Framed

Flashback Two.

"So how's your summer been so far?" Selena asks, not touching the garden salad she had ordered, as Niall digs into his order of buffalo chicken wings. It was Selena's suggestion to go to Wings N' Things, knowing how much the Irish lad liked the place. It was a fact she had overheard in a conversation with Cameron and Brad, who had been talking about an end of season party for the football team.

"S'been good." Niall manages to say, having the courtesy to at least swallow his food down before speaking. Niall was different to Selena, a lot different than the last guy she had dated, a junior named Justin, who wouldn't eat any meat with bones, and was considered a bad boy at the school. He had been expelled shortly after spring break, after popping the tires of the Principal's car, and breaking some of the windows in the front office. Justin had been loud, the type of guy who picked fights besides just getting into them, the type of guy that everyone expected to get expelled.

Niall was different. He kept his words in like a dam keeping in water, only speaking when he had to, letting little droplets trickle out of the stone walls he held up. Like Selena, he kept his head down and his hopes up. He was a football player, too, but he didn't wear clothes that showed off his physique. You saw him with a guitar or a book more often than you saw him with a football, or wearing a jersey.

He was stable, and after Justin that was just what Selena needed.

The blonde boy was a little quirky, especially in some social situations. There was a distance in his eyes, as if he looked at the world with completely different eyes, as if he was living in a kaleidoscope, or underwater. But Selena found that attractive, the way he seemed distant from it all. If only he could be close to her.

She figured that summer was just a good time as any, and decides to try to get to know him, in the slightest hope that he returns her feelings.

"What are you planning to do?"

He's wiping his mouth with a napkin, trying to get the buffalo sauce off his lips. "Not a lot, really. Maybe work on learning some songs. Go to the beach once or twice. Hang out with some friends if they invite me."

"Well, maybe we could go to the beach tomorrow." she says, the blush already rising and powdering itself on her cheeks. "Have a bonfire, if you want?"

"Sure. I think that sounds good." he says without a smile, and returns his attention back to his wings.