14

ORANGE CHICKEN BUTTERFLIES

"WE'RE here." Leo announces and my head shouts up form my almost nap. "I'm sorry to break it to you Leo but we are at a forest." I say and he shakes his head with a chuckle, stepping out of the car.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and by the time I go to open my door Leo is there, leaning against the side with his hand on the door handle. I smile at him as he opens the door, taking him in a hug as his arms wrap around me in one of the best hugs over ever had.

We all know tall people give the best hugs.

"This isn't just any forest." He says and I furrow my eyebrows, "Sorry to break it to you Leo but you're kinda wrong.." I say and he chuckles.

"Come with me..." he mumbles and I furrow my eyebrows, taking his hand.

"How do you even find this stuff?" I ask him and he gives me a lopsided smile, "Well... I kind of got pissed at myself a lot or angry when I'd see you all dolled up at parties so.... I would just wander into forests and shit. Not my smartest moves but I found some gems." He answers truthfully as we get onto a barely visible path.

"This place was an old something or whatever, you can read the sign as best as possible when we get there, but I think you'll love what it is now." He says, holding my hand as we walk along the packed dirt path.

"Give me a hint!" I plead and he chuckles, "were almost there." He says and I roll my eyes, "So?"

"Okay fine.... your favorite books."

"A bookstore? Did you build a bookstore?" I say sarcastically and his head shoots back with a laugh, I instinctively kiss his neck and he bites his lip.

"I didn't build a bookstore, sorry to disappoint.... but we happened to be here." He says and I turn my head just for my eyes to be enveloped in shades of green, yellow, and orange. 

"Oh my god..." I mumble, grabbing his hand and walking towards what my eyes are focused on.

It's a sunflower field.

I run in, careful to not step on any stems or growing flowers, which is quite hard, but I finally make it to the middle.

I look behind me at the hand I'm holding, my eyes traveling up his body to his head and directly to his vivid teal eyes.

"You're so handsome..." I mumble and he smiles, his  hand leaving mine only to wrap around my entire body as we sit in the middle of the field.

The sun beats down on us in the warm weather, our faces covered in a layer of sunlight.

"Thank you, Roxy." He says slowly against my head, sniffing in my scent as we are surrounded by my favorite flower in my favorite weather.

"I...." I start, all I want is to tell him I love him. Because I do.

Sure maybe we vaguely said something about it, but we've never said.... 'I love you'

I want that, y'know.

"You what?" He questions, chewing on gum as his jaw bouncers up and down on my head, I turn my head a little, my arms still around him as I stare into the seemingly never ending field of sunflowers.

"I think we should get Chinese food later..." I say confidently, chickening out of my plans even if I'm sure he feels the same.

He laughs, his head leaning back before he looks back down at me. "Of course I'll get you Chinese food at 9 am, as a normal boyfriend does." He says and I smile, leaning up and pecking his lips.

"I can't believe you're my boyfriend..." I mumble and he bites his lip, looking all over my face at every detail. "And somehow the prettiest girl the world has ever seen is my girlfriend."

I smile, blushing as he smiles back, chewing on his gum as his straight white teeth stare at me.

Just tell him

tell him.

"I- I- lo-ike you." I say and he raises his eyebrows, "Nice, I loike you too." He pokes fun at me but I'm just embarrassed.

Stop stressing, you'll say it at one point.

"Okay... well the point of this date was for another reason that we are meant together, correct?" He asks and I nod.

"Well... reason number 3 is that if we want to be together... she should. We both know Rose will be okay with it eventually, we both know we want to do it, what's holding us back? I mean I know every little thing about you and as far as I know you don't have another reason." He says and I push my lips in a fine line.

"Will you dump me when we go back to school, Leo?" I ask and he holds on tighter to me.

"Fuck no." He says with anger in his voice, "I just got you, I can't throw you away now."

I smile against his chest and he kisses my forehead, moving my head back to look me in the eyes. "I might not be able to kiss you in public until we tell Rose, I might not be able to be very close with you until we tell Rose, but... I can act like you're my little sisters best friend except... a lil bit more loving. Y'know?" He says and I kiss him.

"Of course..." I mumble against his lips before plopping down on the ground. I look up at him and beckon him down. He falls down too, leaning back in our open little space in the middle of the field.

"It's so beautiful..." I say, looking around us and at the sky as he pushes a hair behind my ear. "So are you."

:;

"Oh my god..." I moan with a full mouth as I chomp into the Chinese food. A small sunflower resides behind my ear and pushed back hair as we sit in the middle of the Chinese food place.

We sit at a table, Leo and I, as I eat. He stares at me and I look at him in the eyes with a questioning look. He just stares with a smile.

"You really wanted-"

"I really wanted Chinese food." I finish for him and he chuckles. "Fuck." He says with a laugh and I raise an eyebrow as a 'what?' As I take a bite of orange chicken.

"Nothing, you're just so... you." He says and I shrug, "What can I say, I could do it with my eyes closed."

"Funny." He says sarcastically and I nod, "I know."

I take a piece of chicken in my chopsticks and feed it to him, his blonde hair falling in front of his teal eyes as he moans too. "I would agree, we all want Chinese food on the daily." He says and I nod, laughing.

The bell on the door rings and as I go to give him another and he looks behind me, his face stiffens and blanks as he slaps the food out of my hand.

