#pdh

“Has anyone seen my hatbox? It’s green—sorta teal? it has fabric on top, it’s round and there’s a bow on it.” Your words are at lightning speed, not wasting a breath.

Your father blinks at you, “Woah, no ‘Hey dad! School was great, how was your day? What’d you get’—“

You cut him off, “Dad! I really need to know where my hatbox is, okay?” You turn to your sister, she almost looks tense, “Don’t look at me.” Her voice was quiet.

“Honey, maybe It had gone with the Goodwill boxes we’d sent out.” Your father shrugged.

You freeze in realisation, “The Goodwill boxes?”

That’s right, you remember being told by your parents to pick out anything from your messy room to send out at Goodwill, how could you forget? You probably had slipped your box inside without checking!

“You got mail by the way,” He points out on the kitchen counter, one of the letters you’d written sitting right on top.

You grab it, letting out a frustrated groan, “I hate everyone!” You yell out, voice fading as you make up your way to the stairs once again. Followed along with your door banging shut.

Your father takes a bite of his snack, “What’s her problem?” Your sister shrugs, “That time of the month?”

Earlier that day, you had woken up early for practice. Your best friend and volleyball captain Katelyn had picked you up that morning. You and your team held practice games for upcoming tournaments outside at the beach volleyball courts.

Halfway through practice, you spot Laurance jog over from his soccer team to Katelyn, the pair talking to each other and occasionally looking over at your direction before she nods at him and calls you over. You blinked at them in confusion, and passed the ball over to a nearby team mate.

“What’s up?” You ask as you stood beside your best friend, Laurance flashes a smile, “Can I talk to you, alone?” He asks. You and Katelyn glance at each other discreetly, you notice her biting back a smirk by pursing her lips together, you hum in response, nudging her side before following him.

The both of you walk out, standing beside the bleachers and a fair space away from the crowd and away from curious ears.

“So..” He starts, “So?” You repeat.

He scratches the back of his head, In a low and quiet voice, he says, “Look, I just wanted to say uh—I’m flattered, really, but I don’t think this is gonna work out for now.” Your eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, “I’m sorry, what?” You ask.

“Hey, I think it’s really cool that you think I have golden specks in my eyes and how you think my smile is very charming.” Something in his hands catches your eye, an envelope, if anything. Wait, is that your handwriting? Your letter? The one you’d written ages ago only for your eyes to see. Inside your box. Why and how did it end up his hand?

Oh, God. No. No. This isn’t happening right now. This isn’t real, this is a dream, probably a hallucination too. Your ears start to ring, his words muffling out whilst feeling yourself start to sweat.

“It’s just Michi and I, we’re in a really weird place right now, and—Woah!” And just like that, your body falls flat against the ground beneath you. Perfect.

Your heads spinning, it almost feels too hot. Laurance is crouching beside you, trying to wake you up and calling your name repeatedly.

“Hello? Y/n!” He calls out, you flinch awake, looking up to see his face, painted with concern. You almost catch yourself daydreaming, shaking your head and sitting up, “What happened?” You ask, “You, um, fainted. Do you want me to call someone? Get some water?” You shake your head, “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” You nod at him, completely out of it. A figure in the distance catches your eye, approaching you two, matter of fact. Jeffory – your neighbour, childhood friend, old crush, and most importantly, Katelyn’s boyfriend. And in his hands, another one of your confession letters that you had secretly written.

Your heart immediately drops, “Oh, my god.” You mumble out, Laurance looks at you in confusion, “Huh?”

“Oh, my god!” You’re panicking, and did the last thing you could have done in that situation. Your own body moved faster before you could even think at all. You grab onto Laurence, leaning over him, “Oh. Okay, wh—“ You press your lips over his, cutting him off.

And now the letters were out.

You continue to pace around your room. This can’t be happening right now. The letters were out. All of them, all four of them.

One was to a guy you met in camp when you were younger, which was held in your hands as he never received it (since you’d written the address to the camp itself).

