Buzzed Hearts

38: if not now then...

ELEVEN ELEVEN. Camila makes a wish in class and goes back to her calculus test. Andrew West, who sat behind her for the test laughs into his hoodie and Camila turns around to see him grin.

    You do that every class, he mouths.

    You should try it too, she mouths back and returns to her test.

    They're usually together for math projects—the rare ones that turn up during the semester—and they're usually the ones cramming right before the exam in the library.

    Before he asked her to prom and before he demonstrated some kind of interest in her, Camila never noticed him as much as she does now. Now, she sees him everywhere. The hall, between classes, in the senior lounge, and even outside. They bump into each other everywhere.

    After her test, she stays behind in the classroom to heat her lunch up—her calculus teacher's the only one she knows that has a microwave in the class. Camila's always brought her own lunches simply because her dad makes extra and she'd rather spend her allowance on other things.

    Andrew stays behind a little to check over his test and after he hands it in.

    "Not enough time?" Camila asks.

    "I came in late, remember? On a normal day I would've smashed it in half an hour," he boasts.

    She laughs and opens the microwave door to check on her lunch after hearing the beep. Seeing that everything's uniformly heated, she takes it out, says goodbye to the teacher, and exits the room with Andrew.

    "I've been thinking about you," she begins, as she gets out her fork, eager to start eating.

    Right now, she's got a meeting as the president of the Animal Rescue Club and she's already running a little bit late.

    "Me?" Andrew grins.

    "No, not you. Well you but not you. Prom. With you."

    "Do you want to then?"

    "I do. But I don't know—"

    "If you want something more. I get it, I'm not the most romantic proposer but I wanted to go last year with you except you had Parker and—"

    "Really? That long?"

    "It's not overwhelming. I like you, sort of. But I also get that it's weird for you so—"

    "There's always time. If not now then later," Camila says.

    "If not now then later."

    "That's not a promise though," she warns.

    "I know. I know."