Jonah Gibbs was definitely not having a good day today.
True, it wasn't like he was having a great lifetime anyway, but today was a whole new level of a sucky day, even for him. On top of having to listen to his sister cry and yell at him the whole night yesterdayâit totally wasn't his fault that he stepped on her Macbook and broke it into half!âhe had to find a way to get money buy her a new one. The thought of the big money he had to somehow find stressed him out the whole night, which made it impossible for him to sleep until the clock hit five a.m., only to get waken up by the annoying morning alarm that was his mother's voice yelling at him to wake up half an hour later. As if it wasn't bad enough, he jumped out of bed sleepily only to find his feet stuck in poop all over his floor, courtesy of his sister's cat that yawned at him mockingly from his doorway.
He hated cats. He hated cats so damn much right now he wanted to set his sister's cat on fire.
Jonah grumbled as he scrubbed both of his feet angrily, the water from the shower above his head dripping all over him like raindropsâthe heater was broken, go figureâand he kept pouring liquid soap all over himself to get the nasty scent of cat poop off of him. His teeth weren't chattering so bad since the cold never bothered him anywayâshit! He should've known better than to let his sister choose the radio station in the car yesterday!âbut his skin was already starting to get wrinkly. He finally moved on from his feet and started to clean the rest of his body, taking a longer time washing his dark hair until he was sure that it smelled good before finally leaving the damn bathroom.
The catâits name was Grace, but he preferred calling it "the cat"âhissed at him from the doorway, so he hissed back as he adjusted the strap of his backpack on his right shoulder.
He still didn't understand why his sister treated that cat as if it was a royal princess of a lost kingdom or something. That cat took a shit all over his floor, that wasn't so princessâlike, was it?
-
Jonah buried his face in his hand once the iPod in his hand began to play a song into his ears.
This one definitely wasn't his iPod that he was holding. Jonah Gibbs doesn't listen to songs about a girl who refused to get back together with her ex-boyfriendânever ever ever ever OH MY GOD. He grabbed the wrong iPod this morning.
Not his fault that his father had bought him and his sister two matching iPod classicsâsame type, same color, same everything, unless you start to play the first song.
He skipped the song, and the next song, and the next song, and the next song until he found a decent enough song to play that sounded more like the songs he usually listened to. Once he found it, he began to relax. He took a bite of his ham sandwich before putting it back down on his tray, his fingers moving to the edge of the table, tapping along with the music.
He had to skip a lot of songs after that, but he enjoyed the short period of lunch anyway. He swallowed the last bite of sandwich that he took and waited until the current song ended before finally standing up to get to his next class before the bell rang.
His head was slightly bowed down as he searched for another song to listen to, and he finally slipped the small gadget into his jeans pocket.
And right at that moment was the exact moment that changed his life.
It all began with bright red soda splashing onto the front of his shirt, and a small gasp of surprise that sounded way too girly to be his.
And so he muttered, "What the fuck."
Yeah, what the fuck was with his day right now?
-
Okay, so maybe dumping soda all over that blonde girl's head wasn't one of his best moments, but damn if it hadn't felt right.
It made him feel so much better. About the coldness on his chest, the damn iPod, the broken heater in his house, and the cat poop incident, and the Macbook he had to buy. It took a lot of frustration out of his system, and he almost felt the need to thank the girl for giving him the opportunity to get rid of a bit of that frustration.
He felt like an asshole afterwards, but that still didn't make him turn around to apologize. Jonah Gibbs wasn't an asshole, contrary to popular belief, but the stickiness on his chest was starting to get irritating, and he wouldn't mind being an asshole for a day. So he left the lunch room, found a spare shirt from his locker to replace the half-wet undershirt he had had on, and continued the sucky day like he always continued his other sucky days, without so much of a second thought about the blonde girl whose name was Hannah Taylors. (Yeah. Guess he remembered anyway.)
On the way home, he picked up his mom's order from a diner in town, and his eyes fell upon a small notice on the front window. Only two words, but that finally, finally brought a smile to his face.
WE'RE HIRING.
