"Can I have off-campus permission?" I asked Parker, my phone pressed to my ear as I crumpled up a piece of notebook paper, shooting it in the direction of my trash can.
I missed.
"No."
I rolled my eyes. "It's Valentine's Day."
"That's nice."
"What do you expect me to do? Take McKenna to the on-campus shithole of a coffee shop and pick a flower off of the bush outside?"
"Precisely."
I crumpled up another piece of paper, shaking my head as I did so.
I had two options.
I could let my anger take control and let Parker know how incredibly unreasonable he was being.
Or I could reason with his romantic side, the side that rarely came to play. But was present during Valentine's Day, which was just around the corner.
"You have a girlfriend," I reasoned. "I'm sure that you and Emily have plans better than hanging out on Florida State campus."
"Yeah," he drawled, letting out a long sigh. "I'm taking part in a charity fundraiser for my Frat, so I'm being auctioned off for the night to the highest bidder. Emily's thrilled."
"Wait, you're not spending Valentine's Day with her?"
"I don't have a choice," Parker informed me. "I'm a Freshman. There's a charity auction. Freshmen don't get to pick whether they want to participate, it's an order."
"Why do you even want to be in a Fraternity?" I muttered.
"Let's not get into it."
Fine. We were off-topic now anyways.
"I'm not going to run wild across the stress of Tallahassee," I stated. "I just want a night to go out with McKenna."
"And I already told you the answer. Why are we still talking about this?"
"Because you're being unreasonable."
"Based on your track record, I think you're the one asking for too much here."
"I snuck off campus to see you," I reminded him. "Do we really want to start that again?"
"You're on probation Lee," Parker reminded me. "Even if I did agree to give you off-campus permission, which I'm not, I don't even think the school would allow it. I signed the contract, it's done. No off-campus excursions for the remainder of the semester, it says so right here."
"You have a copy of the contract in front of you?"
"Always have back-up for your argument. It ends things a lot quicker. Can I go to sleep now?"
"It's 9:00," I said, checking my phone just to be sure. "It's 9:13," I corrected.
"I didn't realize that you were my personal alarm clock now."
"Give me off-campus permission and I'll stop bothering you," I countered.
"Fuck off Lee. I'm not giving it to you and the school won't allow it anyways."
"Why are you such an asshole?"
I heard him let out a frustrated sigh, as though this conversation was physically draining him.
"You know what? I'm fucking tired of being the bad guy. Do whatever you want." There was a long pause, and I just rolled my eyes. "Oh wait, I'm so sorry, the school won't allow it. Well fuck, I tried to be on your side. Oh well, maybe next time."
"And I repeat, why are you such an asshole?"
"Maybe I was born with it. Maybe it's fucking Maybelline. We'll never know. Good night Lee."
"I hate you."
"Okay."
And then the line clicked dead.
Well fuck.
I tossed my phone over onto my futon, picking up my crumpled piece of notebook paper and tossing it into my trash can.
I missed that one too.
Fuck, I was off my game tonight.
I slumped down in my desk chair, twirling one of my sketching pencils in my hand.
I was going to have to find another way off of campus.
~*~
"You're good to go," Emily promised.
"How the fuck did you do that and do it that quick?" I asked.
"Because I'm a God."
"Shut up."
"Because Parker is groveling right now. And I told him that by not ruining your Valentine's Day, that's one way he could make this up to me."
"He's so fucking whipped."
"You better be glad for it. Because he's currently on the phone with Jefferson Lake getting you off-campus permission."
"Have I ever mentioned that you're the best girlfriend he's ever had?"
"You can mention that anytime you'd like to."
I laughed, throwing open my dorm room door. "I owe you for this one Em."
"You sure do. Because while you're out being all cutesy with McKenna, my boyfriend is going to be out on a date with someone else."
"Someone that paid for him," I reminded her. "And he'll probably just be thinking about you the entire time."
"He's a prostitute. For charity. Awesome."
"He'd do anything to make this up to you."
"Oh don't I know it."
"You're a real bitch sometimes."
"Oh don't I know it," she repeated.
"Just don't go too hard on him," I muttered, as I reached the bottom of the stairwell.
"Is Lee Adams going soft on me?"
"No," I declined. "I just know that he'd rather be spending Valentine's Day with you."
Emily was silent for a few moments. "I'll reconsider."
"That's all that I ask."
"I'm going to go and watch a sappy movie and cry about being alone on the most romantic holiday of the year now," she informed me. "I was alone on this holiday last year too you know. Your brother and I weren't even technically dating."
