A Modern Love Story Pt. 1

March 26, 2016

Whew, finally ready for this show. I drive quickly to my uncle's house and wait for him to be ready. I’m early but only by 10 minutes. He wants to get there a couple hours early to talk to his friends and meet new people. I’m not much of a people's person but I agreed to go to the show and that means agreeing to everything that goes with it I guess. Oh, my ex texted me. Going on and on about his new crush. I really should just block his number. I’m glad he could move on so quickly even though I’m kinda stuck. It’s barely been a month but I guess that’s his decision. I have yet to find someone, anyone else so for now, I’ll dress up all pretty in my new favorite dress (A doctor who TARDIS dress) and bite my tongue. I probably look better than her anyways. We get in the car and speedily make our way downtown. It’s only my second time at the Orchestra hall. The first time was years ago when I saw Bernadette Peters on stage and met her afterwards. That was a great show and I’m assuming this one will be just as good. Alan Cumming is who will be performing. I only know him from a few things but my uncle says he’s a great performer and he has a cool accent. I have a positive outlook on it. We park, walk in, and after about fifteen minutes, his friends are there with us chatting up a storm. I don’t remember their names (Always horrible with names) except one that I knew before. My uncle's friend Travis. He’s a nice guy and pretty funny but my mom hates him.

They continue their rounds, greeting all the people they know and I wait with my uncle shaking hands with the people he introduces me to and smiling cheerfully. Good thing I’ve been an actress for so many years. I would not be acting so cheery but I told myself to shut Adam out of my mind and just focus on the present. The entrance hall gets ever more crowded as more and more people begin streaming in from the chilly streets in fancy attire. The conversation drones on. They’re all talking about things I either don’t understand or have no interest in. I wait there patiently and try not to crack jokes (what I do most when around new people).

I hear a voice behind me say, “Hey, is that a Doctor Who dress?”

I turn to see a tall, handsome, and slightly windblown doorman with a grey trench coat and doorman type hat.

He came from the door behind me, a door I had never entered through.

I stammered, “Uh, yeah. Why?” He smirked and said easily, “I saw it through the window but I wasn’t sure. That’s really cool by the way.” He quickly returned to his post at the door and I turned to my uncle with a shocked and slightly embarrassed look on my face.

He cheerily said, “He’s cute. You should go talk to him.” I shook my head and started stammering about how he’s a man and he’s working and I couldn’t possibly.

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged as if to say, “Whatever, your choice.” He returned to his conversation and after what felt like an eternity, I handed him my purse and said confidently, “I’m gonna go talk to him.”

I walked outside in the cold rainy evening air and stood next to him under the awning of the building. I struck up a conversation about Doctor Who and we flowed from topic to topic. We continued to talk about several things nerds appreciate. We are both working on writing books, we both like video games, we both like playing music, and we both like engineering.

I create a mental list of everything I hear him say. I try to remember as much as I can about this conversation because it was so jammed with more things to bring up in the future. It was different than talking to an adult or authority figure. He seemed pleased to talk to me and laughed at my terrible jokes and even cracked a few himself. He held the door for the entering patrons, I stood quietly as they passed and thanked them graciously for any compliments they gave because many recognized the doctor who theme and applauded my dress.

I assured him, “I’m out here to talk to you, not to get complimented I promise.” I laughed a bit nervously and he smiled and nodded, acknowledging my worry and simply tossing it aside. I glanced at his name tag, trying not to get caught. A jumble of strange letters all worked together into a simply 2 syllable name.

He stuck out his hand and said, “My name is Vincent, what’s yours?” I lightly shook his hand and quietly said, “My name is Jane .”

Just then, my uncle came out of the door and asked, “How’s it going out here Jane ?” I said, “Great! I can hold my purse if you want.” He handed it to me and I took it lightly and held it weakly in front of me. He returned to his friends and I stayed outside with my new friend.

