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Chapter Five: Mark My Words

"Like another date?"

"Yeah, like another date," I shrugged as he nodded slowly with a small smile.

"I'd like hanging out, but I have swim practice later," he frowned as I shrugged.

"And I have meetings too, but maybe when we get there, after practice and the meetings?"

"That'd be nice. I would kiss your cheek if we weren't in class," he smirked as I laughed lowly.

"Well, thank you."

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Preston wouldn't stop staring at me in the duration of the day, and I was beyond tired of telling him to stop. He'd sent me too many smiles, too many winks to keep us undercover. I groaned as I walked into the cafeteria and spotted him immediately with his eyes following me. I nudged Erica to look too, and she laughed lowly.

"He just likes you," she shrugged as I covered my face with my hands.

"I know, but goodness. And look at his friends," I groaned.

"He's probably telling them he's gonna try and ask you out again. Oh, and look— here he comes," laughed Erica as my head shot his way and he smirked as he approached us.

"Preston," I muttered as his smile widened.

"Hey. Sorry, I just wanted to talk," he shrugged.

"And I want to talk to you too, but I can't because you know how this works—"

"Are you people pleasing, Kayla?" He smirked as I shook my head.

"That subject is off the table."

"Okay, fine, but you can't blame me," he sighed as we stepped in line. "I-I'm sorry, I'm being ridiculous. I'll just leave you two alone."

"No, you're fine. It's normal to want to talk and laugh, and it's not annoying, but you know how I am. I don't want people to know yet because I'm still figuring this out. So please? For me, save the staring for our dates until we finish this out?" I requested as he pouted.

"Yeah, I will. I'm gonna go pretend I've gotten shot down again," he laughed lowly.

"I'll see you later," I said with a small smile as he nodded, and left the line.

Once lunch was over, I went through the rest of the day normally, Preston controlling himself as the day progressed. My meetings flew by, and before I knew it, I was at the store buying some popcorn for our small movie date. I headed to my house to check the status, and they told me the same thing again— wait a month. I grabbed a few more of my things, and headed back to Preston's place with optimism that Heather would be there along with Ms. Knight. But they weren't.

I walked in and headed to my designated room, setting down my backpack and purse before flopping onto the bed. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes for a minute, happy to have peace and quiet. I rolled my eyes back open slowly, and grabbed my phone as I skipped down the stairs. I sat on the couch in the living room of their house, and turned the TV on, waiting for whoever it was that would show up first.

Around ten minutes later, I heard keys in the door, and perked up. I was hoping it was Preston, seeing as we had been neutral all day, and ultimately, I missed him. Seconds later, there he was as I all but sprang from the couch, bouncing to him.

"You're here," I smiled as he looked up from the ground where he had set down his gym bag.

"I am, what's with you?" He chuckled as I tied my arms around his neck, and he hugged me back reluctantly. I gave him a tight squeeze before pulling back to see his face.