Day two.
The plans for today: Get at least a peck from Phoenix in public. Don't get caught by Ryder.
Last night when there was only a few people hanging around, a kiss would have made no difference to anyone, maybe a little to my emotional status but not to my rite of passage.
So far all I had managed to do was to shower and get dressed for the day. Getting dressed took more effort than I thought. I felt guilty. I have an overactive conscience and I hate it. I dressed simple for the day, wearing skinny jeans and a long sleeves, purple and blue striped tee. Nothing special. I wore minimal make up because quite frankly I was too lazy to spend ages putting on any more war paint than what I was wearing.
I made my way down the hall. Aria hadn't gotten back until around 4 and it was 7 now. She was still sleeping when I left, whereas I couldn't get back to sleep this morning and decided it would be best if I just got the hell up and started doing something. So the decision I made was to go down and check the board. There had to be something interesting on that thing, something that wouldn't scar me for life.
The big board was covered in paper. The bottom layer consisted of merely the sleeping arrangements which were no longer relevant as we all knew where we were sleeping and had been for the past two nights. There was a torn piece of paper that said movie night at the top but that was the only bit that remained. Either Kevin or someone who shared his anger had torn it down. I wouldn't expect anything less. It gives me a little faith in my senior class.
There was a red piece of paper on the top which I guessed was the most recent considering the right corner overlapped the 'M' from the ripped page. It read; 'Apologies to all participants. We understand that all those who witnessed last night’s film were uncomfortable in doing so. As an apology for this action we will be hosting a proper movie night tomorrow night. There will be different films available and a times list to follow.' I sighed. That was the best we were getting. I'm sure most of the apology was for Kevin after how he reacted last night but it was good to receive an apology even if it wasn't so heartfelt or in person, from any senior never mind those directly involved with the torture.
I made my way in the opposite direction. We weren't supposed to step foot in the kitchen from what I heard but breakfast wasn't served until 10 and even then those who were cooking didn't show up until after 8 o'clock, but I was hungry now! I could not wait another 3 hours for food! I stayed quiet and grabbed a bottle of water and made toast as fast as the toaster would work and sneaked out of the backdoor before anyone could catch sight of my Ethan Hunt impression.
"Terra?" I froze with my piece of toast hanging out my mouth, my juice under my arms and my hand on the door knob. Hand in the cookie jar - caught. Oh wait, never mind. Phoenix, he doesn't count.
"What are you doing up?" I asked after gulping down my mouthful of roasted bread. "Weren't you guys out late?" I began working towards finishing off my toast. I was starving.
"We were." He confirmed. "I was just about to go my morning run. Want to come?"
"There's something you should know about me." Phoenix took a step forward, sensing the serious change in mood. "I don't run." Phoenix left giving me a soft, joking punch on my bicep.
"Don't do that, I thought you were about to ditch me."
"I am, I am not running."
"Well," Phoenix took another step forward so there was next to no space between us. He took my free hand and rubbed up opposite arm with the other. I felt tingles go up my arm from the friction of his movements. "How about you let me run upstairs, put on some real clothes, and maybe we can go somewhere, possibly get a real breakfast." He did make a tempting case... but his eyes were sparkling in the early morning light and the birds were chirping and my heart was beating so hard I could hear it. Could anyone say no to this guy? I mean seriously, Hid face was so... and those eyes were so... and that... I hate him for being so flawless. Before I couldn't understand why people liked him but now that he likes me, everything's changed.
I bit my lip and nodded as Phoenix started leading me up the stairs and to room. I was nothing short of shocked when he led me through the door to his room. He led me onto his bed and I sat down as he rummaged through his bag and he pulled out a pair of blue jeans. He grabbed two t-shirts, holding each against his torso in turn. One red, one purple. The red one had a v neck which from what I could tell didn't drop too low and I felt the purple one would have been too close to my purple stripes. It was too matchy for my liking and I wasn't into that.
I pointed at the red one and he nodded in agreement. He stepped into the bathroom to change. Whilst he was gone I took my time alone to look around the room. Kevin's stuff was all over the floor and hooked onto the posts of his bed pretty much any surface in the room. Ryder kept his clothes well organized and tidy, he was always like that, and Phoenix seemed to be the same. Both of the boys, thank god, were heavy sleepers who didn't hear us come in.
