Beautiful Mistake

iv

We walk a few houses down and there Collin pulls out his keys.

"You live here?" I ask, the shock evident in my words.

"Yeah, is that a bad thing?"

When this house was on sale a few months ago, I went on a tour of it.

There are two floors, the first floor is just the office, kitchen, dining room, and living room and the second floor is two bedrooms, two bathrooms, the laundry room, and a loft.

The office is a modern style, the windows are gigantic. The kitchen counters are a beautiful white marble like white marble is the best marble.

I actually wanted to live here since I'm graduating this year and my parents have a rule. The day I turn 18, I have to have a down payment on a house or apartment.

"I really liked this house, wanted to rent it actually." He looks surprised.

"You'd live here with your parents?" I shake my head and he nods. "I live alone at the moment. My parents are on vacation in the Bahamas, they call it... 'Month of relaxation'."

"They mean their month away from you?" He laughs and shrugs.

"That could be it," Collin makes his way to the kitchen and I follow him.

"Before I take you home, you are going to sober up. So, there is bread in the pantry," He says, opening the pantry door, "And cups here." Collin opens the cupboard and shows me the glass cups that sit inside.

"Okay, I'm gonna make a sandwich." I go to his fridge and grab mayonnaise, mustard, cheese, turkey, lettuce, and an already sliced tomato. Which was convenient for me.

"You do that, I'm going to take a shower. I'll be right back." I nod and set the soon-to-be contents of my sandwich on the counter. I walk over to the pantry and take the bread from the middle shelf. I spot Doritos so I grab those too and throw it on the table.

I open the bread and grab 8 pieces. Two sandwiches for me, two sandwiches for Collin. I make the food in under 10 minutes but putting everything back was a hassle.

I kept dropping things and it took me a minute to understand that I needed to put things back one-by-one.

"Wow, quality food." I jump when I hear Collin's voice, he was so quiet coming down the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm a pro at making sandwiches." I separate my two from his. "Those are yours."

"Let's watch TV," Collin suggests ripping a paper towel from the roll and putting his food on it. I do the same and grab the bag of chips. "Did you not get any water?" I shake my head and he sets the napkin down. "I'll get it, you go sit in the living room."

I obey and walk into the furnished room. The couches were a soft cotton material and when I sit down, my butt is blessed.

"Two beverages with seedless lemon are served." Collin comes in and sets the glasses on coasters.

"Thanks," He leaves again and comes back in seconds with his food. "What are we going to watch?"

"I have Shark Week recorded if you don't mind watching that," I take a bite of my sandwich and in the same moment my phone vibrates. I pull it from my pocket and look at the screen. It was from Tessa.

Where are you??? Someone said they saw you leave with Collin!

I did, I'm staying at his tonight.

You were my ride home! What am I gonna do?

Talk to Warren, I'm sure he'll let you stay.

Whatever I'll talk to you later

"Who was that?" I put my phone on the coffee table and grab my water.

"Tessa, I was her DD tonight but she can stay at Warren's."

"Oh, let's hope she doesn't get fazed by his accent and golden locks." I take another bite of my sandwich.

"He has no chance with her," Collin raises an eyebrow at me questioningly, "They tried dating when he first moved here but she ended up dumping him for a British guy who turned out to be a fake."

"So she thinks he's a fake Australian?"

"She's taking a break from accented guys."

"Have you two ever tried dating?" Collin asks, finishing his first sandwich.

"Who? Me and Warren?" He nods and I continue,"No, we have more of a brother/sister vibe than an I-want-to-fuck-you vibe."

"That's good, at least I won't have to fight for you." I tilt my head and look at him.

"You know what I realize in this moment?"

"Hmm?"

"We were kind of forced into this relationship. I mean if you think about it, the only reason we're dating is because of this project... If this project didn't exist we wouldn't even be talking right now," Collin furrows his eyebrows and sets his food down. He turns to face me, takes my sandwich and water and set those down too.

"Okay, this may seem a bit ridiculous but that isn't true. This week, sometime this week, I was going to ask you out on a date. I guess Mr. Santiago caught wind of it and he asked me if I would be willing to do a project with you. Obviously, I asked him to clarify and when he told me that we'd get a bunch of credits and had to 'act' like we were dating I said yes."

"I didn't think you liked me like that," I say, a bit of excitement fills me. A boy, I mean a really hot boy was planning on asking ME out. I mean ME. Caroline Julie Folsen.

"When you said yes, I thought it was the best opportunity to be with you."

"Wow, come to think of it... I had a crush on you in middle school. I'm not sure if that means anything to you," I shrug and turn to face him. I cross my legs and he turns to face me too.

"That means a lot," He smiles goofily and ruffles his hair, "So, Caroline... Will you legitimately be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, I'll be your legitimate girlfriend."