"Bye, guys. Make sure to practice, okay? After all, we'll have to rehearse with the performers next week. You all know Mr. Garell has the shortest fuse known to man," Amy announced to everybody as they packed up their instruments. I unzipped the front pocket of my guitar's case to put away my sheet music, but noticed an unfamiliar, small pink slip of paper sitting inside.

I pulled it out and unfolded it, looking down at the row of digits scribbled onto the post-it note. There was a smiley face drawn next to the last digit.

I felt an involuntary smile form on my lips as I looked down at the little pink piece of paper. It was cute... And I had a feeling I knew who left this.

I stuffed the paper in my pocket and packed away my instrument along with my sheet music, preparing to leave. My phone began to ring as I walked out of the classroom into the empty hallway. I knew who it was. When I looked down at the caller ID, it was, as expected, James's name staring back at me on the screen.

He was probably wondering furiously as to why I hadn't met up with him in fourth period today.

I put my phone on silent, removing the thought of him from my mind. I couldn't face him today - I wasn't feeling as weak-willed as usual this time.

After putting my guitar in the boot of my car and climbing into the driver's seat, I decided to send a text to that number. I had to be a little careful though - there was a very slight possibility that it wasn't going to be the person I was expecting on the other end.

The curser blinked at me, daring me to type up an embarrassing message. I had learnt by now, however, that practically every word I said to this girl would eventually be used against me. I had to admit, she knew exactly how to test my limits.

I was too excited to think clearly, so decided to just say the first thing that came to mind without allowing myself to overthink it.

Wyle: Hi! It's Wyle. You left your number on a post-it. Who is this?

I let out a squeak of excitement, then covered my face in embarrassment even though no one else was around to witness what was happening. Okay, Wyle, control yourself. It's just a text, I told myself in my head, trying to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

Unable to sit still, I snatched the pink post-it note from where I had dumped it in the cup holder and kept re-reading the row of digits. Before I knew it, I was repeating it out loud to myself again and again - it was, in that moment, my only way of releasing the pent-up giddiness inside me.

I had sat there rehearsing the numbers for what felt like hours when I realised my phone was on silent and I wasn't going to hear any calls or texts. I picked up my phone in a frenzy and found five notifications waiting for me: three texts and two missed calls.

Emial: Heyy it's Emial! Did you like how I presented it? :p

Emial: I'll call you. It's easier to talk that way. :)

The missed calls had come afterwards. Then, another text.

Emial: COME ON PICK UP WYLE

I raised my eyebrows at the third one, touched that she really wanted to talk to me. I was, unsurprisingly, feeling like the biggest idiot for being so excited yet also forgetting to take my phone off of silent mode. I did that then and rang her straight after.

What if she was fed up of me now?

"Hi! How are you, hun?" Emial's voice chirped suddenly from the other end of the line.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the headrest in relief. "I'm good."

I was too nervous to form words. Everything I said and thought felt wrong or weird.

"What are you up to? I've been rehearsing with my band all day and I'm pooped," she said and I heard the crackling sound of her yawn at the end of the sentence. God, why does everything she does make me want to smile? She's just doing normal human things, damn it!

Stop smiling to yourself, Wyle. It's ridiculous.

"Oh, I just got out from an orchestra meeting. We were rehearsing for the musical production coming up," I replied, propping my legs up on the seat and leaning back against the car-door.

"Oh, how exciting! Can I hear the pieces early? What do you call it... A sneak peak?"

Chuckling, I replied, "You're the only one asking."

"Are you at home or what? Would you like to come over? I've been feeling super lonely." She sighed deeply to further emphasise her point.

The words sounded just like James.

But the difference was, the tingling feeling inside me was telling me to say yes whilst my mind was advising me to refuse on behalf of my pride.

*t i m e s k i p*

"Aw, you came to my rescue, my princess in shining armor!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Also, you remembered the way. Should I be scared?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going back now," I joked, turning to retreat down the frontsteps.

"Oh, c'mon," she said, stopping me with a tug of my shirt and leading me inside.

She closed the door behind me and made her way to the kitchen. I followed close behind her, observing the place. It was, simply put, a mess. I almost wanted to start tidying up straight away. "Do you ever clean up around here?"

"What?" she turned to me, then her eyes scanned the place and seemed to only just register the mess I was referring to. "Ah... Well, yeah, I'd say this is one of our more tidy days. Usually you wouldn't make it this far without tripping over something."

I gave her a shocked glance. She chuckled, tucking some loose strands of her fringe behind her ear. "Just kidding. My parents don't live here, so I'm the only one responsible for the tidiness. And I'm just too lazy. I mean, if it doesn't get in my way, why bother with it?"

I rolled my eyes at that and didn't question her statement about her parents not living with her. I was guessing she might not want to talk about it. I leaned against the counter and watched as she took out two mugs from a small overhead cupboard.

She then ran a hand through her thick black mop of hair and turned to me, a twinkle in her brown eyes as she gave me a small smile. "What would you like, m'lady? Tea or coffee?"

The way she was looking at me made me want to pull her closer to me, but I dare say my pride would let me follow through with that. I looked away out of shyness, unable to meet her charming gaze. "Uh, coffee would be nice. Thank you."

Whilst she prepared the drinks, I decided to make my way into the living room - well, the living area. The kitchen was only separated from it by a single slab of wall, opening the kitchen to the hallway from the entrance that otherwise lead straight into the living room.

There was a bedsheet and a big pillow on the couch, so I was guessing she slept there. The only other seat was a comfy-looking armchair where I found a tabby cat curled up in a ball, soundly asleep. Since there was nowhere that seemed suitable enough a place to sit my butt down, I resorted to walking around awkwardly, observing the shelves and wall decorations.

A few minutes later, I heard Emial on her way. "Coffee isss ready!"

She looked up from the steaming mugs of coffee in her hand at me, giving me a frown. "Why are you standing there, babe? You can sit on the couch. Oh, wait... I'll tidy it up, sorry."

She set the mugs down on the wooden table against the wall and hurried to remove the bedsheets and pillow.

I immediately replied, "Oh, no, that's okay! It wasn't that. I just thought- hey, really, I don't mind."

I saw she wasn't stopping as she began to reorganize the other pillows as well.

I walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, but she turned away from me and I noticed her rub her cheeks, the wetness of tears evident on the back of her hands as she wiped them on her jeans. It was a quick move, but not quick enough for me not to notice. When she turned back around, her eyes were slightly bloodshot. "C'mon, let's watch a movie."

She quickly brought back the mugs and handed one to me. I didn't know how else to respond other than to agree without questioning what just happened.

We sat together on the couch, her thigh and shoulder brushing against mine despite there being plenty of room on the couch. The movie she put on was boring, but the coffee kept me entertained for the first bit and there was a constant electricity in the places I felt her body brushing against mine.

About quarter of the movie we watched in silence and I didn't look at her once, for fear of meeting her tempting chocolate-coloured eyes.

Suddenly, she grabbed the remote and paused the movie. I turned to her to ask what was up, but met with her face inches from mine as her head was already turned to me, her eyes staring at me intently.

"Are you bored?" she asked in a whisper.

I felt my insides heat up and my skin tingled from head to toe. Was she going to kiss me?

I replied, also whispering though I didn't really know why (probably because I didn't have the energy to speak - I was too busy wanting so badly to grab her face and place my lips on hers), "Kind of. Not exactly."

I noticed as her stare fell on my lips. The glare of the TV screen sharpened the shadow of her jawline and accentuated her chiseled features. She licked her lips. Oh, gosh, she's going to kiss me...