Welcome to New Haven

by Dawn Doyle

“Like what?” Alex didn’t break his gaze from Holly’s perfect body as it moved gracefully round the running track. Her long ponytail flying behind her in the wind.

  “I don’t know exactly but…do you think…maybe…you’re in love with her?”

  Alex’s eyes shot to Ben’s and his mouth dropped open.

  “Sorry, man, it was only a suggestion.”

  Alex turned his gaze back to Holly, and he stayed silent as he blew out a long, controlled breath as he felt his legs tremble beneath him. He could hear his heart beat in his ears, and his insides felt as if they were in a washing machine.

  “That’s true…isn’t it? Ben whispered.

  “I don’t know…I’ve never felt…” Alex’s eyes became glassy and he rapidly blinked to clear them.

  “Dude, I gotta get out of here” Alex said, quickly turning to Ben before walking to the door. “Can you give Dev a ride home? I just need to go.” He said as he practically ran out of the door.

  Alex drove home, in a panic. He was in love with Holly.

  Love!

  He didn’t even know what that was…did he?

  He got home and ran upstairs to shower. Taking some deep breaths as the water ran over him, helped to calm him down. Other parts of his body weren’t so calm so he lowered the temperature until it was cold.

  Alex sat at his desk and continued with his drawing listening to music, when one of his earbuds was yanked out of his ear.

  “Alex!” Dev shouted.

  Alex, startled by the sudden appearance of his sister, turned in his seat.

  “What the…?”

  “Alex, what’s going on? Are you ok?”

  Alex closed his sketch book quickly.

  “Nothing, I’m fine.” He said as he looked to the doorway to find Ben leaning against the frame. Alex glared at him.

  “Sorry man, I was worried. I just…shit…I knew Dev would rip us both a new one if I hadn't gotten her straight away.

  Alex should have known he would. The only time those two ever came together, without arguing, was when they were worried about him, or there was gossip to be had. Alex narrowed his eyes and turned to Dev.

  “I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.” Alex turned off his music and placed his phone in his pocket.

  “Ben, could you give us a minute?”

  “Sure, Dev.” He said, before walking down the stairs.

  Dev sat on the edge of Alex’s bed, and he turned in his seat to face her.

  “What did Ben tell you?” He asked.

  “Well…the conversation you had in the gym today.”

  Alex let his head fall back, and he took a deep breath in and out. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back down.

  “Deep huh?” He snorted.

  “A little bit. I had an idea about how you felt, but now…now I know, it’s just…I think it’s awesome Alex.”

  His head lifted as his eyes darted to her.

  “You do?”

  “Of course! I want you to be happy, and if Holly makes you happy then that’s even better.” She replied, with a nod.

  “But it’s only been a few weeks” Alex protested. “I don’t know how I can feel so much, in such a short time, for someone I hardly know.” He ran his hands over his face as he tried to make sense of it all.

  “Maybe I’ve read too many romance novels, but I think it means that it’s fate.”

  “Hmmm, maybe.”

  “Are you going to be ok?” Dev rubbed his shoulder when she stood.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” He answered with a small nod. “Just a little surprised at myself, that’s all.”

  “Sure?” Dev cocked an eyebrow.

  She wasn’t convinced just yet, neither was he, but he knew he would be eventually.

  “Sure.”

  “Can I take a look at your picture?” she asked as she inclined her head towards his sketch pad.

  “It’s not finished yet.”

  “Please?” she whined with her hands clasped together as if in prayer.

  “When it’s finished.”

  “Spoilsport” Dev said and she stuck out her tongue, making him laugh.

  “I’ll be down in a minute.” Alex said as he began putting his art supplies away. “Will you tell Ben he’s an ass?”

  “Gladly” Dev said with a grin and gave him a hug. “Love you”

  “Love you too.”

  On his way into the kitchen, he heard Dev’s phone ring and he paused outside the kitchen door.

  “Hi!…Yeah, Alex is fine…Yeah he’s fine…Um…he wasn’t feeling too good but when he got home he was feeling better…Don’t be honey, everything’s ok…”

  Alex walked into the kitchen and sat next to Ben. He had an idea that either Riss or Kayla were talking. They would have seen Ben coming to get Dev from the pool.

  “…Do you and Em still want to meet up later?”

  Alex’s ears picked up at the mention of Emily’s name. That meant Holly was involved somehow.

  “…That’d be cool yeah. Thanks Hol, See you later. Bye.”

  Holly called?

  “What’s up?” Ben asked with a knowing smile.

  “The girls were worried when you came to get me, so they wanted to know if everything were Ok.”

  “Uh huh. So all three called?” Ben asked with a smirk.

  Alex looked at Ben wondering what the hell was going on, whilst Dev glared at Ben. They’d obviously said more to each other in the car than what they’d talked about in the gym. Maybe Dev had told Ben something and she was trying to keep him quiet.

  “No. Holly called.” She said, still glaring.

  Alex turned to Dev.

  “What did she say?” He asked, even though Dev’s side of the conversation sounded as if she had been checking up on him.