The next one after that was Gene, typical bad boy, you had written it back in middle school. And you’d hate to admit it, he’s one good looking guy, maybe If he wasn’t such a dick. If he got the letter, you know he’ll never let you hear the end of it. He’ll probably use it for blackmail against you, even. You can already imagine the smug look on his face while he’d wave the envelope in front of you, the thought makes you curl in embarrassment, could this day get any worse?

Then came Jeffory’s, your first ever letter, the one that sparked your imagination and inspired you to write the letters in the first place. You liked him way before he and Katelyn were a thing, it was a small childhood crush. It was almost a canon event, no? Childhood friend, next-door neighbour kind of love. He was your first love, you’d say. You don’t like him anymore, of course, you couldn’t do that to Katelyn. He wouldn’t tell her about the letter, right?

And the final, most recent one, was Laurence’s, of course. Earlier this year, even last year when he had orange hair and was (unfortunately) still in the Shadow Knights, you’d gained a small crush and—just like with any other crushes you’ve had; you wrote a love letter to spill your feelings out. You’d written these letters for closure, but sometimes you’d notice the way your heart fluttered when you two held eye contact.

You peek out your window, catching a glimpse of Jeffory outside next door.

“What are you doing?” Your sister’s voice makes you jump, followed with the doorbell ringing, “None of your business.” You mutter.

“Y/n! Jeffory’s here to see you.” Your father called out from downstairs, your eyes widen, “You never saw me here.” You tell your sister, opening your window as you climb out, rolling down the roof before landing on the grass, “Ow!” You curse under your breath, immediately getting up to grab your bike and pedal out of there.

You let out a relieved sigh as you sit on the counter stool at your favourite diner. You thank Joan, the waitress, as she hands your regular, a strawberry milkshake to soothe your nerves from today.

“Hey again, L/n.” A familiar voice appears beside you, you look over to see Laurance once again, sitting on the seat right next to you, “Oh, anything for your friend?” Joan asked, rubbing your arm as she gave you a teasing look, “He is not with me.”

“Just a soda is fine, thanks.” He says, Joan nods before disappearing.

“So, what’cha doing here?” You break the awkward silence, Laurance hummed, “Came by your house today, but your sister said I’d find you here instead.”

You tap your fingers against the counter surface, nodding. He receives his soda from Joan, who he thanks.

“Look, I just want to be clear.. about earlier.” He clears his throat, “I appreciate It, I do—I think you’re cute, in a quirky way, If that helps—“ He’s stammering, wait, he thinks you’re cute? “But Michi and I, we just broke up, and I’m not really in a place to be someone’s boyfriend again—“

You blink at him, “Laurance Zvahl, I am not trying to date you.”

He blinks back at you, letting out a chuckle, “Then, what’s up with kissing me out of nowhere?”

“I kissed you because I don’t like you.” You start rambling, “I just had to make It look like I like you so somebody else wouldn’t think I liked them, d–does that make sense?”

Laurance nods, “Hm, alright. Who?”

“What?”

“Who?”

“It’s.. personal.”

He smirks at you, “I think I have a right to know about this mystery guy, since you pulled me into this little drama of yours. If there even is a guy.”

You huff in annoyance, “Jeffory.” You blurt out.

His eyebrows raise in surprise, “Jeffory.” He repeats, “As in.. the Jeffory that’s dating your best friend or..”

“Yeah..”

“Oh.”

“And he also got a letter, so you can see how awkward and complicated that one’s gonna get If he thinks that I actually like him—“ You continue rambling, he stops you, “Woah, woah, woah. Hold on.”

“I’m not the only one who got a letter?” You slowly shake your head.

“Wow, you really think you’re special and find out she actually wrote letters to two guys.” He says, leaning his arms against the counter and drinking his soda.

“Four.”

“Huh?”

“Four letters.”

“You wrote four love letters? Four guys?”

“Yeah.” You shiver.

“Damn, L/n. You’re a player.”

“Says you.”

He laughs, “Who else did you write love letters write to?” You take a sip of your milkshake, “If I tell you, will you leave me alone?”

His pale blue eyes look you up and down in thought, “Maybe.” He muttered out.

“Alright, some guy at camp back when I was younger.”

“And?”