-
He would never actually pour hot coffee all over her. He was bluffing. He knew how hot that coffee was, and how painful it would feel on her skin. Hell, that kind of pain wasn't the kind of pain he would even wish upon his worst enemy.
But she was just soâUNGGGFFFFGHâand Jonah just wanted her to shut up for a second. Here she was, the girl who poured soda on him days ago, showing up at the very place he was working at, the place he was just starting to love, and she already was ruining another day of his.
Her name was Hannah Taylors, he remembered, but her hair was a shade of orangey-red instead of pale blonde that he remembered.
Not that it mattered much, anyway.
And then her dad walked in. Her dad, his boss, the exact same guy, Mr. Taylors. Jonah Gibbs wasn't stupid, so how could he have missed this? There was a smug look on her face, one that he wanted to wipe off so badly, but he was tongue-tied as long as the bigger man was still here.
Then she went and told him something like, ooh, don't you ever dare pour hot coffee all over me because I'll call up my dad and get him to cut your salary in half because I can or whatever, and he almost believed that she actually would, but when she turned around and make her grand exit, the realization that struck him made him relax a little bit.
She was bluffing. Just like he was.
-
The days that followed were a whirlwind of bizarre happenings.
There was a weird new assignment from a weird new teacher that involved fake marriage and fake babiesâdon't even askâand then the weirder thing happened, which was him getting reassigned with that same girl that poured soda on his chest days ago, the same girl whose dad was his boss, Hannah Taylors. All because they got falsely accused of playing footsie together in class.
He didn't hate herâhate is a really, really strong word and he doesn't use that, unless it involves a female cat named Graceâbut there were a lot of things that she did that annoyed him, the soda incident involved. There was just something... off about the way she looked at him, and he didn't know what to think of that.
But now they were stuck together doing what sounded like the worst school project ever, and he was gritting his teeth as she turned to him in Mr. Herberg's classroom and started to speak.
Jonah took the earphones out of his pocket and put them in his ears. Her voice next to him was nothing but a fading noise in the background.
-
That night, she bought him dinner after realizing that he hadn't eaten while discussing their school project. (She didn't technically buy him dinner since her family owned the place, anyway.)
Something weird filled his chest, but he didn't know what it was. Maybe it was just the hunger, but he ended up ranting in her face about stupid, trivial things he didn't even remember he was saying.
When she responded to his mini rant and calmly sat back on her chair, that was when realized that he could've simply just said thank you for her simple act of kindness and finished the food like a normal person would.
After all, he really was hungry as hell. (And he'd forgotten his wallet home, dammit.)
-
She apologized about it first the next day, and he thought, shit, should I have apologized first?
She then looked down on her lap awkwardly, her finger playing with the tips of her red hair, and he bit his own lip when he felt his heart skipping one single unnoticeable beat.
Yeah. He should have apologized first.
-
Jonah didn't know what it was that he was feeling when he witnessed his classmates proposing and getting proposed to in the hallwaysâfake, of course, for the projectâbut it made him want to turn to his right where his own partner for the project was sitting.
Hannah kept sighing and fidgeting in her seat all day, and he noticed but didn't say anything about it. He chose not to look at her at all, focusing on his own "thing", and she ended up sighing even louder.
She got out of the class first, and he was the last. Mr. Herberg, the teacher who set up the whole project, stopped him as he passed by the teacher's desk.
"Jonah?"
The younger male turned expectantly.
"I've noticed that you and Hannah..." he made a gesture to recheck the paper in his hand, "... are the only ones in this class that haven't gotten engaged yet."
"Fake engaged," Jonah corrected.
"Fake engaged," Mr. Herberg agreed. "Why is that?"
That feeling returned, and he finally realized that he was just nervous. "Um." Jonah scratched the back of his head. "I haven't... thought about it yet?"
That was a lie. He thought about it. He had been the whole day whenever he saw a guy kneeling on the floor with a fake ring.
He just didn't know what to do that would feel right.
"You haven't thought about it yet?" Mr. Herberg asked, surprised. "Tomorrow is the last day, Jonah. By Friday, she should be wearing her engagement ring from you."
