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Another day, another detention slip. This time, however, she was actually disappointed in herself. She has managed to let down her art teacher, the one person who always saw the best in her, and was actually planning on using her solidarity to try and make a change within herself. But then hewalked in. He was all biceps and unseasonly tan skin, made just to distract her and mix up right from wrong. As if she didn’t already need help deciding which was which to begin with.
They’d met here a couple of times, but he usually arrived in his pack of football boys and he never really took note of her, but this time was different. He came alone and the one time she actually wanted to be invisible to him she was all he noticed.
“Hey shortstack, welcome back to sweet, sweet solidarity. May I interest you in a warm beverage? Maybe an in-flight movie?” His hands were resting on her desk and his face was dangerously close to hers.
“Leave me alone, Huckleberry. I’m not in the mood,” she huffed as she leant back in her chair, brushing her hair out of her face and crossing her arms.
He chose the seat right behind her, causing her to roll her eyes, “Well gee I hate to hear that, princess, what’s got you down?” His tone was so condescending she would almost be furious if it weren’t for her achilles heel for cockiness and just over all bad news boys.
“Well, first of all, I’m stuck here with you for the next hour and a half,” She didn’t look back so she couldn’t see him feign a wound straight to the chest.
“Well now you just have to go and break my heart, don’t ya shortstack? All I want is to bring a little happiness to your day. Because, well, given the fact that you’re here with me at 4 o’clock on a Thursday, your day hasn’t been going too well. Has it, darlin’?”
Her blood was boiling, but with what she wasn’t sure. It could have been rage just as easily as it could have been want and intrigue. This boy kept her on her toes and her wit sharp.
“Actually it wasn’t half bad until you walked through those doors, Ranger Rick.”
“That’s a new one, where’d you come up with that?”
“If the shoe fits, Friar.”
“Alright Hart, let’s keep the flirting down to a minimum. After all we still have an hour and a half and I like to take me ladies out for dinner first before I let them tear me down.”
She tried not to blush even though from his seat behind her, he wouldn’t be able to see it. So, instead of turning to putty in his hands like she knew he wanted her to, she continued to play hard to get, “You disgust me.”
If only she could see the smile on his face when he said, “Oh so you’ve discussed me?”
She immediately whipped her body around in her chair, a look of shock and excitement washing over her face as he stared back knowingly at her.
“Did you just-”
“Quote Hamilton? Oh yeah I did.”
“How did you-”
“Know that you love it? You underestimate me, Hart. I may be in detention all the time but I still know how to do my studying, and boy have I read up on you.”
Her face fell, what all did he know? She has so many secrets and so little room for more heartbreak. She just hoped that he would hold her heart carefully, gently.
Filling the silence she let fall between them, he picked up all of the words she hadn’t said, “You know, Maya, you try to be so hard and witty - and don’t get me wrong, you being firey is hot as hell - but doesn’t it get exhausting? It isn’t hard to be Mrs. Boss all day everyday?”
She felt her features soften without her permission, “This is just who I am, Huckleberry. Take me or leave me. You should know that isn’t all bad to be bad.”
He smiled weakly at her, mirroring her sudden softness, “But I’m not all bad all the time. When I’m at home with my momma I’m a good southern gentleman, I want to make her proud.”
She ignored how thick his accent got at the mention of his mother and his southern roots, getting wrapped up in him would only make her more vulnerable to him than she already was.
“Guess that’s the difference between you and I,” she sighed and turned back around to face the front of the classroom, “Now, if you’d excuse me, I have some reflecting to get to and you, Sundance, are getting in he way of that.”
“My apologies, ma’am,” his voice wasn’t full of bounce and wit anymore, he sounded exhausted and it almost made Maya regret shutting him down so quickly. But she couldn’t risk her heart being dropped.
Her first day in a month without an after school detention and Maya was so proud of herself. She hadn’t stepped foot in that classroom every since her one on one heart to heart session with Lucas, partly because she was trying to change her way and partly because she couldn’t risk falling for him.
She was just about to leave at the end of the day when the living daylights were scared out of her at the sight of someone’s face right in front of her right as she shut her locker. She grabbed her chest and let out a small yelp, only to hear someone laughing innocently at her.
“Did I scare you, princess?”
It was him. The very boy she was trying to avoid was now her own personal stalker.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Friar? Like oh, I don’t know, detention maybe?”
She started to walk away but he only followed her, hands in his pockets and his crooked smile on his face.
“Well, shortstack, I’ll have you know that it’s very boring without you so I really just don’t see a point in showing up. After all, what’s a king without his queen?”
She scoffed at him, he was so ridiculous she almost found it humorous.
“You’re growing soft on me, big guy. Maybe us being apart is better for your mind, body, and soul than you’re making it out to be.”
They had arrived outside when he grabbed her by the waist and pushed her slightly towards the wall, holding her close.
“Listen here, Hart, and listen good. I’m only going to say this once so pay attention. You’re a real babe and I mean that in the most poetic way possible. You’re unlike any girl I’ve ever been around and I can’t stop thinking about you. It’s actually really fucking annoying because lately I’ve been behaving. I just thought ‘what’s the point of getting a detention if she’s not even going to be there?’ I found out everything I could about you, just to show you I was interested and all you’ve been doing for the past month is ignore me. What the hell is that all about?”
She could feel his hand burning into he waist but she couldn’t say anything. Her voice had been swept away along with the rest of her as soon as his hand touched her body.
She tried to place her thoughts together in a way that made sense but how could she when nothing about this made sense? How was she supposed to respond to someone genuinely confessing their feelings toward her? She’d always been on the sidelines, hoping and praying for this moment but never actually preparing herself for when it actually happened.
Despite her lack of speech, he smiled his crooked smile that made her wild, “Lucky me, I’ve made the one and only Maya Hart speechless. What a lucky man I am.”
She smiled and looked down at the ground and then back up at him. He was still watching he intently but his eyes were now filled with more nervousness than excessive confidence. He was beginning to doubt himself which made her feel sick so she spoke up without even realizing it, “I just didn’t want you to drop my heart and shatter it.”
His face grew even softer than before and he somehow moved closer to her, nudging her chin to stand taller so he could look her in the eyes, “I would never hurt you. I’m not all bad, ya know.”
She chuckled briefly and looked back at their shoes, “Yeah I know, but you can never be careful, am I right?”
He joined her eyes on the ground, moving his hands back down to waist. But when he started speaking he lifed his head right back up, “Yeah you can. The point where your caution keeps you from living is the point where your caution has turned into a curse. Don’t stop living Maya.”
Without saying another word, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest, his heartbeat in time with hers.
He ran his fingers across her hair and kissed her forehead, moving he head down to whisper in her ear, “So is that a yes on the date?”
She laughed and rolled her head to face his, “Just, please catch me, Huckleberry.”
“Always.”