We arrive at the hardware store and I head straight for the paint, Elijah following behind me.
"Why couldn't Harper or Sage take you?" he complains.
"Because you would know what your mom would want. I want to make sure you all love it," I say. "And Sage would've whined the whole time but apparently, you guys had the same idea. Now, shut up."
We get to the paint sample aisle and I look for a bunch of earth tones. I find a brown that I think would be perfect for the giraffe and I bend down, accidentally pushing into Elijah.
I stand back straight and face him. He looks at me with wide eyes as he rushes out an apology. I shoo him away with my hands and bend back down to examine the brown.
I grab some browns, cremes, whites, greens, and blacks before walking over to the paintbrushes. I then take hold of a bunch of brushes, rollers, and paint trays.
"Why do you need so many?" Mr. Know-it-all complains, again.
"Why do you keep talking?" I mock his cries and tone.
He gives me an unamused look as I throw the brushes into the cart, giving him a petty smile.
I push the cart to the checkout line. I look down in the basket while we wait, counting everything.
"Oh shoot, I forgot something." I face Elijah to see he's already looking at me. "Could you do me a favor?"
He just glares at me.
"Please," I fake a pout and beg, dragging out the word. He sighs and caves. My frown turns upside down and I tell him to go find me a flathead screwdriver.
He's already been gone a few minutes when it's my turn to pay. I was about to lift the paint cans onto the conveyer belt but the cashier comes around and stops me.
"I can help you," he says.
I turn around to see a tall cute Asian boy carrying a handheld scanner, smiling at me.
Why is everyone so cute all of a sudden? Is this the universe telling me that I need to hook up with someone?
Go away, Universe.
"Oh! Thank you." I smile back, moving out of his way.
He scans all the paint cans I have in the cart, as well as all the paint brushes, rollers, and trays.
"There you go, ma'am." He walks back behind the register. "What are you painting, if you don't mind me asking?"
I get out my debit card as I answer him. "A friend's nursery. I'm doing zoo animals, preferably giraffes."
He rings me up and nods as I speak. "Well, good luck to you. You must be a pretty good painter. I'm assuming by your uniform that you go to the academy?"
"Yes, I do. Do you? I haven't seen you around." I keep my polite smile on my lips as we continue talking, luckily there's no line behind me.
"Ah, I did. I graduated last year. Tell me, is Mrs. Anderson still there?" the cute stranger asks, talking about the sophomore math teacher.
"I believe so."
"No kidding! She's so old. I thought she would've retired by now!" His eyebrows raise and I can tell he's genuinely shocked.
I laugh back. "She's such a sweetheart though!"
"I know, I know! It's just shocking, that's all."
We continue laughing together when Elijah comes back with the screwdriver I asked for.
"Why the hell is it so hard to find a freakin' screwdriver." He places it on the conveyer belt.
The cute cashier and I just stare at him.
"What?" he asks.
I shake my head at him and slowly turn back to the boy. "Uh- this is all."
He smiles and scans the screwdriver. "I'm Malakai by the way."
"I'm Lavender."
"And I'm Elijah. Here." He's about to put his card in the machine.
"What? No, don't do that," I tell him. "I was going to pay."
"Okay." Elijah nods as he holds his hand out. I put my card in his hand and he immediately drops it. "Oops."
I scoff and kneel down to grab it. Handing it back, I realize he's already paid with his money.
"You're annoying," I mumble to him.
-
We get back in the car after we loaded everything in the trunk. Malakai and I exchanged numbers. He was talking about a Halloween frat party and said he was texting me the details.
"Didn't you already give Theo your number?" Elijah asks, driving.
"Are you calling me a whore?" I sarcastically accuse.
"If I was calling you a whore, you'd know, Lavender."
God, I hate the way he says my name. He never calls me by any nickname, just my full name, all the time. He makes it sound so proper, so moral, so... sexy.
What? No. I did not say that.
I want to say something back but what does he mean by that? So I keep quiet and look out the window.
When we arrive at his house, he and I take all the supplies up to the hallway.
"Okay, I need a tablecloth, tarp, plastic drop cloth, or something to cover the floor." I put the last paint can on the floor and stretched out my arms a bit.
"Go ahead and change, I'll do it," Elijah says.
"Are you sure? It'll only take a second," I offer.
"Definitely."
I nod and walk downstairs to my house. I notice that the car Sage and I share isn't in the driveway. It's not in the garage either because there's no room in there with all the storage boxes and my paint stuff.
I groan and try the door, just in case.
Locked.
I realize the only way in is to climb through my window. I haven't snuck out since my sophomore year.
I throw my head back and run and hand over my face.
Oh, fuck me.
I throw a tantrum in my head as I walk over to my side of the house. I tie my hair back with the hair tie that's on my wrist and take a deep breath, but not before I whine to myself.
"Okay, here we go." I take hold of the tree branch and lift myself onto the small part of the roof, right below my window.
I get fully on top of the roof and try to lift my hard-to-open window. I struggle and eventually give up.
"What are you doing?" a voice asks.
I jump by that stupid raspy voice I learned to hate.
I slowly turn my head towards him, embarrassed. I gradually suck my teeth as I open my mouth to find words.
"I... forgot my," I pause, avoiding eye contact. "key."
I hear him chuckle under his breath and my head snaps toward him. His face immediately falls.
"Sorry." He clears his throat, "You could've just burrowed some of my clothes until Sage or your mom came home."
I scoff and try to open my window again. "No need, I—" I finally lift it—"got it."
I face Elijah again and flash him a smile before crawling into my bedroom. "I'll be right back."
I walk in and sit on my bed to pick out all the leaves and dust that got on my stockings.
I move to my closet and pick out a long oversized gray-blue sweater and random dark blue stretchy pants. I put them on and to bind it all together, I tie a dark blue bandanna in my hair.
I stand in my full-body mirror and just stare at myself.
Confidence. I hate that word. I hate that thought. Fake it till you make it, I guess.
I stand there for a couple of minutes until I hear a knock. I look over at the window to see Elijah looking at me confused with his arms in the air, waving me over.
"C'mon princess, we know you're pretty. Let's go," he asserts then he walks out of his room.
"C'mon princess, we know you're pretty. Let's go," I mock him in a deep voice.
I throw my head back and loudly groan before walking out of my room and out the front door.
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A/N:
Ahhh, how do we feel so far?? Thank you so much for voting and commenting!!! I'm almost at 300 reads, that's insane.
I really do hope you're enjoying reading so far. I'll update 1 or 2 chapters a day probably. Since my summer starts next month, I should be free but I am a cheerleader so I have camp and practices. I should have a regular update schedule hopefully soon.
Tiktok: weirdorandolmao
Let me know if there are any questions or concerns! I'll check up on you guys every couple of chapters but other than that, enjoy reading my lovelies. ❤️
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