A Little Bit of Lovin'

We Met On A Park Bench

I closed the book and held it to my chest, releasing a dreamy sigh while staring off into the distance. Romance novels were the absolute best. Who doesn't love a happy ending?

"Hey, Gorgeous, you mind scooting over a bit? There aren't many benches on campus and you're kind of hogging the best one." A voice spoke in my right ear, scaring the crap out of me.

"Holy macaroons!" I shouted, almost tossing my book. My exclamation was met with raucous laughter of the manly kind. I'd been scared out of my wits by an obnoxious dude. Awesome.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But it was definitely worth it." The guy snickered. "Anyway, do you mind moving over?"

I huffed and turned around to see his face, narrowing my eyes at the strange boy. "It isn't nice to sneak up on people. Especially strangers."

"Seriously, I didn't mean to. Sorry again."

"Whatever." I muttered, moving my bag and sliding over so that there was room for him to sit.

"Thank you..." He raised his eyebrows expectantly and I stared at him confused. "What's your name, Gorgeous?"

"Oh," I blushed. "Peyton."

"Lovely to meet you, Peyton."

"You gonna tell me your name?" He stared at me in surprise. "What?"

"You don't know who I am?"

"Should I?" I asked slowly.

"I guess not." He shook his head and smiled a little. "I'm Logan."

"Nice to meet you." I smiled before opening my backpack and extracting another book. What? They're addicting.

We sat in silence for a long while before Logan reached over and pulled the book right out of my hands. I stared at him, startled by the disgruntled look on his face.

"It took me almost two months to wrack up the courage to come over and talk to you and you sit and read a book. Do you have any idea how discouraging that is?"

I wasn't really sure what to say, so I continued to stare at him. Not going to lie, it was a nice view. He was a seriously good looking guy. Dark brown hair and gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that reminded me of hot chocolate.

When Logan realized I wasn't going to say anything, he released a heavy sigh, handed me my book back and got up. "Have a nice day, Peyton."

And then he was gone. And I was confused.

***

After meeting Logan, I began to realize that he was kind of a big deal at our school. He was the smartest guy in the Freshman class and had been involved in a lot of charity work offered by the school. He was one of those guys that was popular for his good reputation, not for being a playboy.

In fact, from what I had learned, he didn't really date at all. This little detail disgruntled a lot of the girls at the college.

Most of the things I learned were told to me by my roommate who had cornered me as soon as I got home the day Logan had approached me. When I told her what he had said to me, she had shaken her head and looked at me sympathetically, muttering "oh sweety, you're so clueless for someone who spends all of their free time reading romance".

That was a week ago and I hadn't seen Logan since. I was currently parked on the same little bench I always sit at and was reading a chapter in one of my textbooks. Suddenly, it was pulled out of my hands and Logan plopped down on the bench beside me.

"Let's try this again, okay?" He looked at me sternly, pulling my bag towards him and shoving it under the bench.

"What are you talking about? Give me back my stuff, please." I frowned.

He smiled and shook his head. "I'm sitting beside you because I want to get to know you."

"Oh..." I looked at my hands, feeling my face get warm, and then looked back at him. "Is that why you were upset last week? Because you wanted to talk and I ignored you? I'm sorry, sometimes I get a little too interested in my books."

He chuckled softly. "Trust me, I've noticed."

I looked at him and his eyes widened and his cheeks turned pink. "What?"

He coughed and looked away. "Uh, so, are you from around here?"

***

"Oh my gosh, Pey, he totally likes you!" Sarah, my roommate, squealed. It was the next day and I had just told her about my little talk with Logan. Which had lasted for a few hours, by the way.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, giving her a funny look.

"Come on! Can you honestly say that you haven't noticed him staring at you all the time? Why do you think he said it took him so long to approach you? And why do you think he was so upset when you didn't give him the time of day the first time you guys met? He's completely smitten!"

"You're nuts, Sarah."

"Fine, I'll prove it to you. He's in a lot of the same classes as us, so I'll just show you that he spends 80% of the class staring at you from across the room." She pulled me into the classroom and to our usual seats.

I shook my head and pulled my books out of my bag. Yesterday had been wonderful, just sitting and talking with Logan. He was really sweet and really funny. We spent most of the time talking about where we grew up and what our families were like.

I learned that he was the middle of three boys and had grown up on a farm outside of a really small town that I couldn't remember the name of because it was so odd. Something to do with water, cows and flowers, I think. He had just turned twenty-one and was in general studies because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do yet.

"There he is, just sitting there, staring at the side of your head. I wonder if he's drawing you in that little book of his?" Sarah's voice interrupted my silent musings and I looked towards where she was.

Sure enough, Logan was sitting there, his gorgeous eyes focused on me. When he realized I had caught him looking, he blushed and looked down only to look back a couple of seconds later and smile. That caused me to blush in return and then we were both looking away and smiling.

"Uch, you guys are just too sweet. It's sickening." Sarah muttered, sticking her tongue and continuing with her notes. I blushed harder and snuck a peek over at Logan. He grinned when he caught my eye and winked.

***

"Peyton!" Someone shouted as I made my way out of the lecture hall. I turned around to see Logan jogging towards me. I smiled and waited for him to catch.

"Hey, Logan, what's up?"

"I, uh, wanted to ask you something." I looked at him curiously, noting the blush spreading across his cheeks.

"Sure." I tilted me head to the side and continued to look up at him.

His eyes met mine and he shook his head. "Gosh, you're beautiful." He murmured as he reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

I blushed and looked down, smiling. "Thanks."

His hand tilted my head back so that he could see my eyes and I noticed he had leaned closer. "I really like you, Peyton. I have ever since I saw you on the first day of classes, sitting out on your bench with your nose in a book."

Before I could reply to his shocking, and to be quite honest wonderful, confession, Logan was leaning in completely and pressing his lips to mine. My eyes fluttered closed as I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

I pulled back a bit and smiled at him. "I may not have noticed you until last week, but I really like you, too." And then I pulled his head back down.