I'm Marrying The Asshole of My School?

“Oh my little Izzy,” A voice cooed through my dream- my dream about Rowen.
I grumbled, wanting go back on the Ferris wheel that overlooked the city all snuggled up against Rowen’s warm chest. Emma suddenly whacked me with a pillow and I grunted, throwing one back while in a half sleep state. In an English accent, I muttered, “Mommy, I don’t want to go to the ghetto.”
Hearing her giggle, I peeped an eye open and looked up to find her showered and dressed in a denim skirt and a white skirt. I couldn’t see what was on her feet but I was probably guessing mismatched socks and her Adidas sandals. She grinned, “Wake up and get dressed!”
“What time is it?”
“Time for you to get a face,” She tossed her tiny clock at me, getting on the bed, and I saw it read 6:10 am.
“Seriously, you’re getting me up at six in the morning on a Saturday?” I raised my eyebrows when she nodded, “Why?”
“Because we’re going on a double date tonight and we need to go buy clothes,” She began to jump up and down on the bed. “Now, let’s gooooo!”
She jumped off while emphasizing her ‘o’.
I ran a hand through my tangled hair, “Who are our dates?”
She smiled, “Rowen and Brendon.”
“Oh ho ho,” I waggled my eyebrows at her, “Brendon, oohhhh,” I hopped out of bed and padded into the bathroom, taking my overnight bag with me just as she hit the door with one of her many pillows.
I rolled my eyes and dropped my stuff on the counter, staring at myself in the mirror. My face was streaked with the powder and my hair covered and matted with it; honestly, it made me want to laugh. But I shook it off and turned the hot water on and than stripped off my clothes. Emma’s radio blasted and the song ‘Twist and Shout’ came on. I danced and sang along while shampooing my hair and washing my body.
“Please stop killing the cat,” Emma yelled over the pounding water.
“Har-dee-har,” I yelled back and rinsed off all the suds and shampoo.
“Hurry up or we’ll never beat the traffic!”
I turned off the water and got out of the shower, grabbing a towel to dry myself off. She knocked on the door a little harder than normal and I wound the towel around my body, tucking it under my arm pit and opened the door, “Would you give me a minute!?”
I blinked, looking in a wet smelling white “wife beater” ribbed shirt. That was odd; Emma has boobs, this person has a broad chest that’s connected to arms that were corded with muscle. I looked up confused to find…you guessed it; Rowen.
He smiled down at me, “Hey there.”
Emma piped up from the bed where she and Brendon were sitting, “I told you to hurry up.”
“I thought you said we were going shopping and meeting them later,” I looked over at her.
“They showed up unannounced and I couldn’t let them soak out there in the rain,” She patted Brendon’s buzz cut head.
I looked back up at Rowen and noticed his hair was indeed a wet mop that covered his face and trickles of water were sliding down his wide cheek. “Oh, well, good.”
Rowen cleared his throat, his sparkling silver gray eyes getting darker turning a near black, “Maybe you should get dressed.”
It finally struck me that I was still in nothing but a towel. My eyes widened and I slammed the door, quickly getting changed into lacy panties and a matching bra, a pair of my old snug ripped jeans and a black fitted tee shirt that said in white ‘I Love Dorks’. I ran a comb through my curly hair, brushed my teeth and than finally came out, feeling fresh and clean.
Emma was standing on the bed, blow drying Rowen’s hair, him struggling to run away but Brendon was holding him down in the chair. “Hold still, it won’t take long!”
“I don’t like to blow dry my hair!” He exclaimed, trying to pry Brendon’s hand from his shoulder.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” She furrowed her eyebrows, holding his head still with one hand and using the other to get a wet patch on the back of his head, “It’s just drying quicker.”
“I just don’t like it,” He wiggled and finally got free. Seeing me, he ran over and stood behind me, “Help me, you’re friend is crazy.”
I looked back up at him, “It’s just a blow dryer.”
He ran a hand through his half damp, half dry hair, “I can’t tell you. Maybe when I’m ready.”
I nodded and than turned back to the Terrible Two, “Can we just go to the mall already?”
Emma grinned and jumped off the bed, sliding her Adidas sandals on, “Yeah let’s go!”
Rowen helped me find my Converse sneakers and than we clamored into Emma’s small Jeep, speeding off to our mall destination. My knee kept brushing against Rowen’s and a warm electric jolt would shoot up my leg and spread across my chest. When I would glance at him, I knew he felt it too because his face was twisted in confusion.
“So, what do we need to get, Ems?”
“Dresses,” She turned down Silvia Street.
“But don’t we already have dresses?”
She laughed, “A woman can never have enough.”
I sighed and shook my head, “I’ll just get a pair of shoes.”
“No, you’re getting a dress,” She said firmly.
“But, I don’t want another one,” I gave her the puppy pout.
She shook her head at me in the mirror, “Not gonna work, girl, we’re getting you a dress whether you like it or not,” She thumped her chest, “I’ll drag you if I have to.”
