“So in love with you, I’m love struck, and all the things you do, it’s a love struck,” I sang quietly to myself, bending over to re-lace my shoes. “I know you’ll get me through, I’m love struck. A la la la, la la, la la la love struck.”

“You’re in a good mood.”

My heart leapt into my throat as I quickly erected myself, twisting around on my heel. My mom raised her eyebrow at me. My face blazed and I quickly ducked my head to hide my blush.

“In fact, you’ve been in a good mood all week,” my mom commented thoughtfully. “And you’re ditching me tonight, even though I’m home…”

I looked back up at her with a frown. “Sorry…”

She held up her hand. “Hey, you made plans first. It’s not like I’m going to make you cancel them. Besides, if my hunch is right, you wouldn’t cancel these plans anyway.”

“What hunch?”

She smirked, giving me that awfully creepy, knowing smile. “Rhymes with Fister Meyhood.”

“Sorry mom, I don’t know any nun named Sister Kayhood,” I responded cheekily, feeling my face heat up again. She was too smart for her own good.

My mom laughed. “Good one. How are you getting there?”

“He’s coming to pick me up.”

“That works out perfectly! I have to go back to work later, so I need the car,” she explained. “It’s going to be a very late night. I probably won’t be back until the early morning… Why don’t you ask Chris if you can stay the night?”

I looked at my mom in shock. “What? No, mom. I’m not asking that.”

The doorbell suddenly went off, startling me. My mom grinned widely and locked gazes with me. I knew at once what she was planning to do. We both started for the door at the same time.

“Mom!” I called after her. “Mom, no!”

“I’m just answering the door, Holly!” my mom responded, giving me an amused look from over her shoulder.

Before I knew exactly what happened, I found myself lying face-first on the ground. A groan of pain escaped my lips just as I heard the front door open. My mom greeted Mr. Heywood enthusiastically as I glared at the floor in front of me, cursing my clumsiness. I had tripped over the rug.

“Holly, get off the floor,” my mom ordered. “That’s rude.”

Mr. Heywood chuckled as I pushed myself back to my feet, brushing off my shirt. It was just my luck I decided to wear black. It brought out the dirt fantastically. My mom disappeared from the hall, leaving Mr. Heywood and I alone. He smirked at me and I felt my cheeks heat up.

“You’re coming with me to the grocery store,” Mr. Heywood informed me, swinging his keys around on his finger. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t,” I said quickly, causing his smirk to grow.

“Okay, Chris, I have Holly’s bag here,” my mom said, suddenly reappearing with my backpack in hand. “It’s got everything she needs.”

I stared at her in bewilderment. “What? For what?”

“Staying over, silly,” my mom responded, rolling her eyes. “I told you I’m working late.”

“But— but,” I spluttered, turning to Mr. Heywood, to my mom, and back again. “Wait a second. Did you guys have this all planned out before hand?”

Mr. Heywood gave my mom a secret smile. “It seems like I’m the favorite babysitter, Holly.”

“Babysitter?” I repeated incredulously.

My mom quickly clapped her hands together. “Chris, didn’t you say you had to go to the supermarket? If you don’t hurry, it will close.”

“It’s only seven!”

Mr. Heywood glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. “I guess we should get going. Here, I’ll take Holly’s bag.” He held out his hand to my mom, taking the backpack from her hands. “Ready, Holly?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, shooting my mom a dirty look. She had this all set up.

Mr. Heywood dipped his head to my mom. “Nice seeing you again, Lynn.”

“You too!” my mom chirped. “Come by for dinner sometime! Holly’s not the only one who likes your company.”

“Mom!”

Mr. Heywood chuckled, hoisting my bag over his shoulder. “I can take a hint. We’ll make plans soon. Take care.” He turned and went out the door, leaving my mom and I alone.

“You’re creepy, you know that?” I said, frowning at her.

My mom only smiled in return. “Holly, guys like Chris don’t come around every day. He’s a once in a lifetime catch, honey. When I met your father, it was the same for us. I don’t want you to lose him. And he doesn’t seem to want to lose you either.”

I blushed slightly, ducking my head, and murmuring an incoherent agreement.

“Besides, he is a good person to have around to baby-sit you,” my mom continued in a thoughtful voice. “He’s very reliable.”

