Of Hotshots and High School

Chapter 10

Rory's POV

So the movie was alright. It was cute, but not my favorite. Lena liked it a lot though, and after we were done we went back to Lena's house. The second I walked into Lena's house I was assaulted by the smell of pumpkin bread and spices. It was awesome. Lena and I went up to her room, passing her "Gran" on the way up the stairs who promptly returned with a plate of fresh pumpkin bread. I knew I'd like her. Lena's house was cozy. It felt like a home, and though it was small, it was clean. Lena's room wasn't at all what if expected. I'd kind of pictured her to be super organized and tidy, but there were papers and books and trinkets strewn across a gigantic worktable that took up an entire wall of her room. Her bed was shoved into a corner almost as an afterthought. Obviously, her room wasn't used only for sleeping. 

"Wow," I breathed, taking it all in. There were drawings strewn all over her walls, with awards and posters for inventing fairs in between. Lena blushed and started hurriedly straightening a stack of papers, ducking her head.

"I'm sorry. These are just some things I've been-" I cut Lena off before she could get any more uncomfortable.

"These are incredible!" I told Lena, gesturing to the to the drawings in front of me. Her face blossomed into a smile that lit up her whole face.

"Really?" She asked, unsure of whether or not to believe me, but obviously hopeful. I nodded vigorously at her, eyebrows raised in earnest.

"I never could've thought of any of this stuff!" Lena was obviously a genius. I'd had no idea she was into inventing. She'd make a great engineer if she wanted to be. She had tons of drafting paper with different drawings on them of things that I couldn't even tell what they were, but they were obviously intense. "Seriously, Lena. This is awesome!"

"You're the only one at Jefferson who has seen them," Lena said bashfully, staring at her toes.

"Why?" I was shocked. These were way too good for Lena to keep them to herself.

"I guess... I don't know." She shrugged. "I guess I was just worried that someone wouldn't like them, or they'd think I was too much of a nerd and not want to be my friend after all." She was staring down at her toes again. She was so serious all the time. I chose to lighten up the mood.

"Well," I said, with an overly dramatic sigh, "since I am such a kind and generous and humble person, I guess I'll decide that it's okay to be friends with a nerd." I smiled as Lena looked up and her face brightened. "But just this once," I warned, eyebrows raised in mock-earnest. Lena laughed. It was a warm, jingling sound, and I decided that it would be my goal to draw that sound out of her as often as I could.

"You take after your mother, don't you?" She quizzed with a twinkle in her brown eyes that make them positively shine through her glasses. I'm sure I looked confused. "You're both such drama queens!" Lena gave me a light push onto her bed and I laughed. I liked this side of Lena. It was a fun and carefree one, rather than the quiet, studious one she was much of the time at school.

"It's true," I said, my grin taking up much of my face.

"Well now that you know one of my biggest secrets, let's hear one of yours," I was about to protest but Lena cut me off. "I can't be the only one sharing! If we do that then this friendship will very much be a one-way-street, and everybody knows how awkward and annoying those streets are." Lena waggled her eyebrows at me, challenging me to disagree. I just sighed. I wasn't an open person. I didn't share thoughts or feelings with others. Heck, most of the time I didn't even have a clue what my feelings were. But what Lena said was true. She'd put herself at risk by letting me see her inventions. I could return the favor at least a little bit. I took a deep breath.