Pedestrian |✓

e p i l o g u e

This is it, guys. This is it.

"You do know that it's ten o'clock in the evening, right?" those were the first words I told Austin once I plopped down in the passenger seat of his car.

He threw me a swift glance, a small smile playing on his lips as he swiftly backed out of our drive way (perks of new cars). "So?"

A look of incredulity passed over my sleepy features as I gaped at him. "It's prom tomorrow night! We should be sleeping!"

To further prove my point, I motioned over my attire that consisted of one of his shirts and my Shawn the Sheep PJs and flipflops. He gave me a brief once over then focused on the road ahead of us. "It's cute."

"Austin! Cute? Cute? It's prom tomorrow and Lily and Kayla are asleep in my bedroom right now. They might wake up in the middle of the night only to find out that I'm missing! This is crazy!" I said, throwing my arms in the air.

"Or," he paused to turn around a corner, "we could get lucky and they won't find out."

I sighed, seeing no point in arguing with him. Apparently, I've discovered in our four months of relationship, that he could be a hell lot more stubborn than a toddler high on sugar. "Where are we going, anyway?" I asked instead and watched the view outside of my window.

At ten in the evening, most of our small town were already asleep. With only a few cafés, diners, clubs and restaurants to fill life into the sleeping town. Some passerby's dotted the sidewalks and a few cars roamed the roads, but overall, it was relatively quiet and empty.

"Hill of Orion," Austin muttered nonchalantly beside me, and I quickly shifted in my seat to gape at him.

"God, you're a walking contradiction."

He briefly looked at me before taking another turn and frowned. "Walking contradiction?"

"Yes. You're so into these spontaneous and random dates, but you don't get the real essence of surprises." This wasn't the first time he did this. And the truth was, I was a little annoyed at him. I was supposed to be in my bed right now, beside Lily and Kayla and already snoring the night out.

But instead, here I was, sitting in the passenger seat of my boyfriend with my arms crossed over my chest and a sad pout on my lips. I knew it was childish - very immature in fact. But I was really hoping as I took down the tentative steps down our stairs that this random date would be worth both of our time.

I actually thought, for a minute or two that maybe this was his way of making it up to me after his (not-so) prom proposal that happened when were on the way to our first class. At first, when he popped the question, I thought he was pulling a joke, only to realize seconds later as he waited patiently for my response with an expectant look on his face, that he was, in fact serious.

"Did you shop for your dress already? I was out with the Stephen yesterday and I already bought mine. So..." he drawled out.

My. Ears. Perked. Up. That. I. Had. To. Pause. Mid-step.

I was stunned in the best way possible, my mouth hanging open as I sharply turned to stare at him petulantly. "You've got to be kidding me."

He awkwardly cleared his throat, shuffling his feet on and hiking up his backpack higher on his shoulder. An innocent and confused frown now appearing on his lips. "Um, no?"

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breatheinbreatheoutbreatheinbreatheout.

I opened my mouth to argue, but decided against it. Releasing a resigned sigh, I threw my hands in ther air and frowned. "Okay, what's the color of your bow tie?"