[Chapter twenty-six]

-Winnie-

"So, how do you plan on apologising to Flynnigan?" I ask my sister as I drive us to school on a stupid, early Monday morning.

Fuck Mondays. Mondays can die.

"I don't know." She hums, shuffling through her bag to make sure she has the money to buy prom tickets. "Think he'll go to prom with me?"

I spare a quick, blank look at her before looking back at the road. "Are you kidding me?"

"As friends." She corrects herself, zipping her bag back up. "I wanna apologise and ask him to prom at the same time. Kinda like starting fresh."

"Oh!" I grin. "A Prompology!"

"Oh my god!" She groans, not being able to keep in her laughs. "That sounds so stupid!"

I shrug. "Better than 'Promposal'."

"Promposal is an actual thing."

"Still sounds stupid." I tell her as I pull into an empty parking spot. "People put more thought into Promposals than actual marriage proposals. It's ridiculous."

Octavia just shakes her head as we get out of the car. I lock the door and pull on the handle to make sure it's locked. "Your ADHD ass is getting distracted again. My plan?"

"Right," I purse my lips. "I mean, he'll forgive you either way. But that doesn't mean you should make a half-assed apology."

"I won't." She hits my shoulder.

"And bring cookies."

"For Flynn?"

"No, for me! I need something to eat while I watch the train wreck go down!"

"The train wreck?!" She exclaims. "You just said he'd forgive me!"

"Not before the mess that is 'Flynn Rider and Octavia Blake; Shitshow Edition'."

"I hate you."

"Right back at ya."

"Winnie!" We both turn around to see Adonis jogging down the hall towards us.

"Oh, look! There's loverboy!" She grins, nudging me and I punch her arm in return.

"Shut up." I hiss as he reaches us.

"Hey, Loca!" He grins, kissing my cheek. I subtly kick Octavia when I see her giving me a suggestive raise of her eyebrows. "Hey, Tavi. I'm still mad at you so you better be thinking of apologising to my Flynn soon."

I snort as Octavia groans. "I am! I already have a plan! I'm leaving."

Adonis and I watch her stomp down the hallway to God-knows-where.

"So," I start, opening my locker and throwing my things inside. "You going to prom?"

"I don't know yet." He explains, leaning on the locker next to me and playing with a piece of my hair. "Prom doesn't really sound appealing to me but if Flynn wants me to go, I probably will. Can't leave him there by himself, yaknow."

"Yeah, can't make your boyfriend go to prom alone." I tease.

He gives me a look before turning his nose up with attitude.

"Damn right I can't let my boyfriend go to prom alone!" He states, making me laugh. He then bumps my side, looking back down at me. "What about you? Are you going?"

"Nope." I answer immediately.

"Why not?"

"Not my scene, either." I mumble.

"That's not the main reason."

I huff. When did he get to know me so well?

"No..." I chew on my lip, before sighing.

He stares at me for a moment before looking down the hall towards our History classroom and looking back at me. "You wanna ditch?"

"Duh."

*~*

I can feel his eyes burning into me as we sit in my car with a bag of McDonalds, parked at a small cliff that overlooks the town.

"Stop staring at me." I throw a fry at him, knowing he'd catch it in his mouth. He does.

"Can't stop staring at the pretty girl who bought me food."

Oh my—

"Stooop." I whine with a laugh. "I will throw you off the cliff."

"Alright, alright." He chuckles, turning completely in the passenger's seat to face me. I copy his actions. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really. I already talked to someone about it."

"Who?"

"My dad."

I can practically see the cogs in his brain turning.

He looks at me for a minute longer before his face drops in understanding. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"It's because your mom won't be there."

Seriously, when did he get to know me so well?

"Okay, Spencer Reid," I drawl, taking a bite of my burger and looking out of the windshield. "You guessed it. Would you like a gold star?"

He just shakes his head, tapping my chin. "It's alright. I get it."

I look over at him, putting the food back in the bag and setting it to the side. "You moved here with your brother. Your parents...they passed, too?"

He just nods. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

"Car accident. Drunk driver." He answers, turning to look out of the windshield like I had earlier. I copy his actions once again. "You?"

"Cancer."

We stay silent for a while, just staring at the view of the town.

"No 'I'm sorry for your loss' bullshit here, right?"

"Hell no, I'm sure we've both had enough pity from everyone else already."

"You got that right." He snickers slightly. "How old were you?"

"Seven." I answer. "You?"

"Fourteen."

"Welcome to the 'Dead Parent' Club."

He huffs a laugh. "Can't say I'm happy to be here."

I chuckle. "Time for a change of subject?"

"Please."

"Your birthday's coming up."

"How do you know tha—" he cuts himself off.

"Flynn." We state in unison.

"You doing anything?"

"No, I was just going to hang out with Flynn and my brother." He tells me before peering over at me, strangely shy. "And hopefully you."

A smile breaks out on my face. "I'll bring my mom's cookies."

He grins back at me at the mention of cookies. "I fucking love you."

We stare at each other for a moment and I swear I see him move closer.

God, his eyes are the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

"Hey, Winnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I—"

He's cut off by my phone ringing loudly, making us both jump.

"Holy shit." I mumble under my breath, digging my phone out of my back pocket. Adonis quickly picks up the bag of food, shoving a few fries in his mouth as he turns back around in his seat.

Flynn Rider

You have got to be fucking kidding me—

I answer the phone, bringing it up to my ear whilst Adonis avoids eye contact.

"He—"

"Windora Nevaeh King!" Flynn's screaming through the other side of the phone nearly deafens me. "Did you and Adonis ditch?! And just leave me here by myself?!"

This—this is what he called me for?! I swear to everything, Adonis was going to kiss me—

"Yes."

"You fucking bitches!"

"Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"I went to the bathroom just so I could call you and yell at you."

"Oh for fu—goodbye Flynn."

"Wha—"

"And screw you."

I hang up before turning back to Adonis awkwardly.

I clear my throat. "What were you going to say?"

He bites his lips before shaking his head and shrugging. "I, uh—I forgot."

I sigh inwardly before dejectedly facing forward in my seat again.

Thanks a lot, Flynn.