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Warren was sick of lockers. This was the fifth time this week, second time that day he’d been shoved into one, he was getting sick and tired of it. His eyes at this point had adjusted and he could only see papers with a bunch of small notes and doodles. This wasn’t his own locker which is the one he’d usually be shoved into. He doesn’t give a flying fuck as to who it is. Though they had cool zombie drawings, he couldn’t read any of the scratchy notes.
“Matthew, I know for a fact he didn’t go home early,” a voice says, coming closer to the locker, “I saw him during recess and math afterwards! I swear-”
Warren took a breath and just screamed in whoever’s face it was.
“Holy fucking shit!” The person drops their books and stumbles back a bit, “oh my god, Warren?”
“Shit, sorry Illi, are you okay?” Fuck. Fuck Warren’s life. He did not want to freak her out.
“I should be asking you that,” Illi says, offering Warren her hand, “what happened?”
“Those fucking hockey boys happened,” Warren replies, taking Illi’s hand and praying that his own weren’t sweating.
“I hate those guys,” Matthew says, adjusting his glasses, “the mascot too, acts all high and mighty as if he doesn’t wear a dog costume.”
Illi starts giggling and Warren thinks his heart may just explode. Yeah sure he sat next to Illi in math and behind her in chemistry but he’d never gotten the courage to have a proper conversation with her.
“He should seriously take a look in the mirror,” Illi says, rolling her eyes. She’s seriously the prettiest girl Warren had ever seen.
“Totally,” Warren nods.
“Illi I gotta head, Derek is waiting and we’re going to go grab some stuff from the corner shop,” Matthew says, not looking up from his sidekick, “I’ll see you back home?”
“Okay, see you at home,” Illi says, not before giving her little brother a small lecture, “make sure you have your asthma pump and that you look up from your lil sidekick when you cross the roads.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Matthew was already walking away, doing a small wave to his sister.
The silence that followed was awkward and had Warren rubbing the back of his neck. He wanted to try say something, anything but it felt as though words didn’t wanna come out of his mouth.
“Do you know why those guys shoved you in my locker by any chance?” Thank god she spoke up because Warren was probably going to make an absolute fool of himself.
“Not a clue,” Warren replies, rubbing his neck, “oh uhm, I just wanna say the drawings are cool.”
“Oh! Thank you,” Illi was blushing, oh somebody save Warren he feels helpless, “uh, sometimes in math I can hear the music you’re listening to and I just… you have good music taste!”
Warren’s face probably looked like one of those bright red apples right now, “really?”
“Yeah! Black Flag and Misfits right?” Illi’s smile was shy and she kept her eyes anywhere but Warren’s face.
“Yeah, I didn’t realize you listened to that kind of music,” If anything, he expected her to be listening to music like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera.
She was giggling again. Her giggles were like music to Warren, he wanted to listen to that as much as he could.
“I listen to almost anything, but punk stuff is where it’s at,” Illi says, grabbing a drawing out her locker, “uhm, you did say you liked the drawings, so here.”
She was holding out a drawing of what was seemingly, a stylized version of herself as a vampire.
“Thank you Illi,” he smiled at her, “you usually walk home right?”
“Yeah! You usually take the bus I noticed,” Illi nods at Warren.
“Yeah, but, I have something I need to do today after school so if you want I can walk you home?” Please say yes. If she says yes Warren will totally start believing in god again.
“If you need to do something you don’t have to but that’d be nice,” Illi tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Yeah, it’s all good,” Warren says as the two start walking to his locker, falling into a comfortable silence.
He is so, absolutely, and irrevocably screwed. May god strike him down actually, he doesn’t know how the hell he has managed to even talk to Illi, let alone offer to walk her home.
He grabs his bag out of his locker and cocks his head to the school's entry, “ready to go?”
Illi hums and nods her head, now holding her sketchbook close to her chest, letting the silence rest over them like a gentle blanket.
The walk isn’t anything to write home about, for the most part, the two of them walked silently, occasionally speaking up about music, which was when Warren silently offered an earbud so the two could listen to music together.
