Heartbreaker

E I G H T

The next day Paul didn't show up to school either.

It's almost like he had completely disappeared. And it was weird timing too. Almost like he was giving me space to cool off. Which was much appreciated, but it was weird. He hasn't skipped school since his suspension. Whatever he was doing must be important.

The microwave beeps and it brings me out of my thoughts. I blink a couple of times and pull at the handle. I grab the hot bag of popcorn out of there and pull at the ends to open it. The buttery smell  filling my nostril as the steam lifts from the bag.

I hear a knock at the door and set the open bag down. I wondered how hungry they were. Would I need to put another bag in? I pull on the door handle and open the front door. My eyebrows scrunch together as I see that Jaeda has flowers in her hands.

"Why do you have those?" I ask as I push open the screen door. They were pretty, covered in all sorts of different colors.

"They're for you," She explains. What? "They were resting against the door."

"Or they're for Jake," Eden jokes as we walk back inside.

I roll my eyes and take the flowers from Jaeda. As much as they were pretty, they were probably expensive too. It was a huge bouquet. I find a card that was attached to the top. I pull it out as I set the flowers down on the counter.

i'm sorry.

"Are those from Paul?" Jaeda asks in disbelief. My eyes snap up to her as a gasp leaves her mouth. "These are from off the Res."

It's gotta be from him. No one else would send me something like this.

"Is this his way of apologizing?" Eden asks, "By buying you stuff?"

"I don't know he said he was sorry in person too," I say. "And I told him that he'd have to figure out a way to prove that he was being serious about not wanting to be with Paige. But, I didn't mean this."

Don't get me wrong this is really nice. But I don't want him spending his money on me.

"Yeah, this is... this is something."

"I didn't want him to buy me anything," I make sure they know. I'm not that type of person. I would've settled for an apology and then some time. "I wanted him to stop talking to Paige if he was serious about me."

"Flower girl," Jaeda speaks out loud. We both look at her. "That's the company. My mom gets these from this guy at work, they're like really expensive."

That doesn't help.

I feel bad now, if this is what he thought I meant by apologizing.

"From a guy at work?" Eden repeats.

"Yeah he's like her secret admirer or something," She shrugs. "Or maybe potential stalker. I don't know. But he gets them from this shop in Port Angeles."

"Paul drove all the way to Port Angeles for these?" Eden asks, taking the small white card from my hand. She looks up, her eyes on me. "That's, surprisingly nice of him."

"Really nice."

"It is," I agree with them.

This is the second time he's surprised me in two days. I don't get it.

Maybe, I misjudged him. Maybe I'm wrong.

"But I can't just give in because he gave me expensive flowers," I say. "Right?"

"Right but, the gesture is there," Eden says, to my surprise. I thought she didn't like him.

"He seems to really like you," Jaeda adds. "But I think he did before too, and then the thing with Paige happened. And she blew everything up like she normally does when she gets her hands on things."