“Bye mom,” I said, brushing by her. I was eighteen. I didn’t need a babysitter.

My mom laughed. “Bye, Holly.”

By the time I climbed into the passenger seat, Mr. Heywood had already buckled and turned on the car. As soon as I snapped my seatbelt he pulled out of my driveway. The radio was off, leaving us in an awkward silence. My mind raced, trying to think of something to say to fill the quiet.

“Your mom’s something, huh?” Mr. Heywood started, sparing me. “She’s funny.”

I grunted in responding, causing him to laugh. “She’s kind of crazy. It’s like she expects us to get married,” I told him, glancing out the window.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

My head snapped towards him so fast, it cricked. Rubbing it, I stared at him with wide-eyes. “What?”

Mr. Heywood glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Not now, but in the future, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Really?”

“Is it that hard to believe?”

I shook my head quickly. “No! Well, yes. Or rather… I don’t know,” I mumbled, embarrassed.

Mr. Heywood chuckled. “Holly, I love you. Why wouldn’t I want to marry you? You’re just too young right now.”

My heart skipped a beat, and for a moment I lost all train of thought. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to having Mr. Heywood say those three words so casually. Finally his words registered, and I pursed my lips. “You’re not.”

He smirked. “Holly, we haven’t even gone a date yet. We can discuss the future in the future.”

“True,” I responded, grinning at him. From the corner of my eye I saw the supermarket whiz by. “Um, Mr. Heywood?”

He didn’t respond. I frowned slightly. “Mr. Heywood?”

Still no answer.

“Mr. Heywood!”

“Sorry, my father isn’t here right now,” he responded in a business-like voice. “Please leave a message after the beep.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Sorry, sorry. Chris?”

“Yes, Ms. Evers?” he responded, shooting me a sweet smile.

“I thought you said we were going to the grocery store?”

“We are.”

“We just passed it…”

Mr. Heywood shook his head slightly. “We can’t go to that one.”

“Why not?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “Is it closed?"

He laughed. “No, it’s open. But if we went there, there’s a chance that someone from school might see us. A lot of students work there.”

“Oh,” I said in realization, a frown slipping onto my face. “Then where are we going?”

“Two towns over.”

My frown grew deeper. We had to go two towns over just to go grocery shopping? It would have just been easier for Mr. Heywood to do it by himself. I looked out the window, watching the streetlights as we drove under them. “Do you think it’s going to snow this month?”

“Snow?” Mr. Heywood repeated.

“You know, the cold stuff that falls from the sky—”

“Atmospheric water vapor that’s frozen into ice crystals. I’m a biology teacher, Holly. I know what snow is,” Mr. Heywood interjected.

“So, are you going to answer my question?”

“It might flurry, but probably nothing that will stick,” he told me. “Maybe around Christmas if it’s cold enough.”

I blinked. Christmas? My hand shot to my phone in my pocket. The date read December fourth. Christmas was in less than twenty-one days. “What do you do for Christmas, Mr. Heywood?”

“I don’t know,” he responded simply.

“Well, what did you do last year?”

“Well, not much considering I was in jail…” He trailed off, sending me an amused look.

I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Mr. Heywood responded, letting out a bark of laughter. “I’d rather you forget.”

“Well what did you do the year before that?” I tried again.

“I spent it with Holly,” he told me, his voice lowering considerably. I could almost pick up a tone of guilt.

It was hard not to smile. Mr. Heywood didn’t like talking about Holly with me. Not that I could blame him— heck, I didn’t want to talk about her with him either. She was a taboo subject. She was a likable person, but it was just too awkward to talk about her.

“Um, if you want… I bet my mom wouldn’t mind if you wanted to have Christmas dinner and stuff at my house,” I murmured, growing hot. “You know... only if you want to. You don’t have to.”

Suddenly Mr. Heywood took a sharp right, sending my head into the window. I winced, pulling my head away from the glass. Mr. Heywood threw me an entertained look. “Sorry. Almost missed the turn.”

“I kind of figured.”

“But about Christmas… I want to go.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really. Holly, you’re really doubtful about my decisions, aren’t you?” he accused, pulling into the parking lot of a grocery store I’ve never heard of.

