English Is Flammable (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 5

(Shay’s Point of View)

“Shay, come on, you gotta get up.”  I heard Dani saying to me softly.  I groaned and started to come to life.  

“Dani, I know for a fact that it’s before 10:00.”  I groaned at her.  

“Yeah, you’d better hope it is.  Mr. Wonderful’s supposed to pick you up half an hour past then.”  She continued.

“Oh shit!  What time is it?  Am I going to have time to shower?  Why did I agree to something in the morning?”  I complained.

“It’s only 8:30, Shay, you’ve got time.  Now go get in the shower and I’ll get you clothes.”  She said, helping me out of bed and pushing me into the bathroom.  

(Will’s Point of View)

I got up at a little past 8:00 and went for a half an hour run.  I got home and got in the shower.  I got out and put on clean boxers, a pair of jeans, and a white v-neck shirt.  After doing this I had about an hour and 10 minutes until I was due at Shay’s house.

(Shay’s Point of View)

After I got out of the shower I saw my favorite pair of light washed skinny jeans, a white tank top, a black sweater with three quarter length sleeves, and black flats.  I was satisfied with Dani’s choice.  She did my hair in a simple, loose, braid down my back so that it stopped when it was a little less than halfway down my back.  I skipped putting on any makeup just because I thought I was better off without it.  I was freaking out.  

Dani and I sat in my room, talking about random stuff and just passing the time until I heard the doorbell ring.  

“That’s him.  Shit, do I look okay?”  I asked, getting nervous all over again.  

“You look great, now go open the door before I have to do that for you too.  We both know you don’t want that.”  Dani said knowingly.  I scrambled down the stairs before she could reconsider.  “I’ll be watching from the window!”  She yelled.  She just couldn’t believe he was as cute as I’d said he was.  

“Okay.  Love you, bye!”  I yelled as I landed off the last step.  I stood there for a second, caught my breath and walked over to the door.  I yanked it open before I had the chance to talk myself out of it.  

(Will’s Point of View)

Okay, do I have the right house?  I’ve been standing here for almost five minutes and nobody’s answered.  Five more minutes and I’m out of here.  Wait, yelling, goodbyes, oh it’s opening.  There she is.  She’s standing at the door wearing jeans, a very thin white shirt, a sweater and a pair of shoes with her hair braided back.  She looks gorgeous.

“Hi.  You look beautiful.”  I said.  Damn it, I sound like I read that out of a book.  

“Hi.  You don’t look so bad yourself.”  she said smiling up at me.  

“Thanks.  Should we get going?”  I asked feeling a little calmer.

“Yeah, I’d invite you in but Dani’s upstairs...”  She responded sounding embarrassed.

“You two spend a lot of time together don’t you?”  I asked her.

“You could say that.”  Shay responded, laughing a little as if at an inside joke.  With that I held out my hand (which she took) and we walked out to my car.  

(Shay’s Point of View)

On the short drive to the cafe Will was taking me to we talked about random stuff.  He majored in English through college,  he loves dogs though he doesn’t currently have one, and he’s a coffee drinker.  We arrived quickly and he jumped out from his seat to get my car door.  We got out and held hands until we reached the door, which he opened for me, then resumed holding hands.  We sat ourselves at a small table in a corner and chatted while we waited to order drinks.  When the waiter, a teenage boy covered in acne, came we set down our drink menus and looked up at him, only to find that he was looking down... at me.  More specifically, my boobs.  Talk about classy.

“Excuse me, are you finished staring at her boobs or would you like us to give you another minute?”  Will growled at the waiter, clearly not appreciating this typical action from someone of the waiter’s demographic.  

“Er... N-n-no, s-sir.  What can I g-g-get f-for you?”The boy asked, frightened by Will’s rhetorical question.  

“You go ahead.”  Will said, motioning to me.  I ordered a caramel macchiato and Will ordered black coffee, insisting that anything other was for girls.  I laughed at that but couldn’t really argue, when have you heard of a guy ordering a white chocolate mocha?  The waiter scurried off as quickly as his feet would let him, leaving Will and me in a fit of giggles.  

“That... Was... Not necessary.”  I said between laughs.

“I beg to differ.”  He responded quickly before another laugh attack waved over us.  A little less than 10 minutes later our coffees arrived and our laughing, which had been controlled when we found an older woman bringing us our drinks, not the same kid who had taken our orders.  We kept talking and getting to know each other for the next hour.  Turns out we have the same weird dislike for mango, and both can’t stand soap operas.  He’s allergic to anchovies, and I just don’t like them so no problem there, and I’m allergic to cashews, just cashews, not other nuts, and he doesn’t like those either.  We stood up and started to walk to his car after he payed the bill.  We drove back to my house still just talking and agreeing that he’d pick me up at my house on Wednesday (day after tomorrow) to go see a movie.   

He parked on the street and got out of the car when I did.  He walked me to the door.  We just stood there for a second, looking at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.  Finally I couldn’t stand it anymore so I reached up, grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his lips to mine.  It was just a quick kiss though because we’d been cut off by Dani knocking on the door from the inside.  We froze like that, our noses touching, my hand on his neck, his around my waist, just looking at each other.  

“I’ll kill her.”  I muttered.  He laughed at me and gave me a long, soft kiss on my cheek, close to my mouth so that he caught the corner of my lips.  We said goodbye and I opened the door, already yelling at Dani as he closed his car door.   

 (I picked First Dance by Nevershoutnever as the song because it talks about all of the first date gitters I would imagine Will and Shay are feeling.)