We need to talk

BIG HEAD♥♥: 10:22AM

Shouldn't you be in class now?

YOU: 10:24AM

I am!

BIG HEAD♥♥: 10:25AM

Don't text me

YOU: 10:33PM

):

I'll pick you up after school

BIG HEAD♥♥: 10:37PM

It's really easy to seem calm and collected via text message. Dante must not know it but because of him, I cannot even function correctly in my biology class.

"Kennedy are you okay? You've been zoning out a lot today," My lab partner asks for the umpteenth time.

"Sorry, I'm just... thinking," I say sighing and almost touch my face. But then I remember that there's whitefish blastula residue all over my gloves from our biology project and I'm not prepared to be smelling of that all day, especially if Dante is picking me up after school. What does that even mean? It's not like he's done this before, so it must mean that whatever he wants to talk about is really important otherwise he could've just messaged me–

"You've zoned out again,"

I blink back into focus and look toward where my partner is standing with an unimpressed expression on her face. "Sorry?"

Nicole and Stacy are, of course, the most sympathetic when it comes to my plight.

"You're overthinking this," Stacy says abruptly while we're walking to the cafeteria. "He's probably going to tell you that you look like a – what was it? A glazed pretzel?"

Nicole laughs loudly, attracting quite a lot of attention. "Sparkly, Stacy. And then he's going to express how he can't live without her and she's going to cry,"

"Can we get back to the matter at hand here?" I ask, patting my suddenly warm face down. "This is a serious issue,"

Stacy rolls her eyes but then graces me with a sarcastic smile. "I'll be okay, Kenny," she says, the tone of her voice mirroring her facial expression. I should never tell my friends anything.

My nerves don't settle even when the end of the day comes. Tyler's reaction when I tell him the situation doesn't do much to help, especially since the still very heartbroken Chad is chilling with him when I break the news. He throws a condom from health class at me and I just about to manage to throw it back at him with slight shock before he runs away. Tyler really is too much.

It's not hard for my eyes to seek out Dante in the parking lot. It might just be me but he really sticks out, wearing his school baseball hat and leaning against the foreign object that is his car. He also has a twizzler poking out of his mouth as he looks down intently at his phone. He twists it around in his hands a few times just as my own phone vibrates.

Are you alive?

BIG HEAD♥♥: 3:22PM

Look up big head

YOU: 3:22PM

Slightly startled, he looks up and then smiles when he sees me. I wave at him in response, slightly hesitant but mostly a nervous wreck, though he doesn't pick up on it.

"Rude," He says and stuffs his phone in his pocket. "I just wanted to know if you were alive,"

"Well," I do a demonstrative twirl and then jazz hands. "There's your answer,"

Dante raises his eyebrows. "Someone's sassy today, huh?"

"I'm always like this," I lie smoothly and fold my arms. "I just hide it underneath a ruse of humour,"

He scoffs. "You're not that funny, sweetheart,"

My mouth opens wide to show my offense but he simply chuckles at me before putting his half eaten twizzler in my mouth. "Ouch?" I say.

"Only kidding. You're kind of funny," He says and then pinches my cheek. I chew on the twizzler bitterly, wondering if it's too late to seek out Stacy and convince her to take me home. But then I remember that he wants to tell me something and my curiosity can barely wait.

"Where are we going?" I say, trying to avoid his slightly smug look. It doesn't work, my eyes gravitate to him like we're both magnets. "Oh my God, Dante, what do you want?"

He shrugs. "I don't actually have anything planned. I just wanted to see you because I haven't in so long,"

My annoyance dissipates quite a bit at this statement. It's true, we haven't seen each other since prom which was a solid week and a half ago due to conflicting schedules. "Oh. Okay. But you said you wanted to talk about something,"

Once again, he shrugs and then pulls out his car keys. "I do,"

"What is it?"

"Whenever we get where we're going we can talk about it," He turns away from me and opens the passenger side door. "After you, Slugger,"

I notice the small indent between his brows but don't say anything about it when I say thank you and get in his car. It smells of popcorn and as soon as he opens his driver side door, my stomach gurgles. Dante looks at me with a hastily widening grin while I shrink with embarrassment.

"Someone skipped lunch," He says and slides in, putting on his seatbelt and turning on the car engine.

"I was too worried to eat," I grumble and look out of the window as he pulls out of the parking lot.

"Worried?

