#timothygranaderos

᚜ TIMOTHY GRANADEROS & CRYSTAL REED ᚛

I had to know what on earth that episode in the cafeteria was all about. I could not get it off my mind the entire day. So when the school bell rang for the last time that day, I said a quick goodbye to Jenna and ran outside to the parking lot. Monty was already sitting in his car and I reached just in the nick of time. I got in his car like it was the most natural thing in the world. He looked confused, yet didn't really seem to have a problem with it. "I have questions…" I said. "Okay. I'll take you home", he said and started the car. We didn't speak during the drive home, but I invited him in once we got there. I was eager to get him behind closed doors so I could finally get some answers to what and why. I dragged him with me through the house and closed the door behind us as soon as we got in my room. "The cafeteria today during lunch… what was that all about?", I asked, cutting right to the chase (no pun intended). "What do you mean?", he said, acting like he had no idea what I was talking about. I gave him a look, telling him stop acting stupid. "You walk by and just look at Chase, and suddenly he's acting like I'm poisonous… There's no way in hell that was a coincident", I said. He sighed. "Okay, so I told him to stay away from you", he admitted. "With just your eyes?". "Yes. The jocks respect me, and a disapproving look is all they need to stay way", he explained. "But why?", I asked again. "Chase is… he's bad news, okay? He's not a good guy in general, and he's certainly not good enough for you", he said while raising his shoulders. I wanted to point out the irony in that statement coming from him, but I decided it was best to just leave it. " And I thought maybe he was going to ask you to prom, so I got a bit… jealous", he admitted, blushing a bit. Monty was jealous? I never even thought about that. "Why? It's not like you asked…", I said, stating the obvious. "I didn't know I could", he replied. I felt so stupid. Here I was making it perfectly clear to him that I don't want anything to do with the guy he was at school, and then I get disappointed when he doesn't ask me to prom. I was sending him mixed signals, and I get why he was confused. I didn't know what to say. "Look, Maya, I have done so much to change. I have worked really hard to be the kind of guy who would be good enough for you. You know that. I might be far from perfect, but I'm working on it every single day. You say that you see the change, and I'm gonna show you I can keep it up. Please, give me a chance to prove it to you", he said, with hope in his eyes.

I thought for a second. There was no denying that I had fallen in love with him. And there was no denying that I saw how he had changed. I wanted to be with him, but I was scared. Scared of getting hurt, and scared of making a big mistake. What would I do if he fell back into his old habits? But I felt like I owed him a shot to prove to me that he could keep himself out of trouble. "Okay. We can stop with all the secrecy", I said. He smiled. "Good. Then it's my turn to ask you a question", he said, smirking. He pulled me in and sat down on the bed with me in his lap. I giggled. "Maya, will you go to prom with me?", he grinned. "Yes", I grinned back, and he pulled me in for a kiss. God, how I had missed his lips. His wonderful and addictive lips. "It's a date", he winked at me, still grinning. "Don't push it, buddy", I chuckled and kissed him again. If someone told me year ago that I would be going to prom with Montgomery de la Cruz I would probably have pissed myself laughing.

I told Jenna at school the next day, and once again she seemed more ecstatic about it than me. She insisted on dress-talk during lunch, and it actually sounded like a good idea. I had no clue what to wear. She went on about dress-colors and accessories, and I zoned out again while pretending to listen. I heard her say my name, and it snapped me out of it and back into conversation. "What?", I asked. She was staring wide eyed at something behind me. "Why is Montgomery de la Cruz heading for our table?", she asked. She actually seemed a bit scared. "I don't know", I said, not even bothering to turn around. Monty sat down on the surface of the table, with his feet on the seat next to me. "Hi", he smirked like only he could. "Hi", I replied, not in any way trying to hide my confusion about why he was at our table. "Hi, you're Jenna, right? Adams girl?", he asked Jenna. "Yes", she said. She looked like she was in shock. "I'm Monty. I'm dating Maya", he grinned, ignoring my annoyed glare. "We are not dating", I said, lightly slapping him on the knee with the back of my hand. He grinned and turned back to Jenna again. "Okay, listen to this, Jenna. I take Maya to the movies, right? Paying for the tickets, the popcorn, the drinks and everything, holding her hand during the entire movie and taking her home after. Now, what would you call that?", he asked her. "A date", she stuttered, trying to get herself together. "It wasn't a date", I said, sighing. "It so was a date", he reassured her, like I wasn’t even there. " It was not a date", I repeated myself. "Sounded like a date", Jenna replied. "But we're not dating, so it wasn't", I said. "Sounds like you're dating", Jenna said, smiling mischievously now. "And we're having our second date at prom", Monty said to Jenna. I took a deep breath. "It's not a date", I said, staying calm. "Your friend and I disagree. Jenna, tell her we're dating", Monty commanded Jenna. "You're dating", she said to me, giggling. "Monty, did you want something?", I asked him with an annoyed tone. My tone didn't seem to influence him one bit, thought. He seemed to be quite amused. "Not really. Just wanted to say hi, you know, now that I can", he said, grinning. He dumped down on the seat next to me and put his arm around me. "Don't push it! All the privileges you have earned can easily be taken away from you again", I threatened, making him chuckle. "So I'm guessing no kisses then?", he asked, putting on an innocent act. I just glared at him in return. "Fine. I'll be back for that kiss, though. Nice to meet you, Jenna", he said, and walked back over to the rest of the jocks. I couldn't help but to smile. He was such a goof. I turned back to Jenna again, and she was staring after him with her mouth half open. "How can you be this chocked? I told you everything", I said, chuckling. "I know, it's just so…real all of a sudden. One thing is hearing about it, but seeing this… it's just so… I don’t even have the words", she stuttered. I get it. If the roles were reversed it probably wouldn’t really sink in with me either until I witnessed it.

