Her Safe Haven

Chapter 7 - Thank God It's Friday

Previously on Her Safe Haven: Winter's parents who lived separately from Winter, Gray, and Caleb called to tell them that they will be visiting on the weekend. Seth complained about Lennox to Gray, Dylan, and Kai, and in the middle of teasing him about it, Kai was scolded by Riley Andrews and they bantered. In the end Kai was forced to help paint the school banners after school with Riley, and Dylan (who liked Riley) wished he could take Kai's place to spend time with Riley.

Winter gazed out the window of the council room and sighed. The teachers had been going on for three hours straight about the details of the Lakeside Festival to the student council and guests from Dews High. This was the fifteenth meeting this week and it was safe to say that Winter was exhausted.

Thank God it's Friday.

"Is the secretary of Lakeside High daydreaming in the middle of a meeting?" Rohan whispered from next to her.

She quickly turned to look at him. He was holding out a mint box towards her, his lips curving just so slightly to what she thought was a smirk.

She smiled sheepishly and took the box. Popping one mint into her mouth, she gestured a quick 'thank you' at him.

It's been five days since the guests first arrived at Lakeside. Since Jonah found out that Rohan could understand sign language, he decided that Winter could escort him on her own without Dean's help — though she didn't really have much chance to converse with Rohan, since all of their time seemed to be taken by council meetings. Nevertheless, she still thought that she had made quite an acquaintance with him.

When the meeting finally ended, she realised that in two days they were going to be saying goodbye to their guests. The rest of the council went out of the council room in relieved chatters while Winter somehow found herself glued to her seat for reasons she wasn't sure of.

At last, there were only Jonah, Rose, the guests, and herself left.

Jonah noticed her sitting alone and excused himself from the conversation with Rose and the guests. "Winter? You okay there?" he asked, walking towards her.

Winter looked up and quickly opened a book in front of her. 'Yeah, no worries. I just need to finish some minutes for this meeting,' she gestured.

"Whoa!" he mused, moving closer to see her book, "you're doing homework at school? That's awesome!"

Winter blinked. 'Not homework, Jonah, minutes,' she repeated, taking out her notepad and writing 'MINUTE' largely on it.

Jonah gasped. "Oh! Minutes! Got it — I'll remember that sign," he smiled sheepishly at her.

Winter grinned. She knew that Jonah hated learning new subjects, but nonetheless he had insisted to learn sign language for her (though not very effectively). Hence mistakes like this didn't really bother her — most of the time.

Jonah went back to talk to the others while Winter tried to focus on filling in today's proceedings. She wasn't sure why she stayed behind. It was just the fact that today would be her last day as an escort saddened her a bit, so she felt the need to stay a bit longer.

After about fifteen minutes she heard the others said they'll call it a day.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today," one of the guests, Jacob, exclaimed as he stretched his arms. "Man, I'm hungry! Jonah, let's go get some food!"

"Alright!" Jonah chirped, "I know a good Italian restaurant not far from here — you guys want to eat out before we go home?"

"Where are you guys staying anyway? The teachers didn't really tell us that," Rose asked, putting her books in her bag.

The other guest, Lennox, laughed and slapped Jonah playfully on the back. "We're home-staying at Jonah's!" she grinned, "Jonah and Rohan here are best buds, so we're always welcomed there, aren't we?"

Jonah laughed, "of course you are! Now come, I'll make us reservations. Winter, you coming?"

Winter looked up from her book and smiled. 'It's okay, you guys go ahead. I still need to write some things down,' she showed the notepad and shook her head.

"You sure? You want us to wait for you?" Rose asked.

She shook her head again.

"Okay, then... Take care, alright? If you feel hungry just drop by the restaurant later — you know the place. It'll be my treat!" Jonah grinned.

The others then began chattering again while exiting the room. Rohan stopped midway and looked back at Winter.

She waved goodbye and smiled at him.

"Jonah," Rohan called, stopping under the doorway, "I just remember that I still need to settle some things with Winter. If I leave it till tomorrow I will forget. All of you should go first, I will catch up."

Jonah raised his eyebrows but nodded nonetheless. "Sure — I'll text you the address. Just call me if you get lost."

The council room turned silent as soon as the door was closed. Winter stared at Rohan and raised her eyebrows. He pulled a chair in front of her table and sat.

'We needed to settle something?' she gestured, trying to remember what it was she had seemed to forget.

Rohan sighed. "No. It's just... Leaving girls alone makes me uncomfortable. Especially now that it's getting dark outside," he gestured at the window.

Winter stared at him amusedly before giggling and shaking her head. Now this was cute. 'Rohan, I have hidden bodyguards all over the town.'

Rohan stared at her. "Oh," he blinked and scratched his head, "I didn't realise that. Sorry. Do you want me to leave?"

'No, no, stay!' she chuckled, then her eyes widened at the realisation of what she just said. 'I mean, if you want to stay, you're welcome to. But if you want to go, then feel free to go,' she smiled.

He shifted in his seat. "I guess I'll wait for you, then." He noticed her surprised expression and quickly added, "I mean it's the least I can do to thank you for being my escort."

She chuckled. 'You don't need to, you know,' she gestured, closing her book. 'But thanks. And I'm finishing soon.'

He waited for her to tidy her desk, and noted the way she checked each book cover before arranging them in order inside her bag. 'Shall we?' she gestured as she opened the door.

"Oh. Of course," he held the door open for her. "Is someone picking you up?"

She opened her phone to check. 'Hmm... Not today. I'm walking home — but it's not far.'

"I'll walk you," he quickly said — out of his sense of 'the appropriate thing to do in this situation' more than anything else — while opening his own phone to see whether Jonah had started looking for him.

She smiled. 'You don't have to, geez... Don't keep Jonah waiting.'

"Right," he muttered, trying to understand the address Jonah just sent him, "then... Do you mind telling me how to get to the restaurant?"

Winter laughed and shook her head. 'Then how about I walk you to the restaurant for today?'

"What?" his head immediately shot up. "No. It's against my ethics to let a girl walk me anywhere."

'Then we don't call it walk. I'll escort you to the restaurant.'

"That's not any better, really," he frowned, "and I don't really mind using—"

'Oh just walk already!'

And her smile grabbed his attention and pulled him through the hall.