  “Like I said, the girls were worried. Holly was finished before the girls left the pool, so she called. They wanted to know if everything was ok.”

  “Oh” Alex looked down at the counter. She wasn’t checking on him after all. She was the only one ready so that's why she had called Dev.

  “Holly did ask whether you were ok.” Dev blurted out.

  “She did?” He asked and his heart lightened with the thought that Holly was concerned about him.

  Lifting his head to look into Dev’s worried face, the expression she had looked like she was sad about something. She took a deep breath…

  ”She said, and I quote ‘Is everything ok. Is Alex ok?”

  “Told you dude” Ben said with a smug grin, and Alex smiled a little.

  “If either of you mention this to her, I will personally damage both of you.” She pointed at them. “Got it?”

  “Got it” they said together.

  “Now I’m going to get ready to go out, so I’ll see you later.”

  “Thanks Dev”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She replied, waving her hand as if it were nothing.

  “Catch you later” Ben said and Alex noticed the little pause in Dev’s step before she carried on upstairs.

  Holly and Dev were sat in homeroom discussing the previous evenings’ activities. They’d gone to the mall, dragging Emily along with them, for ideas of what to get Alex for his birthday. It was over a week away until the twins turned eighteen, exactly one week before Holly’s, and Dev was giving the girls some ideas on what to get for him. Holly had had a few ideas.

  Even though she was still a quivering, drooling mess around him, she wanted to get him something. She knew, from Dev, that he liked to draw and she’d overheard him telling Ben he needed to go to the art supply shop for more of the special paper he liked to use. They’d looked around for a while before stopping to eat.

  They’d had fun, and the girls had been laughing hard at the interactions between Holly and Emily. The way they spoke to each other had the girls needing translations.

  “Soon…Alex…mine…fucking bitch…end her…” Holly could hear Stacey mumbling but she couldn’t catch everything she’d said, even though she had
a strong feeling that it was about her.

  What’s her fucking problem?

  “Ignore her Hol” Dev whispered. “She’s a jealous bitch. She needs to learn that she can’t have everything she wants.”

  Holly turned and glared at Stacey. Stacey glared back until she finally looked away. Holly hadn’t flinched at all.

  Going into A.Biology class, Holly looked over to see Alex and Ben sitting together talking, when he turned his head to look at her. Her body had reacted even before they’d entered the room, but now that his eyes were on her, she felt…hot. She sat in her seat, skin prickling all over, her hands beginning to shake.

  “Wow is it hot in here or is Alex around?” Dev whispered to her as she’d noticed Holly’s flush.

  “Dev!” Holly whisper shouted. “He might hear you!”

  “Would that be so bad?” Dev asked as she was still giggling.

  “Erm…yes.” Holly said as if it were obvious. “I’d feel ashamed! He’d laugh at me, or think I’m an idiot.” Holly held her cheeks in her hands.

  “I doubt that very much.” Dev replied as if there were something she knew, that Holly didn’t.

  Holly was about to ask her when the teacher got the attention of the class.

  “Ok class. We are going to be working on the male and female reproductive organs of daffodils now that they’re in season. Now, we have a split number of male and female students in this class so, for this lesson, I would like for you to work in boy/girl pairs. In an orderly fashion, get yourselves into pairs.”

  As the class started to move around, some of the boys had come over to Holly and Dev.

  “Hey, fancy working with me? I’ll let you work with my ‘stamen’”

  The guy said as he circled his hips.

  “Are you having a laugh?” Said Holly, surprised at his question.

  “No babe, just making a little pollination.” He said, looking the girls up and down.

  “Well, do one.” Said Holly and Dev chuckled under her breath.

  “You sure told him!”

  ”Dirty bastard. I should’ve kicked him in the balls. It would be a while before he could find his anthers.”

  “Ouch” she heard from behind her.

  It was Ben.

  “Holly strikes again.” He laughed.

  Holly blushed as she saw Alex next to Ben, and he was laughing too. She felt a warm glow deep in her stomach and down…

  No! Not again! Not now!

  “We could work together Dev” Ben gestured to his work station.

  “Um…” Dev looked to Holly and Alex.

  Oh God Oh God Oh God!

  Holly new what was coming next.

  “Yeah sure.” She said and walked away with Ben, leaving Holly standing there, in a puddle of hormones and drool.

  Dev gave Holly a reassuring smile and a nod.

  “We could work together too…if it’s ok with you that is.” Alex said quietly.

  Holly was stunned. She just stared at Alex…then his lips…oh how she would love to bite them…

  “Holly?”

  “What? Oh…” Holly nodded and turned back to her station and sat down.

  Alex took Dev’s seat next to her and she took a breath. She could smell him. His clean soapy smell that made her think of bubbles and showers and washing him…

  “That guy, Will, was an ass.”

  “Huh?” Holly had been in a fog and his voice had broken through. It was a good job too. Holly had been vocalising her fantasies lately. She’d moaned at her toast, said ‘wow’ when she’d been looking at her phone and Emily had almost heard her saying ‘he’s so gorgeous’. Luckily Holly had mumbled and Em hadn’t understood what she’d said.

  “What he said to you.”

