I peeked above the stack of pictures in my hand and inspected the classroom to see if anybody was paying attention to me. When I was satisfied that the class was preoccupied doing other things while we waited for the professor, I slinked back in my chair and went through the photos Seth had handed me in an envelope earlier when we passed each other by the hallway on my way to this class. 

They were photos from the Saturday we spent together—shots of the disastrous kitchen, us hanging out by the pool with our cheeks bright pink and hair slick and glistening with water, our goofy expressions with ice cream smeared on our face like war paint, us and our bikes by the neighborhood park and other random shots of pure silliness and good times.

I was pretty hesitant at first when he whipped out his compact digital camera and started snapping the first few shots at the beginning of the day but being Seth whom pretty much nobody can say no to, cajoled me into loosening up and I don’t regret holding the memories in my hands now.

My favorite, I decided with a blush creeping up my cheeks, is of a close up of our faces while we were lying down on the daybed, my tongue sticking out from the corner of my mouth while he was pressing a kiss on my cheek. I remember pummeling him with a pillow right after this shot was taken, feigning indignation at him for stealing a kiss.

“Ali! What’s up, girl?”

A high-pitched female voice popped my cloud nine and before I realized it, Stephanie Dallas, a nosy and noisy, extremely tall redhead who attends a lot of the same classes as mine, plopped down on a seat beside me and grabbed the stack of photos from my hand. 

“Steph, wait, give that back to me!” I immediately lunged for the photos she was casually shuffling through before her expression lit up with recognition then shock. 

“Oh my God, Ali. Is this Seth Wallace in these photos with you?” she asked out loud with an amused yet stunned grin on her face. 

I tensed as several other people’s heads turned to me.

Stephanie didn’t seem to mind the attention she was drawing as she continued to shuffle through the photos, twisting and turning to ward off my attempts at lunging for the photos again. “You guys look so cute! I didn’t know you two were dating.”

“We’re not dating!” I snapped, finally leaping up and successfully snatching the photos back except for a few of them that slipped off the stack and floated to the floor. 

Stephanie smirked and helped me pick them up. “Oh, don’t get so worked up now, Ali. It’s great that you’re seeing someone—especially when it’s Seth Wallace. Hello? But who knew he’d be interested in, you know, smart girls. Don’t get me wrong on that. It just seemed as if he was always dating pretty but ditzy girls.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the sensitivity, Steph—always your best trait, but broadcasting it to the class was really unnecessary.”

Stephanie, never the shy and sensitive type at all, just laughed and patted my shoulder. “Oh, Ali. When you’re dating someone like Seth Wallace, this kind of thing doesn’t stay a secret for very long. You’ll have half this campus hating you pretty soon.”

I raised a brow at her. “Gee, that’s great news. Can’t wait. Thanks.”

“Just giving you a heads up,” Stephanie added before getting up from the chair. “People will talk. They always do. And they’ll be very interested to know why he picked you.”

I groaned and filed the photos back into t heir envelope. “Hasn’t it ever occurred to anyone that maybe I picked him?”

Stephanie just gave me a confused look. “Of course, you’d pick him. Why wouldn’t you unless you’re out of your mind?”

“Ali!” A voice called from the doorway and I looked up and saw Seth standing there, looking quite handsome in a pair of faded jeans, a soft gray shirt and his trademark heart-stopping smile.

I hated to agree but Stephanie had a point: Why wouldn’t I pick Seth? Who wouldn’t?

“Excuse me,” I told Stephanie who just giggled as I brushed past her.

“Hey,” Seth greeted when I stepped out into the hallway. He cupped my chin and studied my face. “Are you okay? You look kind of upset.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I’m fine. It’s just that Stephanie got a hold of the photos and announced to the entire class that we were dating.”

“So?” he asked. “People are going to find out eventually.”

I shrugged. “Eventually. I’m not so sure though if I look forward to that.”

“Why not? I do,” he answered quickly with a big grin. “I’ve been waiting quite a bit for you, you know? Nine months and six days to be exact.”

