Chapter 42

I stood there along with 49 other students, waiting for the winners to be revealed. I wasn’t expecting to win, I knew that there were people here who’ve won championships all around; I was no competition to them but I was okay with it. “Third place is Penelope Austin!”

The harpist walked over to stand beside the announcer as she had a smug look on her face. I raised an eyebrow at her. She just turned up her nose while I rolled my eyes, a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips. “Second place is Tyrone Santos!”

I turned and watched the crowd. My eyes found my friends; surprisingly Chase was there with a smile on his face. Adrian was grinning widely at me while my other friends were smiling just as largely. “First place goes to Fiona Harper!” My eyes were locked with Adrian’s when the words were spoken.

My head whipped around to face the announcer and he waved me over to the group of winners. I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out of the crowd and say; ‘I’m Ashton Kutcher and you’ve just been pranked!’ But instead, the announcer smiled as the cameras took pictures of us. I couldn’t help but let a goofy grin slip onto my face.

Adrian and I had almost kissed.

When they finally let me leave with my large trophy, my belongings and my stupid grin, I walked over to my friends who wrapped me in a hug. I immediately felt the need to apologize. “I’m sorry for avoiding you. I just-”

“Shut up, winner.” Logan smiled and I felt the goofy grin make its way onto my face. Adrian offered to carry the trophy and I nodded, handing it over to him.

Despite the fact that I came here in my aunt’s car, I left in Adrian’s even though we were going to the same place. Mattie was in the backseat, congratulating me repeatedly.

I left my purse in the car when I told Adrian that I was going to go change. “Don’t, you look beautiful.” He smiled.

I bit my lip. “I’m freezing.” I admitted and he sighed.

“I guess I have to change then, too.” He smiled and I nodded. Mattie just held my hand until he had to go with Adrian into their house.

__

About twenty minutes later, I exited my house at the same time Adrian had and he opened the passenger side door for me. I smiled at him as I entered the car. He grinned as he walked in front of the car. I leaned over and honked the horn, causing him to jump. But instead of being angry, he just smiled at me.

“Okay, I know you may not answer me on this one… but I need to ask it; can I see your For Now Bucket List? It regards to the date.” Adrian asked, covering his face with his hands as a defense mechanism while I picked up my purse. I dug around for a moment before taking out the piece of paper.

“Don’t laugh.” I warned and he nodded, a small smile embracing his face. I gave him another warning look. He took the list in his hands, pure happiness glowing in his eyes. He reminded me of a little boy on Christmas Eve when his parents let him open a present early.

As his eyes scanned the list, his small smile grew wider and he blinked every so often. Just by watching him, the butterflies in my stomach turned into pterodactyls swooping down. “I actually completed number one but I didn’t think you considered those dates.” I stuttered awkwardly.

“I don’t think you understand how happy this makes me.” I just nodded in response. His eyes were greener and they looked happier. “Why don’t we start working on finishing everything on this list?”

“Everything?” Even the last one, about getting a boyfriend?

“What? You don’t want to pull a Velma?” He smirked and I punched his shoulder. “Let’s go to the store.” He started the car and we were off.

__

“I’ll count and you hide.” Adrian told me with a smile and I nodded, racing through the racks of clothing. We were in a Wal-Mart in a different town. Soon enough, we were going to be known as the Wal-Mart Destroyers.

I ducked into a coat rack. I heard footsteps and a little kid peeked through; I jumped out at him, thinking it was Adrian. (Does that make me a pedophile?) I heard crying as he ducked back out of the rack, stumbling and falling to the floor with a thud.  

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” An old lady scolded me as she pushed away the coats to yell directly in my face. I pursed my lips as I stared up at her.

An employee came over quickly and saw me. I saw Adrian a few feet behind them, bent over laughing. He was holding his stomach. This was happening a lot quicker than I’d predicted.

“My glasses, I can’t find my glasses.” I began patting the floor around me, even touching the employee’s shoe. She yanked me up and proceeded to kick me out of the store, threatening to call the cops for ‘breach of peace.’ I’ve never laughed harder in my life.

