Chapter Twenty-Seven
{Lee}
The days melted by like ice cream in July. Everyday after school I stayed behind to wait out my detention with Artie. Mr.Roooosh had dentention on Monday and Wednesday so Artie and I got a lot of work done on the stage and we managed to get way ahead of everybody else on our project.
Friday was here before I knew it and I was nervous as all get out!
Right after school I went into the ag room for detention. Artie was right behind me as I went to my usual seat. Detention started when the bell rang at three thirty and just as the bell was getting to ring someone I'd never seen before ran through the door.
"Is this the room detention is being held in?" The boy was breathing heavy and placed his hand on the desk in front of him.
Mrs. Meyer sent him a strange look and nodded slowly. "Yes, who are you?"
The stranger quickly scanned the room and then turned his attention back to Mrs. Meyer. "My name is Julian Herst." As he appraised all of us I was busy appraising him. He looked to be a few inches shorter that Artie and Chase. Instead of their dark brown hair his was a light, golden brown. His eyes were the color of melted chocolate and his skin was a light tan.
"Well, you can sit down anywhere..." Mrs.Meyer was still busy flipping through papers on her desk. "Oh here it is. You got detention on your first day? Who else does that sound like? Hmm, I wonder..." Mrs.Meyer laughed at her little joke and I nudged Artie in the side.
Before Julian came in I was joking around with Mrs.Meyer and Artie because Mrs.Meyer was like my second mother and Artie and I grew closer and closer each day, now there was an awkward silence enveloping the entire room.
"Mom, can I go work on my engine?" I asked to break through the awkwardness while using Mrs.Meyer's nickname given to her by all the Ag kids.
"Sure, you were starting to drop behind anyway. Do you know what you're doing?"
"Yeah, I'm taking Artie with me for some muscle." I flashed her a smile and dragged Artie by the arm out into the Ag Shop.
I shut the door behind me us and pushed Artie towards my work table. On the table top my engine sat next to Jonathan's. I moved over to my work place, leaving Artie to look around and do as he pleased.
I picked up a socket wrench and got to work, doing what Scott told me I still needed to do. All of a sudden gasoline started dripping from the engine.
"Hey Artie... What do you know about engines?" I asked. He turned around and looked at me, a small smile playing around the edges of his lips.
"Not much. Why?" He walked over towards me.
"It's leaking..." I pointed to the steadily growing pool of gasoline on the floor. I thought back to what the guys did when their engines were leaking... "I need sawdust!" I moved around the shop and collected dust from the different dust collectors. When I had a decent amount in my dustpan I dumped it all on the floor where the engine was leaking.
After I had my pile where I wanted it I looked at my engine. I could see nothing wrong with it no matter which way I looked and how I tilted the engine. I tapped my foot as I chewed on bottom lip thinking of what I could do. Scott and Dylan, two of the boys in my mechanics class, were my go-to-guys in this kind of situation but they'd be long gone by now. So either I let my engine leak all night or I figure out how to fix this....
"Mom?" I called, the wracking of my brain providing no solutions.
"What's wrong?" She asked with that all knowing tone she uses so often.
"Why do you automatically assume something is wrong?" I asked, walking into the classroom again with my hands in my pockets. She gave me her signature 'cut the crap' look and I decided to just come right out with it. "My engine is leaking..."
"What?" She shot up from her seat and followed me out to the shop. She too fiddeled around with the engine and looked at Jonathan's engine as a reference. She pushed herself away from the worktable and let out a frustrated sigh.
"Do you think Scott or Dylan could come back to fix this?" Mrs.Meyer asked, leaning against the worktable. "I really don't want to leave this thing leaking here all night and I don't know whats wrong."
"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" Julian had entered the shop unnoticed by us all. Mrs.Meyer motioned him over and he then proceded to look at the engine.
I turned to Artie and raised my eyebrow as Julian went right to work. Artie shrugged and used my shoulder as an arm rest while we watched. I was leaning up against the table saw and Artie was next to me while Julian worked and Mrs.Meyer watched him intently.
We were all silent and I took this time to evaluate Julian. He was tall, maybe an inch or so shorter than Artie, and had short, spiky brown hair. He looked like he got out a lot, his skin a sunkissed golden color. I got a glimpse of his pale green eyes and he smirked at me.
Within no time at all the leaking stopped and he dusted his hands off on his pants. "You must have accidentaly disconnected the fuel line and the angle it was at caused the gas to leak out." I just nodded my head not realy paying attention and smiled like I knew exactly what he was talking aout. I reallly wasn't good at working on small gas engines but I tried...
