06; you look fruity
"Juniper," I said bluntly, grabbing his hand and giving it a tight shake. I tried to make myself sound like I was uninterested, or perhaps a 'too good for you' type of person. But that failed quickly when he held onto my hand for a little too long, because I started to feel sweat beads forming on my palms.
As I pulled my hand away, I took a hold of Leah's (or Ryan's previous) lollipop and took it apart from the wrapping. I put the lollipop in my mouth and shoved it towards my right cheek.
"It was nice running into you again," I started, ready to run out the door.
"Wait.."
"Leah and I have to go somewhere," I paused while tugging her towards the exit, "Okay, bye!"
While I was stress leaving, I noticed the look of confusion on Dylan's face but I couldn't help but to feel like my social anxiety took over my body again; and next thing you know, I was already out the door.
"Juniper," Leah complains to me, "You didn't even talk to him."
I looked back at her and crossed my arms, "So."
"So," she trailed off, her eyes looking at the lollipop I pulled out of my mouth.
"He looked like he was into you," she says slowly, eyes locked on my lollipop.
"Who was into you?" Ryan's voice cooed from behind us, followed by the "duo" Caleb and Jacob.
Looking at Leah's face, you can visually see the admiration she had in her eyes towards Jacob. However, after a second of them locking eyes, it seemed like Leah remembered about the incident she labelled as "an embarrassment" that happened during the party. She immediately was flushed and looked away.
"No one," I responded.
- - -
As I was looking back down at my notes, I suddenly felt a small object hit the back of my head. I touched the spot that was hit and a little 'ow' escaped my lips as I turned my body around.
"What the hell are you doing?" I whispered, staring at the blonde child.
Ryan's eyes were widened and his jaw dropping mouth was covered by his hands. He looked at me shocked, as he froze in place.
"Ryan," I whispered again, a little more aggressively, "What did you do?"
I glanced over at Jacob seeing him bite his knuckle with a huge smile, as Caleb hides his laughing face behind his palms.
Caleb and Jacob were both laughing silently, while Ryan nervously started tapping his toes on the floor rapidly.
"Uh," Ryan trailed off.
"What?" I hissed.
I turned back around to face the front of the class, willing to turn my attention back to the teacher until I felt something rather heavy hanging on the back of my head.
Extremely confused, I brought my hand back to the heavy spot and felt.
My eyes widened.
My jaws dropped.
I wanted to scream but I also didn't want to distract the teacher.
So I whined quietly.
My hand had touched something round, sticky, and hard. Grabbing the object, I pull it down towards me as it attaches itself to the rest of my hair strands.
It was a stupid, orange flavored, lollipop.
"Ryan!" I screeched.
That was when I saw my teacher slightly jump at the front of class, pushing his glasses back up against his face and looks towards my area to figure out the sudden conflict erosion.
"Ryan!" I called his name again louder.
"Yes?" he responded.
"You threw a lollipop in my hair?" I screamed, "A lollipop?"
Ryan responded quietly, "It was an accident."
"A motherfreaking lollipop! Ryan!" I continued to scream.
"Uh Juniper, Ryan," my teacher speaks up, sounding a lot more nervous than usual, "You two should step out in the hallway, and Ryan, help her take that thing out of her hair." He finishes up his sentence by grabbing the blue pen from between his lips and pointed towards the door. He then uncomfortably shakes his pen and looks at the floor.
I stomped out of the class, followed by a blonde boy with his hands fidgeting in his pockets.
"I mean now you look fruity?" he says, in a questioning tone.
I rolled my eyes, turning my body towards him, "Seriously?"
I watched him shrug his shoulders and hold up his hands, "Just trying to make you feel better."
"If you help me clean my hair, I'll feel better," I groaned.
"Okay, okay, I will."
I made my way into the girl's bathroom, tossing the lollipop into the trash and heard the door close after me.
As I walked towards the sink, I looked in the mirror and saw Ryan closely following me behind.
"What are you doing?" I screamed, "This is the girl's bathroom!"
He looked taken aback, "You told me to help you."
"Not in the girl's bathroom, Ryan!"
"Then how am I going to help you?" he slightly raised his voice.
I groaned again.
"Okay," he responded, stepping closer to me, "Just put your head over the sink."
