three

                                    

                                          
    before,
    Fallon, age 15
    three years ago
Racing through the familiar rows of houses, I wave to old Mrs Bronski, a sweet little elderly lady I regularly stopped to chat with whenever I had the time- which was often- as I ran past her home. 
I was already a little late to my meeting with Tobias, but I'd like to think I had good reason to be.
Over the past year since we'd first met, our meetings have become a daily routine. I'm not sure how Tobias manages to sneak past his father, but he always makes it a point to without fail. Otherwise, I'll find a little leaf-written note pinned to the tree telling me he'll see me the next day.
It's not long before I break through the houses and into the wide field. I spot a head full of brown hair even from the distance as he stares out into the sunset. 
Hearing my footsteps approaching, Tobias turns to look at me with a heartbreakingly beautiful smile stretching across his face.
My heart stutters at the sight of it and I have to remind myself that we were friends. Just friends. I always felt that Tobias was emotionally unavailable, and I don't fault him for that. That, however, doesn't stop my teenage mind from wishing that things were different between us. 
I don't stop until I come barreling into his significantly taller body. 
Though Tobias manages to snag me around the waist in an attempt to keep me from falling, the impact sends us both tumbling onto the ground in a heap of laughter with me laying on top of him.
My breath hitches as Tobias reaches up to brush a strand of my hair out of my eyes, watching me so adoringly that it almost makes it hard to remember that there was nothing more going on between us. 
Clearing my throat, I quickly push myself off him, busying myself with picking up the books that were previously in my hands but were now littered across the grass. 
"You're late," Tobias states, lowering himself in front of me to help me. 
"Well, I come with gifts," I raise the book in my hand, still struggling to catch my breath.
He grins, "I can see that."
Tobias lowers his gaze onto the cover of the book he'd just picked up. He skims through the blurb on the back and raises a brow. "This sure looks like an interesting choice." 
It was only then did I realise that he was holding one I'd picked out with myself in mind.
The book was a romance novel because if I couldn't get the guy in real life, I sure as hell was going to spare myself the agony when it came to my books.
This one was a five-book series and I had lucked out when I managed to get my hands on the entire thing. I was on the fourth and it's the most excellent. 
It tells the story of a teenage girl who meets and falls in love with the boy next door who turned out to be some kind of alien. I admit, I had my doubts about the book when I first started reading it because aliens are supposed to be small, green and weird-looking, right? Wrong. They're mysterious, witty and handsome in this one. As far as book boyfriends go, he was perfect...The cover, however, features a practically half-naked guy on the cover, seeing as to how his shirt is hanging open, revealing a set of (glorious) abs. 
I dart forward to snatch it out of his hand, but Tobias moves faster than me, raising on his feet and holding it over his head.
"Tobias, give it back!" I yelled, not even bothering to try and reach it, knowing that it would be fruitless no matter how much I try.