James had offered to give me a ride back to school.
When I was gone, he had saved up enough money and was finally able to get that car he always wanted. It was a small fancy car, black, and has a silver trim around the edges.
"Get in Lilly," he opened the passengers door from me when I left me front door.
"Damn James," I grinned at the sight of him all dressed up next to his new ride. "This is such a chick magnet."
I stepped inside and let out a low whistle. "Leather..." I murmured and ran my fingers across the seats.
"You like it?" He asked.
"Love it."
The drive to school was pretty silent. I didn't mind it, of course, but from the way James was tapping his fingers against the steering wheel I could tell something was on his mind.
"You okay James?"
He bit his lip and smiled a little at me. "Yeah," he said. "I'm just.. I'm just happy you're back Lilly." He smiled at me and his hands finally let go of the steering wheel when he got to a red light.
"I'm happy to be back," I said with a nod.
He chuckled and looked away from me. "I have a feeling you don't mean that."
A small pang of sadness his my chest and I frowned. "I do mean it. James I just want to move on," I finally said.
He gave me a sideways look before nodding his head. His hand reached over and held him tightly. "I'm glad." He smiled a bit at me and let go of my hand to go back to diving when the light turned green.
I smiled a little for his sake and looked back out the window. I don't know if I meant it. I don't want to move on.
I move on from one chapter of my life only to get hooked on another. I hate this sometimes.
"James think we could just skip today? I want to hang out with you."
He frowned and thought it over for a moment before sighing. "Where do you wanna go?"
I smiled a little. "The pizza parlor?"
He laughed and glanced at me. "At 6:30 in the morning?"
I rolled my eyes and my smile grew. "Fine. Just take me to your place then."
"My parents are home Lilly. I'd be dead if they caught me skipping."
I huffed and looked out the window. "Walmart. Just to go to freaking Walmart."
He laughed again and shook his head, but he moved into a different lane and turned on his blinker. "Yes your majesty."
I smiled in triumph and laid my head back. "Thank you frail servant."
"Frail," he scoffed. "Servant? Lilly I'm a buff super hero."
"More like super heroine. Have you seen how noodley your arms have gotten?" I grinned and pinched his bicep. He winced a little and pushed my arm off.
"You're the one who looks like a noodle. Ya know, I wasn't going to tell you but I might as well." He paused and I rose an eyebrow out of curiosity. "I mistook you for a ramen noodle this morning."
I gasped and hit his chest. "Not funny!"
"But it's true!" He laughed and drove a little faster. "You're wearing that awful tan sweatshirt and those light jeans." He shook his head at my light blue high waisted jeans. "Your shoes match your sweatshirt too. And what's that? Some weird logo? Gosh darnet you're hipster too."
We were both laughing now and I looked down at my sweatshirt. "You gave this to me dumbass! For my birthday like two years ago." He gave me a funny look so I elaborated. "Remember? It came with the hat? And the book?"
He hit the steering wheel and he nodded. "I remember!" He cheered. "That's an amazing sweatshirt! Why don't you wear it more often Tumblr girl?"
I rolled my eyes and grinned at him. "Shut up."
He snickered and pulled into the parking lot for Walmart. We both hopped out and I looked up to the sky. It was a dark and gloomy day. Honestly I was surprised it wasn't raining already.
"C'mon noodles." He hollered, walking towards the entrance.
I jogged a bit to keep up with him and walked along side him. "James I'm cold."
"Shoulda brought a jacket."
I pouted and poked his arm. "You have a jacket."
"But that's for me."
"But I want it."
"Well you can't have it."
I frowned and when we walked inside, a gust of cold air hit me right in the face.
I shivered a bit and crossed my arms stubbornly. James didn't seem to care much, but at least it kept me a bit warmer.
"You know what I've kinda wanted to do?" He asked, although he didn't wait for my answer. "I've always wanted to make one of those forts. Like inside toilet paper and stuff."
I stopped walking and rose an eyebrow at him. "Toilet paper?" I asked.
"Yeah. Ya know what I'm talking about." He pulled out his phone and began to type before showing me a video.
"I'm afraid I don't," I said before looking down at his phone.
