[6:55: Oliver: im on my way now]

[7:00: Oliver: is that okay with you?]

[7:08: Oliver: still sleeping?]

[7:15: Oliver: this is awkward. But I’m here]

Robbed out of my sleep by a phone message, and a loud knocking at my door all the same, I struggled to open my eyes as the bright phone screen blinded me. With a hiss, I clenched both my eyes shut once more, rubbing the sleeping sand out of them, and squinted at the messages I’d received. 

“Huh?!” I practically jumped out of my bed, one of my plushies dropping onto the ground. “What—What do you mean you’re here?!” 

Here? As in — here! "In front of my house?!” I rushed to my window, which faced the main street, pressed my face against the glass after pushing the light-blue curtains to the side, and my heart dropped all the way to the floor.

Oliver. He was too tall to miss, too broad to ignore, too handsome to overlook. Leaning against the fence in front of my house’s driveway, paper bags of baked goods in his hands, he waited. Gaze stuck to his phone, swiping up and down every few minutes, as if he reloaded a certain page; and perhaps it was our very chat, hoping for an answer from me. “He’s—here! Oh my god, oh my—“ 

Another knock at my door. 

“Finn! You’ll be late!” 

“I—I’m coming!”

I’d never gotten ready this fast. But my bed-hair was a mess that couldn’t be contained, and I yawned more than once, brushed my teeth in record speed, and rushed down the stairs, only to bump into my sister along the way. 

“F-Fiona. Hi.” 

“Hi? Why so surprised?”

“I didn’t know you were still here.”

“I live here, you know,” my little sister snapped back. “My first lecture was canceled, teacher got sick.” 

“Oh, so—so you’re on your way now? Right now?”

“Yeah…?”

I couldn’t stop her, of course, and we left the house together, the loud banging of the house door falling shut awakening Oliver off his phone. His eyes fell upon me immediately, and he pushed himself off the fence, only for Fiona to stare at me with drool practically oozing out of her mouth.

“Now, who’s that? And why is this the first time I see him?”

“Shut up, Fiona!”

But of course, Oliver had heard, and he chuckled rather awkwardly. Fiona jumped forward, greeting Oliver before I could even get the chance to. Dropping her head back to look at his face, she blushed all over just like I did. She squinted her eyes, tilted her head first to the right, and then to the left. 

“Uh … I’m Oliver.” 

“Oliver … Are you single?”

“Uh—“

“Fiona! What do you think you’re doing! Get someone in your own age group, this one’s off limits.” Fiona was sixteen, practically two years younger than me once I had my birthday in a few weeks. And Oliver was another year older. What was she thinking! 

“No fair,” Fiona buzzed. “There are no hot guys like this in my class.” 

“S-Seriously, don’t you have to go?!” 

Fiona giggled, stealing another glance at Oliver, and rushed off — thankfully. Loudly, I exhaled, that short exchange between the two already having robbed me of all my energy. 

“That’s so embarrassing,” I mumbled, steam shooting out of my ears, heat dominating my face. 

Oliver chuckled once more. “Your sister?”

“Yeah … She goes to a different school and plays hockey after school, that’s why you never saw her until now.”

“Hockey? That’s cool.”

“She begged our parents to go to that school just so she could play. She’s doing great.” 

Oliver smiled right at me, and then lifted his arm, three different bags of the bakery held between his fingers. “Pick. I didn’t know what you liked, so…”

“You could have asked.“ Shyly, I reached for the bags. A sandwich in one, two donuts in another, one pink and one chocolate. In the third, a large, custard-filled danish. Three for three, really — I liked all of these things. 

“You were dead asleep until five minutes ago.”

I blushed. “I didn’t know you were picking me up,” I defended myself. “You should have told me sooner.” 

“Do you mind?”

“Hm?”

“That I came here.” 

Instantly, I shook my head. “I just wish I had known. I could have gotten ready sooner.” And made myself prettier, maybe. My hair was embarrassing, and my shirt crooked because I’d slipped into it on my way down the stairs. 

But Oliver smiled, gazing me up and down. “Did you sleep well?”

“Can you tell?” I giggled.

“Yeah.” 

You really do like me huh? Going out of your way to get me breakfast, walking all this way, just so we can walk together … He even woke up earlier, just to get here in time. What’s with all this devotion? 

“You’ll have to help me finish all of this,” I chuckled, bakery bags rustling as I pulled the danish out of its packaging, allowing myself a good bite. “Hmm! Yum!” 

“Sure,” Oliver mumbled, holding onto the other bags as I ate while walking, the both of us heading towards school. 