Jonah pursed his lips for a while, and then he asked, rather annoyed, "Why does the guy have to propose? What if the girl proposes?"
Mr. Herberg slightly raised his eyebrows. "Technically, the girl can. This pair from the other class switched positions and she proposed to him, and I got their grades taken care of. She was very creative, a genius. I've told you guys about that earlier this week, but I guess both you and Hannah were too far off in your own places in your heads." Jonah recalled the days when he had his earphones in his ears during Life Skills class, which was nearly every day. "But that was last week. Tomorrow is the last day. Did you and Hannah already talk about switching positions before?"
Jonah shook his head.
"Then she must be freaking out of her mind expecting a ring from you," Mr. Herberg hummed. Jonah bit his lip. "And I'm expecting a video of your proposal. As soon as possible. It doesn't matter who between the two of you proposes, but I will not accept another video after tomorrow."
Mr. Herberg smiled at him as he chewed his peppermint gum.
"If you do decide to be the one to propose after all, make sure it's memorable for both of you." The man shrugged. "Think about it, Mr. Gibbs."
-
Jonah Gibbs never missed a day of school, even when he got sick with a bad cold, but he missed one day of school that day because he had to propose to a girl.
He finally resorted to his very very very last option, which was asking his little sister for advice, and surprisingly, as cheesy as it was, it didn't sound too bad to him.
All day, he was on a hunt for flowers and colored wires for rings, and he locked himself up in his room twisting and turning those wires around to make a simple, easy, pretty ring like the ones his childhood friend had taught him to makeâit turned out to be not that easy, not as easy as he'd remembered, if he really wanted a flawless ring, but he managed to make a decent one in the end. Thank God he already had her finger size memorized a few days ago.
He bought a few different flowers, hid the ring, and let his sister's cat loose after leaving out clues for Hannah to find.
Let's hope that she wasn't too stupid to follow the clues.
He followed her a few steps behind, making sure his feet weren't making any sound, and something in his chest warmed when he heard her laugh lightly at a bunch of cactus (cactuses? Cacti? Whatever, he didn't care), but he ignored that feeling.
She took a white daisy and smiled softly, and the first thing that came to his mind was pretty.
His heart skipped a bit again when she began to turn around, and he hid his clammy hands in his pocket as their eyes met. She was smiling, and he felt weird. She was looking at him and he wanted to look away but he didn't want to.
She found his ring and he was right behind her, and then he knelt down and slipped the cold ring into her finger. It was slightly too big for her finger, but it looked like it fit there perfectly.
There it went, his heart skipped another beat.
He took the cat with him afterwardâthey'd had a mutual agreement earlier this morning involving a whole bunch of cat treats and a new cat bedâand walked out of the garden, leaving the girl behind with her brand new cheap ring.
He could've sworn he heard a squeal, but he must've been hearing things. He smiled anyway, thanking the cat he was starting to hate less for the successful proposal.
-
Jonah kept glancing at the empty seat next to him, and then at the clock on the wall, and then back at the empty seat.
Where the hell was Hannah Taylors?
He hadn't spent his whole night up scribbling down nauseatingly cheesy wedding vows for nothing. His whole room had drowned in a sea of torn papers as he tried to find the right words for the vow just for her, and now she was gone. He was annoyed, a bit angry, and he wondered where she was when he clearly had seen her earlier in Chemistry class.
He got himself excused from the class. Said he wanted to go to the restroom, but he walked the empty hallways in search for Hannah Taylors instead. He even dared to take a peek into the ladies' room. It was empty.
But he didn't know what kind of girl Hannah Taylors really was. He didn't know where she would be gone when she skipped class. He didn't know what she would do when she skipped class. He didn't even know if she was the kind of girl who skipped class. He didn't know who she was even though the whole project was essentially about getting to know each other and now it was costing him his godforsaken grades.
(He wondered to himself why he was worried about the grades so much when he knew it was only just a life skills project.)
He clicked his tongue in irritation and turned around from the library, checking the hallways in the other side of the building.