“That’s not it!” I denied instantly. “It just seems… Too good to be true.”

The sound of the engine died out and Mr. Heywood turned to me. A smirk was playing at his lips as he leaned over his seat towards me. “And why is that?”

I did my best to keep my face composed. With Mr. Heywood so near, my heart beat had increased tenfold. “I don’t know,” I responded truthfully. “Whenever I think of you and I, I think of those crazy romance novels where something like this could only happen.”

Mr. Heywood raised an eyebrow. “So we are like a couple in a crazy romance novel?”

I nodded. “You’re the cool guy that everyone wants, and I’m girl who somehow ends up with him, even though there’s nothing special about me.”

“Well it’s a good thing we aren’t characters in a romance novel,” Mr. Heywood stated. “We’re nothing like that. I’m the one who’s lucky to have you. Now come on, the grocery store is calling.”

After an awful, freezing minute walk from the car to the store we entered, Mr. Heywood grabbing a basket from the rack in the front of the store. I glanced down the row of cashiers, searching for anyone I recognized. Luckily, no one looked familiar. Mr. Heywood started walking away from me, and I quickly hurried to catch up.

“Mr. Heywood, what are you getting?”

“Depends on what you want,” he responded, glancing over his shoulder at me. “What do you want to eat?”

I looked at him in surprise. “I get to choose?”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“Can we have…” I hesitated, trying to think of something that wasn’t steak. “Er…  Tacos?”

Mr. Heywood abruptly stopped, causing me to run into him. He chuckled and took a step forwards as I rubbed my nose. “Tacos?” he repeated, sounding interested. “It’s been awhile since I’ve made those. Let’s try it.” Without warning, Mr. Heywood grabbed my hand and began tugging me down aisle ten.

My face heated up as I hurried to keep up with him. Was holding hands in such a public place such a good idea? Mr. Heywood stopped in front of the Mexican section, staring down a box of taco shells and seasoning.

“Should I buy pre-made?” he murmured to himself, squinting at the box. “Maybe it’s our best bet… Holly, do you think you can find the cheese and lettuce? I’ll grab the hamburger and the other stuff and meet you in the bakery. Which is on the far right of the store,” he explained pointing towards the area. “The vegetables and cheese are there too.”

Reluctantly, I let go of his hand. “Sure.”

He grinned at me. “What? Don’t want to let go of my hand?”

“No,” I denied, quickly turning away. “See you soon.”

It was a straight shot to the vegetable section. Luckily for me, the lettuce was right next to the cheese. Suddenly something flashed by the corner of my eye. I spun around quickly, my heart jumping in alarm, but found nothing. Warily I took a few steps backwards, still looking around.

“Boo!”

A loud, piercing shriek left my mouth as I twisted around in horror, half-expecting Shawn to be standing there. When my eyes landed on a familiar blonde, I was relieved, then angry. I aimed a kick at his shin. “Jeremy! You scared the crap out of me!”

Jeremy laughed, easily avoiding my assault. “Obviously. Otherwise you wouldn’t have screamed so loudly. I’m sure the whole store heard that.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked with a frown.

Jeremy looked pointedly at his chest. I followed his gaze, realizing he was wearing a black apron. A little nametag was placed on the right side of his chest, reading Jeremy R.

“You work here?” I asked rhetorically.

Jeremy nodded. “I have to pay for college somehow.”

“You go to college?”

“You don’t know anything about me, do you?” Jeremy asked with a sigh. “After all that we’ve been through… You’d think I’d leave a lasting impression.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “We don’t ever talk about you, Mr. Secretive Grocer.”

“I know,” Jeremy responded with a grin. He took the lettuce from my hand and weighed it with his palm. “So are you here alone?”

“No, um, Mr. Heywood is here too.”

“Chris is here? With you?”

“Yep.”

Jeremy suddenly had a huge grin on his face. “Really? That’s great!” He suddenly threw himself at me, nearly knocking me off my feet as he gave me a giant bear hug. He squeezed me so hard that I found it difficult to breathe. “So I take it something good happened?”

“Jeremy,” I wheezed, trying to get him to let go. “You’re killing me.”

“What?”

I struggled to push him off me. “I can’t breathe!”