He asked, “Aren’t you cold? Your dress doesn’t look all that warm and it’s pretty cool out here.”

I simply smiled and twirled around on my tip toes. I reply, “I barely ever get cold! I was born in December and I’ve always been warm. I’m fine but thanks for your concern.” I giggle a bit but then realize I am a bit chilly. I set aside my thought and continue the conversation. He plays video game music with a group, he is learning piano, my mental list grows and I make sure that I keep conversation going. As I said before, I’m not really a people's person but he made it easy to talk about myself and my interests especially because we shared so many of them.

What seemed like minutes was actually hours and fairly soon, my uncle came out again and said, “It’s time to find our seats. C’mon, let’s go.” I said, “Just a sec, I’ll meet you in there.” I looked up at the tall doorman, asking quietly if he has a phone. He smirked and nodded. I asked if I could text him some time and he said, “I would love that”. He recited the number and I entered it in with shaking hands. Turns out I was standing out in the cold for almost two hours. I hadn’t noticed though because the never ending conversation distracted me easily. I left him, and found my seat.

May 27, 2016 Easter

The show was great! We slowly head out with the rest of the audience after we can make our way out of the theatre and we walk through the door that he holds wide open for the departing crowd. I wave and mouth the words, “Goodbye Vincent.” with a smirk on his face, he waves back and I’m swept away with the rest of the group. I decide to text him while sitting at a small pub with my uncle and his friends. After only minutes, he texted me three times and thanked me for talking with him. He said, “Talking to you made my shift fly by and I loved our conversation.” I received questions, charming remarks, and lots of emojis. He’s very expressive even through text, I think to myself. I quickly type to keep up with his responses and questions and I ask one question myself.

I type, “How old are you?”

He types back, “How old do you think I am?”

I quickly type two twos and he replies, “Yeah! How did you guess??” I am a little sad when reading his response but tell myself, You shouldn’t have expected anything less Jane . You knew he was a man from the start. He asks if I’m 21 and I quickly type three words.

“No I’m 17” The shocked emoticons gave away his expression fully and worriedly, I asked, “Is that ok?” He responds, “Of course” and my breath escapes from my lungs even though I hadn’t realized I was holding it. Conversation at the table was dying down so we packed up.

While my uncle drove me to his house, the conversation blossomed and continued to take flight. Even when I got home around 2am on Easter morning the talk hadn’t faltered. I was not even tired. I thought to myself, "I can’t possibly think of sleeping now."

I feel like Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady” when she sings “I could have danced all night.” My version would be “I could’ve texted all night” but that doesn’t really have the same ring to it. Too many syllables. Slowly but surely, I can feel fatigue taking hold of me around 3:30 am. I decide to call it a night and he cheerily sends a nice long goodnight text. On Easter Day I woke up and grabbed my phone. I checked my messages. Yes! I hadn’t just dreamt it all! I had really met him and we had all those conversations! I hug my phone closely to my body and smile.

We don’t talk much today. Our families take most of our time but I asked for a couple pictures and he graciously obliged. I send him a few nice and silly pictures and am a bit taken aback when he says “Haha cute.”

Weeks passed and our conversation continued easily and before long, we knew a lot more about each other. However, as time went on, robotics and school take more of my time and talk fades slightly. The robotics competition is just days away! I type on my phone all of the information and hit send. He said he can’t make it to the competition because he has school but he would love to have lunch with me! I call him before walking into IHOP with my friends from my class and wait for the ringing to stop. He picks up the phone and quietly says hello. We talk through the details and then our second meeting is less than a day away.

April 7th, 2016

I wake up early and rush to get ready for robotics. My change of clothes already packed in my bag, I rush down to the arena with my father. It is only 8 am but the buzzing energy keeps me from freaking out too much about seeing him again. I work hard on the robot (it is nowhere near ready for the field) and 10:45 rolls around quicker than I thought it would.

