The Prankster and Her Lover

Please be warned there is a bit of mild language and a kissing scene that will be marked before and after with a line of ---. If it makes you uncomfortable, please skip it.

People look so dumb sometimes. They’re also so oblivious that it’s pathetic. Like the number of times, you can trick a person using the same gag is astounding. An example of one of these people is my older brother. I’m currently watching him trying to get into his bedroom without an impromptu shower. I mean honestly, this is like the seventeenth time that this has happened. You would think a person would have learned to adapt to situations like these. Finally, I hear a loud exclaim of protest and look up just in time to see the bucket of ice water I had perched precariously on my brother’s door fall onto his head. Ahhh, another wonderful gag pulled off perfectly. I jumped out of the tree I had been hiding in and walked toward the house.

Suddenly, a drenched teenage boy ran out of a house seemly looking for someone. When he set eyes on a young girl jumping out a nearby tree, he launched toward her. The second the girl saw him, she screeched and started running away as fast as she could, twisting and zigzagging every which way in order to try and get the boy off her tail. However, her attempts proved futile when, with a burst of speed, the boy caught up with her and threw himself onto her, soaking her in the process.

“Jackson! Are you kidding me?” I whined. I shoved at him with all of my might, but he didn’t budge.

“Hey, you wanna mess with me? I’ll bring you down with me.” He replied. I shoved at him again and he let me go.

“Seriously? I was going to wear this shirt to hang out with Cas today.”

“Yes, seriously. And you know Mom doesn’t like you hanging out with her and her group.”

“Oh please, it’s not like we’re committing arson. And use the right pronouns asshat. They use they/them pronouns.”

“With the way that they dress? You might as well be doing that. And can you stop with the pronouns stuff? Seriously, it’s enough. You know mom doesn’t like it.”

“I don’t care what mom thinks. Use the right pronouns. You should get some thoughts and opinions of your own and stop being such a momma’s boy. Dad doesn’t care about who I’m hanging out with or about pronouns.”

“Yeah? Well, he’s not here right now so it doesn’t matter.”

           With that the girl pushed away from her brother and started jogging back to her house. The boy looked around in frustration and began walking in the same direction. When the girl reached the house, she flung the door wide and stalked in. She went immediately to her bedroom and shut the door with a loud ‘thunk’. The boy stood in the hallway for a moment and stared at his sister’s door somberly. He then retreated to his own room, carefully stepping around the large wet spot on his carpet.

           I was upset but I couldn’t think about it right then. I was going to be late if I didn’t get a move on. Pulling off my now wet and uncomfortable shirt, I started rummaging in my completely organized drawers that are definitely organized and don’t look a hurricane named me went through them like an insane person to find a semi-okay shirt. I found one that passed the sniff test. It had originally been a black graphic tee, but the text had since rubbed off to the point of illegibility. I grabbed a flannel and a beanie on my way out just in case. Plus, it looked cute.

           The girl snuck out the door and made her way toward her trusty bike. After quickly checking the road for potential bike-wreckers, she sped down the road. She biked as if she had a critically important mission to fulfill, which in her mind she did. She needed to find a special someone and she needed to find them now. After what seemed like a lifetime, she arrived at her destination. Pulling into the driveway, she inhaled the familiar smell of cigarette smoke and sighed in relief.

           Oh, thank God. They’re here. I pulled my bike into the open garage as I have done a million times and went into the backyard. I was greeted by a chorus of “Hey’s!” “Hi’s!” and “How’ve you been”s?”. At the moment, I couldn’t pay any more attention to them than I could pay attention to my boring-ass pre-Calc teacher drone about trigonometry and stuff that I already knew. I eagerly scanned the patio full of familiar faces for one particular face. And then I found them. When my eyes locked with theirs, my entire body sagged in respite. Their eyes were twinkling as the sunlight hit them just right. I all but ran to their open arms. Then I tripped. Thankfully, I was close enough to them that they were able to catch me.

“Hello darling,” They said in that amazing voice that always sent chills up my spines no matter what. “I know you love me, but I didn’t expect you to fall for me.” Trust them to be making cheesy jokes right now.

           “Damn right I love you. I missed you. You’re never leaving ever again.” I breathed out, melting against them.

“I’ll try not to darling.” They chuckled. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” I said while pressing my face even deeper into their jacket. They shifted to where they were sitting down with me on their lap.

“That bad huh? Well, I got you something.”

“Really? You didn’t have to.”

“Well, I wanted to. Besides it was the least I could do for leaving you all alone on your birthday.”

“Oh yeah, how was your work meeting thingy?”

“It was fine. Just a lot of crap about the specifics of the design. I signed a new contract, but nothing else happened. Just sat in a room full of judgmental, balding men for way too much time.”

“But that’s great that you were able to sign a new contract. I’m proud of you. I can see it now, Castiel, world’s best 18-year-old graphic designer.” I said, spreading my hands out in front of me as if seeing the title on a billboard.

“Okay, okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Also, we’re not changing the subject. Happy belated seventeenth darling.” With that, they handed me a rectangular package, which looked like it had been painstakingly hand wrapped. I took it gingerly and opened it as carefully as I could. When the wrapping paper fell away, my brain short-circuited. It was a photo album filled with pictures of us over the three years we had been together. There were also empty pages at the back.

“For the future,” Cas whispered in my ear. “Quinn? Are you okay? It is too much? Do you not like it? What’s wrong?”

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“Oh my god, just kiss me.” I said as I pulled their face down to mine. I heard a couple of cheers and whistles, but the sound of my rising heartbeat drowned them out quickly enough. They were happy to comply with my wish. Time stopped as I closed my eyes and felt their chapped lips on mine. I felt them pour all their love into the kiss and I tried to do the same. Their hands searched the back of my purple and blue flannel. My hands curled in their leather jacket and the smell of a Hot Butterbeer Latte with six shots of expresso, their regular order at Starbucks my brain provided, permeated my nostrils. I could definitely taste it. My lungs burned for what I was so willingly depriving them of. Eventually, I had to pull away and did so reluctantly.

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She almost bashfully looked up at their deep green eyes adorned with butterfly eyeliner. It looked stunning. She never knew how they did it. They were amazing. In every single way. She felt like she would never fully deserve them. She never wanted to leave them. With a start, she realized something.

“I love you. I love you so freaking much. I never wanna leave you. Ever.”

“I love you too darling. And I want to stay with you forever as well. Come hell or high water.”

“And my entire family, except for my dad. He’s cool.” I cringed at the thought of my mom finding out about my forbidden relationship that I had kept secret for three years.

“And 99.9999% percent of your family.” Chuckled Cas. “Speaking of your dad, isn’t that him?” I looked over to where they were pointing, and sure enough there was my dad standing against the wall and talking to one the dudes near him.

“Dad!” I exclaimed, scrambling over to him, tripping over several legs in the process.

“Hi sweetheart, how you are doing?”

“Better now that you’re here.”

“Having fun with your partner?” He said as he waggled his eyebrows.

“Dad! How’d you find out?”

“They told me.” He nodded at Cas.

“You know what I’m not even going to ask anymore.” I sighed fondly.

Today was the perfect end to the summer.

If you have any constructive criticism or if you just liked the story please let me know!