Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jonah picked me up the next morning. It was so easy between us now, like I'd finally unlocked the door and it was now completely wide open. He was smiling and laughing as well, and if anyone asked me where that gloomy kid named Jonah Gibbs was, I would say, "Gloomy kid who?"

Though, once we both stepped out of his car, it was as if his walls slowly built up again, like I was the only one allowed to see the side of him he had been hiding and no one else was allowed to see it. I took his hand in mine, surprising not him but also myself and also a hundred other kids who openly gawked at us as we went into the school building hand-in-hand, and I gave him a smile.

"What did I say about smiling instead of frowning?" I said to him.

He slowly smiled. "Sorry. I'm not used to it," he murmured, his eyes fixed on me.

The hall was packed already, so it wasn't that much of a surprise when Jonah suddenly crashed into someone, effectively making all the stuff they were holding fall onto the ground. Both Jonah and I stopped, seeing a girl stuttering and obviously scared in front of us, avoiding Jonah's eyes as she tried to collect her things.

She was flustered, and she looked like she was about to piss in her pants when her shaky hands kept on dropping her stuff back into the ground. Without a word, Jonah crouched down to help her, making the girl stiffen in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking," I heard Jonah said genuinely. He handed the things back to her, but stood up without helping her. I rolled my eyes and offered the girl my hand, and she stared at it confusedly before slowly taking my hand, and I pulled her up into her feet with ease.

The girl was still hesitant, but she finally looked at us both. I gave her a friendly smile and lightly stepped on Jonah's feet. "Smile," I hissed to him, and he rolled his eyes at me for a moment before smiling at the girl.

"Sorry again," he said easily, making the smile on my face even bigger.

"It—it's okay," the girl stammered. "I'm s-sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he replied, before stepping aside and taking me with him, and then we continued walking along the hallway.

"You're such a gentleman," I cooed at him. I reached out to pinch his cheeks but he stopped me, grabbing both of my wrists with a small glare.

"Shut up," he said, flushing in embarrassment.

I just laughed at him, and we finally arrived at my locker. He waited as I opened my locker, and I sent him a questioning glance. "Don't you need to get to your own locker?" I asked.

He shrugged, his lips pulling into a small smile. He reached out to fix the strands of hair on my cheeks that was out of the ponytail, brushing them behind my ear.

I blushed and caught his wrist to stop him. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" he asked, reaching for my hair again.

"That."

He was grinning. "Why not?"

I turned my head away from him. "You're making me blush," I said, taking my math textbook from my locker as an excuse to not look at him.

He chuckled. "I like seeing you blush."

Well goddammit, Jonah. That's only making me blush even more. "Well, I don't like blushing," I huffed at him. "In case you haven't noticed, I turned into a tomato every time."

He put his hand on top of my head and ruffled my hair, making me shriek in surprise.

"You're ruining my hair!"