I rush to the bathroom with my bag to change my clothes and I slip into my cute skirt, red doctor who t shirt, and long trench coat. My heart speeds up as my mother drives me to the food court that we agreed to meet at. I run out and she says she’ll be back soon.

I text him quickly, “I’m here! Where are you?”

He replies, “I’m kind of in the back corner.”

We had talked about giving each other a hug and I had no idea if it would really happen or not. There's a large wall as I walk down the middle of the dining area. I look from left to right and wonder if I’m even in the right place. The wall dips down a bit so it is at the height of my shoulder and I see him. Our eyes meet and we both smile awkwardly. I place my bag on the ground and before I can even say hello, my arms are wrapped around him in a close embrace.

I love hugs but there was something about this hug. I don't know if it was the fact that he didn't let go quickly or the fact that my face was pressed snugly against his chest, but I was so comfortable. He let go and I let my hands linger on his waist a moment while looking up at him. Our eyes broke and we both giggled awkwardly.

We talked about more nerdy stuff and I learned even more about him. Like the fact that he is literally the slowest eater ever. We were there maybe an hour and he had to get to class so a pang of sadness led to us collecting our things and having another close hug. We walked out together and I found my mother sitting near the exit finishing her food. She stood, introduced herself, and shook his hand. We awkwardly waved and exchanged goodbyes and he was gone. I continued to work hard at robotics until the day came to an end and for the next days after that. We got a terrible placing but I was still proud that we worked hard and tried our best. Vincent and I continued to talk but school, work, and other activites got in the way of us even texting anymore. A few months passed and then I decided to text him again.

He apologized profusely for being so, and I quote, “incommunicado”.

I asked if he had memorial day off and he said of course! We planned and got ready to meet at my favorite Italian restaurant on the 30th.

May 30, 2016

He texted me asking if we could move it to 12:30. We had planned on noon but I had no other plans so I agreed. He said he has to go pick up salt with his mom. I asked why he needed so much salt and suggested that he was using it for demon hunting. He said it was for the water softener and that demon hunting was more of a hobby.

His sense of humor is so similar to mine. We joke over text and know when the other person is joking. It’s so easy with him. I drive down to the restaurant and begin to wait with the present for his birthday in hand. His birthday was only four days ago and I had gotten him a special tshirt from the NY Nintendo store and a few other little things. I placed the gift bag on the table and waited for his arrival.

All the staff asked if I was waiting for my mother and I had to shut down their thoughts with the introduction of a boy. They all ooh’d and ahh’d but I just laughed it off. I was focused on my phone when he easily slid into the booth across from me. We exchanged hellos and he apologized for being late (it was nearing one o’clock). We ordered, he opened his presents (he loved them), and we continued talking and catching up.

He thanked me for the shirt, explaining he needs more nerdy shirts for his time at Gamer Rhapsody. We ate and talked merrily for a couple hours (again he is the slowest eater) and then by the time we were done, it was 2:45. We got our laptops from our cars and walked across the street to a coffee shop to get some drinks and write. We sit at a tall table and my feet dangle and barely touch the foot bar of the chair. He chuckles seeing my struggle and I stifle a smile. I start to gush about my recent trip to NYC and I grab my laptop to show him a few pictures.

I press a few keys and loud noises flood my laptop speakers. I quickly close it but the sounds persist. Feeling the eyes of the coffee shop on me, my cheeks flush and I quickly and rather erratically try to remove the power source for the noisy computer. The battery is removed and the sounds stop. My face, now bright red, turns to him and we both break into laughter. I feel my self esteem rising as he reassures me that I shouldn’t be embarrassed and that I’m totally fine. We giggle a bit more together and then resume our conversation. We talk about the books we are writing and before we know it, its 4 o’clock and he says he needs to leave. He begins to pack up but then says, “I guess I can stay for just a bit longer.” My face brightens and I feel my heart flutter. We again talk about our books and another half hour flies by.

