|| Arabella ||
"Do you have work today?" Theo asked me when I came out of my last class for the day.
"No," I replied, giving him a suspicious look. "Why?"
"Just thought we could go home together," he said with a shrug.
I observed his poker face for a moment before letting my guard down. "Well, I can't go home until late. Wyatt's friends are coming over today, so I am planning to stay in the library and get some studying done." I couldn't be seen by Wyatt's friends; it might start unwanted rumors at school. Also, we were putting a hold on our cupid plans until Wyatt's SATs were over.
"Oh, right."
As I started walking towards the library, Theo followed me. "Why are you following me?"
"I feel like studying too," he replied casually.
"Why?"
"Because you're not the only one who has to pass the semester," he deadpanned, and I rolled my eyes. "Plus, it's good to be a nerd once in a while "
I scoffed. "You're in the football club. You can't be a jock and nerd at the same time."
"Says who?"
"Says Annabelle."
"Did you just call yourself Annabelle?" he asked, trying to stifle his laugh, while I cursed myself for my stupid slip of the tongue.
"It's your fault," I grumbled and opened the library doors.
As usual, the library was mostly empty, with only a few chairs occupied by the regulars. Coral was supposed to join me, but she ditched me for some club activities.
I placed my bag on the corner table and sat down. I glared at Theo as he pulled out the chair beside me, but he paid me no heed and continued to sit anyway.
I decided to ignore him and took out my textbooks. He didn't say anything either and followed my movement, starting on some advanced math that I was pretty sure wasn't in our syllabus.
"You really do love this crap, huh," I commented after a few minutes.
"It's fun," he replied simply.
I scrutinized his notepad, trying to decipher the numbers written in his cursive handwriting. "How is it fun?"
He twitched his lips and said, "Honestly, I can't explain. I just love it."
I nodded in understanding. "I can respect that," I said with a shrug, and he chuckled faintly. "But that doesn't mean I'll start liking it."
"Well, what's the fun in you and I liking the same thing?"
"We are fans of the same footballer," I pointed out.
"Good point."
We both fell quiet after that, not knowing what else to say. Though I had my textbook spread out in front of me, I didn't feel like studying anymore.
I wanted to keep talking to Theo. I wanted to listen to him like he did with me a few days during Halloween.
I gripped my pen, pretending to seem like I was writing something, and said, "Hey, have you thought of a ship name for Wyatt and Coral?"
"I don't know. Wyatt's name is weird," he replied mindlessly.
I slapped his arm playfully. "Don't say it like that. Your name isn't too great either."
"Well, as long as I like it, it doesn't matter who doesn't," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Yeah, okay, mister." I rolled my eyes. "Let's think of a ship name for them," I urged.
"Can't you see I'm doing math?" he responded.
I ignored him and started, "So anyway, the first one that comes to my head is… WyaCo?"
"Pfft. Sounds like whacko."
I narrowed my eyes at him and taunted, "Why don't you suggest any?"
"WyaRal."
"Sounds like viral," I repeated in the same tone as him.
"It sounds much better than Wyaco."
I kept glaring at him for a few moments until I gave up with a sigh. "You're right. Wyaral's better."
He grinned smugly, and I wanted to rip it off his face. But I had to be honest; his suggested ship name one was really better.
It somehow made me wonder what Theo and my ship's name would be. Theora? Nah, I'm sure Theo could make something better. But then again, his name is just too short.
All of a sudden, I felt a poke on my upper arm. "Whom are you dreaming about?"
"Just someone you don't know about," I said, as if I was thinking about my secret crush. But seriously, why the hell was I thinking about my and Theo's ship name?
Theo arched an eyebrow in amusement. "Really? Who's the unlucky guy?"
"Well, it's not you." I gave a flat look
He stared at me weirdly for a second before letting out a dramatic ‘phew'. He was about to say something when something familiar started echoing around us—sounds that embarrassed us in an elevator and shopping mall full of people.
"Did you set my ringtone to moaning again?" Theo and I asked each other at the same time, only to have our eyes widened in realization. Our phones were on the table with their screens black. "If it's not us, then…"
As if on cue, the bookshelf behind started rattling.
I was about to shriek, but Theo put a hand over my mouth. "Don't scream. It's a library."
I removed his hand and said, "So it's okay to fuck in the library and not scream?"
"Apparently, yeah," he hissed in a whisper, and I looked at him in disbelief before huffing.
I shook my head and put my hands on my ears to block out the oh-so-pleasurable sounds coming from behind me.
"They are going at it hard, huh," Theo commented to creep me out, earning a glare from me.
I kept my ears shut for a minute until Theo touched my wrist and slowly pulled it away, putting something in my ear. The music from the earbud started to tone down the moans.
I glanced at Theo, who seemed to be back to solving his equations, with the other earbud on. It was my earphones that he used to connect his phone's playlist. I remember leaving them in the car this morning.
I couldn't help but smile. Mumbling a small thanks, I composed myself and started to read the literature book I had taken out, forgetting all about the two anonymous people having the time of their life behind us.
It was all fine until Theo pulled me towards his chest out of the blue, catching me by surprise. I was about to ask what the hell he was doing when I heard a thump behind me.
"Wh—what was that?" I asked, feeling weird from having his arms on my waist and mine on his shoulders.
He didn't reply to me and hollered, "Excuse me, the people having sex behind the bookshelves, would you please go slow at it? You're knocking books out of the shelves!"