"Some big headed boy," He groans loudly, "- Sent me a very elusive text message and I could not concentrate when looking at my whitefish blastula slides for the signs of mitosis,"

"What?"

"Mitosis is the process in which the chromosomes of a cell – what?"

Dante has started smiling at the road. "I know what mitosis is, Kennedy. I just don't get why you couldn't concentrate,"

I turn to face him, my seatbelt obstructing me only a little. "You sent me a message saying 'we need to talk', do you have any idea how that must sound like to me?"

The realisation hits him after a very long while. "Wait... did you think I was gonna – break us up?"

I shrug and sit back in the seat, watching the road ahead. It seems like he's just driving right now without a destination. "Well,"

"What? Kennedy, I'm practically in – Kennedy!"

Once again, I sit up. "What were you going to say?"

He shrugs and clears his throat. "I already said – I know what mitosis is,"

"No – what were you going to say right then?" I lean forward a little bit, way too invested. "You're practically in what?"

"I'm driving," He deflects and clears his throat. Unlike me, he is able to keep his eyes on the road and not lose focus. "Where do you want to get something to eat?"

I stare him down just a little and decide that I won't weasel it out of him. "I could really go for some pizza,"

He loosens up a considerable amount when he realises that I'm not going to push the issue any further. "I've noticed that you really like pizza,"

"It's a universally loved food," I say passively. "What is there not to like?"

Dante clears his throat. "So you don't mind if I get a Hawaiian pizza? Y'know, pineapples, all of that –"

"Don't even think about it," I say shortly and he laughs.

We end up deciding to go over to his house and order a pizza there because according to Dante, it'll be much more fun. I'm willing to go along with it because his house is cosy and I can totally sneak in a snuggle or two when my stomach is full. Dante pretends to hate hugs but I know he's a sucker for cuddling.

However, our plans change when we get to his house. There's an unfamiliar deep navy coloured car parked in the driveway and he sighs loudly when he sees it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, worried by his pained facial expression.

"Er, well, I don't think we can get a pizza tonight," He says slowly.

I nod a few times, still worried and a little bit confused now. "Why not?"

"My sister's car is parked in the driveway... which means she's here,"

My eyebrows shoot involuntarily through the depths of my forehead and into my hairline. "Oh really? Should I be worried?"

He shuffles around uncomfortably in his seat for a few moments before deciding on how to answer me. "I mean... no? She's nice but... um."

The only thing that's bothering me right now is the fact I probably won't get snuggled and cuddled when my stomach is filled with pizza. That really was going to be the highlight of my evening – now instead, I'm more likely to get grilled by his sister. Nicole told me that it's 'natural for a female member of a guy's family to hate on me' and since his mom gave me a really tight hug the last time I was around, I'm guessing that it's his sister that'll be on my case.

Oh the joy.

"Kennedy?"

Dante is standing at my side of the car with the door open. I hadn't even realised that he got out of the car, let alone opened the door next to me.

"Oh, thanks," I say and get out of the car. He smiles at me, though the slyness of the smile is hindered by his nerves.

"Where do you go when you zone out?" He asks as I slip my hand through his and lace our fingers together. We've done this so many times before but my heart rate still picks up every time.

"Somewhere else," I say passively and he chuckles. "What?! I'm just thinking,"

"You overthink,"

"Gee, thanks,"

We get to his front porch and he retrieves his keys from his back pocket. "No, that's not necessarily a bad thing. You just consider all the possibilities – it's only bad when you decide that the wrong one will happen,"

"I have never done that," I say, feeling only a little offended.

Dante unlocks the door. "You did it today,"

"When?!"

"You thought I was going to break up with you!" He exclaims. I roll my eyes.

"That was more of a minor inconvenience," I dismiss quietly and he laughs.

He pats my head affectionately. "What am I going to do with you, Slugger?"

Before I can reply, someone calls his name from the direction of the kitchen and dining room. Dante sighs but then smiles at me though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. I attempt to squash my rising discomfort as I follow after him into the dining room. His mom is sitting down at the table along with his brother and a woman who is sitting facing me. She's laughing with Vic but then stops and raises her eyebrows when she sees me, an all too familiar smirk on her face.

"Dante, finally you're home, what took you – Kennedy!" His mom's face lights up as she turns to see me standing behind her. I smile at her and wave awkwardly.

"Hey Mrs Correll," I greet, my voice squeaking a little bit. Dante gives me a weird look but gives his mom and sister a hug.

