Chapter 15: With You

The next morning, her phone was full of messages.

Jasmine: SO I HEARD YOU GOT A RIDE HOME FROM SOMEONE

Jasmine: AND BY SOMEONE I MEAN SETH

Jasmine: AND BY RIDE HOME I MEAN SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY

Jasmine: DETAILS NOW

Seth: Jasmine is texting me.

Seth: She's very excited about something.

Seth: Should I be worried?

Hallie: Probably.

Seth: Worth it.

Hallie laughed out loud, earning a curious look from her mother across the breakfast table.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." She was smiling. "Just a friend."

Her mother's eyebrows rose. "The same friend who's been making you smile like that for weeks?"

"Maybe."

"Well, tell your friend that anyone who makes my daughter look that happy is welcome for dinner anytime."

Hallie felt her face heat. "Mom."

"I'm just saying." Her mother returned to her coffee, but she was smiling too.

Hallie: My mom says you're welcome for dinner sometime.

Seth: Is that a threat or a promise?

Hallie: Yes.

Seth: I'll be there. Name the time and place.

Hallie: Confident.

Seth: I have a good teacher.

Hallie set her phone down and ate her breakfast, still smiling, and thought about Monday. About the library. About the boy who'd kissed her under the bleachers and made her feel like she'd finally come home.

For the first time in her life, she couldn't wait for Monday to arrive.

Then another thought crept in. If Jasmine was aware of what happened under those bleachers, and she herself definitely wasn’t the source of this information, it meant that someone had seen them and had spread the news around. Gosh, everybody is going to talk about it at school, and everyone is going to stare at her. So much for being invisible. Years of cautiously creeping in the shadows unseen, thrown out the window by a kiss.

Not just a kiss. The kiss. One that she will remember forever. That kind of kiss that makes your toes curl, your heart implode and your lips tingle for hours in the aftershock.

Yeah, she didn’t regret it one bit. It was worth it. Set is worth it. He stood by her side time and time again, it was her turn to stand by his side, even if it meant being visible, vulnerable.

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Monday arrived too fast, or maybe too slow. Hallie was still torn between the dread of people starting noticing her and the excitement of finally seeing Seth again after one long day apart. She was becoming lovesick, something she’ll never thought would happen to her. Gosh, she was so sappy.

She took a deep breath and then opened the door of her car, ready to face doomsday; but to her relief, instead of foreign prying eyes, was Seth’s warm brown ones which welcomed her in their cozy warmth. He was standing right beside her door, waiting for her to get out.

“Hey.” He smiled warmly, making butterflies erupt in her belly.

“Hey.” She replied softly, getting out of the car and locking it.

“Were you waiting for me?” She inquired, arching an eyebrow.

He scratched the back of his neck, a clear sign that he was nervous or embarrassed.

“Well, I was kind of worried you’ll feel overwhelmed, you know, with the rumor of us spreading around.”

Hallie cleared her throat without meeting his eyes.

She was indeed terrified. But it had been sweet of him to come to her rescue, and it’s amazing to think just how well he’d got to know her in only two months. He’s so attentive and caring; it’s heartwarming.

“It’s ok. If it means I get to be with you, then it’s worth it.” Hallie said sincerely, making Seth’s eyes widen in surprise.

A huge smile caressed his handsome features, making Hallie’s heart skip a beat or two.

“Let’s go, then.” Seth encouraged her, grabbing her hand in his and leading her to the school’s entrance, with that same confidence he always wears like shining armor.

And with Seth at her side, she felt not so scared anymore. Who cared if people noticed her, talked about her; the news will fade soon, replaced by some new gossip, and she will go back to being just a shadow on the wall, someone no one notices. Apart from Seth. His attention, she craves like a kid drooling for candies, and she hopes things between them will never go back to how they were before. He got into her space, and now she never wants him to leave it.

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Like Hallie predicted, gossip about them got old fast, and everything went back to normal, actually better than normal. The week that followed the kiss was unlike anything Hallie had ever experienced.

It wasn't that her life had been empty before—she had her sketches, her goals, her carefully constructed world of observation and ambition. But Seth Sanders had walked into that world and cracked it open, letting light pour through the gaps, and everything looked different now.

"Grey. Grey. Hallie. Hallie, focus."

She blinked, realizing she'd been staring at him across the library table without seeing him at all. "What?"

"I asked you a question three times." Seth's grin was infuriatingly fond. "Where were you?"

"Paris."

"Paris?"

"The fashion district. I was imagining the fabrics."

"You were imagining fabrics instead of listening to me talk about quadratic equations?" He pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. "I'm wounded."

