✓ | falling ➝ j. cade

iv. drive-in movie

author's note: hey fam! quick favor! please add my status book to your libraries! it contains everything you'll need to know for the future. also, feel free to check out 'satisfied', where you can meet my original characters! (sorry this is so long lol)

❝HAND-IN-HAND, THEY WALK THE NIGHT BUT NEVER KNOW EACH OTHER. [...] ANXIOUS MEN FIND QUESTIONS BUT NO ANSWERS.❞
- THE MONKEES, DAILY NIGHTLY

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All that week, Theodosia found little notes in her belongings. The first one was in her Edgar Allen Poe book. It was tucked as a book mark, marking A Dream Within A Dream. She knew James had slipped it in there when they had been studying that night. But why? For who? Theodosia had even confronted him about it, but he merely shrugged and gave her no answer. He was doing someone a favor. Theodosia knew she could mark James out as a suspect for numerous reasons. Number One, they were strictly platonic. They just didn't work that way. Number Two, the initials were J.C., and James' were J.L.. And number three, James had a girlfriend, a sweet one at that.

The second one had fallen out of her locker that Wednesday. It was from the same person. The same sloppy-yet-legible handwriting commended her on her ability to speak her mind. The same initials. It had made Theodosia smile. Not many people enjoyed that quality.

Theodosia had even found a third note in her history book that afternoon at Mr. Brown's record shop. It was a line from Annabel Lee. "We loved with a love that was more than love." Theodosia found what this anonymous admirer implied a bit too straight forward, but this meant this person was either in her English class or already close to her.

She hadn't found one Thursday, and Theodosia had been a little disappointed. She didn't let herself dwell on it, though. This was probably a short-lived crush of one of her peers, anyway. No one in their right mind would fall in love with Theodosia. She was hard to handle, or so Theodosia's last boyfriend had told her.

So, that Friday, - her third Friday back in Tulsa - Theodosia stood at her locker. She was putting in her locker combination for the fifth time. Theodosia regretted not sleeping more last night. Sometimes, she really hated her mind. It would run in a million different directions and a mile a minute all at once. Other times it came in handy. It always offered Theodosia a quick solution in a tough situation.

Her door swung open, nearly hitting Theodosia in the eye in the process. A little note fluttered to the floor, and Theodosia smiled. Butterflies fluttered around in her stomach in anticipation. Theodosia bent down and picked up the note. Same handwriting. Same initials. Same person. Good. She unfolded it, hoping it would still be sweet and innocent.

"Always my first thought.
-J.C."

Theodosia smiled down at the note. She stuck it in her Poe book with the others. She had been keeping all of these notes. It gave Theodosia hope that not every male viewed her as a piece of meat. The only one that focused on her appearance was the first one, and the note compared her eyes to stars. It was never anything degrading or dirty.

Theodosia didn't know just how close J.C. really was. He was stood at his locker, watching her smile at the small piece of paper in her hands. He was smiling, too. Her smile almost let Johnny believe he had a chance. He was sure he didn't. Theodosia probably thought it was a Soc or the lanky boy she was with yesterday. She would never guess it was him.