“Okay, don’t laugh at this one.” He tilts his head in curiosity, eyes never leaving you.

“Gene.”

Silence falls between you two for a moment, before he bursts out in laughter.

“No way!” He exclaimed whilst you hid yourself in your hands.

“It was middle school!” You try to defend yourself, “C’mon, he might be annoying but he’s nice to look at.”

“You have a thing with seniors, I see. And Shadow Knights.” He comments, you nudge him and he raises his hands in defence, “Good luck dealing with him and that letter.”

“Don’t even.” You groan.

“Anyways, are we good here?” You finish off your milkshake, standing up and getting ready to leave, “Uh, yeah, we’re good.” He says, “By the way, Is that your sparkly bike out there?” You nod, and he flashes that charming smile at you once again.

Laurance parks his car by your house, “Thanks for driving me.” You say, “And sorry for the whole, situation, earlier this morning.”

“No, you’re good. Could’ve been worse, am I right?” He says, “So what’s happening with Jeffory, what are you gonna tell him?” You two step out of his car, and he helps grab your bike out from the back.

“Well, um, I’m just gonna have to tell him the truth.” You sigh in defeat, thanking him once more before taking your bike and walking towards your porch.

“Wait.” He calls out, jogging towards you.

“What If you.. don’t tell him?” He suggests, you tilt your head in curiosity, “What If we let people think we were actually together—not just him, I mean everybody.”

Wait. What? You must really be going crazy now.

You let out an awkward laugh, “Why would you want that?”

“Well, when Michi heard you kissed me in front of everyone, she went crazy. And If she thinks you and I are a thing, then she’d want to take me back.”

“So you want to use me as your pawn?”

He tuts at you, “Ah, ah, see, last time I remember, you used me as your pawn when you kissed me.”

You roll your eyes at him, “Got me there.”

He steps closer, “And you get to save face from Katelyn and Jeffory. Just think about it, alright?”

“Don’t hold your breath.” You smile up at him, turning around to place your bike down and walk up the porch.

You were restless that night. Tossing and turning about the events that happened today. You thought about Laurance’s offer, and for some reason, it made sense.

The next morning, practice rolled around once again, Katelyn hasn’t seemed to notice anything odd so you take it as a good sign that Jeffory hasn’t said anything, yet at least.

You wipe the sweat off your forehead with a small towel, taking a sip from your water bottle by the bleachers with Katelyn and your other team mates, your gym clothes felt all sticky with how much you were sweating you couldn’t wait to hit the showers. A well-known trio that sat at the top of the bleachers nearby catch your eye. You glance over and lock eyes with Gene himself, he pulls out an envelope from his blazer, waving it around with a smug look on his face and you freeze, you hear Sasha and Zenix snicker beside him. Just as you expected.

You swallow, turning away from them and looking out in the field, you spot Laurance and his team, his offer from yesterday still lingers in your mind.

Fuck it. It’s worth a shot.

“I’ll be right back.” You tell Katelyn while placing your belongings down, she stares at you in confusion.

You start walking out on the field, passing by the other boys in his team who were kicking the ball around and going straight towards him like you didn’t have a care in the world.

Laurance turned to see you, he almost looks surprised as you appear right in front of him.

“Zvahl.” You greet him.

“L/n.” He replies.

You two stare at each other for a while, before you break the silence, “Let’s do this.” You say.

He looks amused at first, before a small smirk appeared on his lips, he doesn’t hesitate to pull you towards him by your waist, leaning down and capturing your lips on to his, and you kiss him back.

Your cheeks felt like the were on fire, The small crowd around you stare in surprise, Katelyn drops the volleyball in her hands with her mouth wide open while she squints from the other side of the field.

You pull away, taken aback by his actions, “I’m going back to practice now.” You say, almost like you were recovering from the kiss. You turn around, beginning walking back whilst trying to hide your red cheeks, “Carry on!”

Laurance salutes, a small chuckle coming out of his lips, “As you were.”

⠀⠀.⠀⠀𓈒 ᩧ⠀ ⠀ ⭑⠀ ⠀ׂ ❤︎ᩙ᜔ᝪ ּ⠀ .