Of Hotshots and High School

Chapter 9

Chase's POV 

So typically when people go to the movie theatre they go to see a movie, right? I, however, was sitting in the theatre paying absolutely no attention to the screen in front of me. Adelaide's head was on my shoulder and her hand was gripping mine, but I hardly felt it. Rory and Lena were 3 rows in front Adelaide and me, and although I'd promised to throw popcorn at Rory during the mushy parts, there wasn't any way I could really do that now with Adelaide holding on to me. She'd definitely notice, and then I'd face a whole slew of questions that I wasn't sure what the answers to were any more.

Currently the back of Rory's head had all of my attention. Rory. She was a puzzle. She had a lot of sass and backbone; I could still remember the way she'd marched up to her desk the first day I'd met her. She was fun to tease and could dish out her fair share of teasing herself, but she was incredibly kind as well. I couldn't wait to get to know her more and continue to unravel her mysteries. She was fascinating: Funny, supportive, and I'd have to be blind not to notice how beautiful she was. Her sun-lightened brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and she was wearing jeans and a black t shirt. Nothing fancy, but she looked so good. She had a healthy glow and her eyes... Wow. They shined with a light I didn't know was possible. It made me think about how Adelaide's eyes had been before we started dating, but somehow Rory's were even brighter. 

She liked pizza and popcorn and wore t shirts and tennis shoes... Rory was so incredibly different from Adelaide. Maybe that's what compelled me to spill my guts to her. I'd never told anyone, not even my best friend Kyle, about my worries with Adelaide. Rory was smart, but sympathetic as well. Modest, but vulnerable too. She had known just what I needed to hear. She hadn't brushed aside my concerns about my relationship with Adelaide, and she'd been able to handle my rantings and de-junking of my feelings onto her. She'd told me I was a great boyfriend. The relief I'd felt at that was so tangible I'd actually felt as if a literal weight was being lifted off my shoulders. And so I'd hugged her. Was it bad to hug a girl who wasn't your girlfriend? I didn't know. Honestly though, I didn't care.

Typically though, I did not hug girls. Ever. The last time I'd hugged a girl other than Adelaide was my mom before she'd left. That had been over a year ago. Seriously, it had taken me an insane amount of time to hug Adelaide or be physically affectionate at all. It was one of Adelaide's sore spots in our relationship, actually. To be perfectly honest, we'd been together for four months now and in that time I'd only kissed her twice. And Adelaide had done more of the initiating on those two kisses than I had, and  they'd both been in the first two months that we started dating. So basically, when it came to showing affection for people, I was a train wreck. Why then, had it come so naturally with Rory?

When I'd pulled her in for a hug I was just as surprised as I could tell she was. My body was acting completely without any sort of signal from my brain. When I'd realized what I was doing I had started to pull away, but Rory pulled me back and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was at least a tiny bit happy about it. I liked having Rory in my arms. She felt so small next to me and she smelled like vanilla and water. She felt like she fit, like my arms and chest had been made to hold her. She made me forget about all my worries - Adelaide, school, my brother and my parents - and let me just be happy for a minute. I wanted to keep her with me as long as I could.

When the cashier at concessions broke us apart I kept my arm around Rory's shoulders. She made me feel good, and she'd done something so nice for me that she couldn't have possibly understood. I couldn't help but feel at least a little possessive, right? When the cashier had called us lovebirds Rory had looked so flustered. The way she'd jumped in to correct him has been so cute, but honestly it wasn't his business and it wasn't worth the man's time to try to explain anything to him. We both knew we weren't "lovebirds," and that was all that mattered. And she'd started to protest when I was going to pay for her stuff, but she'd done something that meant so much more to me than she'd ever know. I had to try to at least start repaying the favor. 

When she'd turned to protest it had put our faces so close that I'd had a chance to see her better and closer than ever before, and I'd taken the time to study her. She had dark, arching eyebrows and dark lashes. She had a light smattering of freckles across her nose that was the only thing that hinted that her skin wasn't a completely natural tan but more of a tan that's acquired after spending a fair amount of time out in the sun. Her eyes weren't completely green like I'd once thought. They were green with flecks of brown running through them, reminding me of a forest. 

When she smiled and thanked me she looked so sweet that something inside me softened a bit, and before I knew what I was doing I'd kissed her. I was immensely grateful that I was as tall as I was or I might have ended up kissing her on the lips which would have been all kinds of awkward to deal with. As it was, her forehead was at the right level and I could pass the kiss off as if I'd just kissed my sister. Even though I didn't have a sister. And Rory happened to be the same age as me and be incredibly funny and beautiful. So I guess I could just pretend she was my twin sister? Now I was just confusing myself.

The sound of clapping shook me out of my puzzling thoughts and I realized that the credits were rolling. The lights came on as Adelaide and I stood up and I discovered that I hadn't registered even five minutes of the movie, my mind had been so occupied with recalling my time with Rory. I walked out of the theatre, Adelaide on my arm, happy and smiling. It had been my favorite Nicholas Sparks film yet.