"No, Ryan!"
"Just put your head over the sink!" he raised his voice even louder.
I furrowed my eyebrows at him.
"No, Ryan," I told him.
"Come on," he responded, annoyed.
He walked behind me and put his hand behind my neck, "Put your head over the sink," he demanded.
I looked at him through the mirror, annoyed.
"Please?" he asked, looking back at me.
I sighed in defeat and leaned down.
He turned on the water and held his hand under it to test the temperature of the water. Once it looked like it was warm enough, he lightly nudged my neck for my to put my hand under the sink hose.
"Ow!" I yelped.
I felt him jump behind me, "What? What?" he panicked.
Looking at his reaction in the mirror, I started laughing, "It's hot."
He cracked a smile, "I'm sorry," he responds while twisting the handles.
I leaned my head under the sink hose again and felt the warm water rush through my hair and all over my scalp.
"Do you have shampoo?" he asks.
I felt his fingertips massaging over the sticky spot on top of my head.
"No," I scoffed with a smile, "Why would I bring shampoo with me to school?"
He laughed at his own stupidity, "For safety reasons? Like this."
After using hand soap and sink water to wash out the lollipop residue from my hair, we ended up realizing that we didn't have a towel to dry my hair, and my neck was sore from holding it over the sink for fifteen minutes.
At this point, I wasn't mad at the fact that he somehow threw a lollipop on my head, I was just glad that it was all over.
"Come over here," Ryan speaks up, holding my bunch of hair in his palms as he attempts to walk backwards towards the hand dryer machine.
We took small steps towards the machine, not trying to let the droplets drip everywhere on the bathroom floor. I tilted my head under the air dyer and the machine blows.
"My neck," I complained.
Ryan continued to comb his fingers through my hair, "Just hold on for like five minutes, your hair is soaked."
Then I remembered the atrocity that I would have to deal with once my hair was dry. My hair wasn't extremely curly, it wouldn't get extremely puffy, however it just won't look good. With a combination of curly and wavy hair, it dries in different patterns which to me, looks messy and not cute.
Without letting him now, I flipped my hair back, and stood up as all the droplets drip down the back of my shirt.
"Your hair is still wet," he tells me.
"I'll just let it air dry," I waved my hand then walked towards the mirror.
I parted my hair as how I usually would have it parted, and scrunched the ends to squeeze out water.
I looked in the mirror and see Ryan watching me.
"What?" I asked him.
"Nothing," he responds.
He walks back over to me and rested his hands on the counter of the sick, looking at himself in the mirror and fixing his hair.
Looking at him reminded me of the party, and how fun being cupid was for Leah and Jacob.
"Did Jacob tell you anything about the party?" I asked him.
He turned his attention to me and leaned against the counter, "Not really, he just said that it was weird that we left him in a room with her."
"So they really didn't do anything?" I frowned.
"Nope, not even talk, I guess," he shrugged.
"She really likes him," I sighed.
"He does too."
"How about we try again?" I asked, looking up at him slightly excited, "We can plan something tomorrow night, or tonight! We can maybe just have like a group date and have them two be together?"
He looked at the floor as if he was thinking, "How will that work?"
"I'm not sure," I trailed off.
We spent the rest of our class time in the bathroom, talking about our plans for setting Jacob and Leah up together, without it being too forceful and awkward. We decided that a group movie date night might be easy enough to break the awkwardness, as well as still providing a little bit of privacy for the two.
I was excited.
When my hair was dry, we walked back out into the hallway. I desperately tried to have my hair stay as neat as possible.
I furrowed my eyebrows while trying to shove my hair behind my ears, "I feel like they look bad," I talked to myself.
"Your hair looks fine," he complimented.
Ryan walks a little closer to me, "You just have a little," he trailed off as his eye traveled towards the top of my head. He lift his hand and combed through the top of my hair, pushing it back behind my ear again.
I awkwardly pursed my lips, staring at his neck (because that was the only thing I can look at eye-level) and tapped my toes until he took a step back.
"Thanks," I responded, turning my body away.
- - -
i re-read my old story, "His Bad Boy Ego"
and omg im crying bc it's highkey embarrassing and cringy
but yes, we are taking a different road this time
hopefully
enjoy!
x apricitys