Aftertaste

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Within the next week, it seemed as though all had been forgotten. My friends were acting less suspicious around me; they believed that everything was really over between Shawn and I.

Luckily, Shawn and I had no reason to see each other at school. On the days he actually showed up, we only had one class together, where we sat on opposite sides of the room. Lunch was when he would usually ditch, leaving school to grab some food at Tim Hortons, and then coming back whenever he finished. If he returned at all.

Although we didn't talk in person as much, the two of us FaceTimed every single night before we went to sleep. We would get into deep conversations about everything from music to our futures. He never brought up his past. I didn't ask. Shawn and I were becoming extremely close, and I liked that.

I had been right about there being a whole other side to him. When he talked to me, he seemed like a completely different person than he was when he talked to anyone else. He didn't scowl or roll his eyes, he laughed a lot and sang me his favorite songs. Shawn loved his family more than anything in the world. He had an obsession with Tim Horton's muffins and secretly wished he owned an electric guitar. Getting closer to Shawn caused me to feel warm and fuzzy inside, like I had just started opening a big wrapped box on Christmas morning. And with each little detail I learned about him, I found myself falling for him more and more.

It was Thursday afternoon, and I was just counting down the hours until the day was over. I was stressed and exhausted. After math, I joined up with Mel and the two of us headed down to the cafeteria for lunch. We entered the and sat at our usual table which consisted of Laur, Lyall, Rianna, Mel, Brian, and me.

As I was about to go up and buy my lunch, Brian stopped me. "Wait two minutes," he said. "I have something for you."

Without further explanation, he got up from the table and headed towards the kitchen and food. He returned in a few moments with a pizza box, which he set down in front of me.

"Pizza?" I questioned.

"Yup," he replied proudly. "For you."

It was a nice gesture, but a little odd. I smiled at Brian and then opened the pizza box. There was writing on the inside of it.

Grace, will you go to Fall Ball with me? Or is this too cheesy?

I read the words out loud and started to laugh. This was one of the cheesiest, most cliche ways to ask someone to a dance.

"So what do you say?" he asked, taking the seat beside me. The rest of the table stared at me expectantly.

I didn't want to say yes. I didn't want to go to the dance. Well, I would've wanted to go if I could go with Shawn, but obviously what wasn't an option. I had been expecting Brian to ask me, because Fall Ball was all anyone had been talking about. Apparently it was a pretty big deal at Pine Ridge. Laur and Mel had already found dates, and Lyall and Rianna were obviously going together. I knew it was only a matter of time before Brian asked me.

"Of course," I replied, flashing Brian a sweet smile. He leaned in and hugged me.

"Awesome," he said. "It'll be fun."

I nodded and smiled again as everyone at the table dug into the pizza box. I couldn't help but feel a twang of guilt as I thought about attending the dance while Shawn sat at home by himself. School dances weren't his thing, as he had told me many times. But still, I knew he would hate the idea that I was going with Brian. It made me a little nervous, thinking about how he might react to the news.

Later that night when we were FaceTiming, I finally brought myself to tell him.

"I'm going to Fall Ball with Brian," I said quickly, the words flowing out of my mouth in a short, quick breath.