I rushed through the empty hallway, following the direction the janitor had given me of the changing rooms.

Wonderful, I thought to myself sarcastically. First day in a new school and you’re already late for a class.

Not that I mind missing gym.

I took the right he had told me to take and found myself in front of the two doors. Pushing the faded door with my shoulder, I threw my bag down on a bench and scrambled through it for my gym clothes. Removing them, I set them down on the bench.

Crossing my arms over my head, I yanked my T-shirt up and pulled it over my head, messing my hair in the process. There goes all the effort I put into perfecting my braid this morning.

I threw my T-shirt on the bench and reached down to remove my shorts.

“Woah! What the-” a deep voice echoed behind me.

My eyes widened and I froze in place. I turned slowly to face the person who had just spoken. Two brown eyes were staring down at me with amusement.

“What are you doing here?!” I exclaimed, frantically grabbing my T-shirt from the bench and holding it up in front of me as protection from his wandering eyes.

He was shirtless, showing off his muscular upper body. His dark, wet hair was messy and sticking out in different directions. He had that cute look going on and it was not helping.

The left side of his mouth twitched up as he leaned against the pillar behind him. “I could ask the same thing.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “I’m not the one who walked in on you stripping!”

“Fair enough,” he said, giving me a nod. “But then, you are the one stripping in a boy’s changing room.”

My mouth opened up in shock. “What?”

He put his hands up in defense mode and said, “By all means, go ahead and change. I have no problem.”

I glared at him as a smile played on his lips. Jerk.

“Could you turn around?” I snapped. I was not going to put down the T-shirt that was hiding my upper body from him to wear it. “Please,” I added after a beat.

He smirked but did turn around. I pulled my T-shirt on in the blink of an eye and grabbed my bag and stormed out of the changing room without glancing at him.

*

I looked at him once more. I can’t believe it’s him.

There’s no way I’m going to be his Valentine’s date.

I backed away quickly, pulling out my phone and dialing Kyla’s number. She answered on the first ring.

“Hey! Who is he? Is he hot? Cute?”

“He’s Seth.”

I heard her gasp. “Seth?”

“Yes,” I said, looking over my shoulder to see where he was.

“He likes you?” she questioned, surprised. “I never noticed.”

“I don’t care,” I told her sternly. “I am not going in there. I’ve embarrassed myself enough in front of him. Besides, he’s a jerk.”

“Come on, give him a chance,” she pleaded. “After all, you were the one standing in your bra in front of him.”

I clenched my teeth. “I don’t want to spend my evening with him.”

“Stop being so judgemental, Ava,” she countered. “You barely talked to him for a few minutes that day.”

“Fine,” I said and disconnected the call.

Letting out a puff of air, I walked towards him. His eyes met mine as I neared him and he flashed me an easy smile. Hesitantly, I let a smile take over my face.

No going back now.

“So,” I started, “You’re the mysterious ‘someone I know.’”

“That’s me,” he said with a grin.

He swiftly reached down for my hand and delicately raised it up to leave it a light kiss on the top of my hand, never leaving my eyes once. He let go and I had urge to wipe the back of my hand on my dress but I didn’t want to come across as rude in the first five minutes we spent together.

“For you,” he said, handing me a bouquet of white lilies.

“Thanks,” I said.

We made our way into the restaurant and he had made a reservation for two. I mentally frowned. Was he really that confident? How was definitely sure that I would turn up?

The restaurant itself had a cheesy, romantic mood going on. Of course, it was exceptionally decorated for Valentine’s Day with candles and petals of red roses around it.

“Strange,” I remarked as the waitress left us at a table in the corner. “You seem like a person who has lots of confidence. Why’d you send me the anonymous note then?”

He shrugged and replied, “Thought that would impress you.”

“Really?” I inquired and he nodded. “Well, it didn’t.”

His lips quirked up in amusement and he shut the menu he had just opened up to look at me. “Then why are you here?”

I was about to respond but he interrupted me, “Shall we order?”

I nodded and reached for the menu. I flipped through it in search of something good to eat. The way to my heart was my stomach.

I get good food, I’m a unicorn flouncing around in pink clouds but if I get dissatisfying food, I will become the bad guy in your Disney fantasy.

Besides, the faster I got this dinner over with, the earlier I could go home.

We placed our orders and faced one another. This is going to be awkward.

“So,” he said, piercing through the silence. “What do you like doing?”

I thought about it for a minute before he added, “Other than stripping in the boy’s changing room, of course.”

He remembers.

Why does he remember?

How on earth does he remember?

I felt my cheeks flare up in embarrassment and buried my face in my hands.

“How do you remember?” I whined, my voice coming out muffled.

His deep voice laughed in response. “Let’s just say first impressions matter.

“And mine sucked,” I mumbled, looking up at him.

“You were half naked,” he recalled. “I wouldn’t say it sucked.”

He winked at me and smiled mischievously.

I picked up the red petal and threw it at him. That, however, fired back at me since the wind was blowing in my direction and it flew back to my face instead.

