The Cliche Gone Wrong

Chapter Fifty-three

Senior Ball doesn't matter.

I didn't care about it two months ago when I was single. I don't care about it now that I am in a relationship.

I didn't want to go then. I don't want to go now.

But....

I still would have liked him to ask me.

No Kenedi! Bad girl!

I shake those errant thoughts out of my head like I'm a dog as I pull out of the parking lot and head to the elementary school. I jump out of the can and head to the side building where the afterschool program is. I absentmindedly toy with my keys as I pull open the tacky teal door, the swirly white letters that spell out "Champion's Care" making me briefly reminisce on the decade I spent trapped in this prepubescent hellhole.

I walk into the room with another fake smile on my face, my eyes scanning the large space for the three people I'm here for. I narrow my eyes at the multiple floral arrangements clustered on a table to my left before I focus on Bear and Bug playing some game with the kids on the ABC tiles, while Kahlil plays a game on his phone in a plush chair a few feet away from them.

"Keni!" Bug yells when she spots me standing there. She sprints up to me, clumsily dodging around a preschooler before hurling herself at my legs. "Look at the flowers! Look at the flowers!"

"I see hun!" I barely keep the grimace from pulling down the corners of my mouth. "Why I don't I look at the flowers while you tell Bear and KD to grab their stuff so we can go?"

"No, no!" She screeches, letting go of my leg and grabbing my hand to drag me over to the table littered with the colorful bouquets. "They're for you, Keni! They're yours!"

"What are you talkin—" I sigh heavily as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Listen Bug, I've had a long day can you please jut go get your stuff?"
"Nooooooo Keni!" Bug stomps her foot, frustrated that I'm not understanding whatever she's talking about. "Skills came! The flowers are yours! Look!"

I allow Bug to pull me over to the child-sized table that is absolutely covered in different sized vases with a variety of different flowers. There is a blank white envelope placed on the table in front of the flowers, which I tentatively grab in between two fingers in fear of getting it dirty in case it isn't really for me. I flip up the unsecured flap of the envelope and pull out a thick, cream-colored cardstock that has a simple question penned in a messy yet familiar scrawl.

"You didn't think I forgot, did you?"

I look around the room, hoping to find Shills hiding behind a kindergartener somewhere, waiting to pop out and surprise me, but he's nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?"

"He left," Bug shrugs, smiling cheekily before she runs off to grab her backpack and coat.

Kahlil wanders up to me a second later, grabbing the letter out of my hand as he reads it quickly. "Talk about whipped!" He laughs, tossing the letter onto the table before he grabs a vase and starts walking to the door. "This is all I'm carrying! Your flowers. Your boyfriend. Your problem."

I roll my eyes as I take in the other three vases on the table, thinking I can probably carry them all in one trip if I don't have to open any doors for myself. Bug and Bear appear at my side with their jackets on and backpacks secured; so, I tuck the envelope into my back pocket and gather all three vases precariously into my arms before I start to slowly walk out the door. I waddle carefully , each foot tentatively reaching out in front of the other and to my van in the parking lot, struggling to see anything over the dozens of flowers that are in my face.

But I can't stop smiling now.

"You might need another hand!" Kahlil calls out with a laugh.

I stop about 10 feet away from the van, turning to the side so I can look around the flowers in my arms. And there I see a large teddy bear sitting on the hood of the van, with another envelope propped up in his lap. I barely stop myself from squealing with glee, spinning around to see if I can spot his car anywhere in the parking lot.

Once I confirm he is nowhere to be seen I finish walking to the van, awkwardly opening the trunk to put down the three vases I was carrying, before I run around the front of the car to grab the teddy bear that's nearly as big as I am with one hand and the note with the other.

The note looks exactly the same as the one before it; a perfectly white envelope with cream cardstock inside it. This time Shills doesn't pose a question though.

"I hope you like being spoiled because I'm just getting started."

A/N  I SWEAR I DIDN'T ABANDON Y'ALL AGAIN!!!!! I WAS JUST TIRED AND BUSY!!!!!

BUT GUESS WHAT??? YA GIRL JUST GOT HIRED AT HER LOCAL GYM!! BOUTTA MAKE THEM COINS WHILE MY BOOTY GETTIN PERKY THAN A MUF WITH THAT FREE MEMBERSHIP!!!

But back to this chapter! I was honestly just going to do the whole promposal in one go, but that would have been a really long ass chapter and I wouldn't have been able to post it until, like, tomorrow. So instead what I did is posted this tidbit, and then tomorrow, or I guess technically later today, I'll post lil something from Shills pov and then its back to Kenedi so y'all can be surprised along with her.

But did y'all really think that Shills forgot her? Like, you know he would never do Keni like that! Just wait and see what else he has in store for her!

Much Love,

Naomi