"You excited for the carnival?" I asked Xavier as we walked to the 6th period together. "Yeah! I really want to win something but I suck at those games." He replied. "Lucky for you, I'm a pro!" I boasted. "Yeah totally!" He joked. We got into class and I sat next to one of my friends because Wednesday sat next to Xavier. The class started and Miss Thornhill already started asking questions about a certain flower. Wednesday and Bianca usually answered and always got it right. It was pretty much a fight between them. "Where does the orchard originate from?" She asked. I knew it but didn't really care to answer. She wasn't gonna pick me anyways. I looked to see neither Bianca nor Wednesday raising their hands. They had confusion on their faces. I raised my hand, "Yes, Audrey?" "Well, uhm, Asia and Australia. Mainly in the Himalayas and Philippines." I answered. She looked surprised, "Yes! That's correct. Good job Miss Kaylan!" She exclaimed. I was surprised I was right. I looked up and saw Rowan. Was he standing there the entire time? "Uh," he pushed his glasses up(I love nerdy boys😻) "I have some papers Principle Weems wanted me to give to you..." he said to her quietly. She thanked him and he started to leave. He looked behind himself and locked eye contact with me. He winked and then shut the door behind him. I could feel my face flush and turn bright red. I looked back down and hid myself.
I threw on one of my pretty sweaters and some jeans. I put on my converse and left my hair down. Added a little mascara and lipgloss then I was ready. I got a text from Xavier, "Meet you at the gates to catch the shuttle?" "👍" I bounded out of my room and outside. I saw tons of other people coming too. Some were going on the school bus but Xavier and I preferred the shuttle. "Audrey! Over here!" He called to me. I ran to him and hugged him. "Well, you're in a cheery mood." He laughed. "I'm excited to have fun!" I exclaimed to him. "You look good."He said and grinned. then the shuttle pulled up. We got in and sat down. It was about a 20-minute drive till we would get there. When we did, we ran off the shuttle and looked around. It was a little dark so all the flashing lights of the games shown. "Let's go over here and do cup pong! I'm great at it." Xavier said. We ran over to it, hand in hand, and the worker gave him the ping pong balls. He threw about three and missed them all, "You really suck" I joked. He rolled his eyes and kept trying but he missed them all. I laughed, "Okay, I'm usually not this bad!" He insisted. "Oh! I see Ajax, I'm gonna go say hi, you cool with that?" He asked. "Yeah, that's fine!" "You can go play another game or two if you want, I'll text you when I'm done talking with him and we'll meet at this table." He explained. I nodded my head as he walked away. I went to a dart game and got all of them. I got to pick between a huge panda or a bear so I chose the bear. It reminded me of Xavier's hair color. I went back to the cup pong and got them all in so I chose a little cute monkey. It had taken me a while to get around so I thought that I should wait at the table for Xavier now and just be there a little early. He couldn't possibly take longer than an hour and 30 minutes. It had already been 10. So I sat down and waited for his text. Minutes to hours passed. I grabbed some food and looked around me for Xavier but didn't see him anywhere. I hugged my bear tight and kept looking at my phone. "Hey! You waiting on someone? I've seen you just sitting here all along for like an hour" I heard someone say. I looked to my side and it was Rowan. "Oh hey, Rowan! I'm waiting for Xavier," I sighed, "but I've been waiting here for almost two hours and like 15 minutes and he still hasn't texted me back..." I heard Rowan breathe in and sit next to me. "What...?" I said shakily. "Uhm, do you wanna go back to my dorm? We can watch a movie or play a game if you want." "Sure...!" I replied, walking with him out the gates. Then someone caught my eye and Rowan was trying to steer me out of his and HER way. It was Xavier and Wednesday. They were talking and walking together. I started to feel a lump in my throat and my eyes watering. I walked up to them and shoved my bear into Xavier's arm, "This reminded me of you so I won it for you." I paused, "and here's my monkey for your little fucking girlfriend." I spat at him. I walked away towards Rowan, "Let's go." I said quietly. "Audrey-!" He said as I started running. "Audrey wait, please! I didn't mean to leave you alone for so long!" He shouted to me. "Well, you fucked up." I heard Rowan say. He ran after me as tears slipped down my face. I felt my hair tie fall off as I ran but I didn't care. I didn't care about anyone anymore. I stopped halfway and placed my hands on my knees. My vision was getting blurry. "Audrey!" Rowan called to me as he ran up to me. "Go away, Rowan. You don't want to see me like this..." I said to him. "Cmon. Let's just forget about him right now." He told me, helping me up. We moved to the side of the road and I wiped my eyes. A car came and stopped next to us, "Uh, do you guys need a ride? I'm suspecting you're going to Nevermore?" A teenage boy asked us. "Uh, sure. Thanks, man." Rowan thanked him as he got me in the car. He got in next to me and I covered my face. "Are you going to see someone?" Rowan asked the boy. "Oh, just a girl." "Who? We might know her." "She'd be pretty hard to miss. She always dresses in black, she's mellow and kinda scary?" "Wednesday fucking Addams." I growled. "What's wrong, you seem angry with her?" "She's not there. She's with my best friend who was supposed to be with me and stood me up for two hours. She's probably gonna go to his dorm so I wouldn't go looking for her when they come back from the carnival." I spat. "Oh." The boy said quietly. We were soon at Nevermore and we thanked him for the ride. Rowan put his arm around me and brought me back to my dorm. I opened the door and we sat on my bed. I was still crying a little so we sat in silence. "What even happened?" He asked quietly. "Well, Xavier was hanging out with me then said he wanted to go talk to Ajax so I let him and waited. For a while. I won those things for him and me, too. I didn't go away from that table we were supposed to meet at till you came. I feel so stupid, of course, he's gonna go to his little girlfriend. I'm not mad that they could be dating, I'm just mad that he doesn't even give any time to me. It's like I'm invisible when she's around." I explained. Rowan nodded his head, "I'm sorry he stood you up. He's just been such an asshole since Wednesday arrived. Anyways, I picked this up while we were running, isn't it yours? I saw it on your wrist before." He held up my hair tie. "Oh, yeah. Thanks..." I said quietly as I held up my hand and put it on my wrist. He looked so sincere when he did it. He was careful too, calm. He slid it on then looked up at me. His eyes were beautiful. I didn't bring my hand down. I put it on the side of his face and kissed him. It felt like the moment to. He didn't pull away. He placed his hands on my waist and pulled me closer. We took small breaths between each kiss. We both finally stopped at the same time. "I love you" he blurted out, breathlessly. "I love you too" I replied, smiling. We sat there for a little, blushing over what had just happened. I didn't expect to kiss him tonight but I did and I didn't regret it. "You can stay the night here if you want, it doesn't matter to me." I said quietly. "If you want to take a shower I have clothes that might be your size since they were my brother's" "ok I will, thanks." He replied, smiling at me.
As Rowan took a shower, I changed into pajamas and took my mascara off. I got in bed and looked at my phone. "11 missed calls from 'Picasso'" "24 texts from 'Picasso'" yeah whatever. I'll answer him tomorrow. He doesn't deserve my time right now. I laid my head down and then heard my bathroom door open, "You can take that bag on my desk to put your clothes in. I don't really use it anymore." I suggested to him as I sat up in my bed. "Oh thanks," he said. I moved over in my bed so he could get in and lay back down. He wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. "Good night, I love you." He said. "Good night, I love you too."