"I really don't want to hear about your weird and unconventional relationship."
"After all that I've done for you."
"Tell it Emmett."
She laughed. "Right, because he's such the relationship guru. Bye Lee, go and romanticize your date for me."
"Not really my style but I'll do my best."
"You Adams boys I swear to God," she muttered, before the line clicked dead.
I don't know what she's pissed about, my brother was much more romantic than me.
But maybe that spoke volumes about me.
Before I could even put my phone away in my pocket, it was ringing again.
I've never been this popular.
"Hello dear brother," I said, answering his phone call.
"Fuck off, I konw you talked to Emily."
"Me? Why never."
"I'm going to get you back for this," he promised. "If it's the last fucking thing I do. Using my girlfriend against me is the lowest kind of shit."
"I have no regrets."
"Of course you don't. Because you got your fucking way."
"So I'm guessing that means Jefferson Lake agreed?"
"You have an assignment from Travis that you have to complete this weekend off-campus," Parker informed me. "You're going to complete it tomorrow. I'm going to come and pick you up so that it seems legit. McKenna is going to have to cover her own ass."
"Her parents already gave her off-campus permission. Because they aren't unreasonable dicks."
"The only unreasonable dick here is you," Parker snapped. "Because you called my fucking girlfriend. I swear to God Lee, if you thought my castration threat was bad, you have another thing coming."
"Duly noted."
He seconds away from snapping. I could sense it over the phone.
"Well I'll see you on Valentine's Day then," I said, in a hurry to end this conversation. "Thanks for everything."
And then I ended the call.
I could only guess the level of Hulk that they were having to deal with over at Parker's Frat right now.
I stepped into the girls' dorms, signing myself in before heading up to McKenna's dorm.
She was sitting on her bed, her laptop in her lap and photos scattered around her.
"Sit," she ordered, pointing to her desk chair without looking up. "Don't speak."
"Woof."
She didn't look amused, her eyes trained on her laptop screen.
I did as she asked, taking a seat in her desk chair.
I kicked my feet up on her desk, leaning back to stare at the ceiling as I waited on her.
I wonder how many indents there are on the ceiling. It would be incredibly difficult to count them, much like counting the hairs on your head, because of how close they are together and just the massive number there are. But I bet with enough time and patience, neither of which I have, someone could do it.
"Make yourself at home why don't you?" Tracey commented, coming into their dorm.
"I'm done anyways," McKenna stated, closing her laptop. "Help me hang these?"
"Sure."
I stood up, helping her collect her photos and hanging them from a clothesline across her wall.
"What's that one?" I asked, resting my chin on her shoulder. It was a photo of what looked like long-bodied bug, perhaps a walking stick, against the green background of a leaf. Simple, yet I felt like there was something more to it. Something that I was missing.
I just hadn't had the time to fully immerse myself in the beauty of McKenna's art yet.
"It's my new collection."
"Yes, I can see that this is your new collection," I said, biting back a smile. "Explain it to me."
She turned to look at me, a small smile on her face. "I never though Lee Adams would ask me to explain something to him."
"I want to know more about your art."
She stood up on her bed, unclipping the walking stick picture from her collection. "It's not that deep so-"
"If I can't self-deprecate, then you can't either."
A small smile played on her lips, and she handed me the picture, sitting down on her bed and pulling me down beside her.
"The walking stick," she said, resting her chin on my shoulder.
I was right on my guess of the identification of the bug.
"My collection takes otherwise unnoticed things in daily life and highlights them. Because even those that seem insignificant play a role in the functioning of society."
"The walking stick?" I pressed.
"Phasmatodea," she corrected. "Their role in the forest ecosystem is considered important by many scientists, who stress the significance of light gaps in maintaining succession and resilience in climax forests. The presence of phasmids lowers the net production of early successional plants by consuming them and then enriches the soil by defecation. This enables the late succession plants to become established and encourages the recycling of the tropical forest."
I couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, and she just raised an eyebrow at me in question.
"I've never been more attracted to you," I informed her.
She just laughed, rolling her eyes.
"I could listen to you talk about your photos all day," I said my smile widening. "About phasmatodeas and..." I picked up another photo, this one of a dandelion. "And dandelions too. Anything you want."
"I think you're the biggest dork I know."
"Proud of it too."
She laughed, taking her dandelion photo from me and rehanging that and the walking stick.
"What were you working on when I came in?" I asked.
