It's Not You, It's Me (Book Two) #Wattys2018

Toby M. and The Consequences of Liking

I laugh so hard the soda I was drinking comes down through my nose, which only makes Ziggy and Theo laugh even harder.
"Theo, I swear, you're the dorkest!" Ziggy exclaims.
"Well, that's not what the girls who were there thought! They were taking pictures of him, thinking we couldn't see them with their phones the size of their faces." I say, and Theo chuckles. I caress the back of his neck; I'm sitting on his lap. He has one hand around my waste and the other on his lap, casually. His legs are very apart, I sit on only one of them.
We're telling Ziggy about what happened last week, at the amusement park. Some girls asked to take a picture with him, and he said yes, I was just laughing— taking the picture on the girls phone for her. They told us it was a bet, but even after they took the picture they kept recording us from afar. He was blushing, trying to distract me from them, but I just thought it was cute; also, there's something about other people thinking your boyfriend is attractive, it makes it a fact that they are good looking— it proves that it's not just your love goggles. The world sees it too.

Theo looks down at his watch. "We should head home." He says. I stand up and he stands up right after.
"It bothers me how much you follow my fathers rules." I tell him.
"I break all the other ones, but your dad's are unnegotiable." He says. "Is he gonna spend the night at the hospital tonight?"
"Yeah. And I've got plans for tomorrow— early in the morning, so I'm gonna get home and go straight to bed."
"Alright. Ziggs, I'll be home in twenty, yeah?"
"Kay, I'll head home too." She says.

~

In the car

"So, what are your plans for tomorrow, anyway?" He asks.
I hesitate to answer. "Oh, well, Avi asked me for help to pick out a birthday gift for his sister, so we're going to the mall."
His jaw locks, and then unlocks. He tries to be okay with that. "Oh. Why does it have to be so early?"
"He's gonna have lunch with his mom tomorrow, and he wants to already have chosen the present by then, to show his mom and stuff. See if she likes it."
"How's his mom doing?" He asks, and takes his eyes off the rode for a second, worrying and caring about the answer. I love him for that.
"She's okay. She's doing better, actually."
"I'm glad." He says. "Would you fancy having lunch tomorrow, then? After your shopping."
"I'm sorry, T. I'm gonna have lunch with Gus and Ace tomorrow..."
He sighs. "Okay." What does that mean?
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright."
He stops the car. We've arrived at my house. I put my hand on top of his, and hold it.
"We still have a couple of months before the end of our gap semester. I promise you, the day after tomorrow we'll spend the whole day together. Pinky promise." I hold out my pinky finger. He smirks, a small, almost inexistent smirk, and comes very close to my face, and kisses my pinky, slowly, looking up at me.
With one of his hands, he holds my hand that holds up the pinky in the air, and lowers it, then with the same hand he takes off my hair from my shoulders, takes off his seatbelt smoothly, quietly, and kisses my collarbone, goes up to my neck, and higher until he reached behind my ear. Then he comes back down, his lips leaving a trail of emotion, down to my collarbone, and then unbuttons one of my buttons, and kisses that place. I hold his head with both of my hands and look up. He stops.
"Goodnight. Have fun with Avi tomorrow morning." He says, smirking confidently this time, and sits properly on his seat this time.
I laugh and get on top of him, holding his head and moving my upper body up and down as I kiss him. He kisses me smiling. "You're gonna wake up early tomorrow." He says making fun of me.
"Not if I never go to bed." I reply, and he smiles and presses the button to make his chair lay. He gets on top of me. He opens the rest of my shirts buttons and tickles my stomach by kissing it, I laugh. We have fun.

Suddenly, my phone starts ringing. I sigh, he doesn't stop.
My phone keeps ringing, and then it stops, and then it rings again.
He stops, frustrated. "Just answer the fucking phone. Someone better be dead."