The Locker Wars

The cool air was refreshing against Adele’s hot skin. When she got outside she pulled her hair back with both of her hands and let it cascade down her back, a waterfall of moonlight tumbling down over her shoulder blades. William was only silent, and he watched as she fanned herself with her hand.

“Where do you want to go?” William asked.

“I don’t know...” Adele sighed, gazing upwards, “This talk, we’re going to have, it’s going to take a while, right?”

“Yeah,” William confirmed quietly. “There’s a lot of important stuff that I want to say. And that I... need to apologize for.”

“Oh,” Adele agreed. “Me too.”

“How about we walk to my house and I’ll take us for ice cream or something.” There was an off-tone to William’s voice. It seemed almost as timid as the time Adele saw him on stage. Maybe this was her chance.

“Okay,” she agreed, but reluctance still made its way into her voice. She pulled off her shoes. “Goddamnit. I will go around barefoot for the rest of the night, I swear.”

“You want me to drop you off at your house so you can get different shoes or something?” William joked. “No, wait—I’ll wear your shoes and you’ll wear mine.”

“I think mine are too small for your feet,” Adele pointed out.

William laughed again... a cute, tinkling laugh that wasn’t at all maniacal or evil (the one Adele was used to), “I guess you’re right. Bummer.”

* * *

A half hour later and they were in some ice cream shop, apparently the best in the city (according to William). So as cars zoomed past, they sat across from each other, not saying a word.

“So... what was it that you wanted to... say?” Adele asked, playing with a spoonful of her ice cream that she couldn’t finish. She felt nervous, though she didn’t know why.

William looked up, looking a little guilty. His eyes were wide and his lips were parted. He ran his tongue across his bottom lip and coughed. “Um... well... first of all... did you have anything to do with this?”

“This... this thing, the set-up thing?” Adele asked, and William nodded. “Well... no. But like, they’ve been really pushy about it for the past few weeks. I thought that maybe... you set it up.”

“Oh...” William nodded, and then mumbled, “I wouldn’t have the balls for that.”

Adele laughed. “So, they just set us up like this, huh? Weird.” Her heart wouldn’t stop pounding loudly. She feared that William heard it from where he was seated. But he looked unfazed, looking out the window and around the shop, seemingly avoiding her face.

“I couldn’t even imagine their intentions.” William shrugged, waving his hand as a gesture. Adele’s heart sank a little, but she managed not to show it.

“Me neither,” she muttered to herself, mocking his tone. “I mean, why would they want me going on a date with William Beckett...”

“What was that?” William’s head popped up, his eyes questioning her. “Oh. Oh, I get it.”

His hopes had decreased. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, to sweep her away like this after a random date to prom. But it wasn’t all exactly coincidence, was it? Jason and Mike totally had to know, especially after they led him to Prom, on a date with this girl who he appeared to hate, but... it didn’t really make sense about how Adele’s friends came into it.

“Sorry,” Adele sighed. She decided to talk to him as if he was her enemy again, and not someone that she liked. “Um. So they totally had to be up to something, you know? Because they didn’t just plan this to get back at us. I would’ve known if it was payback or something. I mean, I guess it was payback, but not totally...”

William watched her rant, with a burst of energy that she didn’t have before. It was strange how she could switch herself to different personalities. This wasn’t quite the personality that he wanted to talk to, but at least she was talking more and things weren’t as awkward.

“... I mean, like, why would they want to set me up with you? I mean, no offense, I mean... but we aren’t exactly the type to go together. I mean, you know? We’ve been enemies all our life and we’ve been fighting and fighting and I just don’t see how this is a solution to all of that! I mean sure, we ended The Locker Wars and I don’t think that they want to start up the war again but I mean like... I don’t know what I mean, really...”

“Adele...”

“... But don’t you think that this is being kind of harsh of them? To string us along on this stupid date, I mean it’s like not really a date but it was a Prom date and they didn’t even really ask me if I wanted to go with you, they just said, ‘We’re waiting for your date,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I know what you’re doing!’ I just don’t think it was right to do that. To just set us up without knowing how we felt towards each other?”

“But, um, Adele...”

“What was that?” Adele asked, snapping out of her zone and back into the real world. “Oh, my gosh, I just ranted! I just totally went off on you like that...” She began to blush.

“I don’t mind, it’s filling the silence.” William looked up into her eyes, and then glanced down at the table, where her arms were resting, and then back up at her eyes. Gulping, he reached over and put his hand on her arm comfortingly (or, those were his intentions).

“Um...” she pulled away slowly, and William retracted his hands. She furrowed her eyebrows together, thoroughly confused about all of this.

“Don’t you think they knew?” William asked, his lip twitched.

Adele looked up at his face, still wearing her look of confusion. “What?”

“I... I... I mean to say...” William scratched his head nervously. “Well, they must have known how one of us felt towards the other...”

“I don’t think I understand what you mean,” Adele told him slowly, raising an eyebrow. But in her mind, a voice was screaming, ‘He knows! He knows how you feel! He had to have known about this whole thing. And this is just a pity date of some sort. You should save yourself! Say something so that he thinks you’re not interested!’

“Of course, I feel how I always felt about you,” she slipped in. William leaned back into his seat, his thoughts flickering in his eyes. He looked up after a few moments, his voice caught in his throat.

“Oh.”