Where Do We Go From Here?

Tony tugged my hand to the bleachers of the school during lunch. I’d usually avoid the bleachers because it’s mostly filled with burnouts. Not to mention that it was quite a long walk to and from the cafeteria, so I always tend to go to the usual table I sat at. The bleachers were located the furthest west of the school, past all the building, and even past the locker rooms. It sat caddy cornered from the student parking lot and the row of back buildings which the school used as storage.

“Is this the part where you hold me against my will?” I asked playfully.

Tony smirked. “No, this is the part where I get to kiss you without anyone interrupting us.”

I smiled timidly; uncertain if he was serious or not. I glanced around the empty bleachers and looked at Tony with an incredulous expression.

“I thought you were supposed to be swooning me, not making me feel like some back alley hooker.” I teased.

Tony guffawed. “I’ll even throw in a tip.”

I rolled my eyes at him; a small eliciting from my lips. “So why the bleachers?”

Tony stepped aside to reveal a red and white plaid blanket laying over one of the bleacher seats with a picnic basket set up nicely on it. I gasped from its simple splendor.

“First date?” I inquired.

Tony scoffed. “No, I just wanted to do something nice for you since I am the reason you were grounded. Think of it as a pre-first-date.” He smiled.

I leaned closer to Tony and placed a soft, chaste kiss on his lips. “You cease to amaze me Mr. Perry.”

Tony enwrapped my hand with his, leading me to the cute little set up he had.

“I brought us two sub sandwiches and some Pellegrino, just in case you expected some classy, fancy drink.” He stated as I sat across from him.

I laughed. “I actually don’t like Pellegrino.” I replied with a sheepish grin.

“Thankfully I came with provisions and brought grape juice boxes.” He smiled.

I shook my head in astonishment. “This was really sweet of you.”

“I know.” He replied in a playfully smug tone.

“So, I was thinking that maybe you’d want to come over for dinner tonight.” I offered. “I mean, you don’t have to feel obligated to but I’m just inviting you because—well, most couples go out on Friday nights and since I’m stupid enough to be grounded—I just well, I suck at this.” I muttered quickly, feeling my cheeks instantly heat up as I averted my eyes to the pattern on the blanket.

“Did you just call us a ‘couple’?” Tony asked in an amused tone.

I bit my bottom lip. “Yeah, I mean we don’t have to be official or anything—I was just at a loss for better—“ I began but Tony cut me off.

“Does this mean I can finally call you my girlfriend?” The smile on his face resembled a half-crescent moon. It took up half his face.

“I guess.” I mumbled softly, feeling a little embarrassed to have this conversation.

Tony leaned over to me, tilting my chin up slightly, and said “Verity Abraham, I will be more than happy to call you my girlfriend.”

I smiled. “Then, Tony Perry” I began, following the same formality he did “You are my boyfriend.”

This time Tony kissed me. It was deeper than most we shared over this past week. However, he still refrained from using his tongue, which to be frank I was glad for that. I wanted to take this relationship slow. I didn’t want to rush into things to only find that there was no foundation to uphold our fervor. Moments like these, the ones where Tony would surprise me with his sincerity, kept stabilizing our relationship, strengthening it. I smiled into our kiss as I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. It was the first time we ever kissed on campus, so I made sure that this kiss would count for something.

Finally breaking away from the kiss, Tony and I resorted back into the comfortable silence while eating slowly. We spoke briefly about The Looking Glass our families. Apparently, Rosie had signed up for a Spelling Bee that will be coming up in November while Maria had finally heard good news from the bank. They approved her loan, which made her fly back to San Francisco earlier than anticipated to go over the blueprints with the construction workers. Gabby—Tony’s mother—had picked up and extra shift at the hospital for this month, so now Tony will have to be the one to pick up Rosie from school.

In return, I spoke of Veronica and how she’s slowly, very slowly, coming to terms with her illness. She still struggled with eating her food, but she no longer gives the nurses and doctors much grief anymore. I remember visiting her on Thursday with my parents. She looked a little better, nothing drastic since she looked frail. However, her cheeks held color, something that had been missing since she landed here last week. I also told Tony that Jason would probably be bringing down his girlfriend tonight and that his business was doing well.

When Tony asked how my parents were doing, I kept everything vague. I wasn’t sure what to say about them since they’ve been arguing more and more lately. Each time they were arguing, they assumed I couldn’t hear them, but I did. I heard every calloused word, every snide remark, and every loud whisper. From what I gathered on their arguing, I found out that my father had a short affair with his secretary, whom he fired when he told my mother the truth. The news broke the picture in which I placed my parents in. I never thought of my father as deceiving man, but he was. He made the mistake of sleeping with his secretary who is fifteen years younger than him. I kept all of this from Tony because I wasn’t sure how he’d handle it. Hell, I haven’t even told Callie yet.

Before I knew it the lunch bell had rung, telling us that we had to head back to class. I helped Tony clear up our area before we parted ways to go to class.

Notes

Okay, now that everything is in order I will do another update in a few hours. Apologies for the fuck up haha. But yes, a third update will happen because of my fuckery and I'm feeling a little generous.

Thanks for reading! And I hope you like this chapter <3