Goodnight Moon

21- It Looks That Way

“Today really will be beautiful, Max,” I chirp to my puppy as I finish putting on eyeliner on Monday morning in my small bathroom before going over to my full body mirror to make sure that I look presentable for school today. The lovely weather that’s been around for the past few weeks has now ended and it’s all rainy and sad-looking outside. As a result, I’m wearing light wash skinny jeans and a loose black and white striped sweater with black flats and a black “you can’t sit with us” beanie to protect my hair from the rain as much as possible. “I’ll see you tonight, Maxxie,” I tell my puppy as I leave him in his room to leave for school.

I grab my colorful floral school bag along with my keys and then head out into the garage. Luckily, I don’t have to actually go outside to get to my car so I’m safe from the rain until I get to school. I don’t mind the rain most of the time, I just hate getting my hair wet and my clothes could become see-through. I’m wearing a black tank top as a precaution but it’s still annoying. When I don’t have anywhere to be, though, I do like sitting in the rain and listening to the rain and everything, but not on a Monday morning before school.

When I get to school, I park as close to the doors as I can and grab my bag before running as fast as I can into the building because of how badly it’s raining outside. Everybody else is doing the same, running away from the rain. Once I get inside, I make my way to my locker and slip my beanie off of my head before one of the teachers yell at me, because the school has a strict policy against hats, which is really stupid, I think.

I get to my locker and open it up to get my books out that I need for the morning and as I’m doing that, I suddenly see a Starbucks cup floating in front of my face. I follow the hand that’s holding the cup to the person standing beside me and grin when I see that it’s Lake standing there, handing me a Starbucks cup.

I grin at him as I take the cup. “I knew there was some reason that I liked you.”

He laughs and with his now-empty hand, he wraps it around my waist and pulls me to him before pressing a long kiss on my lips. I have to buckle my knees to prevent myself from just melting into him like I want to do so badly. “You mean besides my breathtaking face and delightful personality?”

“Free Starbucks is way better than both of those things,” I tease him.

“Who said anything about free?” Lake jokes as I turn back around but he keeps his arm around me as we stand beside each other facing my locker so that I can get the rest of my books, shove them into my bag, and then toss it over my shoulder before shutting my locker door. “You owe me for that hot chocolate.”

Once I’m finished with my locker, Lake unwinds his arm from around my waist and holds my hand in his as if it’s no big deal. I try to play along, acting like it’s no big deal at all when in reality, I might be freaking out on the inside. I’ve never held hands with a guy in front of so many people that I know. I mean, I held Steven’s hand sometimes but it was never a public thing but this is in front of a lot of people that will notice and start turning in the rumor mill. I’ve never had a real boyfriend before and it just feels… different. “That’s too bad,” I sigh in return. “How will I ever repay you for this lovely hot chocolate?”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something. What’s your first period class?” He wonders as we walk down the hallway.

“Calculus, we just passed the room, it’s right there,” I inform him, pointing to the left where the room to my calculus door is propped open for students to go in for the beautiful start of the day.

Lake comes to an immediate halt. “Why did you let me walk past it?” He wonders.

“I thought we were walking to your class,” I say with a small laugh as I take a timid drink of the hot chocolate, not wanting to burn my tongue.