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A/N: Leanne is pronounced Lee-anne.
Thirty days in a month. It all starts with a few seconds, accumulating into minutes and hours, adding up into days, and finally, concluding with a month. June.
Twenty-nine minutes had passed since the clock had struck three, leaving one more minute until she could finally leave this stupid summer party and get out of this hideous dress. She felt the anticipation building up inside her, and she began making her way towards the front door, squeezing past the couples dancing and the numerous tables and chairs lying around. She was rooting through the huge closet for her black jacket when a voice came from behind her, asking her if she was leaving already. She turned around and saw a boy smiling at her. Introductions were made and through her brain flew the name Ryan and through his brain flew the name Leanne. And both brains agreed to a dance with each other.
Twenty-eight were the last two digits of Leanne's cell phone number, Ryan noticed as he finished typing out his text message and pressed send. Leanne's cell phone beeped and when she saw the message, she couldn't help but smile. Back and forth, the messages flew. He was supposed to be shooting baskets with his friends. She was supposed to be shelving returned books in the library. But both activities were forgotten as soon as the telltale beep was heard, announcing that they had just received a new text message.
Twenty-seven Edison Avenue's was where they next met. A chai latte sat across from a caffe mocha on one of Starbuck's many round tables. Soft classical music played atmospherically in the background, which is almost immediately pointed out and made fun of by the table's two occupants. Leanne pulled out her iPod and let My Chemical Romance blast through the earphones. Other tables turned to glare at the disturbance, and soon a frustrated employee asked them to please leave. Laughing, they walked out of the store into the blinding summer sunlight.
Twenty-six pages were in the alphabet book Leanne was reading to the small toddlers during the library's daily Reading Time. Each page was decorated with a large drawing of the letter and an illustration of an object whose name began with that letter. Ryan came waltzing through the library doors, shouting out Leanne's name, just when Leanne was getting to the letter G. He stopped when he noticed Leanne surrounded by little children, all of who were now staring at him with wide eyes. Leanne laughed, waved to her over-excited friend, and went back to the book. Ryan, after realizing what she was doing, skipped over and stood beside her chair, acting out each object on the page. The children were giggling as he attempted to imitate H for horse, neighing, pawing the ground, and pretending to eat hay. Then Leanne turned the page to reveal I for ice cream, and Ryan began enthusiastically licking an imaginary ice cream cone, sticking his tongue out even more than necessary. The children were laughing even harder, and more and more people were beginning to crowd around. Leanne smiled up at Ryan and he paused between licks to grin back.
Twenty-five shots in a row, all sinking into the basketball with a nice swishing sound. Leanne cheered and clapped from where she was sitting on the grass before going back to talking with the other girls there, while Ryan's guy friends patted him on the back and gave him the $20 that was part of the bet. A basketball game ensued, and his best friend noticed how Ryan would glance at Leanne when he was dribbling or about to shoot. He smirked and afterwards, asked Ryan if the bet was actually for the money or for another, more personal reason. Ryan looked at him uncomprehendingly and he jerked his head towards Leanne, who, noticing them staring, waved back cheerfully. Ryan's cheeks tinged pink, something that was not missed by his friend, who laughed loudly and exclaimed how his little Ryan was growing up.
Twenty-four hours had gone by, and Leanne was still mad. The night before, at a party, Ryan had been flirting with a girl, who just so happened to be Leanne's worst enemy. The second Ryan managed to tear himself away from that girl, Leanne had gone up to him and told him about the girl's reputation and how much she hated her. She'd thought Ryan would understand and at least value their friendship over his lust. But no, Ryan had simply ignored her. Leanne had been so pissed off that after the party, she'd cornered him and told him exactly what she thought of him. An argument had soon broken out, and that had soon turned into a battle of insults and curses. Finally, Leanne had stomped away in a fury. Even now, she couldn't believe that the Ryan she had known and liked had this other side to him. Maybe she hadn’t known him as well as she thought she had. Her cell phone began ringing and she glanced at the screen. It was Ryan. She ignored it.
Twenty-three minutes past eleven, Ryan glared at his phone. He was angry with Leanne for not picking up, but he knew he couldn’t blame her. It had been all his fault, he knew. They had been good friends and Ryan had just thrown all that away for another girl, who Leanne totally hated. Ryan groaned, wondering what he'd been thinking. His mind had been clouded and he hadn't been thinking clearly at all. Come to think of it, he couldn't even remember what he'd been saying to that girl. Maybe someone had spiked the punch. Ryan lay back down on his bed, telling himself that tomorrow, he would have to go find Leanne to apologize and explain everything. He didn't think he'd be able to tolerate the entire summer with her angry with him.
Twenty-two lines of Ryan's scratchy handwriting on a sheet of paper were folded up and shoved into an envelope. Leanne had avoided Ryan all day, disappearing into the bathroom when he had tried to corner her at the library until he gave up and left. After two days of the cold shoulder, Ryan had finally swallowed his pride and written Leanne a letter. His spelling was atrocious, not even to mention his handwriting, but it was all he could think to do. He sealed the envelope, tasting the bitterness of the envelope glue on his tongue.
Twenty-one minutes had passed, and Ryan was still cruising in his car around and around Leanne's neighborhood. Her car was in her driveway, and he couldn't bear to think that the minute he got out of the car and approached the mailbox, she would appear outside the door. He didn't think his ego could take it, so he continued to stay in his safe little haven, complete with leather seats and air conditioning. Finally, he took a deep breath and hummed a bit of the Mission Impossible theme song under his breath before determinedly pushing open the car door.
I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews & constructive criticism make me smile. (: