All I Need

Part 9

He'd been keyed up all night, unable to sleep, too excited. She'd said yes (or at least she'd said 'okay' he'd take 'okay') and all he wanted to do was see her face to face again. As much as he wanted to he knew he couldn't just walk up and kiss her when he saw her at school, besides now that he had permission he kind of wanted to make sure it was special. He knew whatever this was with her was special, even if they'd just barely begun, and he didn't want their first kiss to be some throwaway memory. He was going to make sure he did it right.

When he texted her that morning from his car in the parking lot he found out she was still on her way with Sasha so he waited until they got there. After they'd pulled in he walked up to Sasha's car, barely glancing at Sasha, his whole body focused on seeing her. For the few seconds that Sasha had caught his eye, he could see that she was amused and she just rolled her eyes and wandered off on her own, leaving the two of them by the car.

Bayley had gotten out, focused on her things, not realizing he was right there until she'd looked up as she stood up and she'd frozen. He stepped forward, gently closing the car door behind her and said,

"Hi."

"Hi," she replied almost shyly and once again he had the urge to kiss those lips. If he hadn't just made a vow to himself to make it special he might have given in to the temptation, instead he made do with making another promise to himself--as soon as he could without breaking his first promise he was going to kiss her just like this, with the morning breeze flirting with her hair, eyes still half-asleep, and out in the open where anyone and everyone could see just how he felt about her.

"Have a good night?"

"Yeah, Smackdown was pretty good, went to bed afterwards. You?"

"Okay I guess. I couldn't sleep."

"Why?"

"Because," he said as he reached over and took her hand threading his fingers through hers and squeezing gently. "This was all I could think about, and I was too excited to see you again to relax." Her cheeks bloomed pink and she ducked her head and he wondered if maybe he was overwhelming her again. After a moment she finally looked up again and shyly admitted,

"I was excited to see you again too." 

He grinned at her, the way she'd suddenly gone shy on him after seeing what she was like on the phone last night when she felt more confident, it was cute. He liked the dichotomy of it, liked seeing both sides to her, and he liked that she was sharing so much of herself. He was sure that he could coax that more confident side out by the end of the day.

He gently pulled at her hand, bringing her in step with him as they made their way into the building. He watched her as they walked, catching her eye every couple of minutes when she'd glance over, and he loved the way she would smile back at him sweetly. He asked her where her locker was, relieved to hear it was on the same floor as his, and walked her to it.

The time passed way too quickly and before he knew it he was having to say goodbye at the doorway of her classroom. She surprised him when she stood on her toes and brushed a soft kiss on his cheekbone, then smiled at him and bit her lip. She'd known exactly what she was doing, that look in her eye giving it away, and he'd had no choice but to leave her there, walking to his own class in a daze.

First and second were excruciatingly long. He couldn't concentrate on the teachers knowing he was going to get an entire period with her all to himself in third, and it felt like forever before the bell rang after second. He made his way quickly to her classroom, glad it was Ms. Hershel's class because he knew they wouldn't be released yet, and he arrived right on time. He was happy to see she was one of the first one's out, hopeful that meant she was just as anxious to see him and as soon as she got near he folded her hand into his and started walking with her to their study hall classroom.

He'd already spoken to the teacher the day before, the fact that they'd spent most of yesterday's class working on something school related lent some credibility to his request for a library pass for both of them, and all they'd had to do was stop in and pick it up. They made their way first to the library, had the pass stamped then left quietly out of one of the back exits to finally find an unoccupied stairwell.

It wasn't until they were actually in the stairwell that it occurred to him that now might be a great time, but he'd also promised her they would catch her up on the network, and he'd specifically planned for that and he didn't want to ruin those plans. If he kissed her now he knew he would spend the rest of their time kissing her, and he'd gone to a lot of trouble for this.

He was a planner. He was always thinking ahead, and while this wasn't really a first date, he supposed he'd been thinking about it in those terms. He'd made sure they would have a pass today, and he'd spent a lot of time on the phone last night quizzing her about her favorite wrestlers, her favorite matches, and what she liked to watch most on the network, then after they'd hung up he'd spent the rest of his night going through the network and putting together a watchlist of all the things he thought she'd enjoy or that she'd missed over the summer.

The good thing was though that at least this was a great opportunity for him to find out what it was like to hold her and be close enough that he could smell her shampoo and feel her warmth, and that was pretty great too. 

It had been slightly awkward at first as they figured out how to situate themselves, but once they were seated on the floor with their backs against the wall he'd wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close so that she was leaning more against him than the wall. She'd loved his watchlist and they'd argued playfully over which of his selections to start with before they settled on something and relaxed.

This was everything he'd ever wanted, and yet it was more too. He hadn't been able to imagine her and yet now that she was here in his arms it was like she was every fantasy he'd ever had. For an all too fleeting half hour he was contented to hold her and enjoy her company while they watched one of the takeover matches that she'd missed. 

He found himself watching it almost like he'd never seen it before, her reactions and her emotions fueling his own. When the match finally concluded after several heart-stopping nearfalls and she was grinning in excitement, he cupped her jaw in his hand, sliding it up until his fingers ran into her silky hair and pulled her towards him. Her eyes drifted closed and he could feel her warm breath as he leaned closer and then the warning bell rang. The enclosed space with the speaker directly overhead meant the sound echoed, intruding loudly on their moment, and ruining his plans.

He helped her to his feet, wishing so badly that they'd had just five more minutes, and cursing internally at the damn bell for it's poor timing. He walked her to her next class knowing he would just have to find a better place to finally kiss her, hopefully one that wouldn't include the interruption of a bell.