Downhill From Here

25. Discomfort

Bowie's POV

8:30 pm

I covered my mouth with a hand, laughing with my whole body.

"I'm pretty sure Mr.Roseheun wanted to quit her job that day," Jonah laughed, his whole face turning red. "All I can remember is the look on her face when she came into the classroom. I mean, there was so much red paint."

I shook my head. "I had to wash my hair 4 times to get the paint out but the smell wouldn't leave me."

"I remember you crying because we got detention and you were worried that it would go on your record and you wouldn't be valedictorian."

I fanned my face, feeling my whole body heat up as another laugh escaped me.

People at nearby tables looked over at us, their faces confused and slightly irritated. We were always way too loud in public.

"I was so serious about being valedictorian. I was so intense too," I whispered.

"It was her fault really," He countered, clearing his throat. "She knew better than to let us work together on that midterm project. We spent more time talking than doing work."

I leaned my elbows on the table and leaned forward, my eyebrow lifting, a grin on my face. "You mean I did everything and you only presented it."

His grin was immediate and his brown eyes widened. "Hey, I tried to help. But little miss "everything must be perfect" would not let me touch anything."

Our senior art project took a crazy turn when Jonah and I accidentally dropped a shelf full of buckets of paint. It was one of my favorite memories from high school despite the chaos.

We spent almost every afternoon together for a month after school, trying to finish it.

We both started at each other, a comfortable silence passing between us.

"It's crazy how fast time flies," He said softly, a nostalgic look on his face.

I went straight to college after high school while Jonah went on to start his snowboarding career. We went from seeing each other nearly every day, driving to school together with Stevie in the back to a few facetime calls a week. I would see him on random weekends when I worked at the resort and he was there to train. But it was never the same.

Then when I got diagnosed, he was at my house once a week, snuggling with me on the couch, watching anything on tv to distract me.

It was weird that our school's most popular kid (after Nathan had left the school) was best friends with the random smart black girl who was president of almost every club.

Not that my accomplishments even mattered now. I still worked as a sales consultant so...

Jonah's boyish face from his teens had morphed into a more mature handsome figure. And the ladies threw themselves at him when he started getting more press in competitions.

Mia had barely given him the time of day back then.

Back then it was just me and him meeting up at our lockers before the first period to talk, and spending Sundays at the movies talking so loudly that we got kicked out.

"And to think it all of this started because you needed a math tutor," I mused.

"Such a cliché," He clucked his tongue with a shake of his head.

I didn't know why I was so nervous about meeting up earlier. Everything was the way it always has been between us.

This was our first date. Something I had been waiting for since I was 16 years old.