I'm at my desk, feet propped up against it as the warm, golden sunlight streams through my window and onto my mom's book.
The book is called, Shadows of Desire, with a woman clutching onto some greek god-bull hybrid. Freaky.
Cadence and I enjoy reading the book not because it's any good, but because of how absurd it is.
"Scotthew, don't leave me!" I sigh dramatically, pretending to nearly faint onto my chair.
"I'm sorry, Clementine, but the king needs me." Candence huffs beside me in a low voice, whipping her hair like a mane.
We both nearly double over in laughter before flipping the page. 'Clementine' is crying on a rock, 'Scotthew's' hooves trotting away to the so-called 'king', when my phone buzzes.
My heart does an awkward jump. I glance at it as I lower my feet from the desk and lean over it to hide the screen from Cadence, who's still laughing.
It's Theo.
Theo: Hi
Me: Hey :)
Theo: Can I ask you a question? If you don't want to answer it, that's totally fine.
I stare at the screen with my head slightly tilted. What question?
Me: Sure, why not?
The screen's blank for a moment as if he's deciding whether or not to ask the question, but just as I'm about to put the phone down, he answers.
Theo: Have you ever been in a relationship?
Woah. That's not the question I was expecting, but it is a fairly good one. I've never really thought about it, either.
I haven't been in a real relationship, like when you go on dates with someone, or get a valentine in your locker with a bouquet of roses. The only relationships I've been in are the ones where in 4th grade, a random boy would ask if you wanted to, quote, 'be my girlfriend' under a slide during recess.
Then, I would say yes, and nothing would happen until two weeks later, one of us would say that it's over, and then that's it. No tears shed, no dramatic shifts into drinking alcohol. It would just go back to normal, no questions asked.
But that's not a real relationship, is it?
Me: No, well, if you count the crappy ones in 4th grade, then yes, but other than that, no.
Theo: Oh, OK. I was just curious.
Well, that's that, I guess. The real relationships are more of something Dahlia would go through before she started dating Aadhi.
I was always a little envious of Dahlia in middle school. She was the first to catch the eye of boys, getting asked to dances while I was... well, still being asked by the ham sandwich kid.
Yikes.
Dahlia's really pretty too; She has light brown skin, big brown eyes, caramel hair, and perfect pink lips. Meanwhile, I was the generic best friend. She's incredible, though. If I ever need a shoulder to cry on or someone to get honest advice from, she's it.
After 7th grade though, I guess I caught up to her in beauty standards. I got compliments left and right and was asked out by the same people that Dahlia was asked by.
I shot them all down, though. Acedemics is more important than romance. At least back then.
I glance down at my phone, Theo's response still on my screen. If he asked if I was in a relationship, does that mean I should ask him?
I mean, it would be nice to have some closure on that, because it would be awkward as hell to tell him that I might like him, only to find he has a super hot girlfriend that is getting investigated by modeling companies.
Me: Have you been in a relationship?
Theo: Nope, never.
I stare at Theo's last message. Never? Really?
My fingers hover over the screen, but before I can type a reply, Cadence nudges me with a mischievous grin. "Who's that?" She leans over dramatically, squinting at my phone like she's an undercover detective.
I quickly pull it out of view. "No one!"
Cadence's grin widens. "No one? That didn't look like 'no one.' You've been smiling at that screen for the past five minutes." She raises her eyebrows in a teasing way. "Wait a minute... is it him?"
I roll my eyes, even though my heart skips a little at the mention of "him." "It's not a big deal, Cadence. Go back to Clementine and Scotthew."
Cadence crosses her arms, clearly not buying it. "Mmhmm. You're acting all weird and secretive. Is it your boyfriend?" She whispers the word "boyfriend" like it's the juiciest gossip of the year.
I scoff, trying to play it cool. "Nope. No boyfriends here." Not yet, at least, I think but don't say aloud.
Cadence's eyes light up, and she starts bouncing on the bed. "Oh my gosh, you totally like him!" Her voice is a little too loud for comfort, and I shoot her a look to keep it down.
"Shush! It's nothing like that. We're just friends."
She puts her hands on her hips and gives me a knowing look. "Sure, just friends. But I bet he's cute, right? You wouldn't be hiding your phone if he wasn't."
I roll my eyes again but can't hide the small smile creeping onto my face. "You're hopeless."
Cadence giggles and flops back onto the bed, flipping through the ridiculous book again. "Whatever you say, just friends."
I shake my head, trying to ignore the fact that she's kind of right.
I glance back at my phone, fingers hesitating before I finally type:
Me: So, you've never been in a relationship?
Theo replies almost instantly.
Theo: Nope, never had the chance.
I smile, my heart doing that weird flutter thing again. Before I can reply, Cadence is at it... again.
"So... what's he saying?" She leans in with an exaggerated wink.
I give her a playful shove. "You are such a brat, you know that?"
"Yeah, yeah," she says, tossing her hair over her shoulder like a diva. "But you love me."
I sigh dramatically. "Unfortunately for me, I do."
I pick up Cadence between my arms and spin around with her, laughing and joking around, my phone and its awkward texts forgotten.