"The final editing for my submission," she said, sitting back down next to me. "I'm entering this local contest."
My eyes swept her collection again, and I immediately frowned when I saw a particular picture.
"You did not."
"What?" she asked, her eyes following mine. "Oh. That."
I took down the picture of myself.
"You consider me insignificant to society?" I challenged, as I studied the photo of myself.
We were in North Carolina, the snow-covered ground giving that away. I was standing, leaning against a tree with a beanie pulling over my head and my hands tucked in the pocket of my jeans. My eyes were pulled off to the right, studying whatever scene was unfolding with a pensive expression on my face.
I hated it. As I hate all pictures of myself.
McKenna placed her lips on my temple, letting them linger there. "You know the answer to that."
"Then why am I in your collection?"
She took the photo from me, studying it with a small smile before glancing up at me again.
"Because you're my favorite muse."
~*~
I pressed the side of the ketchup packet, watching as all the ketchup collected in the opposite side.
"Why do you think they have ketchup packets at a pizza joint?" I asked McKenna, glancing up at her.
"Maybe if you like ketchup in place of tomato sauce?" McKenna guessed. "I really don't know."
I took a sip of my Sprite before pressing on the opposite side of the ketchup packet, watching as all the ketchup moved to the opposite side.
It was a game I'd been playing for a while now as we waited for the check, my attention span hard to keep. And we'd been at this pizza place for almost two hours now.
Getting a table at anywhere decent had been impossible. So we'd ended up at a hole in the wall pizza joint, which had been fine by me. I'm not sure how McKenna felt about spending our Valentine's Day dinner here, but it was the best option we had.
And then the food took hours.
No wonder they're a hole in the wall joint.
My patience was wearing thin, and I'd resorted to entertaining myself with this ketchup packet.
"Want to get dessert after this?" I asked her.
"We could go to that specialty ice cream place on the corner," McKenna suggested, her eyes lighting up.
"Sounds good to me."
And then, as I pressed on the opposite side of the ketchup packet, our waiter came around to our table, our check in hand.
And the ketchup packet exploded.
McKenna's eyes widened in horror as ketchup splattered all over the table and all over our waiter's pants.
Well shit.
I pressed a fist to my mouth, unable to contain the laughter that escaped.
"I'm so sorry," McKenna stated, casting me a dirty look.
I took in a deep breath, sobering up a bit. "Um, should I get some napkins or something?"
"Yes!" McKenna snapped.
"It's alright," the waiter said, in a controlled voice. "Accidents happen."
And I just busted up laughing all over again.
"I'm sorry my boyfriend is such a jerk," McKenna said, her voice laced with venom.
She grabbed a few napkins from the dispenser on the table, helping the waiter to sort out his ketchup situation.
I had to excuse myself from the situation, unable to control my laughter.
McKenna eventually met me outside, her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment.
"I can't believe you're still laughing."
"You have to admit that it was at least somewhat funny," I countered, between my laughs. "The ketchup splattered all over his pants. McKenna, come on."
"That was embarrassing."
"Oh, lighten up. It's not like we'll ever go back there."
She just rolled her eyes, clearly displeased.
"Let's go get some ice cream," I reasoned. "Ketchup-free, I promise."
A small laugh escaped her lips.
I nudged her side. "See? It is pretty funny when you think about it."
"I cannot believe you exploded ketchup all over him and then couldn't stop laughing long enough to help him," McKenna muttered, as we strolled down the sidewalk. "You're such a jerk."
"But you like me anyways?"
"That's under consideration."
I intertwined my fingers with hers, offering her a cheeky smile.
"You're insufferable."
We stopped at the ice cream stand, the two of us ordering their Valentine's Day special to share.
"We're so couple-like," I commented, taking a seat at one of their umbrella tables.
McKenna handed me a spoon, laughing at my comment.
Our ice cream came out in a bowl that looked as though it was made to feed a family. The bottom was raspberry and strawberry sorbet. It was topped with vanilla ice cream and then whipped cream, a small paper heart sticking out of the top.
"Enjoy," the ice cream guy said with a smile, before disappearing again.
"There's no fucking way we're going to finish this," I said, as McKenna took her first bite.
She let out a satisfied hum. "Whatever you don't finish I'll happily finish for you."
It's sad to say that my girlfriend ate way more than me.
But we still didn't finish the bowl.
We had to walk back to campus from there, Parker out on his date with his mystery partner.
McKenna came over to my dorm, Dylan shooting me a knowing smile as she signed in.
