The Next Door Neighbour

Chapter 14//The Pumpkin Patch

Shailene's POV

     MEET ME IN THE GIRLS WASHROOM, 2nd floor, asap.

     You don't have to tell me twice, Shailene thought, before raising her hand and asking to leave. English felt like the longest block of the day, falling before lunch and seemingly stretching on forever. There were three ever-present things residing in that class: hunger, boredom, and pretentious honours students, and Shailene took every opportunity she could to get out of there. Luckily for her, Holland had just handed her one on a silver platter in the form of a text.

     Shailene quickly made her way to the washroom, wondering what this was about. What was so important that it couldn't wait for lunch?

     Her foot was on the threshold when a manicured hand materialized, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the washroom.

     "Wha—"

     "It's official!" Holland announced, bursting at the seams with excitement. What exactly was official, Shailene had no clue. But whatever it was was obviously a cause for celebration, because Holland was looking more and more excited by the second. When it was clear that Shailene wasn't catching on to what exactly was so exciting, Holland sighed and gave her a hint. "Let me rephrase that," she said, tossing her waves of chocolate brown hair over her shoulder, "we're official."

     Shailene paused, wondering what she could possibly be missing, and then it hit her.

     "You and Sam?" she clarified, her own excitement making her voice rise in pitch.

     Holland nodded her head, breaking out into a vibrant grin. "We went out yesterday and he officially asked me to be his girlfriend," she explained, the happiness evident on her face. Shailene didn't think she'd ever seen her best friend this happy because of a boy. Sam must've meant even more to her than she'd originally realized.

     "About time." She smirked. "You've been making out steadily for the past two months, so I knew you had to be more than a fling."

     Holland returned the smirk. "You got that right. And anyway, he's a good kisser."

     Shailene rolled her eyes. "You're in deep, aren't you?"

     Holland sighed contentedly. "I'd say so." She paused, eyeing Shailene for a moment before continuing. "But what about you?"

     "What about me?"

     Her best friend rolled her eyes, walking over to the rows of mirrors to inspect her makeup. "Don't give me that bullshit — give me details about Brayden. I'm sure you hung out yesterday seeing as you hang out everyday."

     Shailene wasn't going to answer, but eventually she gave in. Her best friend deserved some details — it'd been a while.

     "We went to the farmers' market," she began, lacing her fingers through her belt loops, "the one down south. We bought flowers for his mom and she invited me to stay for dinner."

     "Did you?" Holland asked, hanging onto every word.

     "Of course," Shailene's eyes widened, "you can't say 'no' to her! You wouldn't want to, anyway."

     Her best friend waved it off. "Whatever. Keep going."

     "Anyway, I stayed for dinner. And then..." she trailed off, feeling herself blush intensely.

     "What?" Holland cried, spinning around to grip her by the shoulders. "What happened?"

     "He walked me home," she whispered, forcing herself to look up from the ground.