“I can’t hear you,” he sang, holding me tighter.

I opened my mouth to protest again, but Jeremy was abruptly pulled away from me. He looked behind me and grinned sheepishly. I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Mr. Heywood.

“Hey, Chris,” Jeremy greeted.

“Jeremy,” Mr. Heywood responded in an irritated voice. “Mind telling me why you tried strangling Holly?”

“I’m just happy!”

“I’d hate to see what you’d do when you’re on cloud nine,” Mr. Heywood muttered, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Did you get the cheese and lettuce?

I pointed to Jeremy’s hand, turning around to look at him. “He’s got the lettuce. I’ve got the cheese. And I thought we were meeting at the bakery.”

Mr. Heywood gave me a flat look. “After you screamed, I figured something was wrong so I followed the source of the noise. Good thing I did, otherwise Jeremy might have actually killed you.”

“I would not off,” Jeremy protested, sniffing. “Well, if I did it would have been an accident.”

I smiled wryly at him. “You sound so concerned.”

He shrugged. “Que sera sera. Anyway, what are you two doing tonight?”

Mr. Heywood raised the basket in his hand. “Making tacos.”

“Oh, can I come?”

“Nope,” Mr. Heywood drawled, reaching over and yanking the lettuce out of Jeremy’s hand. “You better get back to work.”

Jeremy turned to me, pouting. “Holly?” he said in a begging voice.

I stared back at him, biting my lip. He jutted his lower lip, giving me the puppy dog look, and took a step closer to me. Mr. Heywood sent me a meaningful look and I quickly ducked my head. “It’s Mr. Heywood’s house. I can’t just invite you over.”

Mr. Heywood smirked as Jeremy’s expression fell. He crossed his arms and turned his back to me. “I see how it is, Holly.”

“Aw, Jeremy—”

“Nope, nope, I understand,” he said, holding up his hands. “You two don’t need me anymore.”

“Jeremy that’s not it,” I protested, grabbing the back of his apron. “What are you talking about?”

Jeremy glanced at me from over his shoulder. “Now that you two are together you want me out of the picture.”

“Yep,” Mr. Heywood responded just as I cried, “No!”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Don’t listen to Mr. Heywood,” I told Jeremy, shooting Mr. Heywood a dirty look. “I don’t want you out of the picture.”

“But I want you out of the picture.”

I stared at Jeremy incredulously. “Huh?”

Jeremy took a step closer to me, looking menacing. I took a step back, eyeing him warily. Jeremy sighed, shaking his head. “You see, Holly. I want Chris for myself. We’re destined to be lovers and I— oof!” Jeremy doubled over, clutching his stomach as Mr. Heywood punched him in the gut.

“Jeremy, go be stupid somewhere else,” Mr. Heywood demanded, grabbing my hand. “We’re leaving.”

“I see you still can’t take a joke,” Jeremy wheezed, looking up and grinning at Mr. Heywood.

Mr. Heywood scowled as I blushed, remembering the time I had blurted out that Mr. Heywood wanted to be with Jeremy.

“Holly, let’s make plans to go somewhere soon. Maybe take Jenna and Jane somewhere,” Jeremy said, brushing his hair out of his face.

A smile spread across my face. “Sure!”

“Let’s go,” Mr. Heywood ordered, tugging on my hand. “I want to get something for dessert.”

“May I suggest the chocolate mousse cake?” Jeremy called as Mr. Heywood started dragging me away.

“I don’t like chocolate,” Mr. Heywood responded. “Goodbye, Jeremy.”

I looked up at Mr. Heywood in surprise. “You don’t like chocolate?”

“Some of it is okay, but most of it is too sweet for me,” Mr. Heywood explained.

“Too sweet?” I repeated in a skeptical tone. “Coming from the man who uses three pounds of sugar in his coffee?”

Mr. Heywood smirked down at me. “Hey, sugar and chocolate are completely different.”

I laughed. “Whatever you say, Mr. Heywood.”

“Chris,” he said forcefully. “Holly, call me Chris.”

My cheeks blazed and I ducked my head. “Sorry, um, Chris.”

“That’s better,” he responded, emitting a low chuckle. “I like the sound of that much bet— shit.”

