surprise! i wrote something. college & chipotle are kicking my butt but i am alive

/ / / 

"Come on, Ian. Don't be a coward." He inhaled deeply, slowly, and gripped the straps of his backpack tightly. He straightened his back and marched forward --- literally marched --- until his doubts got the better of him and he dragged his feet forward. He crossed the hallway where you were standing at your locker, looking at the tiny magnetic mirror on the door, pulling your hair up into a high ponytail with a bright yellow scrunchie. "Don't be a coward, don't be a coward..." He walked up behind the door of your locker and blurted out, "Hi, ___!"

You shut the door to your locker and turned away from him, eyes down. Completely missing him.

His hand dropped and he swallowed hard. Cheeks flushing, he glanced around quickly to make sure no one heard this embarrassing attempt. 

But then you turned, eyes wide, and you pulled the earbuds out of your ears. "Oh, Ian! I didn't even see you there. Hey, how are you?"

"I-I'm good," he said, relief filling him for a single minute before it vanished completely again. He remembered what he had to do. He couldn't chicken out now. He had to ask. "H-How are you?"

"I'm good," you responded with a grin. You stepped closer to him, leaning against the wall of lockers. 

"You look good," he said. Right away, he choked on his words, eyes bulging out of his head. "I-I mean you... your hair! Your hair looks awesome. It looks... it looks really great."

"Oh," you said, subconsciously touching your ponytail. You ran your fingers through it and smiled bashfully. "Thanks, Ian." 

Jeez, you were so pretty. You were so pretty. He couldn't believe he had a crush on you like this. He'd known you for four months now. You were a new student and you were quiet and kept to yourself. That made it easy to connect with you. He was alone, and so were you. Right away he had a crush on you --- literally a week after meeting you. You had pretty much put a spell on him. He was almost convinced that you had. He didn't think you were an enchantress or something like that, but maybe you were...

What else could he blame the insane amount of butterflies he felt in his stomach on?

"Are you okay?" you asked. "You look sick." 

"I'm fine," he said. An obvious lie. 

"Are you sure? 'Cause you look like you're about to puke on my shoes." 

"No, I-I'm not going to do that. I'm not... gonna do that."

"Good." 

"I just, uh, wanted to ask you something," he said. 

"Sure." You smiled. 

"It's Friday, you know, and so I was just, uh... just thinking..." He swallowed hard and dropped his hands from his hips. He glanced down at his right palm, where he had scribbled pen marks smeared in blue and black ink. He squinted his eyes as he tried to make out what he had wrote on himself this morning. "I like BurgerShire and I know... I know you like it too. Right? 'Cause everyone loves burgers. I think. I think you do! I don't... I don't know. And I don't want to say that you do just in case you, uh, don't. So---" 

You nodded slowly. "I do like burgers, Ian." 

"Yes!" He pointed at you. "Yes! I was... I was right. I knew it. Anyway. Uh... so I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to... to get a burger. There. At BurgerShire." 

"Like as a..." 

"A date," he finished, face pained. He tried to smile, but his hands curled up into fists, the sweat of his palms definitely smearing the rest of the ink around his fingers. "A date with... with, uh, me."

You smiled and then bit down hard on your bottom lip, eyes cast to the floor as you crossed your legs and fought back the biggest grin you'd ever had. "I've been hoping you would ask me out."

"You have?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yeah," you said. "I've had a big crush on you, Ian. Isn't in obvious?"

"No," he said. He couldn't believe it at all. You had a crush on him this entire time? He didn't have to be nervous after all? "Well, I-I didn't know."

"Oh. Then I guess I was doing a good job at having a crush on you," you said. "And hey, I didn't know you had one on me 'til you came up to me with Will you go out with me? smeared on your hand. You didn't have to rehearse for me, you know." You grinned again. "Can you pick me up at, like, five? We can go see a movie after we eat too, if you want. There's a new animated movie that looks pretty good." 

"Sure! Yeah, that sounds great," he said, grinning. "I'll have to pick you up in my brother's van. And he'll have to be there, 'cause I only have my temps right now."

"That's okay," you said. You were so cool --- you didn't care if he couldn't drive or anything yet. "I'd love to meet your brother. Barely, right?"

"Yeah." Ian smiled. 

You nodded. "So I'll see you. And Barley." You playfully smacked his arm.

"Yeah." He laughed and pushed your hand away from him.  "I'll see you tonight." 

You glanced around the hallway in search of nosy teachers with watching eyes. When the coast seemed clear, you leaned in and gave Ian a kiss on his cheek. "I can't wait. See ya, Ian!"

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped and you walked happily down the hallway, looking back to catch his surprised face. You giggled and hurried away. Ian touched the spot on his cheek where you kissed him. The butterflies seem to multiply and he couldn't stop grinning, no matter how hard he tried to not make it obvious that the single best thing to ever happen in his life had just taken place.

Yeah, you must have put a spell on him or something.