“I do actually need to go now Jane ” he said with a sad tone to his voice.

I say, “That’s alright. Let’s walk to our cars.”

We both stand and before I can gather my things, I’m engulfed in his arms. He holds me with just the right amount of pressure. I was a bit surprised that he so willingly hugged me again. He had texted me earlier saying that he didn’t usually like hugging people but that he really likes hugging me. I tried not to think too much of it but I guess this proved it. After we finally break away, we walk back and I skip slightly, making him shake his head and laugh.

We get to his car and he says, “Wait a sec.”

I hold my laptop bag in my arms and he opens his car, places his laptop in the front seat and asks kind of shyly, “Can I have another hug?” I of course agree.

I place my bag in the front seat and I grab him, pressing my face into his chest. I am so comfortable and could stay like this forever but I can’t let him know that so as soon as he lets go, I do too. I don’t know when I’ll see him again but I hope it is soon. I know so much about him now and we connect in so many different ways. I grab my bag and walk slowly to my car, looking behind me to see him wave before getting into his. I wave back with a not so cheerful smile on my face and finally get in my car.

I place my laptop in the passenger seat and let out a huge breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. I hit my steering wheel, trying to stifle a shouting curse word. I’m in love with him! How did I let this happen!!?? He’s so caring and listens to me and never says anything mean. I’m just not used to being treated like such a princess. I drive home and try not to think too much about the events of the day.

Mid June

We continue to text almost everyday and there is a particular night that I was not expecting. I kind of hinted at a kiss. I know I shouldn’t have but he’s always honest with me and never judges so I decided, why not.

His response was, “Well, I’ve thought about it too.” I didn’t pry. Well... I basically did. I said, “And?”

He seemed to like the idea but then conversation shifted to some video games. He shifted the conversation back by saying, “What if, theoretically, we kissed before I left.” I knew he had to leave for his summer work. He would be going to DC, Atlanta, and Boston. I was also traveling to France for a month. I didn’t know how to respond… I was kind of shocked…

I asked, “Before you leave for work?”

He said, “Yeah, why not?”

I had no reason on why we shouldn’t. I just didn’t know it would be happening this soon. I had thought about kissing him in the past but I never thought he would want to.

I reply, “I’m ok with that” and we started planning our next meeting. June 20th it is. We plan on going to Panera with my mother (She had to meet him at some point) and then I counted down the days.

June 20

I woke up way too early and was ready to go about an hour before I was supposed to meet him there. I drove separate from my mother so I could use the car all day and got there about 15 minutes early. I waited not very patiently at one of the tables facing the windows and felt my heart pounding in my chest. I rush to the back of the restaurant where I know there are water cups and cold water. I get water and quickly drink a whole cup before refilling it and returning to the table.

I check my phone about every 2 seconds, feeling the moments drag on. I get a call from him.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jane , I don’t know where it is haha.”

“Oh, well, what do you see?”

“The movie theatre is next to me”

“Great, to the left of the movie theatre there should be stairs, go down those and panera is straight ahead”

“Oh ok one sec”

I see him descend the stairs and say, “I see you!” He chuckles and says see ya. He hangs up the phone and I watch as he enters through the door. I wave and he smiles. I stand and he looks around looking puzzled.

“Isn’t your mom supposed to be here?”

I smile and say, “Yeah but she wanted to wait till you got here. She’s shoe shopping or something.”

I text her that he’s here and give him a quick hug before figuring out what configuration to sit in. he sits by the wall and I sit next to him.

My mother comes in and we walk up to order. Conversation is awkward at first but then gets easier as he starts to grow on my mother. I like how she chuckles at him, it shows she likes him. I don’t talk much because I don't have much to say. He and my mother talk nicely and strike up good conversation while we all eat. We finish our food and my mother leaves.