I groaned and let my head fall, defeated. Rowen took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. I looked up at him and smiled when he flashed his pearly whites at me. For some odd reason, I felt very close to him. Not physically of course, but emotionally. Somehow I knew that I would be with him for long time.

I WATCHED as Emma soared down the isles of dresses, throwing a few on to Brendon’s arm load of already too much clothing. I felt bad for him; he could hardly see over the heavy mound in his arms. When you see Brendon, you would wonder why he hangs out with Emma; he the total opposite of her in every way. Brendon was a tall, lean built, punk rock skater with buzz cut hair and piercing blue green eyes. He wore a black band hoodie and black cargo shorts with a studded belt that fell snug on his hips. On his feet were black and red DCs. Emma…she was in a category all in her own. She was a mix of everything combined with a crazy bubbly personality that you just fell in love with.
“I hope she doesn’t kill him,” I muttered to Rowen who was watching them as well, holding a couple of dresses on his arm.
He chuckled, “At least I got you,” He held out his arm for me to place another dress over it. Thankfully, I was a picky dresser and had only three picked out so far that I liked. I rolled my eyes at him and headed over to the dressing room, seeing no more dresses that caught my eye. “Emma, when you’re done, I’ll be in here.”
She nodded, tossing another dress on the pile, “’Kay.”
I smiled to Rowen, who politely stood outside the curtained-off room passing along the dresses one by one. So I stood looking at the three dresses I picked out and imagined me in each. The first one was a powder blue with thick straps and three buttons that went do the front. A sash that was placed right under the chest area wrapped around and tied in the back. The dress stopped above my knees and had two pockets in the front. It wasn’t very good for a dinner out at a restaurant but more like a summer dress for those lazy days.
The second dress was simple black satin dress with no straps and criss-crossed in the back. It stopped at my knees and was tight at the top like a corset. This would have been my logical choice but I decided to choose the last one. It was a floor length black evening dress with spaghetti straps. The thing is, is that the black is a sheer lace flowery pattern that goes over the actual dress, which is a deep pink satin. Across the waist is the same deep pink ribbon that tied at the side and fell around the dress, covering most of it except for the right side of me. I really liked this dress because it wasn’t too elegant or too simple.
I put it on and stepped out of the dressing room for Rowen to see. When his eyes hit the dress, they bugged out of their sockets. “You look beautiful.”
I twirled around because the end of the dress was wide so it came out around me. “Really? You like it?”
“I have never been so sure about anything in my life,” He grinned. Brendon had abandoned the mound of dresses and was waiting for Emma to come out.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, and disappeared back into the dressing room to change.
When I came back out, the dress over my arm, I saw Emma standing there looking like a lobster. The dress was skin tight, but flared out at the bottom, the arms were puffed and it was a vibrant red color. To sum it up, it was horribly disgusting.
“What do you think?” She asked.
The boys were silent; they didn’t want to be rude.
So I said it, “You look like a lobster. A really bad lobster.”
She furrowed her eyebrows, “I do not.”
“Do too,” I turned her around to look in the mirror and she gasped, “Oh my, I do look like a lobster.”
She began to giggle, “Who would ever wear such an atrocity?
“Who knows.” I grinned, “Well, find a dress and let’s go.”
She nodded and went back into the dressing room to change.
I turned to Rowen and Brendon, my hands on my hips, “Babies,” and walked off to pay the dress.
Rowen caught up with me and grabbed my wrist lightly as I was talking to the salesclerk, “Pardon me for interrupting but I think you need this,” He held out a credit card.
My eyes widened, realizing it was his, and than looked up into his beautiful eyes, “I couldn’t possibly.”
“By all means, I want you too,” He squeezed my wrist, smiling and showing off that sexy dimple that I just wanted to kiss so badly.
I took the card from him, my fingers brushed his callused fingers that sent jolts up my spine, “All right, thanks.” I muttered slowly.
Turning back to the woman who was smiling like she knew something we didn’t, I handed her the card and she swiped it. “Thank you for shopping at Memory’s Closet.”
I smiled and nodded at her and than turned to Rowen, “Let’s go meet them at the food court.”
“All right,” He looked over my head and grinned, “Yeah, they’re gonna be a while. I’ll pop over and tell them where we’ll be.”
“’Kay,” I watched him walk over there and talk to Brendon, who nodded a few times.
“Are you two dating?”
I turned my head to the salesclerk and flushed, “No, he doesn’t like me that way. We’re just friends.”
Her wise old blue eyes just brightened, “Really?”
“Yeah,” I turned fully to her, shifting the bag from one hand to the other and studied the woman. She had her salt and pepper hair up in a tight bun at the back of her head, small wire-rimmed glasses at the base of her pointed nose, a fragile looking body and wrinkles around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth. To me, she had to be at least in her late fifties, “Why do you ask?”
