My cheeks are indistinguishable from a freshly picked tomato. There we are, side by side, holding hands.
When we land, she releases her grip from my hand and disconnects herself from my system of ropes. Next Y/N shoves her pockets in her hoodie and walks over to our bikes, me at her heels.
"Alright, let's go then." she says tiredly, picking up her bike and gliding off.
I give her a quick nod and follow, still unsure if I can trust my voice. We ride in silence, but we don't really need to say anything. Her H/C hair flows gracefully in the wind, the newly risen moon illuminating her fly-aways. The whole time I just stare at her. You're a stalker, Mike.
Soon, we pull up at her house. She opens her garage door and stuffs her bike inside.
"Thanks for a good time, Mike." she says, pulling her house key from her tan backpack. "We still on for the movies tomorrow, right?"
"Yup." I say, popping the p.
We grin and wave at each other as she closes her front door. I close my eyes for a couple seconds before riding my bike home in the cold.
As I lay awake in bed that night, I wonder how long I can go without just blurting it out. I shudder at the thought.
~0~
"Mom, I'm heading out!" I shout the next day at three.
"Have fun honey, be careful!" she says automatically.
"Yep. Love you too ma." I mumble to myself as I hop onto my bike.
We all meet at the doors and once we all have our popcorn and snacks, ("Holy shit Dustin, how much butter can that thing take?" "I'm adding flavor!") we head inside the theater.
I end up falling asleep about three quarters of the way into the movie. Suddenly the lights are back on and the credits are rolling.
"Oh crap." I mumble, rubbing my eyes.
"'Oh crap' is right, come on. We're the last ones left." Lucas laughs.
Y/N leads us all out of our row and back outside, Will at her heels and Dustin bringing up the rear.
"Well, I guess I'll see you at scho-" I start.
But Y/N puts her index finger to my lips. "Happy thoughts, Mike. Happy thoughts."
I laugh, trying to cover up my red cheeks that are getting redundant. I ignore the eyebrow wiggle Lucas and Dustin give me and the bashful grin Will flashes my way. (A/N: THE BOYS KNOW WHAT'S UP.) As we all go our own ways, we all shout variations of "Bye! See you tomorrow!" some of us more positive than others.
I contemplate ditching tomorrow as I head inside my house and flop onto my bed, groaning. Stupid school.
But as much as I wished and prayed it wouldn't, school came.
After breakfast I drag myself out the door and onto my bike to meet up with my friends for another dreaded school day.
Wake up.
Go to school.
Try not to make yourself look like a bigger idiot in front of Y/N than you already do. This one always proves a bit tricky.
Ride home.
Homework.
Dinner.
And thank God, finally go to bed.
It's becoming a routine. A routine that makes it easier and easier to relax. A routine that just might get me through the rest of seventh grade and into the long awaited summer.
A/N: I'm so sorry this was the shortest chapter ever I can't see it behind that GRAIN OF RICE.