We walk out of the restaurant and make our way to the interior of the mall. We walk to a small video game store and look with wide eyes at the new releases and the oldies but goodies. We quietly chat and soon enough, we are walking out and heading towards our cars.

He tells me which movie theatre to drive to and I ask, “Can’t we just go to the theatre here?”

He looks at me quite shocked and says, “No! We need to have comfy seats. It’s kind of a necessity.”

I laugh at him, knowing that the comfy seats also mean being close enough to cuddle and wave to him as we go to our separate cars. He calls me while I’m driving. I pick up surprised and he asks, "Where are you?"

I state which road I’m on and he said, "Oh, I thought you were going to follow me."

“Oh whoops, I’ll just see you there I guess.”

I make it there first, sneakily jump over a small wall that is there to get to the restrooms and patiently wait for him to get there. He texts that he's here and I see him walk in. We look at the board of movies trying to decide and he asks which one I want. I legitimately have no preference so I tell him that.

He says, “Well, there’s a movie starting in, hmmm, seven minutes. Wanna see that?” I shrug and say sure. I hand him a ten dollar bill and he goes up to get the tickets. I run back to my car and grab a not-so-large fuzzy red blanket. He looks at me a little confused so I lie and say, “I always get cold in movie theatres.”

We walk to the correct theatre and find out seats just moments before the lights go down. I sit quite awkwardly for I’ve never sat this close to him before. I dare not part my eyes from the screen for the first couple previews but I build up my courage and ask him, “Do you want some blanket?” He says sure in a low voice and I lift up the arm rest that is between us and move a bit closer. I throw some blanket over his legs and torso and lean my head on his shoulder. He leans his head against mine and I get butterflies. I sit up a bit and our eyes meet for a moment. We both smile and look away like we’re a part of some cheesy romance movie.I get pretty excited about some of the previews and he smiles at me and quietly chuckles.

He leans over and comments on the preview and asks, “Have you ever noticed that people in movies always have to coolest flashlights?” I was so surprised by his weird comment that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud then cover my mouth.

The movie begins and our eyes are locked on the screen. Well his are at least. Mine wander every so often to his face so I can breathe in every moment of being with him. I don’t know when I’ll get to see him again so I make sure every second counts. About halfway through the movie I feel his hand shift and lightly grab hold of mine. I feel a rush of goosebumps run up my legs and part of my arms, like an electric shock had caused all my hair to stand on end. I grab his hand back and look at him. He is simply looking at the screen, not letting me look into his eyes. He lightly plays with my hands and lets his fingers trace mine. He adds in his second hand and grabs my second hand.

I think to myself, “I wonder what will happen if I do that. Should I? I’m just gonna go for it...” I take one of my hands away and use my hand to get his attention. I wave him closer like I’m going to whisper in his ear and I lightly place a kiss on his cheek. I pull away and his eyes say it all. They say, “Can I kiss you now?”.

We tilt our heads to the left and slowly get closer. Our lips touch softly and I feel his strong hands on my arms, slowly petting my skin. Our lips part and meet again. It feels like he has kissed me for hours and when we finally pull away, we smile and I snuggle up on his shoulder while we continue to watch the movie. We kiss a few more times as the movie continues and every time we do, I get butterflies and wish he could be mine.

The movie ends, the lights come up, we put our recliners back to their original position, he stands up to stretch, I fold up the blanket. He sits back down and places another light kiss on my lips before standing and offering me his hand. I take it lightly and stand. We make a stop at the restrooms and make our way out to his car. I drop off my blanket at my car before rushing back over. He is still standing outside of his car and I shoot him a confused look. He slowly opens his door and grabs a card that is laying near the armrest and slowly uses it to pry off a bumblebee that is on the roof of his car. All that runs through my head is “He is such a gentle giant.”

The bee buzzes away and with a smile I ask, “Shall we?”

“We shall,” he answers confidently.

I sit in the passenger seat which is set a little too far back. I'm basically laying down. I look over at him and giggle before changing the angle of my seat so I can sit upright.

