seasons. : a fireafy fic

chapter nine

The library patio was quiet, as always. Red leaves fluttered to the ground blissfully, but the sound of the leaves hitting the ground was only a quiet interruption. A bike or a student went by occasionally, but the air remained still with silence.

Leafy was typing away on her laptop, determined to turn in her genetics lab report on time. Golf Ball and Tennis Ball had already finished their portion the night before, and she didn't want to drag them down.

Genetics was such a demanding class. She had been working way too much to maintain an A+ in the class, her marine biology grade had dropped to an A-, and her vertebrate biology class had dropped to a B. She felt overwhelmed by her lack of time management. She wondered how TB was able to maintain 100% in all classes.

Maybe the intense sexual tension between him and Golf Ball was a great motivator. 

In comparison, Leafy had intense sexual tension with the "drop class" button on the course website.

"Your pigtails look nice." Firey replied. She looked up and made eye contact with his knees. He was sitting upside down on the armchair across from her, his head hanging over the seat part. His orange eyes were trained on her.

"Thanks," Leafy replied to him. She searched him for a second, trying to return the compliment. "Your hair looks nice."

Firey raised an eyebrow. "It looks the same as always."

"Well, it looks nice upside-down," Leafy responded, defending her compliment.

Firey chuckled. "I'd love to stay in this position then, but the blood is rushing to my head." With that, he tucked his legs inward and rolled off the front of the couch, landing on his feet.

Leafy watched the whole ordeal. This guy was so strange. She shook her head and started working on her assignment again.

"Say, what are you doing tonight?" Firey asked, shoving his hand into the pocket of his jeans and pulling out his lighter.

Leafy didn't exactly comprehend what he was asking. She was too focused on her lab report. She answered automatically. "Probably doing this lab report? Sleeping? Not sure."

"Oh," Firey sounded dejected.

It was only then Leafy realized what he was trying to do. She rushed to correct her mistake. "I mean, did you wanna hang out or something?"

Firey was looking down, scraping the sole of his shoe against the concrete of the patio. "I guess."

Leafy felt bad, but she couldn't exactly backtrack. She looked away from her computer screen and messed with the hem of her black and green striped tank top. She quietly mumbled, "I'm sorry I'm busy."

Firey shrugged and looked at his lighter.

"It's alright," he answered back. "It's not like you can un-busy yourself."

The air went quiet again. But instead of it being peaceful, it was awkward as hell. Leafy struggled to find a way to fill the silence, as she always did. Awkwardness drove her insane.

Firey beat her to it.

"What about tomorrow?" Firey's voice, this time, was tinged with hopefulness.

"I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing tomorrow." Leafy answered again without thinking, and wanted to kick herself.

Despite being a disciplined student, Leafy wasn't exactly one for planning ahead. She never really thought about her plans for the next day.

But, she did want to hang out with Firey.

"You don't know what you're doing?" Firey looked taken aback. "Tomorrow is Saturday. You don't know what you're doing on a Saturday?"

Leafy didn't know if she should be insulted. She looked away and fixed her pigtails, tugging on the hair to tighten them. "No, why?"

Firey rolled his eyes in mock disappointment.

"Okay, how about this," he began. The boy put his lighter back into his pocket. He pulled out his wallet and dug around for a few seconds before pulling out a coin.

Leafy looked at him, and then the coin, her expression quizzical.

"Heads or tails?" he asked her.

"What?" Leafy was confused. What was he planning?

"Heads or tails?" Firey repeated his question, placing the coin on his thumb and index finger.

"Tails," Leafy finally answered. "Why?"

"If it's tails, you win." Firey explained. "But if it's heads, I win. If you win, you can do whatever the fuck you do on Saturdays. If I win, you have to spend your Saturday with me."

Leafy laughed, charmed by his insistence. "Alright, fine by me."

Firey flipped the coin.

Leafy held her breath, watching it fly in the air. Did she want to spend her day with Firey? Or did she want to spend her Saturday alone, curled up in her bed, watching a show. She couldn't decide what she wanted.

The coin hit the ground, clinking and circling before landing on one side.

Leafy and Firey both leaned forward, peering at the result.

Tails.

Leafy felt disappointed. It seems like she knew what she wanted all along.

Firey though, wasn't discouraged. He grabbed the coin and flipped it once more.

"Best of three," he exclaimed, winking at her.

The coin landed again, clinking against the concrete once more, and Leafy wished for heads. Once again, they held their breaths, and peered at the response.

Heads.

A tie. One more flip. Best of three.

Leafy noticed Firey shiver with anticipation as he picked up the coin one more time. She only then realized she was restless herself.

Firey balanced the coin one more time on his index and thumb, and flicked it upwards. The world slowed. The coin danced in the air, catching the sunbeams, the glint of silver taunting them with their hopefulness.

Leafy watched as the coin hit the ground, the sound of it hitting the pavement filling the silence once more.

She moved her laptop off her lap and peered forward one more time. Firey looked down as well.

Tails.

She won.

Silence stretched between them. Leafy couldn't think.

"Looks like I won," she whispered, smiling weakly.

Firey was quiet for a minute before he replied. "Yeah."

Silence, again.

The awkwardness she felt around Firey was telling. This was killing her. Why was he letting a coin decide what they wanted? She knew exactly what she wanted, and now she was mildly irritated that the coin decided WRONG.

The girl reached forward and flipped the coin from the tails side to the heads side.

She heard Firey's breath catch in his throat.

"Let's hang out." Leafy said, looking up at him. She wasn't accepting this fate. She knew he wanted this too.

Firey swallowed, looking back at her. Then, his face lit up with another heartbreakingly beautiful smile.

"I'd love to."