  “Oh…Yeah” she agreed.

  “I think you scared him a little” Alex leaned closer when he said it and Holly stopped breathing.

  “Good” she managed to say, barely loud enough for Alex to hear. Alex just smiled at her and Holly wanted the ground to swallow her up before she made a fool of herself, which she was sure was going to happen any minute.

  Alex glanced back at Ben and Dev, and they both gave him a smile. He felt as though his insides were doing tumbles, his heart was beating so fast and he had to swallow a huge lump in his throat. He was glad to be sitting down, as he could feel his body having an unquestionable reaction to Holly’s presence. Not that it had relaxed much since she’d arrived at the school, but the closer he got, the more ‘uplifting’ the reaction.

  He was sitting to her right and it dawned on him that he would need to move.

  “I think we need to switch seats.” He said, and Holly looked to him in surprise.

  “Www Why?” she asked, shakily.

  “I’m left handed.” He said.

  Holly understood what he meant. Their arms would be in each other’s way when they wrote. There wouldn’t be any complaints from him to have Holly’s arm knock into his, but she might.

  “Oh.” She said as they both stood to change seats.

  Alex took a step back so Holly could pass in front of him. She sidestepped, with her back to him, her hair brushing across his chest as she did. He could smell the coconut shampoo, and he had to stop himself from leaning forward and breathing her in. His pants tightened when she crossed him.

  Football, hockey, baseball… he thought in a pitiful attempt to calm the fire that was traveling south. He inhaled and pulled the seat out for her.

  “Thanks” she said as she sat in Dev’s place.

  “What’s going on?” asked Mr. Benson.

  “Switching seats, writing problem.” Explained Alex as the teacher knew he was left handed.

  “Now class…” Mr Benson continued. “…I’m going to hand out a potted daffodil to each student. We are going to learn about the segments of the flower, and then we will try pollination."

  “Yeah!” one guy shouted and some of the others laughed.

  Holly rolled her eyes and Alex smiled. Holly noticed him looking at her and he saw that she blushed…again. He heard her mumbling something…it sounded like…’stay calm, deep breaths’.

  “What?”

  “Huh?” She said as she turned to him in shock.

  “You said something about staying calm.”

  “I did?”

  He guessed that she hadn’t meant to say it out loud and was embarrassed that she had.

  “Don’t let them bother you. They’re idiots.”

  “Who?”

  What was going on? It was as if she hadn’t been talking about the guys at all.

  “The guys who laughed.” He reminded her; looking a little confused as he did.

  Holly frowned a little, and then her face relaxed before she nodded.

  “Calm down and behave!” Mr Benson shouted. “If you want to act like children, I’ll treat you like children.”

  The class fell silent, and the teacher started to pass around two small pots, each containing a miniature daffodil, to each station. The guys had yellow, and the girls had white.

  “Now…” He continued “…Each flower has both male and female reproductive parts. The stigma, which is female, and the anthers which are male. The anthers are the ones encrusted with pollen…”

  Alex understood now why Holly had referred to Will’s balls being ‘anthers’. As Mr. Benson went on about the different parts of the flower, Holly brought hers closer to smell it.

  “Do you like these?” Alex whispered.

  Holly quickly looked to him and nodded. He saw a small frown appear and a sad look in her eyes.

  Maybe the flowers signify something to her?

  “Holly?” He whispered even quieter than before. “Are you ok?” He mouthed, no sound coming from his lips.

  She smiled weakly and nodded again. The teacher carried on the lesson, but Alex was too interested in watching Holly. He wondered what was going on in her mind and what had made her sad all of a sudden.

  Enlarged pictures of flower par
ts appeared on the board at the front and Mr. Benson pointed to them as he spoke.

  “What we aim to do is cross pollinate the flowers. I want each student to brush their partner’s flower…” that got him a few snickers from the class “…and then brush the pollen over the stigma on their own flower.”

  More laughs.

  “Good grief.” He groaned. “After a few months, the plants’ ovary should be full of seeds. When the flowers die, we’ll open up the ovary, when they’re ready and see who was successful.”

  Alex picked up his brush and looked at his flower. He looked towards what Holly was doing. She wasn’t using a brush. Instead, she was rubbing her pen, lid end first, on her sleeve. He watched to see what she would do as this wasn’t what the teacher had told them they should be doing.

  Holly gently brought the pen to the flower and brushed the lid across the anthers.

  “What are you doing that for?” He asked intrigued.

  Holly looked surprised at what she had done, like she had somehow gone to autopilot.

  “Erm…I find this easier.” She said.

  Holly seemed comfortable with this so he tried to focus on what she was doing and not her beautiful hair falling down her back, her lips parting and then pursing in concentration. Her eyes cast down with her eyelashes fluttering when she blinked…

  Stop!

  He had to be careful, or he could find himself touching her. His right hand had already moved closer to her and he pulled it back before he stroked her arm. Holly cleared her throat before she spoke.

  “Here, pass me your daff.”

  Alex slid his pot across the table and Holly gently guided the pollen covered pen lid across the stigma, which she held still by placing a finger to the side of it. She rotated the lid over the stigma.