Him and I. Didn't Think It Could Ever Happen.....

:So, all of my stories are somewhat connected, if you wanna read them in order, read My Fabulous Face, Didn't Matter, Drip, Feeling of Home and this one. They're all very loosely based on my life.

I scroll on Insta, waiting for the Uber. It delays again, setting it back just as it's about to arrive. I roll my eyes, cancel the Uber and instead, call my best friend Claire because she's heading there too. I'm going to Lavender High School. Not to like, learn or anything, I'm in middle school, I'm going there for Little Shop of Horrors. My brother Hunter is acting in it as Seymour and I wanna go support him. Claire's red Tesla screeches in front of my house and I jump in.

"Do you need me to take you to Lav?" She asks. I nod and take out my phone again.

"You're literally addicted to your phone, L." She says, saying my nickname.I roll my eyes again and continue scrolling, biting my lip as I go to LavHighTheatre's TikTok page. I see a picture of Hunter posing with Mira, the girl who is playing the love interest of Seymour, Audrey. He's gay so Mira doesn't care that she's his love interest in the musical. I push open the door as the lavender tinted walls of Lav High fill my eyes. I run inside and go straight to the bathroom to check my makeup before I have to help pass out playbills. My eyeliner's a little smudged so I fix it up proudly. I smile at my reflection and practically skip out of the bathroom. I knock into someone on the way back. As I'm trying to gather myself again, I notice it's Hunter.

"Lil' sis! You came!" He grabs me in a big hug then noogies me. I squirm out of his grip and give him the death glare. "Jeez, you could give a little more love to your brother. Didn't realize you had all these teen angst hormones yet." I roll my eyes and he smiles. "Listen, I got to go to the dressing room to get my glasses then I'll text you. But I'm going on soon. Bye." I wave a little goodbye and run up to my mom(adopted mom) Eliana Marlowe. My parents died when I was little and Eliana isn't really the best mom. At least she's devoted to Hunter's theater. That's one thing we agree on. She hands me a stack of playbills and I silently go to the doors as they open. On the other side is Claire, handing out playbills as well. As soon as I run out, which is pretty quick, I run over to concessions, buy a Dr. Pepper and chocolate M&M's and run into the theater as the lights are dimming. The music starts up, I see Mr. Kale(That's his real name) conducting the orchestra, the king that he is, his suit has little plants on it and I have to keep myself from laughing out loud. I hear Col start the entry song for LSOH and I settle in. I get a little bored as the urchins(Nymara, Lea, and Katy) start the Little Shop song. I'm just waiting for Hunter to show up. Once the song finishes, the curtain opens and I see Mira and Jon, who are playing Audrey and Mr. Mushnik. Mira seems to be arguing with Jon and I hear Hunter's familiar voice call out from backstage as he stumbles onstage:

"Hey, Mr. Mushnik, I got those roses you wanOOOOOO!!" He cried out as he slipped on seemingly nothing and fell. I giggle a little and Hunter fixes his glasses, hunching his short back in the meantime. The musical's pretty good and Hunter really lets himself out during Suddenly Seymour. I do notice that as soon as the lights go off, he pulls away from Mira and his kiss. When it ends and everyone's coming out for a bow, I'm excited for Hunter. He comes out and bows and I start a standing ovation, screaming and clapping for him. They start singing:

"Look out.... Here comes Audrey II." I don't know what's going to happen next but someone jumps out of the plant puppet with a handheld wireless mic and sings in Audrey II's voice: "Here I come for you...." The other guys including Hunter start a canon of that but I'm a little too fixated on Audrey II. He has dirty blond hair and eyes that look into your soul. I'm a little captivated because I don't even notice that the doors are opened. He runs offstage and the spell is broken. I run out of the theater and to the theater hallway. I don't bother to wait until they come out, instead sprinting through the doors and into Hunter's arms. I squeeze him tight.

"You did SO GOOD!!" I bury my face in his suit and he hugs me back. Time slows as I jump out of the embrace, pretending to be disgusted but instead catching a glimpse of him. He walks by me and as if in slow motion, my eyes trail him. Hunter must notice my stare because he immediately(the great big brother he is) pushes me towards the guy. He's chatting with Jon and I bump into him from the force of Hunter's shove. I trip on my own shoelaces and fall. The ground rushes up to meet my face and a scream forms in my mouth but all of it stops. Strong hands are wrapped around me and I realize that he caught me before I fell. My eyes twist around and I see him holding me, his eyebrows scrunched together and his wonderful brown eyes widened together in surprise. I can't breathe and start coughing and he straightens me upright, jutting out his hand.

"I'm Liam. Liam Arrow. And who are you, ma'am?" He smiles, braces glinting.

"I-i-i-i, ahem. My name is Lena Marlowe." I stutter, tripping over my words and embarrassingly smiling, my lips uncomfortably stretching over my braces. He leans in and I stumble back, surprised and scared. His eyes narrow and I'm standing there, my back against the wall and him closing in.

"Love your braces, lilac, right? Come to support your brother? Him and I are tight." He grins again. Red creeps into my face and I realize his hand is still waiting. I shake it quickly and look up into his green eyes, my heart palpitates so fast I barely catch his next words.

"Hey um, how old are you?" He mumbles, suddenly nervous and twiddling his thumbs.

"I'm 13." I crinkle my eyebrows together, confused and biting my lip. I cut myself on my braces and hiss through my teeth. His eyes widen once more and opens his mouth then closes it then opens it again, a firm look in his face.

"Wanna hang out sometime?" He smiles sweetly. I smile and shake his hand again. This was going to be an adventure.