"You're always wounded."

"Because you're always ignoring me."

Hallie reached across the table and poked his hand. "I'm not ignoring you. I'm multitasking."

"Imagining Paris while sitting in the Northwood High library is not multitasking. It's escaping."

"Same thing."

Seth laughed, the sound warm and familiar in the quiet space. Around them, the library hummed with its usual after-school activity—students studying, Mrs. Chen patrolling the aisles, the comfortable rhythm of a place Hallie had always loved. But now it felt different. Brighter. Like someone had turned up the saturation on the world.

"You know what I think?" Seth said.

"What?"

"I think you're going to make it. Paris, I mean. The designing, the runways, all of it." He leaned forward, his brown eyes serious despite the easy smile. "I think in ten years I'm going to be watching Fashion Week on TV and there you'll be, walking out at the end of a show, and I'm going to tell everyone I know that girl used to tutor me in math."

Hallie felt heat creep up her neck. "That's a very specific fantasy."

"I have a lot of them." He grinned. "You feature in most."

"You're ridiculous."

"So you've mentioned."

She looked down at her sketchbook, at the gown she'd been working on—a structured bodice with a flowing skirt, the kind of thing she'd wear if she ever walked a red carpet. "What about you? What's your fantasy?"

Seth considered this, his expression shifting into something more thoughtful. "Honestly? I don't think that far ahead. It's always just... next game. Next season. Next scholarship deadline." He shrugged. "My dad plans enough for both of us. I just try to survive it."

The words landed differently than his usual jokes. Hallie heard the weight underneath, the pressure he carried without complaint.

"What would you want?" she asked quietly. "If there was no pressure. No expectations. Just you."

Seth looked at her for a long moment, something vulnerable flickering in his eyes. "I don't know if I've ever let myself think about it."

"Think now."

He was quiet, considering. Then: "I think I'd want to travel. See places that aren't here. Maybe coach kids someday—not because I have to, but because I actually like teaching the game." He laughed softly, self-deprecating. "That's stupid, right?"

"It's not stupid."

"Everyone expects me to go pro. Or at least try. My dad's been talking about scouts since I was fourteen."

"Everyone expects a lot of things." Hallie held his gaze. "Doesn't mean they're right."

Seth's expression softened into something warm and private. "You're good at that, you know."

"At what?"

"Making me feel like it's okay to want things."

Hallie covered his hand with hers, smiling softly.

“Because it is ok. It’s your life, you should be able to live it as you wished.”

“Yeah, I wish it was that easy.”

A sad smile crossed his lips. Hallie was going to provide some comfort words, when Seth’s phone started vibrating.

He picked it up, gaining a death glare from Ms Chen. The call was short, and from what Hallie had gathered from this side of the conversation, Seth’s friends invited him to the café, and he agreed to go.

She was a little upset that he chose to meet with them instead of spending the rest of the afternoon with her, but she could not be too greedy. He had his friends after all; she had no right to keep him from them.

After Seth placed his phone back on the table, he turned to Hallie with a hesitant expression.

“So, the guys are the Grind right now and…”

“Go. Don’t worry about me. I have a test on Monday I need to study for anyway.” Hallie interrupted him, trying to make his escape easier. It was no big deal; they could hang out together the following day.

Seth frowned, becoming even more hesitant.

“Actually, I wanted to ask if you’d like to tag along. Hang out together with them.”

He shrugged, trying to ease the tension which had settled between them.

“Oh.” Was the only word Hallie’s brain could summon up.

Hang out with his friends, like his girlfriend? Or just a normal friend?

“It’s ok if you don’t want to. I just thought it could be fun.” Seth scrutinized Hallie’s reaction a moment longer and then picked up his phone ready to type a message, probably to Ramirez, telling him he wasn’t going, because of her. That wasn’t fair to him.

“I’ll go.” She said suddenly, a little louder than her usual tone.

Seth’s eyes met hers, and he held her gaze for a moment.

“Are you sure?” Seth asked concerned.

“I am.” She nodded vigorously, trying to sound confident, even if she wasn’t anything but.

He beamed at her, making her heart somersault.

“You’re amazing!” And to her utter astonishment, he kissed her cheek, there in the library, right in front of everyone!

It’s true that many students had gone already and there weren’t many left, but there were still too many witnesses.

Hallie felt her face go completely red. She tried to hide it by keeping her head down, while gathering her belongings, but her change of complexion didn’t go unnoticed by the football player who observes everything.

“You’re cute.”

His comment only made things worse, and before he could add more, and make sure her complexion never went back to normal, she bolted out of the library, waiting for him at the door, at a safe distance.