Blame Gravity

Chapter 7

Monday again. Ugh. 

Art is boring as always, just like Maths. In French, Ms. Arquette yells at me again, and I'm trying my best not to murder her with my freshly sharpened pencil when the bell rings and I storm out of the classroom.

English is dull until Ms. Rodriguez announces we'll have a project. My head pops up.

"Over the next few weeks, you'll write a pitch for a company you establish. You'll have to work in pairs," At this, Layla and I shoot hopeful glances at each other, "but I'll choose the pairs."

Fuck no! Ms. R., I really liked you! What did you have to do this for?! Pretentious bitch.

Ms. Rodriguez takes us into the details a bit more, and then claps her hands and chooses the pairs.

"So, let's start. Uh, Layla and Ace. Brandon and Ben. Mike and Polly. Nina and Maria. Diana and Oliver. Jason and Connie. Rue and Wanda. Gilbert and Norman. Jane and Evan."

I count in my head. Who's left? 

Oh, no...

"Lucy and James."

I freeze in terror. It stays silent for a few moments. 

"Ms. Rodriguez, please," I beg.

"Something wrong, Lucy?" she asks, but she seems so excited that it's impossible to say something mean. 

I just shake my head. I study James. He seems just as terrified as I. We lock eyes for a moment, and I see him swallow. Then, we quickly avert our gazes. 

No!!! How could this happen? Fucking Ms. Rodriguez. I didn't want this! Nobody wanted this! Now I have to work together with fucking James.

I tilt my head back and groan in agony. 

The rest of the day, all I can think about is this fucking project. I don't even pay attention in Maths. 

After class finishes, James walks up to me.

"Miller," I address him, picking up my books.

"Canmore," he nods. "Uh, so... about this project."

"I am so fucking angry at Ms. Rodriguez. Now I have to work with you." 

"Well, at least it won't be as much a challenge for you as it would be without me," he winks, and I'm trying my best not to rip his face off. I decide to ignore his comment and I swallow.

"When do you have time  to work on it?" I ask.

"Today should be fine. You?" 

"Yeah, that's okay." Wait, are we having a decent conversation?

He nods and looks away. Then he smiles and looks at me. "Your place or mine?"

I sigh. "Yours. My little sister will just interrupt us."

He nods and then just... stands there. Finally, he says "You coming?"

"Oh, right, yeah. Sure." He walks in front of me and I follow him. We walk out of school and go to the parking lot. He stops next to a car and opens the door. Damn, that's a Porsche.

Also, he has a car?!

"Take a seat, Canmore."

I smile at him spitefully and sit down. We drive to his house in silence. Oh, no, I really don't want this. I am so uncomfortable right now, I hate this.

When we finally arrive, we quickly go inside. He gestures me to go to his room, which is the one on the left upstairs. I nod and run upstairs. I open the door to his room.  My breath hitches. It has all sorts of books stacked on top of each other, messily arranged on shelves. His ceiling is painted blue like the night sky and it has stars painted on it. I notice the Sagittarius sign. Is he one? There are photos of all kinds of cities on the wall. He has an entire collage, damn it. I walk up to them. Rome, Paris, Budapest, New York, and dozen more. Plants hang from the ceiling. His room looks like a Pinterest picture. It's... beautiful. 

"Checking out my room, Canmore?" I hear his voice behind me. I jump at the sound and turn around. He's standing in the doorframe, hands in his pockets, smiling like an idiot.

"It's, uh..." I look around. Should I give him a compliment? Ah, well, we only live once. "It's actually really nice."

He raises his eyebrows. He looks shocked.

"What's wrong?" I ask, smiling genuinely. 

"It's just... you said something nice."

"Yes, well, I'm an incredibly nice person, Miller. Haven't noticed?" I walk around his room and look at all of his stuff. Polaroids of his friends, started paintings, scrapped drawings. I didn't know he drew in his free time. I pick up a pile of drawings. I notice a recurring theme. Almost all of them have either an architectural building on it or a girl on it, smiling prettily. It kind of looks like-

"That's enough for now," he says, taking the drawings out of my hand. "My room isn't a museum. Besides, we should get down to business."

"Right, yeah. We should." He's awfully close to me, and I hate that I feel my cheeks heat at the thought. 

We sit down on two orange poufs in the corner of his room and we brainstorm while writing our ideas down in a notebook.

"How about an environmental organization?" he suggests and writes it down, so sure of his stupid opinion nobody cares about.

"I was thinking about a law firm, actually." I take the pen out of his hand, scrap the organization idea, and write mine down instead.

"Can you be any more annoying?" he asks, sighing frustratedly. 

"Wanna try?" I tease. He suddenly takes the pen out of my hand. "Hey!" I yell. 

He stands up and holds it high, smiling playfully. I try to grab it, but it's too high for me. 

"Why  do you have to be so tall?!" I ask, jumping, trying to get the pen.

"So I can ridicule you," he smiles. I suddenly trip and fall into his arms.

"Ho there, Canmore!" He catches me. I look up at him. God, he's such an idiot when he's smiling like that. 

"Sorry," I mumble. 

"No problem," he whispers, and then we stop talking. The world seems to slow. What's happening? Oh, no, this is gonna be one of those things, isn't it?

He looks into my eyes and all I want to feel is his lips on mine. 

My heart starts beating like crazy, and finally, I kiss him.