Always Forever

Rapprochement

Ralph heard snickers from both his friends and gave them a glare that screamed: "Shut your mouths or so help me".

They stopped laughing but kept sly smiles on their lips. Ralph left his head fall against his desk, making a banging noise that was much louder than he'd intended.
     "I don't think that was all he wanted to say," Simon spoke up.

     "Another great deduction from Captain Obvious," Piggy joked, earning a nudge from Simon.

"He's right though. Why would he just walk in to tell you he was excited to study later?"

Ralph sprung up from the desk. "I don't know! He doesn't like studying! He doesn't even like being around me!"

     Simon allowed a quiet "Are you sure about that?" to escape his lips.

Ralph then proceeded to slam his head back against the desk.

     "Dude, stop, you're gonna get a concussion," Piggy declared. Ralph just sighed in response.

     Frankly, he had no clue where he sat in the ginger boy's mind. It's like his mind is a mansion with hundreds of rooms and Ralph somehow got lost in one, but he's unsure of whether it's a useless room or one paramount to the functioning of the nearby kitchen where all Jack's emotions are made. That made absolutely no sense to anyone but Ralph because he was experiencing it.

He hoped Jack had a generally positive idea of him; that weird declaration he'd made a few minutes ago hinted that he did. He hoped even more that Jack had an overly positive, mildly romantic idea of him; at the same time, though, that was the last thing he wanted. Ralph had tried to list the pros and cons of Jack liking him back several times, but there were too many on each side and they became uncountable.

     He needed to stop thinking about Jack so much in the first place. It was like the heavily freckled boy lived in his head, and every time Ralph began thinking about any other topic, the former just started yelling for attention: 'Ralph... Ralph....'
     "Ralph."

"What?" the boy snapped out of his delusions.

     "The teacher said to get your pencil out, hurry up." Simon looked kind of annoyed that he hadn't been paying attention but also understanding of the situation. Ralph hadn't even noticed that the teacher walked into the room.

     He picked up a pencil from his small bag. It was red, like the hair of someone he knew, and just like that, the boy living in his head began screaming for attention once again.

He would forget the plan that went through the former night. There was no way in hell he could face Merridew. English was boring, it could have been fun, Ralph supposed, If he wasn't so caught up in the vein of another boy. He felt there must be some way to get rid of this feeling so back to studying useless information it was. The paper was blank and soon filled with a neat print of the teacher's futile words.

Sooner than later, the bell rung. Boys and girls his age rushed out the door to catch up with friends while they walked to the next class. Ralph sighed and packed up, pacing steadily towards the door. Simon began to speak, it was soft so Ralph didn't think it was directed toward him. He kept walking. 

The next class had Piggy in it, so he could share notes and thoughts with him, he supposed. French.

'Fléau de mon existence' thought Ralph.

That too went flat. He couldn't even bring up talking to his friend who was caught up on learning where the accent marks went. The day went stale until lunch time. By then the day was halfway over. So off to the cafeteria Ralph went. The blonde was impartial to eating, for now, only thinking about eating once he went to work or home. He should have expected this but again his nuisance of a crush showed up at his friend groups' table.

"Can I talk to you, Blondie?" He abruptly asked.

"It's...Important" the redhead added.

Ralph froze but rose from his stupor, "Sure."

His friends gawked and tried their best to hold in their laughter, save for a few friends with good manners, who didn't laugh at all. Ralph huffed and payed them no mind. Surely he could get through what happened the last time they were really alone. Though he wasn't sure if he'd freeze up, run away, or end up making out with him again. He kind of wished for the latter but most likely he would either freeze or dash.

The two walked outside the lunchroom area to the bleachers, no one would pay attention to them talking there

"So?" The blonde began

"Uh, yeah sorry for dragging you here but I wanted to know about um.. Us."

Ralph was stunned. His cheeks began to flush and he started stuttering, god how he hated his stutter when he got nervous. At least he wasn't as bad as Piggy.

"I'd kinda like to know about that too.."

There was an awkward silence between the two of them, Merridew dug his shoe into the ground before clearing his throat and beginning again.

"I think I like you." Jack said.

"I think I like you too."

Ralph paused a significant time until he continued.

"So, uh, I guess we're gonna date now."

—————————————
Ralph felt like he was on cloud nine. How the hell did something he was avoiding turn into the focal point of a conversation?
He couldn't wait to tell his friends at the diner.

Heaven knows he's wonderful now