I held the danish up at him. “You want a bite?” 

What I didn’t expect was for him to stop walking instantly, and instead hold onto my wrist ever so gently, only to guide my hands towards his mouth, making me feed him a big bite. Bright red all over, I flinched back as soon as he chewed on half my danish. “What are you doing—!”

“You offered …”

“But—I—I didn’t mean I’d feed you, Oliver! That’s—“

“Sorry…” Don’t say that with such a pout! Crumbs of my danish stuck to his lower lip, disappearing only moments after when he licked over them, a smile growing atop. He was happy, genuinely happy, to walk to school with me. Just him, and me, with no Matt, and no one else in sight. 

I tried changing the topic. “Do you feel ready for the exam today?”

“I think so. Because you helped me study.” 

“I’m glad I could help. Whenever you want, we can study for the next exams, too.” 

But Oliver had completely different things on his mind. “Finn.”

“…?” I turned to face him, nibbling at my danish. 

“If I get a good grade, will you go out with me?” he asked outright, only for me to jerk backwards in shock.

“Huh—?! Go—Go out with you? Aren’t you moving too fast! You just told me, like, two days ago that you—“

“On a date, or something. I want to spend time with you, outside of school. Honestly, I’ve only used the exam as an excuse…” 

“Eh…?” I’d already assumed that much, especially after last time. He couldn’t even focus, and yet, he’d begged me to study with him. 

What a silly ultimatum, I thought. He didn’t need any of those bets to go out with me, but if he wanted to challenge himself that way, I wasn’t going to interfere. I giggled, instead, rose-color on my cheeks. 

“You’re so silly.” 

“You say that whenever you’re embarrassed.”

“Shut—Shut up.”

“Do I make you nervous, too?” 

Frankly, I’d never expected any of this. I had always thought I’d graduate high school without ever having had a boyfriend, and go into college completely clueless and unexperienced. I always thought I would fall head over heels for some guy, only for that guy not to like me back. 

But this — it was completely unprecedented! Unexpected, confusing, and so, so bewildering. Every time I gazed over at Oliver, only to have the echo of his confession clinging in my ear, I just couldn’t believe it. 

“I won’t force you to go out with me,” Oliver mumbled. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I just thought it’d be nice.” 

“… Why wouldn’t I want to?” I gulped, staring at his big, brown eyes. His fingers tickled my lower arm and my fingers, one by one. 

I didn’t stop him, and let his fingers intertwine with mine. His calluses scratched my skin, harsh and warm all the same. His large fingers tickled the back of my hand as he clung to me, staring at our interlocked hands. 

“Maybe I’m not your type,” Oliver whispered. 

“Huh?” How could he not be?! 

“Compared to you, I’m just … kind of a loser.” 

“Why would you say that?” I asked, quietly, as he averted my gaze. 

“I just … I’ve messed up a lot,” Oliver sighed. “And I know you saw my instagram.” 

“Uh—“ I turned all the redder. “I—I didn’t mean to stalk you, or anything. I just, I wanted to see more photos of you and somehow, I stumbled across some other—“

“It’s okay,” Oliver chuckled, his thumb rubbing across mine. “I just worried that it would scare you off. They won’t take those photos down, no matter what I say.” 

On the contrary, it made me all the more curious. About who the past Oliver was, and what had happened for him to turn into such a troublemaker, and back into the Oliver I saw before me. He was only a year older than me, a year and a couple months, at most, and yet, it felt like he had so much more experience than me. As if he had lived so much more life than I had. Miles of experience between the two of us. 

That sure made me nervous, but it didn’t scare me off, no. 

“I know it’s sudden, but I really like you,” Oliver mumbled. “It’s confusing for me, too.” 

I gulped, gazing up at him as if in a dream. How honest he was, with those raw emotions he felt; perhaps that drew me in all the more than anything else ever could. 

And to say all these things with his pleasant voice, as deep as it was — how could I not get goosebumps, and a racing heart? Whatever he did to me with those words alone, it was permanent, blurring my mind. 

“We’ll be late for school,” I said as quietly as I could, hoping he didn’t hear, hoping we’d continue to idle. 

“Can I keep holding your hand?” he asked, instead. “Just for a bit.” His warmth was nice, my hand so neatly fitting in his. Large fingers, bitten off nails, calluses — the complete opposite of mine. 

I nodded, clenching my eyes shut. “Just for a bit.”

Before we knew it, our intertwined hands had become so natural, we forgot all about it until we reached close proximity to our school. All the quicker, I snatched my fingers away from him, rubbing my blushing neck, instead.