Before I knew what was happening, Mr. Heywood shoved me to the side with enough force to send me toppling away. I fell behind a large display of cereal, landing painfully on my wrist. When I looked up to glare at Mr. Heywood, I saw him with an eerily familiar person. My eyes nearly bulged out of my sockets when I realized it was Ms. Long, the gym teacher.

“Chris! Funny seeing you here,” she crooned, smiling widely at him. “What are you doing?”

Mr. Heywood held up our shopping basket. “Getting dinner.”

I scrambled to my feet and quickly turned, sprinting down the aisle. My heart thudded in my chest as I pushed open the door and jogged outside. The cold air instantly sent Goosebumps up my arms, and I pulled my jacket tighter, heading towards Mr. Heywood’s car.

We were two towns over! Why was Ms. Long here? That was too close. A shiver ran through me, and I leaned back against the car, watching my breath come out in white steam. Frowning, I glanced around the dark parking lot, seeing if anyone was around. From what I could see, I was alone… My heart skipped a beat and I groaned, sliding my back down the side of Mr. Heywood’s car until I was squatting.

The paranoid feeling was back. Even though I knew Shawn was in jail. To stop myself from looking around and freaking out more, I dropped my head into my arms, focusing on the sound of my breathing. No one was out here— there wasn’t anything to be paranoid about. Well, besides someone finding Mr. Heywood and me together. But other than that, I was safe.

Five minutes later I was literally shivering in my shoes. I plucked at the strings of my jacket, wishing I had a pair of minutes. And a hat. And a scarf. And anything else that could keep me warm.

“Holly!”

My head snapped up and I saw a figure jogging towards me. As the person grew closer, I noticed it was Mr. Heywood, a grocery bag in hand. He slowed to a walk and stopped in front of me, looking annoyed.

“Why did you come out here?” he demanded. “Do you not realize it’s only about thirty degrees out?”

I frowned at him. “I couldn’t stay in there!”

“You could have waited by the front of the store. It’s not weird for two people who know each other to be in the same store,” Mr. Heywood pointed out, frowning back at me. “Get up.” He held his hand out to me and I grabbed it. “Your hand is freezing,” he told me, making a face as he pulled me to my feet.

I blushed. “Sorry.”

Mr. Heywood rolled his eyes. “Sorry? Come on, get in the car.” He unlocked the door for me and opened it.

I climbed in, following his form as he went to the other side of the car, tossing the bag of groceries in the back before hopping in the driver’s seat. He quickly turned the key in the engine and flipped the heat on high.

“Give me your hands,” he demanded.

Curiously, I moved my hands toward him. He enveloped my hands in his, pulling them into the sleeves of his jacket. Immediately my hands felt much warmer. Mr. Heywood smirked at me. “Better?”

Ducking my head, I nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Anytime,” Mr. Heywood told me. “And I’m sorry for pushing you. I was surprised and pushing you away was the first thing I thought of. Are you okay?”

I smiled at him. “I’m okay.”

“Good,” Mr. Heywood breathed in relief. “But that was close. I guess if we want to go somewhere together, we’ll have to go further.”

I looked up at him with a frown. “Is that okay?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is what okay?”

“Won’t that be wasting gas?”

Mr. Heywood laughed. “Holly, us doing stuff together is way more important than how much gas it takes to do so.”

My face grew hotter and I looked away from him. “I—I see.”

Mr. Heywood chuckled, letting go of my hands. “Alright, let’s go home.” 

__________________________________________

HEY CHECK THIS OUT! This is a fanmade move trailer for A Proscriptive Relationship made by YeahSaosin! You have to watch it, it's amazing! Sadly, it can't go on Youtube because of copyright (bitch) so she had me upload it to my Facebook page. Hopefully if you don't have a Facebook you should be able to watch it. I hope. So the links in the external link.

 Anyway, this chapter is going to be in two because I'd love to be able to stop this at chapter 60. Let me clear things up about the sequel. 1) It's not all about Jeremy. I just said that there's going to be a lot of him. 2) Duh it's going to have Holly as the main character. 3) It's the other half of the year. Right now it's only December. The sequel will be January through graduation. It's basically a continuation, just with a different plot. I hope that clears up all your confusion. :D

Picture to the right by Donna Smith! It's awesome, huh? :D