Where The Lotus Blooms.

Follow me down.

     Leaving for the day I was exhausted. I needed to sleep but deep down I knew i shouldn't.  Lately my dreams had been becoming more and more realistic. Worse then that some of them were actually coming true. I felt horrible, I had a dream four days prior about this same exact situation happening. Silly how we play off such things. I frantically paced my room thinking of what to say, how to say it. I was going crazy. My phone buzzed twice then rang and immediately stopped. What was going on? Hesitantly I picked my phone up. Hale had called. Was she okay? What had happened? She never called me. 

     She left a voicemail. Short and to the point, not her style. She told me to call her ASAP, her voice was broken. The phone rang for what seemed to be the longest four seconds of my life. Just as I was about to hang up, she answered. Her words were long and slurred.

     "Hey, yeah so, can we like hang out this weekend? We haven't really hung out without my parents around and I feel like we should"

     I was very cautious and hesitant. This wasn't like her, especially when she was drunk. 

     "Do you think that's the best thing to do? You and Aaron just split"

   There was a slight pause, I heard her licking the inside of her mouth and clicking her tongue.

       "Honestly I could care less about him, you and I have been friends for a while and we need to hang out, i'm picking you up Saturday morning, and you are staying the night. No questions asked."

     She hung up the phone and I sat there collecting my jaw from the floor. Time stood still for a brief minute. I packed a change of clothes and set them aside. It was only two days away, but i'd rather be prepared. My mind raced with the whys. Why me? Why now? Why so sudden? Too many questions left unanswered. I did my best to put them to the back of my mind. These questions will be answered best with actions. I killed the lights and passed out.

     6:30 a.m. my alarm hadn't gone off yet. A peaceful night without dreams, perfection at it's finest. I did my morning stretch, Friday at last. No school after the eight hours of consensual prison, and then, well Hale. I made my breakfast made coffee for my mother, and left three minutes ahead of schedule. Today was going to be good. The rowdy kids at the stop were surprisingly in a good mood. No one was getting jumped today. Weird, normally someone does, especially on Friday. 6:44 a.m, bus driver was early. Shoot today must be an amazing day for everyone. Spiffy moods, happy faces. Yeah, today was going to be a good day. 

     I decided to get some catered breakfast, and try my luck at beating my physics teacher in a game of S.K.A.T.E again. We had two local restaurants who competed in best breakfast biscuits, and surprisingly he hadn't had the restaurant who catered to us. Either way, win or lose the game, it was a win win for me. Sadly I lost, but turned him onto a whole new breakfast biscuit and swayed him to join our side! 

     First and Second period passed with a breeze. My music stations were throwing up all my favorite songs, the day was almost over. Soon I could relax. The bell rang and I moved on to math class. Reality had begun to set in. I felt my anxiety creep slowly from my toes up my body. I thought I was going to be sick. I took a deep breath. Not today, I promised myself I wouldn't let this get to me, and I planned to stick to it. 

     11:23 a.m the bell rang and everyone took their seat. Hale was glowing bright today. Her smile was different from what I had seen before. She was...Happy. True happiness was emanating from her and my heart began to melt. "You go girl", I thought to myself, which she must of heard because she looked at me and smiled harder and began to blush. I hid my face. 

     "Hey punk, whatcha hiding your mug for huh?" she whispered. 

     "I don't know what your talking about you goose head"  I wittingly retorted.

  It was nice to have her back and better than she was. Happy looked good on her. We both bickered back and forth working on our class and homework. The bell rang and we actually ate at our spot together. The small window of freedom and bliss our lunch spot held, got us through the bad days, and made the good days go faster. Today was without a doubt, one of the best days ever. After we got back from lunch, we talked about life and theories of the universe. The time passed so much faster when she smiled. 

     Right before the bell rang, Hale grabbed my hand and slid a note inside it. I gave her a confused look as she grinned. 

     " Don't open it until you get to your last class okay?" 

     My puzzle look probably didn't help the situation but, I agreed and waited. The bell rang as everyone squeezed out the door. She watched me as we split ways, indefinitely making sure I didn't read her questionable note. I shook my head and laughed as I made my way to the final class of the day. The note did spark my curiosity. I let my temptation be until I made it to class. It was only six doors down the hall, I could wait. 

     I took my seat and casually took the note out.

     " So, change of plans no questions, no debates. Meet me in the cafeteria after school, I'm taking you home. You're going to get your clothes and stay the night tonight and tomorrow. Okay? Okay. See ya after school." There was a little heart at the bottom, in which she signed her name in classic bubbly fashion. I smiled as I tucked the note away and nodded off for the rest of class. English class never interested me anyways.

     The bell rang, and my teacher rudely shook me, I knew she was livid but hey a guys got to sleep sometimes. I quickly made my way to the cafeteria and found Hale. She grabbed my hand as we strolled out to her car. Aaron and I were pretty good friends and by no means did I want to disrespect him. Hale, on the other hand, clearly did not care about that. She parked right next to him and made sure he saw her holding my hand. We got to her car and before we got in, Hale kissed me. 

     Shock, awe, surprise, all quickly filled my head. Then, the sounds started to fade as she held the kiss and slowly touched my face. Her hands were soft and gentle. Soothing, as she held my face and rubbed my cheek slowly. I opened my eyes as she opened hers. Her eyes darted in Aaron's direction. Her intent was clear and she got what she wanted. 

     " That was quick Hale." he said as he opened his door.

     "Yeah? Not as quick as you last week honey." 

     Her retort grabbed the attention of the nearby students. My face turned red with embarrassment. I got in the car quickly and slammed the door. I didn't know what to think, or what to say. Naturally I blurted out the only thing I could think of.

     "What the actual hell dude!"

     "Sorry, I've been wanting to do that since I met you."

     My heart skipped a beat. Suddenly the events that had just occurred were no longer an issue, and she had my full attention. The look on her face told me the truth behind what she said. I told her everything was okay, let's just go and have a good weekend. We left, music blaring, windows down. Smiles stayed on our faces the whole way home. I got my clothes, grabbed some food and we darted out. I was ready for the weekend, I was more stoked about the kiss I had just gotten. Today was definitely a good day. We got to Hales house right after her parents left. I got out of the car and made my way up the stairs when she stopped me. 

     "So, I uh, got something to get off my chest. I invited you over because I bought us something." 
     "Uh okay what did you get Hale?"
     "I'll show you inside dude."

     She opened the door, and the night began.