"You asshole! That shits delicious and look at yo-" I start, getting off of my chair and picking up the dirty chicken, my eyebrows furrowed. I will only get angry if he messes with my food.

I've been proven wrong...

Because when I turn around I see what he was staring at and why he slapped my food out of my hand. I throw it away and turn around to see little miss Pearl herself with booty shorts and a pink bodysuit on. I've always hated bodysuits, they make me uncomfortable. Like how the fuck are you gonna go to the bathroom now?

Anyway...

WHAT THE FU-

"Jace..." she greets as she walks over to him seductively, taking my seat with her white purse hanging off my chair.

"Somebody is sitting there." He says with furrowed features.

She looks around and shrugs, "I don't see anybody, oh are you going on a rebound date Jace?" She asks in victory but he just has a blank face. "No." He says and I wave my hand, "I'm right here..." I mumble and she looks at me with disgust.

"Oh, you..." she says and I push my lips together. "Yea..." I say, unsure of how to respond.

Leo looks at me with eyes just screaming at me to not listen to anything she says next, knowing Pearl is a bitch.

Sorry for my potty mouth lately.

"Why are you even here?-"

"Cause I wanted her here, Pearl."

"Shut up, Jace. For once this doesn't involve you." She says, putting a finger up to shush him and walking towards me.

She leans in close until our boobs are touching which every girl knows is rather intimate, "We both know Jace will never love you like he loves me. He'll never love you any more than the other girls in this town that he played, which is at least half the girls at our high school. Get used to being second best bitch cause every girl is gonna come running towards him when we start school again, and whatever little spark y'all had during the summer will be gone. He'll leave you for all of the other models and pretty girls at our school. Not some boring fat sophomore."

I just blink my eyes in surprise as she smiles passive aggressively and rolls her eyes. "Goodbye, 'Roxy'" she mocks before she grabs her purse and steps towards the counter.

I fake gag and he laughs. "Take your boxes were leaving." He says with a nervous chuckle and I stare at him with wide eyes as I pack up my stuff.

We hurry out, our bodies close as we laugh. As soon as we step in his car we start crying laughing. "What the fuck was she expecting?" He asks and I shrug. "Why the fuck did you kill my orange chicken!" I accuse and he laughs harder.

"It was necessary! I'll buy you more orange chicken I promise." He pleads and I raise an eyebrow, "Really? Promise?" I ask and he nods, leaning in and grabbing my face. "I promise...." he says, leaning in and kissing my lips between the dark windows of his car.

"Good." I mumble and he laughs. "Who would've thought... orange chicken." He laughs. I kiss him again as I rest my head against his shoulder.

"Do you promise you want leave me once school starts?" I ask him and he shudders. "What the fuck did Pearl say to you?" He asks and a single tear slips from my cheek. "Please don't cry baby..." he says, wiping the tear from my face.

"She said that you would pick somebody else one school started, and I know that might be true. I really like you and I trust you with everything but I always have this voice in the back of my mind screaming that you could do so much better." I say and he shakes his head, kissing every little inch of my face.

"Baby, Sure... I've slept with half of our school and I'll admit that. I've been a player for so long and you've seen me going through 'perfect' girl by 'perfect' girl. But fuck perfect y'know? I want the girl that made me a player in the first place, I want the girl with the fluffy brown hair and the brown eyes. I want the girl with a fucked home life, because you know what? Then I know you need me to! I have such fucking intense feelings whenever I'm with you, my heart is in flames and when you touch me I get butterflies that are so clueless and clumsy like you that they are ramming into all of my organs." He says and I laugh wholeheartedly. He whispers my tears one more time and smiles, staring into my eyes with his beautiful teal ones. " So screw whatever anybody says... because for right now and as long as I see I know that we will be together, Roxy. I promise."

I just stare into his eyes as his thumb rubs circles on my cheek, staring at me like he truly cared. I hadn't had that look from anybody before.

"Why are you still crying, Roxy?" He asks and a tear slips from my eyes as my head leans into his hand and I stare into his eyes. I look all over his face and at his blonde hair that's so perfect for him and tears fall more and more.

"Because you're so beautiful, Leo." I say and his lips part, slowly turning into a small smile, his tongue trailing across his upper teeth.

"You don't know how many times I've stayed up crying thinking the same thing about you." He says and I lean in, grabbing his face and kissing him harder than ever before.

I love you. I say in my head, but I guess when he can't hear it it doesn't really matter huh?

"Can we stay like this forever?" I ask after a moment of loving silence, and he runs his fingers through my hair. "Who says we can't?"

"I mean.... somebody probably." I say and he laughs, our foreheads leaning together.

"I will tell you that us being together will stay the same, I promise."

"You promise so many things. Will they come true?" I ask and he nods, "We have the rest of our lives together, of course I'll get you more orange chicken and cuddle you endlessly in that amount of time." He says and I smile at him.

I wanna tell him. I wanna tell him so bad. So, so bad.

Just, I love you.

It's three words. Just three. I wish I could say that that was easy for me, but even when it's not "I love you" it's hard.

I can't speak to anybody without my anxiety inside me killing me. And maybe that's another reason me and Leo belong together, is because he makes me feel like I can talk. Despite those three words I can't say.

"Where to?" He asks and I shrug, "You make decisions better than me, Leo." I say and he rolls his eyes.

"You don't make decisions at all Roxy." He says and my heart flutters like a little butterfly. Maybe those butterflies in his stomach really are me...