I rolled my eyes, flipping him off behind my back as we made our way over to the stairwell.
Sitting on my futon upstairs was a box of chocolate propped up on a stuffed bear.
I clearly aim to romanticize.
A smile played on McKenna's lips. "Your present is back in my dorm. I was scared to give it to you because I didn't know if you got me anything."
"So you wouldn't have given it to me?"
"No. I would've eaten those chocolates for myself. Screw you."
I laughed as she scooped the stuffed bear up in her arms, stuffing her face in it.
"It still has the price tag on it," she whispered.
"Well now you know how much I'm willing to spend on our relationship."
She laughed, rolling her eyes at me before moving her bear and chocolates off to the side. "Come kiss me before I change my mind."
"We didn't even make it to the Netflix."
But I didn't waste any time, crashing my lips against hers.
For a small moment, before our lips meant, I noticed a small scar above her lip. And for a brief moment, I couldn't help but wonder how she got it.
I wanted to know everything about her, her deepest secrets and her innermost thoughts. And more than anything, I wanted to feel her lips brushing against mine, her body pressed against me.
The warmth of her mouth was everything that I needed in this moment, the coolness of my skin contrasting hers. She pressed her hips into mine, careful where she placed her hands so as not to cause an early onset panic attack.
I was suddenly aware of the eucalyptus scent of her shampoo, the way that it enveloped me as her hair fell in waves around her shoulders, brushing up against me.
Our kiss deepened, McKenna's tongue brushing along the bottom of my lip as I led us over to the bed, my shirt tugging off in the process.
McKenna paused, her hand hovering on the zipper of her dress.
And then her dress was on the floor.
"Let's just take this slow," she murmured, quietly.
I nodded, my lips brushing up against hers once again as she trailed kisses up my collarbone.
Damn that was nice.
I loved hearing my name on McKenna's lips as my lips touched her weak spot, our bodies melding together as the passion increased.
This was further than we'd ever taken it. And I wasn't sure how ready I was. But damn it felt good.
The next step would be taking off my jeans, and I was trying to sense the readiness of the situation.
But in the midst of making out, that was a more than difficult thing to do.
And then it became more than simple.
"Can we... Can we stop?" McKenna asked, pulling away from me.
I immediately dropped down next to her, my chest rising and falling in an irregular pattern.
The two of us laid side-by-side in silence, letting the heat of the moment pass.
"I'm sorry," McKenna sniffled.
And I could tell that she was crying.
I propped up on my elbow, a frown stretching across my face. I reached over and brushed a tear off of her cheek, causing her to look over at me in surprise.
"Don't ever be sorry," I stated. "I'd never want to do anything you're uncomfortable with. So you have to speak up and we'll stop. But come on McKenna, don't ever be sorry for it. How many times have I stopped us? Hell, we couldn't even hold hands when we started dating because of me."
A small smile spread across her face.
"I just don't want to let you down and-"
"Am I a sex-driven animal?" I questioned. "I don't need making out or anything of the sort to be happy. And you'll never let me down by informing me that you're uncomfortable instead of continuing on in the situation. Chances are it would've been me soon anyways."
She wiped a single tear off of her cheek, sniffling a bit. "Thanks."
"Of course."
"Want to watch some Netflix?"
I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah sure. If you could just give me a minute?"
She laughed, covering her face with her arm. "Of course. I'm going to get dressed while you take care of your, uh, problem."
"Yeah, thanks."
"Can I wear some of your sweatpants?"
"I only own two pairs, but go for it."
She stood up, dipping down and kissing me on the cheek.
"Not helping."
"Thank you," she said, with a soft smile. "You're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."
***************************************************************************************************
So what did you guys think about Parker & Emily's Valentine's Day plans? What about Emily using her persuasion skills on Parker? Do you think he'll get revenge on Lee for it? What about Lee & McKenna's date? Was it what you expected? Do you think Lee is the most anti-romantic person that possibly walked the planet?
The picture up at the top of the chapter was stolen from Twitter. It's from Tumblr (I think) and I thought it described McKenna & this chapter well.
So tomorrow is the Teen Fic Writer's Livesteam. For those who don't know, I'll be doing a livestream event tomorrow with some super talented writers (TahliePurvis, DoNotMicrowave, nonfictionalex, & tangles- with our special host Samantha!). It's at 4 PM EST and the link is on my profile. I hope you guys decide to tune in, it's going to be a blast :)
Teaser: Patricia the badass lawyer is back. And Parker has quite the post-Valentine's day story.