Flowers and Pop Rocks

22

p o p p y

Angel took the news a lot better than I thought she would.

Well, she didn't exactly react nicely, but it definitely could've been way worse, considering how much she hated Summer Rowland.

She made me promise that I'd stay as far away from Sabrina as possible, and I was happy to oblige. It wasn't like I was planning on staying best friends with her anyway.

It was a Tuesday afternoon, a weird time for a date, really, but I agreed to it anyway, so I couldn't back out anymore. Besides, I was kind of excited for it.

School had been over for about an hour, and Caleb told me that he'd come over to my house to pick me up. He was about five minutes away.

"Are you eating dinner here?" Kayley entered my room and plopped onto my bed.

She did that every so often, usually when she got bored.

"Yeah, I think so," I nodded. "Are you cooking tonight?"

Kayley was the one who got the cooking skills in the family. She was way better than me.

To be honest, that was a low bar. Not burning the food was a success to me, but she was good.

"Yup," she confirmed.

I slipped my feet into a pair of tennis shoes and stared at myself in the mirror. I had a shirt and a pair of distressed jeans on. We weren't doing anything over the top, so I figured something casual would do.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked.

I told her about my date after she asked me to watch Netflix with her as we drove home. Now she's being a little snoop.

"Movie then some other place. I don't know where it is yet," I recalled Caleb's words. "All I know is that Caleb really likes it there."

"I'm happy you two are going on a date," she remarked; although, I already had a feeling that that was the case. She was very vocal about her support for me and Caleb.

My phone buzzed on my bedside table.

"That's probably him," I picked it up, confirming my suspicion. "Make me some good dinner, Kay."

"As always."

~~~

When I first agreed to go on the date with Caleb, I didn't expect how close we'd be. Physically, that is. I always kinda had a feeling the two of us would get comfortable around each other quickly, so that wasn't a big surprise.

His arm was draped over my shoulder, pulling me in so I could lean on his.

The bucket of popcorn he bought for us to share was on his lap as we cozied up and watched the screen in front of us.

"He's trying to suck up to her," I whispered, keeping my eyes directly ahead. "He's just using her again, and she's gonna fall for it."

"No, he's trying to win her back," Caleb whispered back. "You can see he really loves her."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

To me, how the guy was currently seemed like how he was twenty minutes ago, desperately trying to gain her trust again so he could break her heart another time.

"Look at his eyes," he instructed. "There's love in there. He really cares about her."

"Really?" I looked up at him.

The timing was perfect, really, because at that moment, he peered down at me too, smiling softly. "Definitely."

His lips captured mine, moving slowly.