Phoenix came back in and I took his hand. We made a quick pit stop by my room so I could grab some money for our travels. When we got into the hall, I turned my head to ask Phoenix where we were going to eat at the same time he turned his head and went to kiss me on the cheek. Clearly neither of us fulfilled our intentions, not that I'm complaining because I definitely did not mind in the slightest.
I pulled back. "That wasn't... I didn't... sorry." I muttered. I walked faster and dropped my hold on his hand. I cannot believe that happened. It’s okay if we actually kiss but an intended kiss. It wasn’t supposed to happen. I don't know why I was over reacting so much. I know it’s not a big deal, it was barely a peck - my mother would only be having a minor panic attack if she saw me. It’s really no big deal right? Then why am I reacting like that? Well, I’m not entirely sure. Guilt will always be a factor, but I suppose above all my lack of control comes into it. If I need to do this then I get to choose when to kiss someone so when I accidentally kiss a guy it automatically becomes something that was out of my control and I know that makes me a control freak which I do not mean to be but how, when I’m in a situation like this, am I expected to just get on with it? I want control of my life, if that makes me a control freak then so be it.
"Terra, hey." He caught up when I had reached Phoenix's car. "I like kissing you." I blushed and shook my head in this awkward reaction. I kept my head down so I didn't look at him, knowing that he would make me feel bad. When Phoenix realized I wasn't going to look at him he unlocked the car and climbed in.
As we drove, neither of us uttered a word. After a while Phoenix took my hand and held it loosely. Phoenix pulled up to this diner, small but not tiny, old but not completely rundown, clean but not flashy. The perfect little combination of everything you need to made a diner welcoming and rather... cute.
I got out before Phoenix reached my side of the car but he took my hand again. He checked over my face to make sure I was okay with it and I was which I confirmed by tightening my grip on his hand.
We sat at a booth opposite one another.
Thankfully, Phoenix said something - I was so uncomfortable I was ready to run out of their and never look back. "I'm thinking pancakes." I smiled.
"I'm thinking..." I smiled, "You're a genius that is if syrup was implied in your plan."
"I'm offended you didn't think so." Phoenix called the guy over, dressed in a vertical striped, red and white shirt and a pair of skinny jeans that had got to be crushing something.
"What can I get for you?" He looked at me with a wide grin. His scraggly hair dropped in his eyes as he looked down.
Phoenix cleared his throat making me refrain from answering and look at Phoenix. The waiter boy looked too. Phoenix stared straight into the boys eyes with a stiff smile settling on his face. "We'll have pancakes, with syrup, a large chocolate shake, and if you don't learn how to keep your eyes off my girlfriend then we'll take a different waiter while you're at it."
"Sorry about him." I called after the boy as he began to scurry off with his tail in between his legs. I turned to Phoenix and gave him a very stubborn look. "What was that?" I questioned. I wasn't mad, not remotely so, I was taken back and I didn't know how to react and that was what I decided to go with.
"Trust me, at that angle he’s looking right at second base."
"Thanks for that, but that's not what I'm talking about." Phoenix shrugged, clearly confused. "You called me your girlfriend."
"Aren't you?" Phoenix raised his eyebrow.
"I don't want to ruin the morning or whatever this is that's going on between us right now but I don't think that we should be labelling this quite yet." I felt bad as I watched Phoenix nod and clearly not mean it. "It’s not that I don't like you, I don't want to move too fast. I want to keep it relatively casual for now."
Phoenix didn't say anything after that and I held back from digging a deeper hole for myself to dive headfirst into. Phoenix muttered a finally and smiled when he saw the waiter scurry off as soon as the plates hit the table. I laughed, as did Phoenix and just like that we were back to normal. I smothered my pancakes in syrup until Phoenix grabbed the syrup from me. I stretched across the table to grab it back but Phoenix moved it further and further back as I continued to lean over the table. I gave up. My arms weren't as long as his and I dropped back into my seat. Phoenix began laughing and pointing. I followed the line and as it turns out my pancakes now had even less syrup, my t-shirt was a completely different story.
