Pedestrian |✓

|48| s k i t t l e s

"Finally!" Lily said in relief, standing up from her sitting position to greet Austin and I.

A small laugh managed to escape Austin who obviously enjoyed my best friend's exaggerated reactions.

"God, we've been waiting for about two hours now for you two. The party should've started awhile ago," Lily continued, her hands failing in the air in motions of exasperation.

"Hey, we're only thirty minutes late," I said defensively, glancing at my silver wristwatch.

Lily only rolled her eyes. "Well gee, that's really comforting, knowing that Austin's late for his own birthday party at his own house."

"Well hey, I gotta pick up the girlfriend." Austin slowly pulled me by the waist, wrapping his arm around me in a protective gesture.

A blush quickly rose to my cheeks at the feel of his warmth slowly spreading onto my skin, despite the thick covering of my jacket and cardigan and all the layers of clothing that separated us.

Somehow, how the word girlfriend easily rolled off his tongue added to the fuel of heat that made me feel like burning up with giddy-ness and just a tad bit of embarrasment towards the way Lily cooed.

It had been only a week since we officially became a couple. And thank God, I was no longer guessing the label where we fell into. But I couldn't help but still be a little shy of the extra affection he had been giving me these past few days. He said that it was part of his saying sorry, and that this how he dreamed of treating the girl he's in love with.

Love. In love.

I never thought it could happen to me. It was like suddenly my life turned into those overly-cheesy rom-com movies with cliché endings. Nevertheless, the feeling was severly appreciated.

I could still remember that day when he told me that overly cheesy line of how he wanted to treat the girl he loved like a princess. It was our second sponatneous date that week, and I told him that he was undeniably and hoplessly corny while throwing some fries at him.

There were still a lot of things I was still getting used to. Just like his more often random calls and his great amusement of how embarrassed I get every time he publicly displays his affection. But nontheless, I was happy. I haven't been this happy since that night at the playground where we first kissed.

It was as if I was floating up in the clouds - euphoric and blissful. And I didn't want it to end. It was my new drug and I couldn't get enough.

Vincent, who was sitting beside Stephen (who was too engrossed in Alfred's Mario Kart game to look over at us) in the love seat at the corner of the Ford's living room stood up and walked over us, clapping Austin's back in a manly greeting. "Happy brithday, bro."

"Thanks, man," Austin said, grinning as he clapped Vincent's back in return with much more force. The force took Vincent off-guand and he jumped at the sound of Austin's palm against the back of his shirt.

"Ah! Shi-"

Lily suddenly yelped, causing us to look over at her with wide eyes. "Language!" she then lowered her voice, eyes briefly glancing over at Alfred's hunched over figure in front of the huge Plasma screen. "There's a kid in here, you dimwit. We don't want to taint him this early in life."

"The kid's ten, he probably knows what a porn is already," Vincent retorted back, shrugging nonchalantly, which made Austin chuckle beside me.

Appalled by Vincent's words, Lily hit his arm with the book she was holding, causing him to let out a (not-so manly) cry. "Shut up! Mrs. Ford might hear you."