I quickly blurt out, “You’re a good kisser. Just so you know.”

He chuckles and struggles to look me in the eyes as he says, “You’re pretty good too.”

I confidently say, “Hey, thanks” and giggle uncontrollably.

Changing the subject, I ask, “So where to next?”

He says, “Well, there is a park not too far from here. I was thinking we could walk around in the woods and talk.”

I nod and say, “Good plan.”

I ask him to explain how his last relationship ended because he told me he would tell the story. He said he would when we got to the park. I understood, talking and driving at the same time is pretty hard. He put on some video game music and we were off. We took about a five minute car ride and then we parked in a small neighborhood. I gave him my wallet and my phone to hold in two of his many pockets and said he was my pack mule.

He said, "I am ok with this" and took hold of my hand before pulling me in for another light kiss. I giggled uncontrollably again. "Why am I so awkward?" I ask myself. With his hand still in mine, we walk down the street and talk about video games. He explained the plot of Fire Emblem to me and I tried to follow along. He knows so much more about video games and music than I do so I’m always fascinated to learn from him. I skipped happily along the trail and he laughed at me. I would get too far ahead and then rush back to him only to tickle his stomach. He laughed and grabbed my hands not too roughly. I had never be held so powerfully without pain in the past. The words “gentle giant” still reverberated through my head. His hands still holding my tickling fingers, he leans down from his six foot stature and lightly place another kiss on my lips. A cyclist passes to our right but we don’t mind. We are in our own world of relaxed conversation and pressed lips.

We continue walking and come to a split in the path. To the left, a paved continuation of our path, the center, a slight incline with a dirt path, the right, a large incline with several roots and rocks sticking in the way of the ascent.

He looks to me and says, “Which way should we go?”

I look at him and letting go of his hand I say, “I always love a bit of adventure.”

I rush up the right path with the highest incline, careful not to trip on the many protruding roots. I get to the top and look down at him. He rushes up after me and I have him go first down the steep decline. My new sandals are not quite made for this type of hiking but I take my chances. He goes down slowly and finds a small place with not many roots and sits easily. I slowly make my way down the decline and almost trip at the bottom but he stands quickly and catches me. I thank him, place a small kiss on his cheek, and sit next to him. An overlay of leaves from the surrounding trees shield our eyes from the bright rays of the sun reflecting off the Mississippi River and we find a small area with minimal roots to sit on.

His arm around me, he begins the story of his ex girlfriend. Depressed, anxious, always pressuring him to marry her. I reassured him without even thinking, “I would never put pressure on you to marry me.”

I blushed brightly and covered my face. “I didn’t mean to say it that way I just…. uhhhh.”

He rubbed my shoulder lightly with his hand and took me into his arms, “It’s ok Jane, I know what you meant.”

My blushing subsided enough to look up at him. His eyes looked down into mine and I felt safe there in his arms. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him close to me before pulling away and kissing his lips lightly. My glasses bump his nose and make it more difficult to turn.

After a few kisses, he pulls away and asks, “Can I take off your glasses?”

I nod and he slowly removes them and tucks them into his shirt.

He looks back to me and says, “There, now I can kiss you easier and look into those beautiful eyes of yours.”

Again and again and again our lips meet in a symphony of light breathtaking kisses. He pulled away and a little out of breath, he said, “It’s really nice kissing you. I think you’re the best kisser that I’ve ever kissed.”

I stopped dead in my tracks and automatically said, “No, I can’t possibly be.”

I asked how many people he had kissed. He said 4.

I said, "Then I can’t possibly be the best. I am probably the least experienced."

He simply rested his hand on my cheek and said, “I don’t think it depends on whether or not you’re experienced. I think it depends on whether or not I feel drawn to kiss the person or not and I’m very drawn to kissing you. And they just keep getting better.”

Another light kiss and his hand moves to my waist. I gasp a bit and he apologized and moves his hand.

