Chapter 42: : Chapter 42

I hope I look good in orange because if I ever meet this girl’s parents, so help me god, it’ll be my clothes’ color.

Flo is taking a nap on my chest right now while I’m glaring at the sky. We talked some more as she calmed down but the whole interaction must’ve drained her because she passed out as soon as we laid down. She didn’t say much, just that it’s sometimes hard for her to eat and that it gets worse when someone makes a comment on her appearance. Which, with the way her mom texted her, I’m guessing isn’t too rare.

I can hardly wrap my head around it. To me, Florence is such an awesome person with a beautiful body. There’s nothing wrong with her but she somehow can’t see that. I hate that for her. She definitely deserves better.

And to think she’s never told anyone. She’s been dealing with it by herself for who knows how long and here I was, reacting like a total jerk when I found out.

I didn’t mean to be so stupid but her admission took me by surprise. I don’t know much about the topic and didn’t know what to say.

Florence stirs and slowly sits up. ‘How long was I asleep for?’ she asks softly.

‘Only about thirty minutes. Are you feeling better?’ I ask.

‘Yeah. Sorry for that,’ she says for the thousandth time. I’ve told her not to apologize before but I’ll keep saying it until she understands she did nothing wrong.

‘No need to be. Now, about those drawings of yours?’ I ask since I think it’s time to talk about something happier.

‘Oh, right. They’re not that good. It’s just a way to pass the time,’ she rambles, her cheeks heating up.

‘She said before showing me some first-class art, I bet,’ I tease her.

‘Don’t get your expectations up, it’s not fair,’ she complains. At least she’s smiling again. Then she unlocks her iPad and hands it to me. I have access to all her works so I start off by checking out the most recent one. I can’t help but gape at it.

‘Florence, that’s incredible. It’s Misha and Ryan, right? A drawing of the picture of a picture of a picture,’ I say.

‘Yeah,’ she says shily. ‘Wait, how do you know that?’

‘Right, I meant to tell you. Since you didn’t let me read your annotated book, I bought one myself. It was really nice but I think I prefer Corrupt from the Devil’s night series. The ending was perfect.’ When the girl just stares at me, I laugh. ‘Don’t look so surprised.’

‘I- You read one of my books?’ she asks.

‘Yeah. You really sold it to me with that little summary,’ I tell her. Slowly, she breaks out into the biggest grin. Then she throws her arms around my neck and hugs me.

‘Thank you,’ she whispers.

‘Sure thing. I enjoyed it. Besides, now we have another thing to talk about,’ I say. And we do. For about an hour, we talk about Punk 57 and whatever other books I need to read. I make a list out of them, making sure her favorites are at the top. After that, I play a few songs for her to which she pulls out a whole planner. Yep, she made a plan of how to get me famous.

This girl is really something else.

‘So, you still up for the party?’ I ask her as the sun sets.

‘Yeah, can we swing by my place first though? I’d like to change.’

‘Sure thing.’ With that, the two of us pack up our things and go back to Florence’s place. She tells me to wait in the car and I don’t question it when she comes back wearing an oversized hoodie. It’s windy tonight so at least she’ll be warm. Other than that, I see she’s wearing her hair down. It’s different but no less beautiful.

–

‘Yay, look who made it!’ Jamie yells excitedly, throwing his arms around mine and Florence’s neck. Good to know the party has been going on for a while, judging by the state some of these kids are in.

‘Would you mind if we ubered home tonight? I’d like to drink a bit myself and I’m not going to drive under the influence,’ I tell her.

‘Yeah, sure. If you don’t want to leave your car here, I can stay sober,’ she offers.

‘It’s fine, really. Besides, if you drove me home, my car would just be at your place instead so it doesn’t make much of a difference. We can share an uber so you don’t have to get into a stranger’s car by yourself, don’t worry,’ I assure her. No way I’m letting her do that.

She smiles gratefully before Jamie pulls us further into his home. He pushes us two closed beers into our hands before dancing off elsewhere.

‘Wanna dance?’ I ask Florence over the music.

‘Sure!’ she yells back. So I pull her into the living room where the music is the loudest. She quickly drinks her beer, laughing and dancing wildly while I mostly watch her.

‘I’m going to grab another drink. Do you want something?’ I ask her after a solid half an hour.

‘Yes, thank you,’ she replies.

‘I’ll be right back, stay here.’ I don’t like leaving here alone but we’re at Jamie’s place so there won’t be any weirdos here. Either way, I’ll try to get back fast.

When I enter the kitchen, I nearly groan. There are a ton of people standing in line for a beer since Jamie insists on having someone hand them out instead of letting people get them themselves. That way, he wants to make sure no one knocks themselves out too bad or whatever. It’s a bad time for him to be cautious.

I’ll be here for a while.