"You have no idea what I'm saying do you...?" I nodded my head again, the same smile in place and he and Artie laughed at me.
Mrs.Meyer went back into the classroom, leaving Julian, Artie, and I alone in the shop with the instructions of, "Behave and don't break anything." We all just kind of stood awkwardly for a few moments until my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out and read the text from Decker. "No!" I ran to the window to confirm what Decker told me and he was right.
"What?" Artie asked, coming to my side in an instant.
"It's raining!" I said, pointing to the window. Artie gave me a 'so?' look and I threw my hands up in the air. "We can't go to the drive-ins then!" I said, my hopes crushed. I was really looking forward to going to the movies with Artie! "They'll be shut down if it's raining." I explained.
His eyes widened and I thought he was going to have a mental breakdown right then and there. His hands started to shake and he started breathing deeply.
"Hey, calm down, Artie." I placed a comforting hand on Artie's shoulder and the effect was almost insant. "There's always next time..." I tried not to let my displeasure color my tone bbecause I knew Artie was really beating himself up right now and I didn't want him to feel any worse.
Julian was standing next to the worktable silently watching our exchange. He had his lips pursed and pointed in between the two of us. "You two dating?"
Artie and I exchanged a look.
"Yes."
"No."
We'd said it at the same time causing Julian to cock an eyebrow and look between us once more.
I turned to look at Artie and he had the most stunned expression I'd ever seen on his face. "Yes?" he mouthed to me.
"No?" I mouthed to him. Was I being too forward? Was he mad at me?
*Artie*
She'd said yes? She said yes and I said no?
Stupid. Stupid! STUPID! How could I say no and her say yes?
She got that familiar pucker in between her eyebrows and I wished, not for the first time, that I could peak into that brain of hers and soothe her worries. What is going on in that pretty little head of yours, I mentally asked her, knowing I wouldn't get a reply.
That Julian kid smirked at us and said, "Well, which one is it? Yes or no?"
Lee looked down at her feet and refused to look at him. "Yes, we're going out. In fact we're going out tonight," I stated, causing Lee's head to snap up and her eyes to lock onto mine.
"But the drive-ins....?" Lee asked with the most adorble expression on her face, it was a mixture of confusion and hope.
"Well there's always a normal theatre. We can go and see The Hunger Games..." I suggested, Lee had expressed her desire to see it earlier this week.
"Really?" My angel's eyes widened and she looked absolutely gorgeous.
"Absolutely." I smiled at her and she threw her arms around me.
"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" She had her arms tightly around my neck and I wrapped my carefully around her waist. We stood like that for only a moment before Julian cleared his throat loudly which split us apart.
A low growl escaped my throat, too low for their human ears to pick up on. Julian's head snapped toward me and his eyes narrowed on me fractionally and I appraised him more carefully. Something about him definitly seemed off, I made a mental note to talk to Chase about Julian later.
{Lee}
We all stood awkwardly for a few moments and I couldn't take it anymore. I walked back into the classroom and Artie followed close behind me.
"Hey Mom? Can I have a lollipop?" She nodded and kept typing away on her computer. I stole one and hopped up on the heater to eat it. I sucked on the lollipop, savoring the coconut flavor.
It was then that Julian walked in. He took one look at me and started laughing.
"What?" I asked, pausing my lollipop in the middle of my tongue.
"Hard, wet, and white. That's what is in your mouth right now," he whispered in my ear.
"Perv," I mumbled, punching him in the chest. "Ow. Are you made of freaking lead or something?" I shook my fist, it didn't hurt too much but I have a feeling I hurt myself more than I did him.
"Are you okay?" Artie whispered in my ear, putting his arm around my shoulder and picking up my hand gently to look at it.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I told him, shrugging easily because I really was fine.
Julian seemed to get the picture that we didn't want to deal with him and he went and sat back down at his desk. Artie sat next to me on the heater and stuck his arm out the open window. We just talked to each other about nothing imparticular until our hour was up and we were allowed to leave.
We walked out to his truck and he took me home quick so I could change before we went to the movies. Because it was raining outside now I switched out my shorts for a pair of dark American Eagle jeans and a light gray off the shoulder top.
I laced up high-tops and was out the door in under three minutes. We drove to his house next so he could drop off his school stuff and put pants on, the air had gotten chillier with the rain and he was only in shorts and a short sleeved polo.
I went in with him and his mom met us at the door. She smiled brightly at me and brought me into the kitchen. Artie excused himself to change his clothes, leaving me alone with his mother and Chase who just walked through the awchway leading into the kitchen.