I say, “It’s fine, I was just a bit surprised.” He replaced his hand and I slowly kiss across his jaw line to his ear, a spot that he had told me about that he loves to be kissed. I lightly suck his earlobe and kiss all around his ear. A symphony of sighs escape his lips and I almost giggle as I feel his hand starting to go limp against my waist. I kiss back over to his lips and he slowly kisses to my neck, being ever so careful to not push me over in the process.

We continue kissing and breaking away to tell stories and have deep conversations. This is the most comfortable I have been with anyone. I could never simply break away from a kiss and begin talking before, but with Vincent, it seems natural to let conversation ensue and keep communication alive. A few hours roll by and he sadly pulls out his phone to check the time. I ask what time we should leave he replies 8:30. It is 8 and we hold each other and continue our conversation as the sun begins to dip lower in the sky. 8:30 rolls around in no time at all and I stand up brush off and begin walking back up the steep incline.

He calls for me, “Wait”. I stop, he waves me back a bit. I go to where he stands beckoning me and I hug him.

He says, “Stand up here.”

There is a root that creates kind of a step. I stand on it and I am the same height if not slightly taller than him. I hug him around his neck and easily kiss him. He holds me there for a few minutes knowing that the day is slowly coming to an end. I love the feeling of his hands on my waist. They feel right. I continue to kiss him for a few moments more until he takes my hands from his neck and leads me up the incline.

He asks, “You hungry?” I reply truthfully which in this case is no, not really. I leave out the part about being too anxious to eat.

He says, “Well I am. How about Culvers?” I nod rapidly and slightly stick my tongue out of my mouth. He holds my hand as we walk back towards his car and goes on and on about some of the character descriptions for his book. I listen intently, trying to recreate them in my head and add each characteristic. We get back to his car and I as for my phone and wallet back. He takes them from his pockets and begins to hand them back to me but then quickly takes them just out of my reach.

“There’s a fee for holding these.”

I raise my eyebrows and say, “Oh yeah? What is it?”

He leans in close to me and whispers, “I think you know.”

I lightly kiss his lips again and move my hands to his neck. Then I quickly grab my phone and wallet from his hands without a word and pull my lips from his. I wink and say thanks. He starts the car and we get to Culvers fairly quickly. I check my phone and see that my sister has called and texted a few times. I decide to call her back and I ask him to wait a few minutes. He nods and lightly rests his head on my shoulder while I stroke his hair and talk to my sister. I ask her is she wants to say hi to him and put her on speaker. They exchange hellos and she apologizes for interrupting. I hang up the phone and ask him if he’s ready.

He says, “Yeah I’m ready but can we just wait in here a couple minutes?” I nod and get close to him. I rest my head on his chest and wrap my arms around him he kisses my head and runs his hands lightly on my back. I don’t want this time to end but I know he is terribly hungry so I let him from my grip and get out of the car, swiping his phone so quickly that he doesn’t notice. I hide it behind my back and he gets out of the car too.

He pats down his pockets and feeling something is missing, he checks back in his car. I hold it up, lightly waving it at him and giggle. He scrunches up his nose at me, grabs the phone from my grip, and follows me into the restaurant. I order chicken, he gets a burger. I barely eat anything, too anxious. He slams the whole burger faster than I’ve ever seen him eat anything before and some onion rings. I rub my hand on his back and have a feeling of dread. He tells me he probably needs to leave for his friends house around 9 and it is already 8:45. I ask if he needs to be gone in a hurry and he says, “They will call me when they need me.” I nod and get a box for my barely touched food. We sit for a few minutes, he kisses me on the cheek, not caring who sees and yet another wave of butterflies washes over me.

We walk out to the car and we drive back to the cinema where my car is still parked. We pull into the parking lot and it is now pitch black outside except for the lights littering the not so crowded parking lot.

