Hailsmith Academy

Chapter 27: Haze

"Jere? How did you get in here?" I laughed. I looked around the room. It was lit up with a mellow glow from a few candles, as well as the string of lights Spencer had put up around the room.

"That's a secret." He said, walking towards me with a huge smile on his face.

"Really? Well, you-"

He cut me off with a kiss, wrapping one of his arms around my waist and the other around my neck, pulling my body closer to him. I kissed him back, taken by surprise.

I pulled away from him, raising my eyebrows. "What got into you all of a sudden?"

Jeremiah continued to smirk at me mischievously. "Why? Are you not enjoying this?" He spoke softly, planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Oh, I definitely am. Just wondering, what's the occasion?"

He took a step back from me, walking over to my desk to take something. "What? You didn't seriously think I'd forget about Valentine's day, did you?"

My jaw dropped, as Jeremiah walked back to stand in front of me with a single red rose in his hand. "Holy shit, I hadn't even realized it was Valentine's day! I didn't get you anything- OH MY GOD, how could I forget? God, I'm so stupid- I mean, we've been hanging out for what- a month now? I should have remembered- shit I-"

In that moment, Jeremiah doubled over in laughter, making me freeze my sentence and stare at him. "Hey! This isn't funny! I'm a horrible- uh, horrible friend and I-"

Jeremiah stopped laughing, pausing to look at me with a weird expression. "I'm sorry- did you just call me your friend?"

I involuntarily blushed. "Well, we never um- you know-"

Jeremiah stepped right up to my face, using his hand to tilt my chin up to look at him. I almost melted right then and there, my heart racing.

"I'm definitely not interested in this friends bullshit. Every single part of me belongs to you, Hawthorne."

He got down on one knee, holding out the rose in front of him. "Luke Hawthorne. Would you do me the honor of being my Valentine, and- allowing me to be your boyfriend?"

"Fuck, yes."

I took the rose from him as he stood up, instantly pulling him into a hug. He laughed, hugging me back with the same level of enthusiasm. I couldn't believe this. How could I have possibly thought that Jeremiah was a bad guy? I was definitely wrong about that.

I pulled away from the hug, not so much that we were fully apart, but with our arms still intertwined and his face directly in front of mine. He was still smiling as he traced down one of my arms with his index finger. "Looks like somebody's building some muscle, huh? Must be the lacrosse training. You look good."

I felt myself blushing again. "Shut up."

He laughed, teasingly. "What? I can't tell you that you look good? Because unlike you, I can actually get the words out of my mouth."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What are you on about?"

Now with a wicked smirk on his face, he leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Don't think I don't notice you checking me out in the locker room."

I gaped at him, and then covered my face with my hands. "I hate you."

"Sure you do." He laughed again, pulling my arms away from my face and looking me in the eye; our smiles faltering. I felt the atmosphere instantly shift, as his eyeline moved to my lips. Mine moved towards his too.