Chase's hair was damp and he was only in a pair of low-rise shorts. "Pippy!" he cried when he saw me standing there. "What are you doing here?" He ran over and pulled me into a hug, something I'd grown accustomed to over the past week. Chase was a hugger, just like me.
"Artie is taking me to see The Hunger Games since the drive-ins were rained out." I explained, relaxing against the coutner top.
"No way, no way!" He threw his hands up in the air. "That movie lookes so good. I read all the books, you have to tell me a bout it when you get back." Chase and I had our moments where we acted just like eachother and this was one of them.
"I heard that it's really good. I can only hope that it's as good as the book though because I hate when they're so different!"
"Oh, me too!" Michelle stayed quiet through the entire exchange and smiled gently at us.
We chatted animatedly about past movies we'd seen, the goods and the bads, until Artie came back down in the middle of Michelle's explanation of her first experience with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He had changed into a long-sleeved orange thermal and faded, holy jeans that showed off this tan skin underneath. He grabbed a blue hoodie with an orange stripe on the shoulder before taking my hand and leading me towards the door.
"I'll talk to you later, Mrs.Kent. I'll see you at school Chase." I waved goodbye as we walked out the door. Artie opened my door for me and I climbed into the old truck.
While in the car Artie and I sang along to all the songs we knew and made up words for the ones we didn't.
"Turn left up here." I said, pointing at the street. The movie theatre came into view and Artie found us a parking spot.
Artie bought the tickets as well as the popcorn and sodas no matter how much I protested. When I pulled out my wallet he tucked it into his pocket and told me he'd give it back after the movie was over. I rolled my eyes, there went my plan for going dutch.
The man at the little ticket table ripped our tickets and told us to go to theatre five. We were walking so close together that our arms kept brushing together and I noticed once again how warm he was. It felt nice after being out in the rain without a jacket.
"You're freezing, Lee!" Artie exclaimed, jumping a little from the cold contact.
"Sorry." We were in the theatre now and I spotted some seats in the back. We went to them and sat down, the seat in front of me was empty so I propped my feet up.
Artie shrugged his hoodie off and draped it around my shoulders. "There, that should keep you warm." I welcomed the heat eagerly and pushed my arms through the holes. The sleeves covere my hands but I didn't mind, I was so cozy wrapped in the heat and smell of Artie.
*Artie*
Seeing her with my hoodie on and smeeling my scent on her my wolf was purring in delight. There was nothing that could make him happier in that moment. Lee leaned into me, ignoring the armrest and I put my arm around her shoulders.
The lights slowly went down and everything changed. I became hyper aware of everything around me, including my little mate who was securly in my arms...
~~
Please don't hate me too awful much! I know it's been ages (over a month) and I am so so sorry. Time just slipped away like it was nothing. I tried to make this chapter really long so just bwar with me on some of the parts that don't really seem to mesh well at the moment. I'm trying to make everything I write have a purpose now which is difficult for me.
So, the reason I was gone so long is...unexcusable. During my "off time" I was busy with so much. I went to a public speaking contest (I'm absolutely terrified of public speaking mind you) and placed seventh out of thirteen! Not bad considering I was the only rookie there! I also went to Impact (a church conference) so I didn't have my laptop there... It was a ton of fun and I met a guy who was real sweet and now is the reason that I say "Boys are stupid." at least once a day.
I also went to another FFA conference called SLLC(State Legislative Leadership Conference) which I couldn't have my laptop for either. There I had my first slowdance with a guy! It was random and awkward but we both had fun so... :) While at SLLC I found something out. I have mono...
Thanks to my mono I'm tired like all the time. I've gotten like hardly any sleep in the past week and I got sent home from school again on Thursday because of health issues. I've been slowly getting better and I've been working so hard on getting this chapter up.
I really wasn't pleased at all with how this turned out the first time I wrote it so I've been changing it so much. I really hope you enjoy this chapter and the rest of the date will be up hopefully before too awful long! I'll try and find tim in between dress rehearsal and FFA stuff. No promises but hopefully soon! Sorry for the rambling but I just needed to fill you all in on my life!
This chapter goes to...Jaclyn! Oh my! Your time has finally come my lovely! Y'all don't know this but Jaclyn is my cousin! We grew up together and I've been so excited for when I'd finally get to dedicate a chapter to her. Jackie, I hope you see this tomorrow morning before school. I really appreciate all the encouragement you've given me throughout this process.
Random thought: So there's this guy and I think he's a cumpulsive liar. He told me a relationship between us would never work out because I want to join the Peace Corps. and he wants to be a Marine... A relationship between us would never work out because all he does is complain that some chick in Ohio won't talk to him. Boys are STUPID!