All the pairs of eyes turned to us, to be precise, towards the bookshelf behind us, and instantly the rattling sound stopped.
I was curious to see who these horny teens were, but when I noticed the librarian glaring at Theo and me for disrupting the peace, Theo spoke up, "Yeah, yeah, we are leaving." So before I could see the embarrassed faces of the couple, Theo pulled me out of the library in a haste.
When we were at the parking lot, I pried his hand off and reminded him, "We can't go home."
"Does it look like I don't remember?" he retorted.
"I don't know, probably."
He rolled his eyes. "I would suggest going to a café, but that would seem like we are on a date, and at this time of the day, all the cafés are crawling with couples from school."
"And your point is?"
He pointed at his car and said, "There."
I frowned, knowing he was serious. "Why are we homeless?" I started strutting towards his car.
"I'm not, you are."
"Thanks for the reminder." I opened the car door and got in.
Theo decided it was better to just drive somewhere where one wouldn't catch us together and assume something like last time.
I noticed a blue wrapped gift box and a bouquet of flowers. "What are you going to do with the flowers?" He bought them on our way to school this morning from a little girl. Probably because he pitied her.
Theo shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably just gonna throw them away or give them to Wyatt." Of course, he has a lot of money to throw. "Or you can have one," he added after a few seconds.
"No thanks. I don't need your pity flowers."
"As if I'm giving you all of them. I'm offering just one."
"What will I do with one flower?" I demanded.
"You can put one in your hair," he suggested while parking the car at the church parking lot nearby. Props to him for thinking of this place where literally none of our classmates would come.
"Yes, thanks to a certain someone my hair isn't fit for flowers," I taunted.
Theo rolled his eyes. "Just use a hair clip of something."
"I don't have one right now."
"There should be some in the glove box," he said and leaned over to open the glove box.
"Why would you have clips here?" I asked in surprise.
He gave me a brief unamused look. "You put them in there."
"Oh." I flashed him a sheepish grin. Now that I was noticing, most of the things in his glove box were mine. I thought he threw all of them out for sure.
"Found some." He took out two bobby pins, and before I could take them from him, he started pinning the pink rose in my hair, while all I could think about was— oh, my God, he's so close.
His chin was at my eye level while his eyes and hands were focused on attaching the flower to my hair. His warm breath was landing on the crown on my head, his lips only inches apart from my forehead.
"Done," he let out in victory and went back to his seat, and I released the breath I didn't know I was holding in.
I blindly placed my hand on my hair to find the flower. It was put on messily but with care. Just that gesture made a smile creep its way onto my lips.
Suddenly, I heard a snap and looked at Theo who was holding his phone's camera at me. Before I could ask, he flashed me the screen, showing me a picture of myself.
"See? It looks good, regardless of your hair length," he stated, and I gaped at him.
That's what he was trying to prove?
My smile widened as I said, "Of course, you would say that. I'm the hottest girl in school, according to you."
"Not with that again," he groaned, and I laughed.
I thought about how thoughtful and nice he can be sometimes as he grumbled about how he should have never taken my name to rope me into the haunted house.
As I was taking out my books again to start studying, I decided to ask about the gift box this time. "What's this? Got a confession?"
"Huh? No. It's for you," he said simply.
"Really?" I asked excitedly. "But my birthday was seven months ago," I mumbled. "Oh, whatever. Let's see what's in it." Maybe he got me something for making him that chocolate custard yesterday.
With a big grin, I pulled the ribbon and opened the lid, only to let out a scream when a clown face jumped out, scaring the crap out of me.
Theo started laughing.
"You jerk!" I threw the gift box at him while he continued cackling with laughter. I kept hitting him like a little girl, cursing him until he finally stopped laughing and offered me some gum.
I stared at it with suspicion. "It's the one that zaps you, isn't it?"
"No," he chuckled. "I would give you chocolate if I had some."
I kept staring back and forth between his innocent face that suggested he was planning something evil and the gum that looked very real. "This better not zap me— Ahh!" I screamed as I tried to pull a piece of gum out, only to get shot by the current. "You son of a—"
Theo started laughing again. "I can't believe you fell for that."
Just when I started to really appreciate the nice part of him, he does this. "I hate you," I grumbled, sucking on my index finger which was still trembling from the shot.
He stopped laughing and asked, "Does it hurt too bad?"
It didn't, actually. "Yes, it does," I exaggerated.
He rolled his eyes in disbelief. "No, it doesn't."
"Still, it hurts me. You can't know about my pain more than me."
He kept staring blankly, and I turned away from my gaze, pouting towards the window.
After a minute, something was placed on my lap. I looked down to find the rest of the flowers from the bouquet.
"You can keep them all," he said curtly.
"Like I said, I don't want your pity flo—"
"Will you accept them as apology flowers then?" he asked, and my heart went fuzzy.
I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my face. "Only if you pull out a gum yourself."
"Okay," he agreed without any hesitation and pulled at the gum but had no reaction. "This doesn't even hurt, drama queen."
This was my turn to laugh. "I got these flowers for nothing then."
"I demand those flowers back."
"Why, what will you do? It's not like you have a girlfriend to give them to," I teased.
"What is this? Eighteenth-century? Why will I give her flowers out of all things?"
As we both bickered in the car, textbooks completely forgotten, I realized that I was starting to love spending time with Theo.