He laughed while I wiped at my face. He pointed at me and my eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

“What?” I asked.

“The petal,” he said with a short chuckle. “It’s in your hair.”

I raked my hand through my hair but he leaned forward, holding my gaze. His arm reached forward and he carefully removed the petal from my hair. His hand lingered on my cheek, gently touching it with the side of his hand and the petal clutched in his thumb and forefinger. Slowly, he moved his hand away, dropping the petal on the table.

I shook my head at him.

“You do realize that this isn’t a movie,” I commented. “I could’ve removed it myself.”

He rolled his eyes at me as the waitress returned with our food and drinks.

“Hope you enjoy the food,” she said with a fake smile, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“You too,” Seth responded.

I took a bite of my grilled salmon and moaned as it melted in my mouth. “This is so good.”

He laughed at me with a mouthful of food.

“What?” I snapped.

“Nothing,” he said with a shake of his head.

I put my fork down, determined to know why he laughed.

“Tell me,” I whined.

He sighed and said, “You’re so persistent.”

“Stop changing the topic and tell me,” I said.

“It’s nothing,” he repeated but continued anyway. “Most girls I go out with are very conscious when they eat around me. You, on the other hand, don’t care at all. I like that.”

I looked him in confusion and shrugged. “That’s because most girls you go out with are cheerleaders.”

“That is not true!” he exclaimed.

“It is,” I argued back. I proceeded to list out a few girls who he had dated and he finally gave in after realizing that I was definitely going to win this argument.

“You stalk me,” he commented, taking a sip of water.

I scoffed at him. “I do not stalk people. I have better things to do with my precious time. Besides, if I did stalk people, you wouldn’t be one of them.”

“Oh, really?” he asked with a small smirk playing on his lips.

I nodded.

“Then how do you know so much about me?” he questioned.

“That’s because my best friend keeps up with gossip,” I said.

“Right,” he said, giving up.

To my surprise, there was not much awkwardness. In fact, our conversation seemed pretty natural. Although I would prefer it to be flirt-free but flirting was one of the things Seth considered himself to be best at.

He’s wrong.

Once we were done with dinner, he asked, “Do you want to leave?”

“Sure,” I responded.

The waitress came with the bill. I reached for my purse but he placed his hand on mine, stopping me. I stared at his big palm on my small hand. His palm sent warmth to my hand, comforting me in an odd way. I raised my eyes to look at him.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Getting money from my purse,” I said, raising questioning eyebrows at him.

“I invited you here,” he said. “You’re my Valentine’s date.”

“So?” I asked.

“I don’t think you understand the concept,” he remarked. “You’re on a date with me. You let me pay for the dinner.”

“Fine,” I said, lifting my hand off my purse. “But next time you let me pay.”

The corner of his mouth lifted up. “There’s going to be a next time?” he asked innocently.

My eyes widened a fraction. “No, no-”

“No?”  He put on a fake sad face.

“I mean yes but-”

“Yes?” he asked happily with a smirk playing on his stupid face.

I let out a puff of air in frustration. “Let’s just forget I said that.”

“It’s okay; I know you desperately want to spend more time with me.” He shot me a wink.

I scoffed at him as he paid for our meal. “I doubt that.”

He laughed lightly and got up, extending his hand out to me.

“You don’t have to do this all the time,” I said.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” he responded.

There we go. Another reason I can add to my list of reasons why I hate Valentine’s Day.

I let him clasp our hands together as he led us out of the restaurant. I felt the cool air hit us as we exited the restaurant. We didn’t say anything to each other as we walked down the sidewalk in the pleasant climate with my hand in his. I don’t think I’ve ever actually held a guy’s hand and just silence. His hand was bigger than mine, wrapping itself around mine and sending warmth to my hand.

Strangely enough, it wasn’t awkward; it was just right. I had no idea where we were going but I didn’t want to ask him causing it to break the comfortable silence we had surrounded ourselves in.

After a minute, though, he spoke up. “There’s my car. Let’s go.”

“How do you know where I live?” I asked, the word ‘Stalker’ blaring in my mind.

“I don’t,” he said, his eyebrows creasing in confusion.

“Oh,” I responded foolishly. Of course he was expecting me to direct him there.

“I hope we’re not too late, though,” he commented as he opened the door to the car for me.

“Um, it should be fine,” I said. “My parents are not that strict when it comes to curfew.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“You’re dropping me home, right?” I inquired, holding on to the side of the door.

“No,” he said cautiously.

“What are you talking about then?”  I questioned.

“We’re going to the Valentine’s Ball,” he said, his voice giving off the ‘duh’ expression.

A/N: Hellloo! Yes, I took way too long to update this chapter and I apologize for that. I took things slow, trying to build the characters and the chemistry between the two. Hope you liked it! 
How have you guys been? Thank you for all the feedback you left in the previous chapter, I really appreciate it! :) 
Like Ava, how many of you have had embarrassing incidents with cute guys? :P Share them in the comments! I would love to read them! :D
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 Dedicated to @Aaleia_Whitex for the adorable cover on the side!