After school I ran into him again in right outside the door. "Hey, do you want a ride home?", he asked. "I'd love that, but I promised to walk with Jenna today", I explained. "I can take her home too", he smiled. I asked Jenna if she wanted a ride, and she was in. Most of the cars in the lot was already gone, and it wasn't a whole lot of people left either. Jenna got in the backseat, but as I opened the door to the front seat to get in, Monty jumped in front of it, slamming it shut again. "I will take both of you home, but there's a catch. There is a small fee to be payed", explained to me, with a playful smile. I looked confused at him. "I told you I'd be back for that kiss", he said, pulling me closer to him. I giggled. "So you're trying to con your way to a kiss now, huh?", I smirked. "You know, just a drowning man grasping at straws", he said shrugging. I let him lean in and give me a kiss. I was expecting a quick peck, but what I got was a long and soft kiss. I wanted to just stay there and kiss him for hours, but I remembered that Jenna was in the back seat. I pulled away slowly. He leaned after me, lingering on my lips for as long as he could. "We have an audience", I giggled once he eventually had to pull away. We both turned and looked at Jenna who was sitting in the back seat, again with her eyes wide and her mouth open. We both laughed.

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Who is excited for prom? :D

It was the most awkward dinner ever. Mum, dad, Monty and me. My mum had given Monty one of dads shirts while he waited for his own to dry. My dad hadn't met Monty until today, but knowing my mum I'm sure he had heard lots about him. My mum was wearing a mischievous grin throughout the whole dinner, while bombarding Monty with all kinds of questions about him. I didn't really say much. Just sat there awkwardly, giving my mother "The evil eye". She started asking him about his family, and I could tell he was starting to get uncomfortable. "Shit! We're late!", I said, interrupting her in the middle of a question. They all looked at me with confusion. "It's starting in like ten minutes. We gotta get going", I said to Monty, looking sternly at him hoping he would get the hint. "I don't… Oh, right! Yes! Yes, we are late", he played along. We excused ourselves from the table and I went to get his shirt from the dryer. We rushed out the door and into his car, yelling "bye" to my parents without waiting for a reply. "What are we late for exactly?", he asked as soon as we had driven far enough to no longer be visible from my house. "Nothing. I just needed her to stop with the questions", I replied shrugging. He chuckled. "So what do we do now?", he asked again. "I don't really know. What do you want to do?", I asked back. "How about we go see a movie?", he suggested as we drove past the cinema. "Why not, were already here"

He insisted on paying for the tickets, the popcorn and the soda. He held the doors open for me, and was really acting like a gentleman. There was very few people there, so we got pretty good seats too. It felt weird, but nice to do something other than hide out in my room for once. He took my hand and intertwined our fingers, looking straight ahead at the screen like he didn't even know he was doing it. He seemed oddly pleased with himself, wearing a half smile. He noticed me staring at him. "I can't believe I managed to trick you out on a date", he said, clearly satisfied with himself now. "This is not a date", I replied. He looked at me and raised one eyebrow, like his face was saying "isn't in obvious?". "It's not a date!", I repeated. He chuckled. "What part of this makes it not a date?", he asked, trying to prove his point. I thought for a second. The movies, he paid, holding hands… This SO was a date. "The part where we're not dating", I said, pretty pleased with my answer. "So… If we're not dating, how come we're on a date?", he asked again with great confidence. "It's not a date!", I repeated again, louder this time. Once again he just chuckled in response.

After the movie was over he drove me home. "This has been a great day", he said as we parked in front of my house. "It started out a bit frustrating, but at least I we got to have our first real date", he continued. I shook my head, and chuckled. "Idiot", I mumbled, making him chuckle too. I gave him a long and wet kiss, letting my lips linger as I slowly pulled away again, then got out of the car and shut the door behind me. He rolled down the window. "That's it? If this is how you treat your dates then there's no wonder you've been single for so long", he joked. "What do you want, then?", I asked playfully. "You could invite me in. We could pick up where we left off before we got so rudely interrupted earlier", he said smirking. I giggled. "Sorry, I don't put out on the first date", I winked at him, turned and started walking away. "Hah! You admitted it! It was a date!", I heard him yell after me. I was chuckling, but pretended I didn't hear him.

The next day in acting class we got the last pages of the script. We had been rehearsing for so long on the first part that we already knew it by heart, and I was excited to see how she'd been writing the ending. "This play is really good", I said to Monty as we waited for our next scene. We were going through the entire play in class, just so the teacher could give us all some notes on where we should focus the most towards the last couple of weeks before preforming. "It is. And I'm mostly excited about the ending though. I can't wait to spend hours with you practicing that last scene", Monty winked at me. We got called back out on stage again before I could reply. We didn't go through the last scenes since we had just gotten them and had no time to rehearse them yet, so the public kiss would have to wait. The last half hour of class we got to go through the last pages ourselves, while the teacher went around with advice and notes she had been taking during the performance. "Maya and Monty, you are a power-duo", she opened with as she approached us. "I don't really have anything to put my finger on. There's no doubt that you have spent hours rehearsing. But remember that the hardest scene is yet to come, and I think you should just focus on nailing those last pages too. Especially the last one", she said. "I guess we should start rehearsing as soon as possible", Monty grinned.

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