It was almost like a date. Keyword, almost.
“Thank you for walking me home, you really didn’t have to,” Illi starts, handing the earbud to Warren as he takes his own out, “it means a lot.”
“Yeah, I know, I wanted to,” wait where was this confidence coming from, “we should hang out more. Like, maybe this weekend? There’s this comic book store by this ice cream parlor I go to, so maybe we get some ice cream and go look at comics? If you wanna, of course.”
Illi beams at him, “sure! I’d love that.”
“Great, it’s a date?” Fuck. Oh fuck he’s ruining it. Oh god he’s gone and done it. She’s never talking to him again is she?
“Sure, a date,” she leans down and brushes a kiss against Warren’s cheek, “and seriously? Thank you for this again. See you tomorrow! Please don’t get shoved in any lockers this time though.”
Illi jogs to her front door, her hair bouncing with her as she turns to wave at Warren and enters her house.
The minute Warren is sure she’s in he puts a hand to his cheek and gently pumps his fist. He’s got a fucking date. Somehow. With the cutest girl at his school. Last time he tried was with a blonde cheerleader who ended up standing him up to go on a date with the head of the hockey team.
He’s got a fucking date with Illi McMillin. Could life get any better?
***
That Friday during math, Illi and Warren kept on passing notes, the same during chemistry except the last note had Illi’s number on it and in scratchy writing, “2 confirm 2morrows plans xo.”
Warren had kept the crumpled note in his blazer and texted Illi the second he was home.
They made plans for that Saturday morning and confirmed times before starting to talk about a bunch of random things, Illi sending the occasional meme and Warren sharing whatever song he was listening to at that time.
Saturday came faster than expected and Warren was standing, wearing a misfits tee and scuffed blue jeans, with his black converse waiting for Illi outside of the brightly coloured ice cream parlor. He kept his eyes glued to his phone in case something maybe came up and she didn’t get there.
Five minutes had gone past their agreed time and Warren admittedly, starting freaking out a little. Why was she late? What if something had happened along the way? What if she was standing him up? Not something he thinks she’d do but there’s always a possibility.
“Hey! Warren!” He whips his head to the side to see Illi running towards him, his jaw slightly dropping in shock.
She was wearing a sheer, frilly button down, a waist coat and a reddish plaid skirt. Along with sheer stockings and a pair of shiny loafers that looked suspiciously like the ones she wore for school. She was wearing an oversized black knit cardigan over the top and it made her look soft and very cuddly, in Warren’s very humble and unbiased opinion.
“Hey!” She grins at him, clutching onto her messenger bag, “sorry I’m a little late, the bus was late this morning.”
“No, no, it’s okay,” Warren smiled, shoving his phone in his pocket, “you look cute.”
“Thank you! The pocket watch is new,” Illi clicked open the watch that had been around her neck before snapping it shut, “anyway, you also look uh… cute?”
Warren giggled slightly and rubbed his arms, “not what I was going for but that works.”
“Aw, you always look cute though to be honest,” Illi says, grabbing his hand, “I like the eyeliner. However, are we just gonna stand out here or are we gonna get ice cream and go look at those comics like you promised?”
“Yeah of course!” Warren babbles, pulling Illi into the shop, their fingers lacing together, “what flavour do you want? Oh and do you want a cone or cup?”
“Oh uh,” Illi leans in, putting her hand at the top of Warren’s arm, looking at the ice cream behind the glass, “graham cracker. Two scoops in a cup?”
“Graham cracker?” Warren tilts his head at her and she nods back enthusiastically as Warren looks to the guy behind the counter, “hi, can we get two scoops of graham cracker in a cup and two scoops of chocolate in a cone please?”
“Anything else?” The employee asks, punching it into the register.
“No that’ll be all,” Warren says, handing them the cash.
“You didn’t have to pay for me,” Illi says, watching Warren put the change in his pocket, going to reach into her own bag, “let me pay you back.”
“Nope!” Warren smiles at Illi, gently taking her wrist, “I’m the one who asked you out so it’s only fair I pay.”
