with Sally for 2 hours? And I told you to bring an umbrella!" Linus shrugged. It's been 2 hours? Gee now I get why she's mad. Linus looks over at me. "Go take a shower you can borrow some of Lucy's clothes you guys should be the same size." I walk away as Lucy starts scolding Linus. "She's staying over and it just slipped your mind to tell me!?"

LINUS' POV

I was drying my hair with a towel as Lucy yells her heart out. "You said you were just taking a stroll and now suddenly you have a girlfriend!?" Ok I can see how that's weird. "And why is she staying over anyway? For how long? Did you get her pregnant?"

"What- no! She's only staying over until she gets her dress cleaned, that's all!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "She better not be pregnant!" I yell back at her "We are 15!!" Lucy can really be a bother sometimes. I see Sally walk out wearing my old middle school hoodie and some of Lucy's shorts that were barely visible under the oversized hoodie. I raised my eyebrow. "You are aware I said Lucy's closet correct?" Sally shrugged. "Looked comfy." I roll my eyes smiling at her. She looked adorable. "So Sally, you aren't pregnant right?" Sally looks speechless, confused on what she just walked into. "What!? No!"

Lucy rolls her eyes. I walk Sally to my room while Lucy hollers at us about not getting pregnant or something. Like she's one to talk. Sally wanders around my room, taking a stop to look at a bunch of pictures from North Shore High I hadn't put away yet. This was practically the same thing that happened when I was at Sally's condo, except she was the one looking around while I sit on my bed. "I still don't get what made you want to leave. You had everything there. You had success and friends and some much more!" I look down at my feet avoiding eye contact from her.

"It's not that simple Sally. There was a lot of stress in that school. And sometimes people don't end up being as smart as they thought they were." It wasn't a memory I wanted to dwell on, no not at all. It was one of the lowest points of my life, and I hadn't told anyone besides Schroeder. My own sister doesn't even know why I left. The real reason why at least. "Well yeah, but that would never happen to someone as impressive as you! Right Linus?" She begins to lose her confidence in me as she finishes her sentence, who could blame her? I wasn't who she thought I was.

Sally noticed my face being flooded with guilt as I don't answer. "Linus?" I let out a sigh, maybe it's time she knows. "I lied Sally, I didn't want to leave. I had to."

Author's Note: So I originally finished this story with a different ending, but I scrapped the idea. So whoever read that I'm sorry about the change. What I wrote then has no relevance to the rest of the story for now.