𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 | 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

⁰² | Blush

𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐒 𝐀 light coat of pale blush into the apples of her cheeks, skin freshly washed and dewy. Her earrings catch a beam of sunlight, reflecting a glare into the mirror.

"Would you hurry up, already?" Brendan McGill asks. "We're nearly running late as it is."

"Well look who's become all-time-oriented," Rowan remarks. "You know, there once was a long period of time where you had no care in the world whether we were late to something or not."

"She's right, you know," Alex pitches in, flipping the pages carelessly of the hockey magazine Adam had left her to read last week. "And it really wasn't all that long ago."

Checking his watch again, Brendan scoffs. "Excuse me for being the only one who actually cares about making it to Adam's game on time."

"It's the new girlfriend, I'm telling you," Alex says to Rowan.

"Oh, is it?" she grins, sliding the wand of her mascara back into the tube. "The magnificent Eileen Baker has finally got through to you. I almost thought Abby Patternick had to be the one."

"That's hilarious, really," he says. "Are you ready now? Or do you have more of that clown makeup to put on?"

"I'm ready. And you know, Eileen probably wears this 'clown make-up' too."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Brendan dismisses. "I guess I just assumed that you cared about watching your boyfriend start the first game of his senior season."

"The game won't actually start until 7:00," she says.

"The schedule said 6:30," Alex mentions.

"Dean Buckley makes this big announcement at the first Varsity game every year. It's not going to actually start for another thirty minutes," Rowan tells the two boys, grabbing her car keys off her desk and leading them down the stairs to the front door. "You'd know this if, you know, you came to one of these before."

"Yeah, yeah, we've been busy."

Alex, taking the passenger's seat up front, grins smugly as Brendan huffs in the back. "Why do I always get stuck in the back?"

"Because you failed your permit test three times," he laughs.

"And your driver's test twice," Rowan continues.

"You shouldn't be allowed on the roads ever."

"I'm re-taking it next week," he tells them, picking mindlessly at a hangnail on his middle finger. "I feel like this is the one."

Rowan and Alex glance at each other, trying not to laugh out of sympathy for their friend. "Yeah, the third time's a charm."

"Oh, screw you guys. I seriously think I can get it this time."

"We believe you!" she says.

Six minutes away from Eden Hall, Alex lifts his head off the palm of his hand. Freckles bridged across his nose effortlessly. A yearly getaway to Northern Italy will do that to you. "Who is going to be the Godfather of your kids? Me or Brendan?"

"Can I graduate high school first?" she snorts.

"Well, yeah," Alex shrugs. "But I mean in the future, is it going to be me or Brendan?"

"I haven't really given it much thought, I guess. Is that something I'm supposed to believe heavily in–Godparents?"

"You have one, don't you?"

"Yeah, but what does it mean exactly? It's not like I see or love them any more than the rest of my family."

"It's just good to know, I feel like."