"Anaya, this is my girlfriend Kennedy," He introduces as I take a seat facing a very distracted Vic. Their mom captures Dante's attention before he can sit down too.

"I figured," She responds wryly. Then to me, she says: "McKinley's sister, right?"

I nod a few times, not really knowing what to say. Dante and his siblings really look alike: Anaya has the same curve in her nose, long lashes and sprinkle of freckles over the bridge of her nose. She's gorgeous and I'm feeling more than a little intimidated right now. Hopefully it's not translating into my facial expression.

Suddenly, she begins smiling at me. "How is she doing?! Haven't seen Mac in so long!"

I blink back my surprise. "Oh, uh, she's okay. Kinda busy, what with her job and stuff,"

Anaya sighs but continues smiling. "Did you know that McKinley and I had a bet on how long it'd take the two of you to get together?"

Oh wow. "You did?" She nods, quite enthusiastically. I don't really know how to digest this information. "Who won?"

Dante comes to sit next to me. "Won what?"

"Well, McKinley said when you were sixteen and I said twenty three... so nobody," She continues and sits up. He seems to know what we're talking about immediately because he sighs.

"Anaya, could you maybe not weird out Kennedy the first time you meet her?" He asks. She dismisses him with a short wave of her hands.

"You're just scared that I'll tell her all about your diary," She says coolly, leaning in her seat.

My interest piques, especially when he groans. "He had a diary?"

Vic clears his throat and shoots us a devilish grin. "He had a diary,"

"It was a journal," Dante says but he's easily overlooked.

I turn to his siblings. "Did you ever get the chance to read it?"

She smirks. "Of course I did, he was about fourteen and on the inside, he had written-"

"Anaya," Their mom says when she spots Dante sulking. "Leave your brother alone,"

She sits back, still smirking and looking a lot like him. "I'm just bonding with Kennedy here."

"You can call me Kenny," I say and smile. Anaya smiles back at me, seemingly genuinely happy about my presence, pretty much reminding me that I should really, really, stop taking advice from my friends.

*-8*-8*

Despite Dante's previous hesitations, we end up ordering pizza anyway. The pineapple pizza thing must be hereditary because everyone in his family is totally down and I have to get my own separate one in order to be free of their abominations. By the time it's six thirty, we're cuddling in his living room, sitting with his sister and brother and also watching one of those new aged cartoons. It's pretty chill, and I find myself almost falling asleep.

"You two are adorable," Anaya says when she sees us. My eyes are only half open but I smile at her anyway, quite happy she thinks so. "What are you gonna do about college?"

I begin to play with one of his hands, twisting his class ring around his index finger right until it slides right off. He sighs.

"I guess we'll figure something out," He says quietly. I slip the ring onto my finger and feel my eyes droop once more.

"Are you going to college, Kenny?" Vic asks and I nod as Dante begins to run his fingers through my hair. At this point I'm pretty much putty in his hands.

"I am hoping to start a biochemistry degree at Brown this fall," I reply, feeling like a cat – well fed and lazy. It's surprisingly nice.

Nobody says anything for a few moments and I really find myself drifting off into the deepest sleep ever known to man, when –

"Didn't you also get into Brown, Dante?"

Sleep? Hah!

Dante freezes and I lift my head to look up at him. He doesn't meet my eyes but blinks, perhaps shocked at this sudden conversation point. When I look at his sister, she's frowning at the two of us.

"You applied there?" I question when I manage to find my voice. He clears his throat and shuffles upwards until we're both sitting up. Feeling a melting pot of emotions, I move away from him.

"Yeah, I did," He says simply and then checks his watch. "I think I'm gonna start getting Kennedy here home,"

That better be code for telling me what the heck is going on.

Instead of asking him to explain himself there and then, I put a vaguely fake smile on my face and direct it at his sister and brother. "True, my mom's probably gonna get annoyed soon,"

Anaya is still frowning, now with both her eyebrows raised. Vic's expression is pretty much the same too. Wow, they really all look alike. "Are you two okay?"

I nod before he can say anything and stand up. "Yeah, we're fine. It was nice meeting you, by the way," Dante stands up next to me and stretches his hand for me to take. I contemplate ignoring it but decide at the last moment that I might as well. "I'll see you guys soon!" I say and wave as we leave the room.

Dante doesn't say anything and neither do I but I know we're both thinking about the same thing. We really need to talk.

a/n: it's rihanna's birthday here is my gift to u all on this glorious day