Illi rolls her eyes at him but can’t fight back her smile, “what a gentleman.”
He smiles back at her, handing her the ice cream while grabbing his own, “you know it.”
She smiled at him and tucked her hair behind her ear and dragged him out of the ice cream parlor, “now where’s this comic book store you mentioned?”
Warren smiles, tugging her closer and walking down the road, listening to her humming a melody that sounded a lot like Astro Zombies.
“It’s kinda small and run down, but they have a really neat second hand section,” Warren says, taking Illi down a staircase next to an alley, “I know it seems dodgy but trust me with this.”
“The dodgy, run down places are always the best,” Illi states matter of factly, taking a small spoon of ice cream to her mouth.
Warren, internally, lets out a sigh of relief, she doesn’t think he’s insane, thank god. He opens the door for her and walks in slowly behind her, watching her take in the store.
“It’s so fucking cool here,” she decides immediately.
Warren smirks at her, “I know right?”
She looks back and shoots him a cheeky smile before running off to the back of the shop where there was a broken “second hand” neon light with arrows pointing down. Warren just shook his head and followed her, she was too fucking cute.
“Warren oh my god, Warren,” her expression was a mixture of shock and seriousness, “Warren look.” She held up a copy of doom patrol, with a stark signature at the bottom.
“Holy fucking shit,” Warren says, reaching out with the hand not holding ice cream, “how much is it?”
“Only 20 dollars, for something like this? That’s a fucking steal,” Illi states, holding it close to her chest.
“Jesus Illi, you’ve got some good luck,” Warren says, scouring through the other comics on the table, “anything else you see?”
Illi scanned the tables, walking off to the bin on the other side, throwing away the empty cup, “not really. You?”
“Nope,” he pops the last of the cone in his mouth and looks at her, “I’m gonna go check the shelves on the left.”
“I’ll check the right side then, we meet in the middle?”
Warren nods and Illi practically skips to the other side of the shelves. The two silently look through books and eventually bump into each other in the center, making eye contact and then bursting into giggles.
“Hey, you come here often?” Illi says, cocking her head.
“Yeah, you?”
“It’s my first time here actually, show me around?” Illi bats her lashes and Warren notices the slight clumps in her mascara with how close their faces are. He could also see how she’d put highlighter just under her neatly done brows, she looked absolutely beautiful.
“Yeah,” he breathes, almost unable to look away from her eyes, he takes her hand and pulls her gently to the register, “you wanna go pay for that, I’ll wait here.”
She nods and heads over to the cashier, making small talk Warren blocked out as he walked over to the door. His heart was racing and he kept having to wipe his hands on his jeans as he felt the sweat constantly build up. She’d gotten this look in her eyes when they’d bumped into each other and he felt a swish in his stomach. He wonders if she's been looking at him like that the whole time.
“Hey,” Illi waves her hand in front of Warren, “earth to Warren, you in there?”
“Huh? Yeah I’m here, sorry,” He smiles, his newfound nerves hopefully not showing through, “zoned out for a second.”
Illi smiles and drags Warren out the shop, the bag hanging from her wrist as they walk up the stairs and back onto the street.
“Where to next?”
“I didn’t really think this far through,” Warren admits, looking around, “the record shop? I’ve been meaning to get some new music, I also need to get some strings for my guitar, broke one the other day and don’t have any left to replace it.”
“The record shop we go then,” Illi says, walking beside Warren, swinging their hands.
They get to the record store and fool around looking for new albums, whispering and giggling about just about anything before leaving the store with a couple CDs and still giggling.
“Aw man, this is the best date I think I’ve ever been on,” Warren says, trying to catch his breath.
“It’s the only date I’ve ever been on,” Illi admits, looking away from Warren, seemingly embarrassed.
“Really?” Warren knows his jaw is on the floor, “there’s no way.”
“No really! Most of the guys at school think I’m weird, and the other guys are weird to me!” She exclaims, her hands moving around as she speaks, “also the last time I got asked out it was a joke and I didn’t realize till all his friends started laughing. It was awful.”