A few moments later, Adrian came back with a bag full of candy. “What’s next on the list, Velma?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, smiling at him. He handed me the bag as he opened the door for me. I slid into the car, watching as he walked around the front, the urge to honk the horn overpowering.

“The next drive in movie starts in about 20 minutes, think we can make it?” He asked me, with a challenging look on his face. I nodded my head and he started driving. I dug around inside the bag and noticed that he’d bought all sorts of candy and fizzy drinks. This should be fun.

___

“What movie is it?” I asked him and he smiled sheepishly at me.

White Chicks started playing on the screen and I smiled at him before stuffing a handful of Skittles in my mouth and turning to watch the movie.

Adrian distributed the rest of the candy and I stared at him, taking in his features again. “Like what you see?” He cockily asked.

“Yes, yes I do.” I replied, popping another handful of Skittles into my mouth.

“Me, too.” He smiled at me before we turned and watched the movie.

I stole glances at him as I turned to drink my soda. He was just so beautiful. During the movie, he turned to look at me. “Look, I know this is a rushed date. But I thought maybe it’d be romantic if we accomplished all the things on your bucket list. This isn’t an ideal ‘first’ date, I know but there’s always more, that’s if you want to-.” I cut him off by shoving a Twix into his mouth. His eyes widened slightly.

“Shut up and watch the movie. This date’s amazing.” I smiled at him and he nodded, eating my Twix.

___

After we watched the movie, we decided to go get an early dinner. Surprisingly, Adrian drove us to the pizza place where he openly flirted with my aunt. “Remember this place?”

“How could I forget?” I smiled at him. After we ordered and received our food, we walked towards a booth.

“What do people normally do on a first date?” Adrian asked me, curiously glancing at me.

“They talk and get to know each other. They ask questions, I guess.” I shrugged in response. I was shoving a piece of pizza in my mouth.

“Okay, do you have any questions?” At his question, I smiled sheepishly down at my plate.

“They’re a bit personal.” I replied, twirling the can of Coca-Cola in my hand.

“Ask away.” He waved his hand. I took in a breath.

“Where’s your dad?” I stared at him and instead of raging and storming out of the restaurant, like I’d expected, he just smiled.

“I was waiting for you to ask me that. You held off way longer than I’d expected.” He grinned at me before letting out a low sigh and staring at the table. “My father died a few days after Mattie was born. He was in a car accident; he crashed into a tree.”

Before I could even say anything, he just smiled at me. “Do you have any other questions?” I shook my head. “Good, because I have a boatload.”

__

We were driving back home, or I supposed we were when Adrian stopped at the park down the street. He got out of the car and opened the door for me, helping me step out by holding out his hand. Instead of letting go of my hand, he entwined our fingers.  

“I just want to clear a few things up.” He smiled at me and I nodded, physically and mentally preparing myself for the rejection that I was soon going to face. “If you couldn’t already tell, I like you. A lot, I don’t know how you didn’t figure it out a while ago.”

I processed his words and just stared at him in pure and utter shock. “What?”

“I’ve liked you for a bit of time; I realized it at the Halloween dance when we were taking pictures. I thought I made it clear at Trent’s party, but I guess not.”  I was gaping at him. He took a pocket knife out of his pocket and I took a step back. “Calm down, Fio, it’s only for carving your name into the tree. Remember?” He smiled and I let out a relieved sigh. He handed me the knife and I began carving my name.

“Don’t you trust me?” He whispered into my ear from behind me and I nearly had a coughing fit at the sudden proximity.

I carved my name, or what looked something like it, into the tree. Adrian took the knife back as I stared at my name in satisfaction. Before I could realize what was happening, he was driving the knife into the tree himself, writing just beneath my work. I didn’t know what he was writing but I really wanted to see it.

I waited until he was finished to look at it.

Adrian + Fiona.

I smiled at the cheesiness of it yet I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I turned to look at him and he smiled widely at me. “I was just wondering if maybe, you’d want to be my girlfriend.”

“Of course, I would, Adrian.” I wrapped my arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

Slowly pulling backwards, he leaned forwards again, with different intentions in mind. We were going to kiss. I mirrored his actions and as our lips touched, I felt the fireworks I’d been waiting for; I smiled into the kiss. Everything is perfect.