Rules on Relationships

"Fulton, I think I might have a boyfriend..."

My publisher, Tim Fulton, checked up on me a month after instructing me about my task, and I didn't like turning down his tasks because he was the one who got me the scholarship for Journalism and I wanted to be recognized. When I told him that I may have ended up getting myself a boyfriend, and not telling him who, he seemed to have been really delighted about it as though he wanted me to get one. Fulton said that because I was young, he wanted me to date someone and not concentrate on my work so much, but knowing what type of person I am, he was forced to set a task to make it seem like I was doing it for the job. But to be honest, after spending so much time with Michael, he's made me change my views on him and his feelings for me might not be a one way street anymore.
Lia said it was about time.
Fulton said the same thing.
Maybe I've really become interested in this guy, he's been nothing but sweet to me, but then whenever someone asked me about my relationship, I didn't know what to say because we never really talked about what to call each other. Were we finally allowed to label each other as boyfriend-girlfriend?

One month later...

27th of September landed on a Tuesday, and what day is that you ask?
It's the day I marked on my calendar as one month into my relationship with Michael Phelps. He and I went through a hectic first month. I'm kidding, the first month was like a feeling of youth and reminisced of my High School romance, and since we began to kiss - a lot - we became quite open around Campus and around town. Everyone gave me a label, I was 'Michael Phelp's Girlfriend', yeah, and yet I'm not even sure if he acknowledged it.
So a month ago, I was awkwardly being asked to go to the Carnival with the Olympian Swimmer, and since then, we slowly progressed and - be proud - the awkwardness disappeared. Though, the unfortunate thing about the 27th was that Michael, Derek, Lia and the rest of the Swimming Team were in another State competing in their swim meets and what not since last Friday, and weren't expected back until tomorrow morning. I couldn't go, and it was all because I had class and assignments and covering for Lia at work, so many commitments that tied a string around me so that on that very day, I was stuck alone in Ann Arbor with Jesse in the Ice Cream Parlor. My work hours are crazy since Lia was gone, and I even had to squeeze in studies during breaks or when there were hardly any customers. Jesse would help by doing most of my work, even mopping the floor when he really hated doing that job.
"So, a month later, huh?" The man leaned against the counter, his hat twirled around on his finger as he lazily looked my way. I situated myself in the corner table with my laptop out, and I was writing notes for my book and at the same time trying to write an article for a submission the next day. My fingers pressed away on the keyboard as I replied, "Yeah, but I don't even know if he calls me his girlfriend whenever he's talking to someone about me."
"I overheard Lia tell you that he does," He yawned as he eventually took a seat right opposite me, and still twirling his work hat around his finger. There were no customers that day because most of our common customers went to follow the Swimming Team to show support, and it was nearing closing time anyway since the owner planned on upgrading the Parlor to something more, so there were expansions planned and he didn't want us to be bothered and that was why he was sending us off earlier than expected.
I didn't know what to do with myself that day, I planned to just go to a park and write some parts of my book or scribble down some notes of what I've been through in my first month. I was just getting excited that Michael would be home tomorrow, but I wanted my time alone to run faster so that I can see him again.

"I think I'll go home early," I sighed as I finished typing up the latest article and closed my laptop, I stared my co-worker as we nodded at the same time and hustled to clean up the place before going home. We mopped, we dusted, we rinsed, we wiped and the whole lot for the last one hour before we went off to do our thing. At the last few minutes, we were at the back, cleaning and scrubbing the sink when we heard a ring at the front door. Jesse and I stared at each other as I asked, "I thought you said you closed up the front door?"
"I did, I even turned the close sign," He debated back as I released a frustrated sigh and threw my gloves to the side. I dusted and dried my hands on my apron as I made my way to the door, though I didn't pay attention to where I was even going because I was too busy trying to read a text sent to me from Michael. When I pushed through the door, I was very prepared to say that we were closed, but when I looked up, I gasped. I even dropped my phone.
"What happened, Roxanne?" Jesse yelled from the back, and he opened the small window that was between the kitchen and behind the counter. He had a frustrated expression, but when he saw what I saw, all he could do was smile and mutter, "I'll leave you alone, I guess."
"You're home early? I thought you're back tomorrow?" I managed to stammer the words out of my mouth, and my eyes were fixated on him while he made his way around the counter and picked up my phone, he stood up straight, smiled and planted his lips smack onto mine. I couldn't even move or say anything else to him. I was just so happy.

A male classmate I spoke to said that it was common for a guy to forget anniversaries when they're counting months, but years, they would remember just like that. Then he said that if a guy was really into a girl, he would take a lot of effort to be there whenever there was a certain milestone coming up in their relationship, and he used my one month milestone as an example. It had me worried when Michael didn't text me the whole day. I figured he was probably in the middle of a competition or something and I'd get a call from him in the evening. But the fact that he turned up at the front door of the Ice Cream Parlor just to give me a kiss was really something.
** That male classmate got a very big thank you from me the next morning.

