𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 | 𝚓𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚗 𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚎

eighteen: smoke & fire

Jordan Poole

If someone asked me to write a complete list of the top five hardest moments of my life, I'd be able to write them down in 10 seconds flat.

The first being losing Arielle.
The second being losing Arielle again.

All the rest don't matter, but the first two? Those matter the most to me, and that's why I was so determined to get back into Arielle's good graces.

But, good lord, she was making it hard for me. I mean, I was pulling out every single possible trick in the book when it came down to it.

And while most guys would probably figure that doing things like this was a chore and completely unnecessary, I was enjoying myself. It was something...thrilling about doing thoughtful, creative, and romantic things for your person.

Yes, I said my person.

So, at the moment, Kyle, Corey, Deni and I were at a local crafts store called Michael's—I'm just finding out that this place exists, and I have the odd urge to spend my money on everything stocked on the shelves, and I'm not even artistically gifted—because we had this idea to make Arielle a book bouquet made of all of her favorite books that she doesn't have copies of or books that she mentioned that she wanted to read.

"People still read?" Kyle grumbled as he grabbed a roll of baby pink and white paper.

Corey chuckled. "Duh, Kyle."

"Kyle, you were just reading a Suicide Squad comic in the car." I said with a shake of my head.

"Oh-kay! But that's different!" Kyle says. "The books we have to go get are like...long...and, well, they don't have any pictures!"

"Spoken like a true sixth grader." Corey teased.

Kyle rolled his eyes while Corey and I doubled over with laughter at his expression. "All I'm saying is what could you possibly still get out of reading!?"

"An education."

"Knowledge."

"A different outlook on life."

"Common sense."

"Better grammar."

"Alright, alright," Kyle interrupts. "I get it!"

For some reason, Kyle's interruption made me laugh even harder. And that laughter turned into a cough. That cough turned into another cough...

And another cough...
And another cough...

Corey frowned at me. "Do I need to spray you with Lysol or something?"

I grimaced and shook my head, clearing my throat. "Nah," I replied. "I think Kyle's stupidity is making me sick."

Kyle narrowed his eyes at me. "Or it could be the fact that after Arielle shut her window after the first romantic gesture you did outside her house, it started pouring raining."

I coughed again. "Maybe."

We continued walking through the store, and once we had everything that we needed, we began making our way to the register. Surprisingly, there was no line, so we placed our things on the belt and waited as the cashier scanned everything.