She smiled, “So you don’t see it.”
“See what?”
“You’ll find out in time, child,” She gave one last smile and looked down as Rowen came up behind me.
“Hey, come on, let’s go get some grub,” His stomach grumbled loud enough for the store to hear, “I’m starving.”
“Right,” I said, glancing at the woman as we left. First Mr. O was acting odd and now her. What’s going on?

THAT NIGHT was probably the best night of my life but I felt like something was missing from it. Not the night, but my life. Like there was a missing piece to the puzzle. Or you heard a movie line and you can’t figure out what the movie was called; that really weird nagging feeling in the back of your head that won’t go away. I felt it the entire time we were out; when we were eating and I had a bit of sauce on my chin and Rowen wiped it off with a cloth napkin, when I was dancing with Emma to a funky beat and felt someone’s eyes on me. I couldn’t place it but I think I might like Rowen more than a friend. That’s a big no-no in my book. I definitely can not like him…it just would contradict who I am and all that I’ve said. I looked over at Emma and Brendon dancing to a slow song, both their eyes locked on each other like there was no one else but them in the room.
That’s when I realized no matter what kind of person you are, you can fall in love with anyone. Emma with her crazy bubbly personality and Brendon with his punk rock skater-ness; both total opposites but so happy together. The press of Rowen’s hand at the small of my back had me coming back to earth, “Are you enjoying yourself?”
I looked up at him, “Yeah, why?”
“You’ve had your eyebrows bunched together all night like you were trying to figure something out,” He placed to fingers in between my eyebrows and rubbed, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” I smiled hoping it wouldn’t look too forced.
“Then may I have this dance?” He bowed and held out his hand.
I swallowed slowly and took it, letting him lead me to the dance floor as another slow song began.
He wrapped both his arms around my waist and I let mine fall loosely around his neck. We swayed softly to the rhythmic music in the background. I looked up into his beautiful silver eyes and he down into mine, “Isabella?”
He was the only person who I allowed to call me Isabella, “Hm?”
I saw his jaw clench a couple of times like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to say it. Finally he shook his head, smiling, “It’s nothing, forget it.”
I said, “Tell me what you wanted to say.”
He let his head fall to rest against mine and smiled, “The first time I saw you, you were walking into English class and scowling because you got caught in the rain and you were soaking wet.”
I smiled remembering that first day of my senior year. He continued, “Even with your hair a wet mess and your nose and cheeks beat red from the cold, I came to the conclusion that you were beautiful no matter how you would look. Anytime you would walk into class, I would suddenly smile. When we had the Snowball Dance in the winter and I saw you dancing with another guy, my anger spiked and I wanted so badly to punch him because he was dancing with the one girl who could so easily tear my heart out and step on it when she would frown at me and than mend it all back together and kiss it just by smiling at me later,” My cheeks were hued with pink as he kept going, “I knew that I needed to at least talk to you once before school ended and we went on our way. For the past six months I was thinking of ways to approach you when your friend Emma came to me a couple of days ago and told me about you and that she saw the way I would look at you. I finally was able to get to know you and I’m glad I did, Isabella. When I saw you this morning, in nothing but that towel, the anger in your eyes because you thought Emma was the one who was knocking on the door, and your hair that messily framed your face, I felt like I had to take a picture so I could keep that memory forever because that was the real you. How you act when you’re not in school is so different then when you are in school because you’re always putting up a front, a wall, to block everyone out.
“Then when you came out of the dressing room in that dress, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be the one who wakes up every morning to you, the one who you can talk to about problems, the one who can cuddle down into the couch with you and watch old movies,” By this time, the tears were slowly making their way down my cheeks. Why did he have to say all this to me? My bottom lip was quivering as he continued, brushing the tears from my face with his thumbs, “I think I might love you, Isabella. If you don’t love me back, I’m fine with it. As long as we’re friends, I’ll still be the happiest guy in the world.”
“Why are you telling me all of this now, Rowen?” I whispered, sniffling a bit.
“Because seeing you now, being yourself around me with no walls,” He smiled and kissed the stray tear from my eye, “I realized how much I need you with me. All my life, I saw pain and death, but when you find something that keeps you going, hold on to it because you might never get that chance again.”
The song ended and all around us people clapped a bit and soon another song came up but it was faster. We just stood there, his one arm around my shoulders and the other around my waist holding my tightly to him. I felt him bury his head in my hair, “Isabella, you’re what keeps me going. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to kill myself because I was never good enough for my family.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I moved his arms from me and I held him instead of visa versa. He needed the comfort, not me. I smoothed back his hair and cupped his head in my hands, “Don’t listen to what your family says. They obviously don’t know you if they say you’re not good enough.”
He nodded softly and pressed his lips against my palm, “Thank you so much.”
I held him again but tighter to me like I could mold him to my body and keep him safe, which is kind of hard to comfort someone when their at least a foot and a half taller than you.
But we managed.