I couldn’t help but blush. “Well, I didn’t know. Besides, you and I didn’t see each other during the summer so that can’t possibly count.”

He shrugged. “Well, I was away interning with my Dad abroad but I added Liam as a friend on Facebook when I couldn’t find your profile and he had more than enough group photos with you in them to keep me happy until I returned this fall.” 

I scrunched up my nose at him although inside my stomach butterflies fluttered. “Jeez, Seth.  I can’t believe you were stalking me all this time. Creepy.”

He laughed, his own cheeks showing a hint of pink. “Well, it’s not like I could’ve called you out of the blue to just talk and catch up. You would’ve thought me really strange.”

I snorted. “I already do so I don’t know what stopped you.”

He blushed more and I took pleasure in watching him scratch his ear awkwardly as he squirmed. “You weren’t the easiest girl to figure out, okay? The usual tricks don’t work with you and you made it very clear you weren’t too impressed with me so I had to tread as carefully as I could manage.”

I raised a brow. “Pestering the hell out of me isn’t what I’d call treading carefully.”

He grinned guiltily. “No, I know, but it was fun. I couldn’t pass it up.”

He laughed and jumped back when I smacked his arm. 

“Hey, I need to get back into class before our prof arrives,” I told him as I turned towards the doorway but he quickly grabbed me by the wrist.

“Wait, before I forget,” he said, pulling me close again after peeking at the classroom to make sure our teacher hasn’t shown up yet. “This weekend, guess where we’re going.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why are you making me guess when you obviously just want to tell me?”

Seth groaned in resigned amusement and shook his head. “Okay, fine. We’re going out with my best friends and their girlfriends to a private beach house out at Tuzon this weekend. We’ll go swimming, do some surfing and jetskiing and there’ll be tons of seafood and barbeque. I promise, it’ll be awesome.”

I blinked. “You. And Me. Together. On a weekend. Just. You and me.”

“You and me and the gang,” he confirmed, his eyes lighting up when he realized my concern. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll sleep on the couch. I’ll even ask your mom and well, you’re entire family for permission. I’ll swear on my life that nothing bad will happen to you nor will I take advantage of you. What other kind of assurance do you need from me? A written oath?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s real cute, Seth. I’m sure my family will have no qualms about it considering how you’ve got them wrapped around your finger but I’m not too sure about this. I’ve never really met your friends—“

“And that’s why this is the perfect chance!” he insisted, his expression excited. “They’d really like to meet you. And besides there will be other girls there too so you won’t feel out of place or anything like that.”

I shot him a disbelieving look. “Right. ‘Coz they’re just like me and we can all gush about all things posh and extravagant.”

He laughed. “They’re pretty normal. Most of them anyway.”

I groaned and scratched my head in confusion. “I still don’t know, Seth. They’re your friends’ girlfriends and I feel like I’m just tagging along.”

“Hey, Ali, stop right there,” he said, wrapping a hand around mine. “I’m asking you to come because I want you to be there, with me, not just to meet my friends but so that you and I can spend some time together too. You’re not just tagging along. I can bring my own girlfriend too, you know?”

I looked up in surprise at the mention of the word girlfriend and found his green eyes looking t me, softly pleading. 

Girlfriend.

Gee.

I guess if you’re dating, that’s pretty much the way you’ll both go—boyfriend and girlfriend.

Wow.

Whew.

“Please, Ali?”

I exhaled a long, deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’ll come.”

His face immediately broke into a grin and he quickly pulled me close for a brief hug. “Thank you. I promise, we’ll have an awesome time.”

I smiled and gently pushed him away. “We better if I’m giving up a weekend to do this. I’m kidding. You better go now so I can get back in before the class starts.”

He happily obliged and as I walked back into the room, I spotted a few curious glances which guiltily averted away from me the moment I caught them staring.

I smiled and went back to my seat, not minding the attention too much.

I promised Seth I’d give us a chance to work this out. 

If that  means learning to get along with the people in his life as he had done with the people in mine, and dealing with the inevitable audience of our unavoidably public relationship, then so be it. 

It’s only fair—I’ve got my own part to do.