Purposefully Accidental

Chapter Thirty-One

Jonah finds me before I can find him. It looks like he's surprised to see me, too, but maybe also relieved? I can't really interpret the look on his face as his eyes lock on me from across the room, but I think it's a positive one.

"Hey," he says once he reaches me.

"Hi." I bite down the inside of my lower lip to contain my smile. This is embarrassing. "Didn't think I'd see you here."

He laughs a little. "Yeah. It was a late-minute decision. I was very fashionably late." Jonah then turns to Gina. "Hi, Gina."

"Good to see you, Gibbs," she greets him cheerily. She sends a look my way. I ignore it. "I'm gonna go get another drink. You kids want anything?"

We both chorus a "No, thanks" and she leaves us alone. Jonah rubs the back of his neck. I fiddle with the chain bracelet on my wrist. We stare at each other, and it's a little bit awkward... but I guess it's also not.

"I didn't think you got the invitation for this," I finally say to him.

"I almost didn't," he answers. Then smiles heart-stoppingly. "But I'm glad I did."

Then, I admit, "I'm surprised that you came here. I didn't really want to. I'm only here because Gina forced me."

"Well, thank god she did."

I begrudgingly agree with him.

"It's a bit strange," he begins, a slightly teasing tone in his voice. "Nobody talked to me in high school. But I just spent the last 15 minutes listening to old friends tell me how much they've missed me since graduation day. And that they wanted my autograph."

I giggle at that, and he smiles just a bit wider. "No, that's not right. I talked to you in high school. Very insistently, if I recall correctly. Despite the fact that you clearly found me annoying."

"Oh, you were," he nods playfully. "Maybe I wouldn't have found you annoying if you didn't bump into me in the cafeteria with an open can of soda and stained my shirt red—"

"That was an accident," I lie with a grin.

"I'm pretty sure that was on purpose," he contradicts, laughing.

Shaking my head, I bite the corner of my lip to keep myself from laughing along with him. "I don't know if you remember what happened next, but you dumped the same can of soda all over my hair and stained my hair red..."

He bows his head as if he's ashamed. "Alright, I admit that wasn't my best moment."

I roll my eyes playfully. "I might've orchestrated the whole running-into-you-accidentally scenario, but I almost had to re-evaluate my crush on you when I had to dye my hair to fix the stain, you know..."

His face does this mock-sceptic look, as he slightly narrows his eyes at me. "That was just you being dramatic. I'm sure washing your hair a few times would've fixed it just fine."

"Hm. But you liked me as a redhead."

"I like your blonde hair even more," Jonah says with a smile, and I fight the urge to touch my braid. "It's really nice to see you again, Hannah. I really wasn't sure if you'd be here."

My heart does a dangerous flip inside my ribcage, it cannot be healthy. Feeling a bit cheeky, I ask him, "Did you only come because you were hoping I'd be here?"

A faint redness blooms on his cheeks, but he tries to play it off with a casual shrug. "I can neither confirm nor deny."

I scoff out a laugh even as I feel my own cheeks warming at the implication. I gesture toward the food station behind me. "Alright. So, now that we're here. Wanna judge all the food with me, Masterchef? They have so much food tonight, Gina wouldn't want me to waste the $75 she spent for my registration fee."