03.

=03.=

Harry's big green eyes stared straight into Ria's brown orbs.  

They were at the park, sitting on a wooden bench. It was quiet, but not an awkward sense of quiet, but rather a comfortable one. Gazing into each other's eyes seemed to apparently be their 'thing' as they are always caught in the act. 

"Ria..." Harry started, gaze never leaving hers. Ria kept a firm look that urged him to go on. "I-I... have something to tell you." He confessed. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest and he was slowly dying of nervousness. 

What if she said no? What if he didn't like her back? Those thoughts raced through his mind, boggling him. But no. He wasn't going to back down now. He was going to do it. 

"I...I l-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"WOMAN GET UP ALREADY OR ELSE YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Christian yelled in close proximity to Ria's ear. 

Ria immediately woke up. "Ah!" She yelped as she fell off her bed. She groaned and stayed on the floor, thinking about her dream. *So it was just a dream...* She eventually retrieved up and yelled back at Christian to turn off her raging alarm clock. She slammed her bathroom door and took a look of herself in the mirror. Her hair was greatly disheveled and her eyes looked so sleepy.  Her mind drifted once again to that dream of hers. *What am I doing even dreaming about him? Ugh, Ria get yourself together! There's no time to be thinking about boys with junior year pulling ahead soon!* She slapped her cheeks a bit to shake off the warm tinge in her cheeks. 

"Hey." Harry said as he laid his lunch tray next to Ria's, Louis sitting across next to Christian. "Oh hey guys! What are you guys doing here?" Christian asked. 

"What? We can't sit next to you guys during lunch?" Louis asked, slightly bummed he couldn't sit next to Ria. 

"Just asking..." The younger murmured. 

"So how was your morning?" Harry questioned. Ria immediately glared at Christian. 

"Crappy." She snapped., making Christian smile. "Love you too, babe!" He winked jokingly. 

Everyone laughed. 

"So want to hang out again after school?" Louis piqued all of a sudden. 

"Sure! Same place?" He nodded. "Alright then, Starbucks it is!"

Amidst their Starbucks stravaganza, Louis sneakily flipped out a pen and wrote on a napkin. 

'Ria, want to hang out together tomorrow? Afterschool((:'

He slyly slipped it across the table without the others noticing. Ria smiled once she read the note and took a pen writing back:

'Sure. Where?'

Louis cheered with joy in the inside when he read that she complied. 

'Uhh... how about the park?' 

Ria nodded and gave an 'ok' sign instead of writing back. It was getting too risky. 

Louis quickly discarded of the napkin and the two continued as if nothing happened.

"Hello~" Christian cooed as he booty scooched Ria to move on the lunch bench. 

"Where've you been?" She asked. Louis and Harry were already seated in front of her, Christian being 10 minutes late.

"Freaking Bransen held me back for getting a C on the last test. I don't get it, a C is STILL passing." 

"She probably just hates you." Ria pointed out.  "Most likely." Christian replied.

"But it seems that she hates everyone." A British accent butted in from across. Everyone laughed at Harry's remark. It seemed true though, the woman seemed to hate all her students, her job, and math altogether. (Considering she was a math teacher.) 

"So want to hang out again?" Harry munched on his lunch.  

"Oh, 'bout that sorry but I can't go today. Have a family matter to attend to." Louis feigned being sorry and winked at Ria. 

Ria piqued up,"Me too.. sorry." She smiled softly at them.

Harry sighed,"It's cool. Christian and I can just hang out today. Unless you have something too..?" 

Christian laughed a bit and apologized. "Yeah, Bransen gave me detention for throwing spit balls in class so I can't hang out today either..." He scratched his neck. 

"Alright then, I guess we can just go another time." Harry concluded, bummed he couldn't get his caffeine for the day. (and hang out with Ria.) 

"So..." Louis started as they walked down the cement path covered with fallen flower petals. "What do you want to do?"

Ria shuffled her feet as they walked. "I don't know..." She faded then looked ahead of her. In her peripheral vision was an ice cream stand which made her eyes sparkle. "We should go get ice cream." She quickly shuffled towards the stand without Louis's consent. 

Louis laughed and quickly followed after her. By the time he got there, she was already ordering. "One scoop of coffee ice cream and.." She turned to look at him. 

"One strawberry scoop please." Louis gave a nice smile to the worker, which made her blush. Ria noticed and rolled her eyes. She fished out her wallet from her purse and was about to take out a 5 dollar bill, when Louis pushed her hand aside. "Let me pay." He gave an angelic smile which didn't affect her. 

"No, let me. I was the one who wanted ice cream.

They continued walking along the pavement of the park, watching children of different ages running around and having fun. It was quiet, and it held a hint of awkwardness in the atmosphere. Ria took a lick of her ice cream and glanced at Louis, who was staring up at the sky. *Would you call this... a first date?* She thought mindfully. 

Ria took a look at the children around her and unconsciously stopped when her eyes followed a certain two that caught her eyes. A young girl and boy approximately the age of 5 playing with each other in a sand box. Together, they were making a sand castle. Their cute eye smiles made them seem so happy as if they were in love. Though they were just children. 

She smiled when she saw the young boy pop out from behind his back, a heart shaped sand ball for the girl. The girl blushed when the boy leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. They really looked like a couple.

Louis stopped walking when he noticed there was a missing presence next to him. He turned his head to see Ria staring at two children a couple feet away. *Was I really that occupied to not have noticed?* He thought to himself as he ran back towards her. *Gosh, Louis get a hold of yourself! Look! You're so boring that she stopped paying attention to you!* He mentally scolded himself on his way back. "Ria!" 

Ria snapped out of her gaze and looked at Louis who was now in front of her, hands on his knees panting. "S-Sorry.... I didn't notice you...stopped." He breathed out. She snickered at his cuteness. "It's alright." 

The sky was noticeably darker than last time, so Ria took a glance at the time on her phone. 5:30 PM.

"It's getting late, I think we should be heading home." She suggested. 

"Thanks for walking me home...and thanks especially for the ice cream." Ria stopped at the front porch of her house. 

Louis grinned and scratched the back of his neck,"No problem, my pleasure." He stopped and stared straight into her eyes. Slowly, he leaned in close. 

Ria's heart was beating fast. *What is he doing?* She panicked and closed her eyes when she saw his close too. She started shaking a bit from nervousness, but shockingly opened her eyes when she felt a peck on her cheek. Just like what the little boy did to the girl at the park. 

"Well, I better get going. Bye!" Louis speeded out of her porch and turned the corner before she could blink and see his flushed cheeks. Ria just stood in place, blinking in shock. 

After a couple minutes that felt like hours, she went back in once she felt a cold breeze from the night air.

All night she thought of the incident and a certain question in her mind remained unanswered. 

*Was it bad that I didn't feel anything special...?*