The Label

"You know I wouldn't forget," Michael reassured me as he surprised me at the park, he had a picnic laid out and a bouquet of white roses lay in the middle. I was very touched, my heart was probably melted by the time I saw what he was up to, and I was light headed by the whole atmosphere that appeared when he picked me up from work.
"It's just that, I thought you were still out of town," I mumbled as I took a seat on the blanket.
"I was, up until an hour ago, I'm not the only one who came back early, you know." He casually sat beside me and picked up the bouquet, he stared at it for a while as though he was inspecting it for flaws, and when there was none, he placed them onto my lap and added, "I made sure they were white because Lia said they were your favorite."
I lifted the flowers and held them tightly between my hands, and I couldn't help but smile widely as I inhaled the scent. I closed my eyes for a brief moment just to let all what was happening get sucked into my head, but I got a bit emotional thinking about how sweet he was to me that I began to overthink scenarios into my head and got upset with myself for overthinking. Michael took notice the moment I covered my face with my hands and looked down, and he was quick to ask what was wrong, but I wouldn't say and placed the flower down and cried.
It must've looked like something between us from another person's perspective. Ah, that thought made me even more upset. It confused Michael even more as he put the roses to the side and gently tugged by my arm so I would slide towards him, and he wrapped his arms around me while I had my head leaning against his chest to listen to his heartbeat. It was pacing pretty fast, kind of like mine.
"Did I do something wrong?" He whispered.
I shook my head and wiped my eyes, but I wouldn't open them.
"Then what's wrong?" He pushed me back a bit to see a proper look at my face. I felt embarrassed to open my eyes and look back at him. Why did I have to cry?
"Look at me," He requested as his breathing seemed to have gotten closer and closer to my face, I could feel my lips tingle and I knew that his lips were not too far away. Our lips were like magnets. "You got me worried that I did a bad gesture on our one month anniversary," He revealed with a hint of confusion in his voice. "I never actually thought I would see you cry, and I got upset when you just started crying. I don't want to see my girlfriend upset."

Girlfriend?

"Please look at me," He pleaded and grasped a hold of my hands, he shook them around like kid and I still didn't respond to him. We probably looked like kids playing hand games at the park, because he wouldn't stop moving my hands around. But I still wouldn't respond to him, and that was after he called me his girlfriend.
"Did you fall asleep?" He shook my shoulder a bit. He probably moved closer and leaned in, and he was breathing against the back of my ear as he whispered, "You don't know how cute you look right now."
I felt my lips curve to a smile, resisting that smile was so hard to do as my eyes slowly opened and I saw that he was leaning so close, his head was right beside mine. I pulled my hands away from his grasp and pressed them against his chest to push him back, and when we were staring into each other's eyes, I couldn't help but feel guilty for looking like a total ass on a special date.
"Are you okay now?" Michael sweetly asked as he brushed the loose strands away from my face and behind my ear, he caressed my cheek and wiped away the tear drops that stayed behind on my skin. I nodded in response. "I got overwhelmed... I'm sorry," I exhaled and met him halfway as our lips made contact.
"I swear that I didn't know what to do when you just cried like that," He confessed and let out a lot of air from his lips, possibly sighing from the relief that I was okay. "Don't cry like that, don't ever cry."
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"You called me your girlfriend just then, does that mean I am?"
"Yeah, what do you think you are to me?" He asked as his eyebrow cocked up.
I shrugged and mumbled, "Well, we never really talked about it and I've never heard you say that I am."
He let out a laugh while throwing a grape into his mouth and squeezing it between his teeth. "So, does that make me your official boyfriend now then? Since I called you my girlfriend?" He teased while feeding me a grape, his thumb brushing away any juice that drizzled out of my lips. He lay down on the blanket and using his left arm to keep him up, his elbows pressed against the blanket and still eating grapes. I briefly thought about it, then it got a bit bad in my head and I covered my face again. Michael sat up as soon as I did it and pulled my hands away from my face, and he was shaking his head and telling me not to cry again. I only muttered things under my breath before I faced him, he was egging me to tell him what I was saying, and all I could muster up to say was, "I'm an ass."
"No way," He chuckled. "If you are, then what the heck am I?" He was trying a lot to cheer me up and keep me smiling, and I was very thankful for it, but I expressed it through tears... What an ass...
"You're an ass's boyfriend," I couldn't help but giggle at his surprised expression. He was definitely caught off guard with that one. "So, we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"We always have been. I don't know what made you think differently."
"I told you, it's because I've never heard you say it before."
"I call you my girlfriend every time, you just don't happen to be around when I'm talking to someone about you."
"Why are you talking about me?"
"Because you're all I could think about!"
I tried not to smile, but I still couldn't hold it in. That time it was because Michael was red and it was his turn to cover his eyes and shy away, but he fell too easily when I placed my lips against his.
"I have another question."
"You seem to be full of them today."
"What did you mumble before you kissed me that night," I shyly asked. It had always bugged me to ask him, and I was always so curious to know, but then I was just too shy to ask and thought that he may think badly of me when he found out I wasn't listening to him.
Though he seemed a bit embarrassed to tell me, he replied, "I mumbled that I shouldn't have waited so long to kiss you." He blushed. I blushed. We both looked away without another word. A smile on both our lips. "But, you know, I didn't regret finally kissing you," He blurted out. "I waited because I thought you didn't want to kiss me yet, so I took things slow, but I frustrated myself and thought that I would just wager a bet and find a way to kiss you."
"Nowadays, you kiss me a lot," I teased. He smirked and leaned my way, he whispered something about his rights as a boyfriend to kiss me whenever he wanted. I could only giggle before we shared another kiss.

This guy is really worth something.