Dear You. | scl

•6•

I nearly fall off my bed after being startled awake by a bang on my door. I curse under my breath as I drag my feet to yank it open. I was ready to curse out my annoying sister but instead find a sheepish Sean leaning against the door frame.

I become very aware of the fact that I'm wearing nothing but thermal shorts and a loose crop top. His ears turn red as he diverts his eyes away quickly. He seems to be just as embarrassed.

"Uh Sean... why are you here?" I croak do to my lovely morning voice.

He stutters a few times before finally blurting, "Do you wanna go for a bike ride?"

I consider it for a few seconds before responding, "yea, I'll meet you out front in ten minutes."

Hastily shutting the door, I lean against it, confused as to what just happened.  It's 8 am on a Saturday, the last thing I want to go do is biking. Why did I say yes? Why? Honestly, I couldn't bear to reject him at the door like that.

I wonder who let him in? Ugh, they won't let me live this down ever.

After brushing both my teeth and hair, I tugged on some gym wear. I plugged my phone out of charge, grabbed my headphones before heading down to meet him. He leaned against the garage door, busy on his phone. I take a moment to appreciate how his compression shirt hugged his upper body and how toned his calves were. It took a moment for me to realize that his attention was no long on his phone but on me. My face flushed as I looked away quickly.

"Uhh, my bikes in the garage" I dumbly blurted, waiting for him to move so I could open it.

"Oh yea, sorry." He takes a few steps away, allowing me to punch in the code and wait for the door to lift up before wheeling my bike out.

"Nice bike" he comments, taking in my glittery pink my little pony bike. I roll my eyes, "hey! I haven't rode a bike since the 7th grade... so don't come for me!"

"Ok, my little pony" he snickers, shielding his eyes from the sun. I glare at him but he has the cute dumb smile that clearly is contagious— because my dumbass smiled back. Curse you Sean and you're cute dimples!

"Last one to the park buys acia bowls!" I exclaim, hopping onto my bike and eagerly peddling away from home.

"Wait what park?" I hear him shout, I don't look back but I could hear him gaining speed. A smile stretched across my face as I began to peddling harder. He kept hollering my name dramatically, claiming he had fell and hurt himself.

I ended up having to stop because my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Instead of stopping for me, he biked right past me.

"Slow and steady wins the race" he sang. I clutched my stomach as I bursted into laughter. Wow, what a guy.

—

"That will be $9.11" the cashier says. Sean fishes his wallet out, handing her a ten. I lean against the counter, admiring him... once again. Everything about him is captivating. From the way his hair falls onto his face, the way he bites the inside of his cheek when he's thinking, the way he licks his bottom lip when he's excited. Everything about him is easy to read and I like that. I'm always reading too deep into things so it's refreshing to know Sean's emotions. He glances up at me, catching my blank stare.

This time I hold his stare, beaming at him.

"What? Is there something on my face" he asks, cautiously patting his face. I continue to smile, "Just cuteness!"

"Ew, I like cheesy Bailey" he teases, picking up both bowls and walking over to a booth. I skip behind him, sliding into the both across from him.

"I'm just in a great mood!" I respond, digging into my bowl instantly. My knee was pressed up against his and this contact alone caused my insides to feel warm and fuzzy. I could barely contain myself.

"Because of me?"

"Uh yea, I mean the biking definitely had more to do with it than your company" I tease, smirking up at him.

I don't know if it's was the wind on my face or Sean's company but I mentally decided that I would go biking every morning from now on. My spirits lifted and my body feels sore from the peddling but it's that good soreness you feel after a workout.

"Ha—" he starts to say but is cutoff by my phone vibrating. Tristians contact flashes on the screen. I give Sean an apologetic glance before swiping to answer.

"Hey Tris!" I upbeatedly greet! I instantly regret saying his name because Seans expression shifts. I recall the bathroom scene and understood clearly why he was reading too deeply into this. Not to mention Tristan Rubiano is my first love!

"Bails, I missed you last night" He greets, referring to a party he threw.

"Will dragged me to game night at Tati's house" I answer truthfully, "but wassup?"

"Basically, my family is have a reunion tomorrow and I basically didn't want my grandparents to know I'm a hoe so I told them I have a girlfriend—" He trails waiting for me to catch on.

"Uh.." I reply, not understanding where he was going with it.

"sooo my grandmother and mom insisted I bring my girlfriend to the dinner and sooo" He trails, once again. But this time I knew what he was asking.

"Oh you want me to go with you?" I ask just to confirm.

"Yea can you be my fake girlfriend...for like 4 hours?" He pleads.

"Four hours? That's a lot of acting I don't think I can do" I tease just to get a reaction.

"I'll pay you! Oh oh I'll get you those new Nike Airs you wanted" he bribes. Now we're talking.

"I was kidding! But now that you mention it, those Nike airs would look really good on me" I say picturing the outfits I'd wear with them. He chuckles and replied, "They're yours but are you down?".

"Text me the details, I'm down" I responded, he said his goodbye and hung up. Sean looks up from his phone screen, brows raised.

"Did he ask you to be his fake girlfriend?"

"Yup, strictly 'a friend doing a friend a favor'" I hastily respond, wanting to avoid any misunderstanding. He bit the inside of his cheek, still uncomfortable. I mean... we're not exclusive or anything but I'm still compensating like we are. Why? I have no idea.

"Sean, believe it or not—" I start, "I've liked Tristian my whole life... and this summer I've come to terms with the fact that we're just not going to happen."

"To be very honest I was more reassured before you told me you liked him" he laughed, but it didn't reach his eyes. I reach over and lace our fingers together, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Sorry, I'm really killing the mood" he says, giving my hand a squeeze. "Lets bike to the lake after we're done eating" he suggests. I nod in agreement, retracting my hand to pick up my spoon.

As I lift the spoon to my mouth, a thought comes to mind. "Sean, why'd you come over this morning?"

His head snapped up, it was obvious he was a little taken aback by my question. He pursed his lip, before dividing how to answer.

"I was hanging with Ken and Gabe last night..." he trailed, pausing before continuing, "Basically, I'm running up against a lot of boys and if I want you... I have to work for it"

I blink a couple times, confused as to what he was trying to say. He laughed at my expression, intertwining our fingers once again.

"Basically, will you be my girlfriend?"

***

Y'all don't hate me but IM BACK BITCHES.