"Now will you give me the syrup?"
"Allow me." He added a few drops of syrup to my breakfast, my second breakfast.... don't judge me. "That's about the equal." He added one more tiny spot, "Don't say I'm not good to you, Blair." I shook my head as I impaled a chunk of pancake on my fork and lifted up a big bite. I kicked him underneath the table. That became an exchange that repeated over and over again until we had finished then the waiter ran over without milkshake that donned two straws.
"Too... not casual?" I shook my head and took a drink. I must admit, I would have preferred strawberry however I do like chocolate. I just love strawberry. "I'm okay just sticking with being friends, if that's what you want."
I took a few seconds to think over my answer, being careful not to throw off my dare. "That could work," I nodded, "but to be honest, I wouldn't object to this more than friend’s thing we've got going. As long as you don’t get all lady and the tramp over the cherry."
"Promise." I plucked the cherry off the top and ate it with a smirk.
"Good."
We finished eating our milkshake without a word. We both just watched the poor waiter run around and desperately avoid eye contact with our table. We laughed a little when he tripped over his undone lace and stumbled to steady the day’s special.
I decided that I wasn’t ready to go back and would rather deny the whole ordeal that is my life. Phoenix suggested we keep driving. He was running rather low on fuel and we were closer to the city than the house anyway. It would be fun.
When we got there already it was packed. I saw faces I knew and didn’t know, people from my school enjoying their summer. A few of them waved when they walked past, most likely to Phoenix. Several others began whispering and we received a gasp at one point, most likely aimed at me this time. No one would ever have expected me to be the one who went out with Phoenix Knight, not even I expected me to be the one who went out with Phoenix Knight.
Surprisingly, rather than me dragging Phoenix into stores across the entire city, he dragged me. He had a serious shoe shopping addiction and left with a grand total of three pairs of sneakers. At one point he convinced me to take a look in a clothes shop, despite my protests about not needing anything whatsoever. In the end, after trying on many, many items of clothing when Phoenix insisted that I ‘pose’ in each and every piece, somehow Phoenix convinced me to get something. It was some stupid dress that he loved seeing me in. When I went to the counter to buy my new outfit Phoenix shoved me aside and paid for it himself whilst I stood protesting and prodding him in the side. Of course Phoenix refused to listen no matter what I said and he ended up buying me the dress.
After several hours of wandering the streets and shoving our way through crowds and pretty much participating in the Hunger Games, we finally found a vacant bench and ran for it before anyone had the chance to beat us. Phoenix pushed in front of me and landed on his butt. I got a little too caught up in the moment and threw myself at the bench, I turned as I took off from the ground. My head landed in Phoenix’s lap but my rear end took a real bashing.
I groaned. “I bruised my butt.” I let my hand with my bag in it dangle by my side.
“Want me to kiss it better?” I slapped his chest but kept lying there with a smirk on my face.
“I had a great day.” Phoenix said as he started playing with my hair. “I love spending time with you – even if we have to stay just friends.” I propped my forearms on Phoenix’s thighs to push myself up. I held myself as high as I could without getting myself into a position that was overly uncomfortable.
“I told you, Phoenix, we are not just friends.” This time I moved my head, tilting my mouth towards his. Phoenix took the hint and ducked his head the remainder of the space between us. Immediately we both shut our eyes. One of Phoenix’s hand made its way into my hair. I deepened the kiss and Phoenix continued to kiss me back. I had undoubtedly surpassed kissing and became making out in the middle of the city. A part of me feared my mother walking up behind me and grounding me until the apocalypse ends. Eventually we had to come up for air and we both had small smiles on our faces. “So what now?”
“We should get back before dinner.”
“You’re probably right.” I sighed taking to my feet. Without giving me the opportunity to properly react Phoenix had his lips on mines and his hand behind my neck. My eyes shot open from the start to the finish. The pad of his thumb stroked the corner of my jaw after he pulled away.
“I’m always right.” I laughed and made my way back to the car with Phoenix in tow.
This day was the best so far, this experience was actually looking up. Now I just had to work up the courage back at the house. On the plus side we have a movie night. I get to spend some more time with Phoenix.