I'm A Mess || l.c

14- You're In That Brown Tee and Those Jeans

It was already a month after the cooking competition had taken place. James and I didn't win but we were completely fine with that. After all, it wasn't winning that mattered, it was the good times we had during the competition. Although James had thrown the cupcake tray at me which left a bruise on my chin, it wasn't exactly a bad day, just bad luck.

During the last month, James and I continued going out with each other. We went on beautiful sunset walks, enjoyed frozen yoghurt and even had deep, meaningful conversations about life in general. He was such a wonderful person; I couldn't find any flaw in him (not that I was looking for one anyway).

Every day when I was not with him, my mind was filled with the thought of seeing him again. If I told my sisters about this, they would immediately jump to the conclusion that I was obsessed with him. But I wasn't. Maybe I was... just madly, deeply in love with him. And that was completely okay since I'm sure he felt the same.

I was currently on my way to his house, holding a box of his favourite chocolates. Of course it was stereotypical of the boyfriend to give chocolates to his girlfriend, but I was defying the rules of society this time. A sigh escaped my mouth as I imagined him opening his front door wearing that brown tee with those jeans (A.N- See what I did there ;)?)

I had finally reached the front porch and before I got a chance to ring the doorbell, the door opened, making me jump a little, and standing right there in front of me was the one and only James O'Neill.

"Hey gorgeous!" he smiled with that perfect smile of his.

"Oh uh, hey, you surprised me! Um, since it's your birthday tomorrow, I got you a little early birthday gift," I said as I handed him his favourite chocolates.

"Babe, you didn't have to do all this for me. That's so sweet of you, though, thanks. Come in," he replied. I internally screamed when he called me "babe" and tried hard to mask away the redness on my face.

"It's not a lot; it's literally just a box of chocolates," I laughed as I entered his mansion-like house.

"Not just a box of chocolates, but my favourite box of chocolates which you can only get at one store here. You're the cutest and most generous person I know. I don't deserve you" he randomly blurted.

"Aw, what do you mean?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Hey, wanna 'Netflix and chill'?" he asked with a wink.

I laughed and said 'yes' as he grabbed my hand and took me to his room.

*

By 'Netflix and chill', we literally meant watching Netflix and just chilling; nothing more than that. After finishing the 4th season of Orange Is The New Black, we stopped Netflix and decided what else we could do.

"Hey, Lauren, I actually have a surprise for you," James said quietly as he went to grab something from underneath his bed.

"What kind of surprise?" I asked nervously.

"What do you think about going to Florida for three nights, just you and me?" he asked as he held up two plane tickets to Orlando, Florida. My mouth fell open in shock as if I'd just been proposed to.

"Oh my gosh, no way! When?" I asked as I grabbed the tickets and searched for the date and time the flight would depart.

"Tomorrow at 3pm. There's plenty of time to pack. You in?" 

I suddenly realised that in order to go to Florida with James, I had to get my parents' permission first. My heart sank as the realisation of not being able to go due to my parents' overprotectiveness washed over me.

"I-I can't go. My parents won't let me," I said in a disheartened manner. 

"Give me your phone, I'll call them and talk to them," he demanded as he held out his hand for me to put my phone in. I reluctantly handed over the phone, already knowing that even James couldn't change my parents' minds.

*

I was once again in complete shock. How. How did James freaking O'Neill just do the unthinkable?

I was given the permission to go to Orlando, Florida! However, there were a few conditions such as always having my phone with me, always staying with James and for always calling back home every few hours; I was okay with that since I still got to go to Florida with James.

"You're a genius," I blurted out.

"They fell for my charm. I mean, who doesn't? Even you do," he laughed. I laughed back, still excited over the fact that I was actually going somewhere far away without my parents, but with the person I love.

"I have to tell you something really important before we go, though," James suddenly said.

"Oh, what is it?" I asked worriedly, hoping all of this wasn't some kind of stupid prank or anything.

"I love you."

He said it. The deeply meaningful three-word statement that I've been dying to hear from the cutest guy ever since I left my mother's womb.

"Y-You do?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Yeah," he confirmed as he looked straight into my eyes. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be taking you all the way to Florida."

"Well," I laughed nervously, "I love you too. And thank you so much for doing all of this. I'll pay you back tomorrow for the ticket."

"Don't. It's my treat to someone very special in my life," he said as he leaned over to give me a kiss. 

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A.N- HEY EVERYONE!! I literally just wrote this chapter today as quickly as I could because I didn't want to let you guys down. I know a lot of you really wanted me to continue this fanfic and I took some time to actually sit down and write this chapter. Keep in mind that more chapters won't be regularly uploaded since I'm still really busy, but I'll try my best!! Thank you so much for reading. Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this chapter, or if you hated it haha. It's not one of my best chapters and it's pretty short but again, I just wrote all of this today and it usually takes me longer than a day to get one whole chapter just the way I want it.