Two guys were building a small hide away with a wall of toilet paper and paper towels guarding them in and hiding them. I smiled a little when I saw them pull in rugs and pillows so they could chill out there.
"I think thy meant to stay the night but I mean I wanna make one regardless."
"I just got home," I said. "I don't want to go to prison just yet."
"You'll be with me; besides, it'll be fun," he grinned at me and headed to the isle with all the toiletries and big rolls of toilet paper.
My shoes squeaked against the newly cleaned floors and the sound made my ears ring and my stomach churn.
"Still hate that noise huh?" James said to me as he slowed down and walked along side me.
"I guess," I gave him a weak smile and when we arrived in the desired isle, I stopped and stared. "This is so dumb," I said and shook my head. "We're gonna get caught and we're gonna die."
He rolled his eyes and began to undo some of the toilet paper stacks. And low and behold he was right. There was an open space on some wooden crates. "See? Now you go and get some rugs and pillows. I'll clear up a nice space."
He gestured towards a stack of hand held carts and went back to work on clearing the area. I'm not gonna lie, I was exhausted. I yawned and grabbed one of the blue crates and headed down to where I thought the rugs were.
There were fluffy rugs, colorful rugs, and all soft to the touch. I ran my finger tips alongside each and everyone of them before picking the softest rug I came across. It was a white one with grey and blue swirls all over it. It didn't look the most attractive out there, but it was still good for our purposes.
Next I headed down to the pillows and did the same thing I did for the rugs; I picked the softest ones I found. These, sadly, were Dora the Explora themed but it didn't matter much to me.
I came back to James to find him gone. "James?"
No one answered, but there was some shuffling around. Three of the toilet paper stacks moved and James popped his head out. "You called Lilly?"
I grinned at him and handed him the things before coming in with him. "Whoa... this is seriously the best." I grinned at him and helped set up the rug and various cartoon pillows I found. He smiled and I saw he had stacks of blankets to the side.
"Look at what I got for you," he crawled through the little fort and lead me to a room only big enough so maybe a chair. Which, that was exactly what was inside of it.
You know those foldable kids chairs that go from a small chair to like a slightly longer chair? Well he had gotten that for me. And ironically, it was Dora the Explora themed.
I laughed and shook my head before moving past him and sitting down. "And look at this," he moved across me and there was a Spider-Man chair. He grinned and pulled it out to face me as he sat down in it.
He did look quite ridiculous in it but it just made me laugh more. I took my phone out and took a picture of him, biting my lip and grinning wider than a Cheshire Cat.
"Happy you skipped?" He said and smiled at me.
I looked up at him and slowly smiled. "Yeah," I said with a nod. "I am, actually."
He grinned in triumph and leaned back in his chair. "Best part about this is that no one will find us unless they take away one of our walls."
I nodded my head and nodded around. "True, true."
He smiled at me and a silence grew upon us. It was one of those awkward silences, where we just sat and stared at each other.
"So do you-"
"Will you go out with me?"
My mouth was agape and I stared at him in shock. Never in a million years would I think that James would actually ask me out. Yeah we had some bumps in the road while I was in the hospital, but for him to actually ask me out?
Th silence around us grew and I knew it was a bad thing. And for the first time in a very long time, I just let my heart speak instead of my head.
I leaned over and pressed a kiss against his lips, shocking the both of us.
"Yes," I whispered against his lips. It was enough to make him smile and wrap his arms around me as he kissed me back.
It was weird. The kiss. It wasn't intense or soft. His lips were firm but still moved slowly and softly against mine. I pulled away all too soon and smiled at him.
He smiled back and I realized what I had just agreed to.
I'm dating my best friend.
And for the time being, I'm actually really really excited.
-
Hey guys! Double update today! I just wanted to give you a heads up so in about an hour or so I'll update the next chapter!
Also I'm updating on CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS!!! I know it's epic right?? But get this— after those updated there will be ONE CHAPTER LEFT!!! The last chapter of Incoherent will be posted on January 6th!!
Please stay tuned for more and the last six chapters!! I'm really excited for you guys to read it all.
( aka yes Incoherent is DONE! I've already prewritten all the final chapters and now it comes down to actually publishing it! So I promise I'll stick to these dates! )
You guys aren't ready for it AT ALL.
Lots of love,
Mercay