Roads and Romances | ✓

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"The true fruit of travel is perhaps the feeling of being nearly everywhere at home." -Freya Stark

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     "I'm in love with you."

     My eyes widen, and I'm pretty sure my mouth is hanging open.

     "And yeah, I've dated girl after girl throughout high school, but I never loved them as much as I love you. You're different, Leo, because you're sarcastic and snappy and sometimes downright rude and a lot of times, you are extremely moody. But I love everything about you, including your crappy indie music and the amount of love you have for your truck. And even the fact that you hate country music."

     I press my back against the door, absolutely shocked."No, no, nope. There's no way you're in love with me. I don't have time for boys. If I get into a relationship, it will be bad.Super bad. Like, insanely horrible. You probably can't even imagine how-"

     Everett chuckles, and my rambling immediately ceases.His fingertips touch my forearm. "It will be okay. We can work everything out together, okay? Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

//

     "So what do you like?"

     After that extremely awkward confession, surprisingly,everything went back to normal. It was as if the whole conversation never happened. He continued to annoy the crap out of me with cocky remarks and stupid jokes, and I kept on fussing at him and occasionally punching his arm.

     We decided on a small town to stop in for dinner.Everett spent twenty minutes arguing with me about where we ate.Eventually, my decision beat his, resulting in a grumpy Everett, but only for a few minutes. I decided on a small diner with a classic red and white color scheme.

     "What do you mean?" I keep my eyes on the plate of fries between us, my gaze flickering between that and the cheeseburger in front of me.

     "Like, hobbies, interest, favorite books,anything, really."

     I rack my brain for anything worth telling him about myself, but I come up empty-handed. I look up at him and shrug.

     "Well," Everett smiles, "I'll start, I suppose. My middle name is Jason. My favorite book is hands-down To Kill A Mockingbird. Coldplay is by far my favorite band. I'm an only child. My hair was really light blonde when I was young. I-"

     "Everett," I laugh, eating the last bite of my burger, "shut up, please."

     He smiles at me, a genuine smile. "It's your turn."

     I stand from the table and pay for dinner at the counter, sliding a twenty across to the cashier. Everett rushes over with his credit card, but, seeing that I already paid, groans loudly."Seriously, it's the dude's responsibility to pay for dinner on a date."

     "Uh, excuse me. This was not a date," I raise an eyebrow and grab my change from the cashier. The man chuckles a little, but quickly tries to cover it up with a cough. I glance at him wearily before turning to Everett. "Okay?"

     He shrugs, walking backwards towards the door. "Sure, it's not a date. Whatever you say."

     Rolling my eyes, I follow him out of the diner and onto the sidewalk. "Where are we headed?"

     "Wherever you want to be headed, I suppose," He grins at me, wiggling his eyebrows. "Where's it gonna be?"

     I let out a long groan, attracting the attention of a few other pedestrians, and rub my hands over my face. "If it's up to me, we're getting back in the truck."

     "So I think it should be my choice," He says quickly, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards a sweet shop."Dessert?"

     "I'm so full, though," I say while placing my hands on my belly. "Unless they have lemon cookies."

     "I believe I see some right there," Everett points to a powdered cookie on a tray in the window. "Do you want some?"

     My eyes widen, and I fight back a smile. "I guess."

     He pulls me inside towards the counter, where a cashier was standing with a coffee in his hand. "Hey guys, can I help you?" He shoots us a smirk, and I see him eyeing my legs. I sort of push myself behind Everett's frame and clutch to his sides.

     "Yeah, I think we want some lemon cookies for my girlfriend here," Everett replies as he points again to the window.

     In any other situation at all, I would've fussed at Everett and corrected him, but in this case, I let him say it because I was terrified.

     "Oh, girlfriend. Well, I, uh... Lemon cookies,yeah, one second," The cashier gives me a look I can't read, and he reaches under the glass lid and pulls out four cookies. I watch as he puts them into a white paper back, sealing them with a red bow."That'll be four dollars and seventeen cent."

     Everett pays before I can argue and grabs the treats."Thanks, man."

     "No problem," The cashier glances at me one more time before walking to the back of the shop.

     Everett and I exit the shop, and I immediately open the bag. As soon as the sweet touches my tongue, a taste of lemon, along with the texture of powder and crunch of the actual cookie, explodes in my mouth. A moan escapes my lips as I savor the flavor. "Oh my god."

     "I'm guessing they're good?" Everett laughs,taking a bite out of his own cookie. "Wow. Oh my god."

     "I know," I reply before licking my fingers. "That just might be the best lemon cookie that I have ever eaten. Actually, it probably is the best lemon cookie I have ever eaten."

     We both eat another cookie and throw the bag into a nearby trash bin. After walking for about another three minutes,Everett looks down at me and says, "Can I hold your hand?"

      And I say, "Absolutely not."