“Dickheads,” Warren mutters, earning a laugh from Illi.
“Yeah, absolute dicks,” Illi agrees, “also, oh my god, I feel like an ass but you kinda smell like cigarettes and I wanna ask if you have anything and if I could bum one off you?”
“Oh, yeah sure wait,” Warren did not expect that to go that direction, “here.”
“Thank you so much, next time I have I owe you,” Illi says, taking one out the carton and handing it back to Warren, “I don’t smoke much but god I think I needed this.”
Warren chuckles and takes out out for himself, “me too.”
“Is there anything else you wanna do?” Illi asks, blowing smoke away from Warren.
“I mean, I can’t think of anything, do you wanna do anything?”
“I dunno, but I know I don’t want to go home yet,” Illi says, “I like being with you.”
“We can uhm, go to the park,” Warren takes a breath before speaking up again, “or we can go back to my place if, if you’re okay with that?”
Illi’s eyes widen before she blinks and smiles softly, her face tinting red, “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot. Let me just text my mom.”
Illi pulls out her bedazzled flip phone and texts her mom, before looking at Warren and smiling, “lead the way Warren.”
Warren smiled back and they walked to his place.
***
“So uhm, this is my room,” Warren rubs the back of his neck, watching Illi look around his room as he sits on his bed.
Illi is looking around his room in slight awe before looking back at him, “it’s like being inside your brain.”
Warren chuckles, “I guess.”
Illi blushes and looks away, fiddling with the watch around her neck.
“You can come sit next to me if you want, you don’t just have to stand there,” Warren says, patting the space next to him, “actually, if you want we can lay down and I dunno, listen to music?”
Illi nods and takes one of the new cds from the packet from the record store, “where’s your CD player?”
“It’s there on the bookshelf, you can lay down I’ll go put it in,” he gets up and gently takes the CD from Illi’s hands, their fingers brushing together. The air in the room shifts and it’s like Illi stops breathing.
“Okay,” she nods, not moving.
Warren looks up slightly at her, and leans in to kiss her cheek gently, “I’m glad you’re here Illi.”
Illi’s face flushes and she pulls Warren into an unexpected hug, “I’m glad I’m here too. I… I really like you, y’know Warren?”
“I really like you too,” he murmurs, pulling away, “you can go lay down, I’ll be there now.”
Illi nods and Warren goes to put the CD into the player before turning to lay down next to Illi.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” Illi breathes, “hi Warren.”
“Hi Illi,” he takes her hand and places it between them on the bed, keeping their fingers locked together “you know, I’m glad I was shoved into your locker of all places.”
“Me too Warren, me too, though it does suck being shoved into lockers,” Illi says, tightening her grip on Warren’s fingers, “you kinda intimidate me a lil, so I’ve never spoken to you during classes but I’ve like… I've had this huge crush on you since last year and Matthew is always teasing me about it.”
Warren’s eyes widen, “since when now?”
“Last year.”
“Oh my god,” he lets go of Illi’s hand to cover his face and roll over, “oh there’s no way.”
“Warren?”
“Illi- I’ve, god,” he rolls back to face her and pulls her into this awkward hug-cuddle type situation, “I’ve liked you since I think the first time I saw you but I’ve always been too scared to talk to you because you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”
“You think I’m pretty?”
“The prettiest.”
Illi pulled away before leaning back in, brushing her lips against Warren’s. She was so gentle, cupping his cheeks and rubbing circles into them with her thumbs, “you’re the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen.”
Warren pulls her back in and they share a few more kisses before resting his head on her shoulder, “are you free next Sunday?”
“I should be?”
“There’s this cafe I wanna take you to, for lunch maybe because my mom’s gonna make me go to church,” Warren murmurs, pressing his body against Illi. He needed to be as close as humanly possible, he felt as though he’d be sick if he didn’t.
“Are you asking me on another date Warren?”
“I dunno, do you wanna go on another date?”
Illi pulls back and kisses his forehead, “as long as you come back to my place after, I have shitty horror movies for us to watch.