Aeline twirled her thumbs over the phone, and dangled them over the keyboard. She must admit, she was a bit taken aback by the response, but she was also extremely ecstatic as he had finally texted her after ages of waiting in boredom. She was in desperate need of some fun; her definition of fun being toying around with a boy to ease her personal sorrows.
Ever since her dad died, she's been too scared of commitment. Many people say that to ward off the fact that they can't get laid, but Aeline was seriously allergic to love, and being loved. She made a pact to herself to never let herself get too attached; never let herself love someone enough that they could hurt her, and never let herself come after anyone else. Not even family. No, especially not family.
Aeline: Now do you really?
Zack: Maybe I do. Do you not want me to?
Huh. No small talk. No cheesy pickup lines. No sexting. No leaving her on read. Aeline was pleasantly surprised. He was different. Not a weird kind of different, or a crazy kind of different, but a rejuvenating kind of different, if that makes sense.
Aeline bit her lip and tried to hold in her frantic giggles. She loved when boys were infatuated with her. It was not only entertaining, but it made her feel some type of high that she couldn't even get from smoking.
———
Aeline: Ask me out on a date.
Zack chuckled quietly in the car, but his mom still heard him.
"What are you laughing about, Zack?" She did that "trying-to-look-at-your-phone" glance, but every good teenager knew how to dodge it.
"It's nothing Mom, just something a friend texted me."
"Oh come on, Zack. I just want to get closer to you, I mean, you're always so distant and,"
"Mom, green light!" Zack yelled as a flurry of honking noises started to erupt behind them.
As his mom slammed on the gas pedal and the car threw him back into his seat, he secretly prayed to himself that his mom would forget about this encounter and continue to leave him alone. He loved his mom and all, but she could get annoying when she started bugging him about "bonding" and "talking to her more" and what not.
Zack: How bold of you. Fine, go out on a date with me.
———
"What are you so freaking giddy about?"Anastasia said while furrowing her brows. She already seemed to know the answer though, with Aeline's dreamy expression and high pitched yelling.
"Guess who just scored herself a date with that cute boy I was telling you about! No, don't guess actually; that's stupid 'cause you already know."
Anastasia rolled her eyes dramatically and crossed her arms. "Aeline, you never talk about boys. And I know you've had lots of experience with them, I hear the gossip in the halls. So tell me why, you suddenly have such a huge interest in this one?"
Aeline had promised to herself that he was nothing more than another boy-toy, that he would just be something else to temporarily ease her mental torment. But she remembered the strange connection she felt with him in the Starbucks and at the cake shop, and thought to herself,
You know, Aeline, stop being such a fucking baby and actually commit yourself this time. Not everyone leaves. Not everyone stomps on your heart and shatters it into a million pieces. Not everyone makes promises they can't keep. This guy, I can tell he's not one of these people. So just fall back this time, and let yourself be caught. Stop holding back.
"Because. I actually like him, unlike all the other boys I've dated. I like him. A lot."
———
A/N
Sorry for not updating for the longest freaking time. I gave up on this story and recently re-discovered it, so I hope to finally continue this story.
Thank you for reading if you did and I hope there will be more updates.
💓
