𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 | 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚕𝚏 [1]

girlfriend

—

Ryder leaned her back against the bookshelves, watching Austin carefully as he put away the books.

It seemed like only him and Matt were the ones actually doing the punishment that Harris had given them, unless you count Allison who occasionally threw a book on a random shelf.

"Can I ask you something?"

Her eyes snapped up to his face, "Sure."

"I wouldn't really consider it 'asking' since I'm only repeating what I was told but—"

"Austin."

"Right, sorry. Uhm—Do you like Isaac?"

The girl snorted, "What?"

"Lahey, Isaac Lahey? Do you like him? Because I got the impression that you liked me as much as I like you, and while I would be disappointed if you didn't like me, I wouldn't hold it against you."

"I don't like Isaac. Not in that way, anyway."

The George teen chuckles in relief, "Good, I thought I was going to have to throw away my whole plan."

"What whole plan?"

"The plan to ask you to be my girlfriend."

His words came out with ease, so quick that he shocked himself with how fast the words left his mouth, with absolutely no hesitation. Austin was never the best when it came to keeping secrets, even if they were his own.

"I had a whole thing. I asked my mom and Josie for help. Josie doubted it, obviously, saying something about how you would reject me before I even got the chance to ask, but my mom was supportive." He rambled, a smile subconsciously making its way onto his face, "And I'm now suddenly realizing that I just exposed the entire thing in the middle of school library—"

Ryder laughed.

She couldn't help it, honestly. The kid was hilarious in her eyes. The way is cheeks grew red under her gaze was what did it for her.

She couldn't help but stare in admiration as he let out a nervous breath.

"Okay- just, please, give me a second to recollect my thoughts."

Ryder nodded, sucking in her cheeks as she held back a smile.

"Ryder."

"Austin."

He cleared his throat, "I know this isn't what I had planned. In fact, I had been planning the way I wanted to ask you since before the Winter formal, but you and Lydia ended up getting bit and everything kind of went downhill from there- aside from our relationship, which probably got ten times better than i imagined. And honestly, i'm actually really happy about that since you're the first girl i've ever had an actual crush on, which is mind-blowing considering the fact that you hated me when we first met."