And there she was. Red hair in a ponytail, sitting on the floor, back leaning against the locker behind her, her head down. He marched up to her, ready to burst into flames, when she finally looked up with the most look of pain he'd ever seen on someone's face.
His heart skipped a beat once more, but this time, it hurt just a little bit.
-
She fell asleep in his arms.
She weighed nothing, so carrying her to his own car wasn't really a trouble. Her head unconsciously rested against the front of his shoulder, her mouth so close to his ear that he could hear the faint sound of her snore, somewhere from deep in her throat. He was glad now that she was asleep, no sign of pain on her face, just a peaceful look and nothing more.
Hannah Taylors didn't sleep like his sister. His sister slept like an absolute nightmare, limbs thrown out everywhere, drool falling like Niagara Falls from her gaping mouth, snoring like the sound of a speeding truck in a highway.
Hannah Taylors simply slept, resting, closing her eyes and shutting down her thoughts (and that loud mouth of hers).
Jonah carefully set her down on his passenger seat, making sure her head wouldn't hit anything. She stirred a little and he froze, his arms still around her, and then he relaxed when she continued sleeping peacefully.
He paused after gently securing the seat belt across her chest, just looking at her for a while. He really did like her better when she was asleep. He bent down again a little and reached out, hesitating a little bit.
And then he brushed her bangs (that were getting a little bit too long) that covered her right eye, away to the side of her head. Pretty.
-
He stayed and looked after her (didn't know why he did) and made herbal tea and lunch for her (didn't know why he did) and spent a few hours watching the television in mute while she slept and he still stayed anyway even though it got boring after half an hour.
He lifted his gaze toward the sleeping girl on the couch and wondered why he stayed.
-
She mumbled in her sleep as she stirred and his heart did that thing again where it skipped a beat, and he realized that he wanted to stay.
author's note:
okay, and now for the long overdue announcement of the winner of #AOPContest (!!!!!!!!!!!!) you guys, i really recommend that you check these stories out because they're hella awesome. thank you guys for writing these stories/one-shots for me, you guys are all awesome and you all are winners, but i gotta pick four that i enjoyed reading the most! you can check out the stories in the reading list in the external link.
WINNERS OF THE AOP SHORT STORY/ONESHOT CONTEST
- THIRD PLACE WINNER: "Operation Marry the Apple" by @callthecops
This story is included in callthecops' oneshot book called "Lee's Shots". I'm not going to spoil much since I would rather you read this awesomeness yourself, but it's basically about how Jonah and Hannah eventually get engaged (the second time!!!) in the future, and it's really cute and amazing and I even made a reference of it in this bonus chapter.
- SECOND PLACE WINNER: "How You Get the Girl" by @photographical
This is about how Jonah came up with the fake proposal idea, and it's very lovely and honestly it really matches with what I had in mind, and that's exactly why I didn't write the part when Jonah is preparing for the proposal here in this chapter, because I think "How You Get the Girl" is the perfect filler for it. (Yes, I've decided to make HYGTG the official bonus chapter of AOP, so you better read that story quick). Plus, she included a little additional story about Clara that makes me want to write a spin-off.
- FIRST PLACE WINNER: "Perfect Storm" by @Siriusly_fandoms
YES. YES. YES. YES. This story was a perfect storm indeed. I had chest pains reading it because it's about the grand long distance breakup, and that is exactly why you should read it. It ties nicely with the epilogue, AND IT HAS ME IN IT. Siriusly_fandom's writing was flawless and it really gets your emotion, and it really deserves this title because I know you're going to love it.
- SPECIAL CATEGORY WINNER: "Ships and Things" by @refractedPenguin
HONESTLY, THIS ONESHOT IS SO CREATIVE AND JUST UGGGGGHHHH I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT. Please please please check it out! It's a little side-story about Mr. Herberg and his wife and how he paired the students in his class for the project and it's just so perfect because if I were to write a story about him and his wife, THIS WOULD PROBABLY HOW their characters would end up to be. Mr. Herberg's character was just on point and I couldn't stop smiling throughout the story. The idea is very unique and different from others, and it's a really lovely oneshot!