Make My Way

Chapter Four

Stella's POV

I took a deep breath in and tried to calm my shaking hands. My laptop bag sat at my feet and my phone in my lap. My mom glanced from the road to me and said, "You'll be fine. It's just a date! It'll be fun!"

"Mom! I told you, it's not a date. We're just working on schoolwork."

"Yes, yes. 'Schoolwork.' Mmhhmm. I'm sure."

"Really Mom!" My mom was all for me having a boyfriend and spending time with him. It had been a while since I broke up with my last boyfriend, Julian, and my mom had been nagging in me to get another one. Personally, I think she just wants me out of the house more. She doesn't seem to care if that means I'm in bed at someone else's house. I looked up and saw we were almost there. My mom pulled up to his house and we sat in the driveway.

"It's supposed to thunderstorm tonight and I don't want you driving home if the visibility and roads are bad. I won't be home until around two tomorrow, so if you can't drive all the way home, figure something out. Okay, have fun!" She ushered me out.

I shuffled my feet up to the door and reached up to knock. I hesitated and thought for a moment about everything that could happen past that door. After a minute, I finally found the courage to knock and, after a few seconds and some loud stumbling from inside, the door swung open. Before me, was a slightly ragged Neil, dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt with his hair tousled like it hadn't been touched since he showered. "Hey," he said softly, "Come on in." I followed him into his living room and took a seat on the couch. I unpacked my laptop and placed it on my lap, tucking my feet under me.

I logged in and he sat down next to me, leaving plenty of space between us so that it wasn't extremely awkward. To break I silence he said a quiet, "So how should we start?"

"Well I don't really know Nora kinda had all the ideas." I pulled my golden blonde hair into a low ponytail.

"Well she did say she'd write the parents' points of view. Like of the boy and girl who fall in love. I think. That leaves me to write the boy and you the girl. I say we just start and wing it." I think that was the longest phrase I've ever heard him say.

"Sounds good to me," I try to say casually, hands still shaking nervously.

We both start typing and after about twenty minutes of simply clicking away on our keyboards, he stands up and stretches. "I'm thirsty. I'm going to go grab a Coke. Do you want something? We have Coke, Sprite, tea or milk."

"Just some water would be great," I respond, not wanting to be an inconvenience.

"Okay. Ice?"

Crap. I wasn't expecting that. "Uh... No thanks."

He disappeared into the kitchen. I sighed and opened up Google Chrome. I brought up Pintrest and scrolled through my suggested pins until something caught my eye. Him. It read in big, bold letters. Immediately, I thought, Neil. I clicked on the pin to enlarge the image. Underneath, in smaller print it read, 'the one person that came to mind right away.' I almost laughed out loud when I heard a voice behind me. "Whatcha looking at?" Neil asked from the other side of the couch, making me jump in surprise.

"Nothing," I responded a little too sharply and shut my computer hard. He walked around the couch and handed my a glass of water before taking his spot again.

"What've you got so far?" he asked.

"Not much. I got the first page done but I still have a ways to go to meet the three page point of view requirement. I do have an idea for the end though. I think Mrs. Green would love it if we left it open ended. Might give a few people paranoia but eh." I giggled slightly and Neil smiled.

"Sure. I like that. My point of view was going to be first, right? Then Nora's and yours last?"

"I think so," I replied. Talking to him was actually getting easier! We both opened our laptops again and tried to write. I wracked my brain but after another twenty or so minutes, I found myself with another half a page done and back on the internet.

Neil groaned in frustration and bounced back onto the couch, slouching down. "I got nothing. You?"

"I gave up ten minutes ago," I said, laughing. He joined me and sighed.

"You know what we need?" He sat up straighter. "We need some inspiration. I suggest a sci-fi movie. What do you say?"

I practically exploded with excitement, but I managed to keep it contained inside of me. "That sounds great!" I said instead.

"Come here," he said, as he stood up and walked over to his TV. He showed me all of his movies and just told me to pick a sci-fi one. When he left to make popcorn I grabbed Star Wars: Episode III because I figured it was the most like our story, right? You know, forbidden love, space, war. I mean, our male main character wasn't going to turn evil or anything, but still. I turned the DVD player and TV on and popped in the disc before settling back down on the couch.

I pulled out my phone and saw I had missed several snapchats from different people. I also saw my battery was at 8% and I forgot to bring a charger. Trying to preserve my battery, I replied to the people I cared about and left the rest unopened.

The scent of buttery popcorn wafted into the room. I sighed in delight. The FBI warnings and copyright things started playing on the screen as Neil walked back in. He was carrying two bags of microwave popcorn and handed one to me before dimming the lights and returning to the couch. He pushed the laptops over to where he was sitting before and sat closer to me. My heartbeat quickened.

When the opening prologue words began scrolling across the screen he started to read them to me in a deep, dramatic, announcer-like voice. I swear, that was probably the sexiest thing I've ever experienced.

When the words faded, he got quiet and sunk back into his chair. Then, I realized he hadn't seen the huge grin that had spread across my face. I shook my head and we sat in silence for the rest of the movie.