I am about to open my door and walk out but he says quietly, “Wait a sec.” I do as he commands and he removes the middle console that separates us in the car and shifts himself so his body is closer to mine. He hits his head a bit on the roof of the car (His car is very short and he is quite the opposite) and a crazy idea pops into my head.

Without really thinking first, I blurt out, “My car is a lot bigger you know.” He raises his eyebrows, smiles, and says, “Oh yeah?” I grab his hand and say yeah. I get out of his small car and skip to my car. I unlock it with a touch of a button and easily climb in. His head doesn’t hit the ceiling and we easily get closer and kiss just enough in the back seat. I feel his phone buzz in his pocket a few times, assumed texts from his friend. After about two or three times of this, he removes his phone from his pocket, places it face down on the floor of my car, and continues to lightly kiss me and tell me how much he enjoyed the day we had.

A few more buzzes later and after more than a few kisses, he picks up his phone to look at it. Its a call from the person he is supposed to meet, Austin. He picks it up and places it up to his right ear his left arm still around my waist. I kiss his neck and move to his ear. His speech slurs a bit as he attempts to respond to Austin's inquiries. He hangs up the phone and sighs heavily, gripping my waist a bit. I ask him questions but continue kissing his ear. His answers slur and turn to mush before escaping his lips. He whispers my name and I think, Should I do this? Oh, what the heck, let’s go for it.

I ask after pulling away from his ear, “Can I try something?” He says sure. I ask him to scoot a little closer. He does as asked and I easily swing one of my legs over him and straddle him. His eyes widen a bit and he lets out a woah.

I apologize but he says, "No, you’re fine."

He grips my hips and I kiss him a bit roughly. He moves to my neck and continues to kiss lightly and lovingly. As he kisses my neck, my mouth is just close enough to his ear that I can lightly whisper something along the lines of, “I wonder why all people in movies have such cool flashlights.” He pulls away from my neck and laughs. We look into each others eyes and I get out of my straddling position.

I ask, “Since Austin called, does that mean you need to go?” He looks at me and I can see sadness reflecting off his eyes even in the low light of the parking lot. He nods and says, “I wish this day didn’t have to end.” I felt exactly the same way. I hugged him close and he asked, “Will you come back with me to my car so I can give you a few more proper hugs?” I nod and slowly follow him back to his car, his hand in mine. I hug him close to me and he holds me easily in his arms. I take his hand and lightly kiss his palm.

“There. If you ever miss kissing me, you have a special one.”

He says easily, “If you ever miss kissing me…” He trails off and begins to lean in for another loving kiss on the lips but pulls away chuckling and lightly places a kiss on the palm of my hand. We clasp our hands together once more and I place a few more kisses on his cheeks and lips. He hugs me again long and firmly but not enough to hurt me. I feel secure and happy and I wish he wouldn’t let go. I know he has to but I wish it wasn’t so soon.

He says, “Alright Jane, have a good summer. And not in a high school yearbook kind of way but actually have a good summer, ok?” I say I will and wish him the same. It will be time for school to start before we see each other again.

I say, “Alright, this is the part where I say something I’m gonna regret then walk away, OK?”

He gives me a confused look and I simply say, “You have a bulge problem you need to work on.” I run away quickly and he gives me a very confused glance. He rushes after me and keeps asking me what I said. I kiss him again lightly on the lips and enunciate so can easily understand. I quickly glance down at his crotch area and back to his eyes and I see the realization by the look on his face. His face shows that he is absolutely mortified. He apologized profusely and I just laugh and tell him he has nothing to worry about. I kiss him again and tell him to go to Austin’s house. I glance back at him from my car and our eyes meet. He is still chuckling about my comment and I yell, “Have a great summer ok?” He smiles and gets in his car after a small wave. I get in my car too and the emptiness begins to set in. Not the emptiness of my heart, my heart is full of emotion. The emptiness I feel because I will not be able to feel that way again for months. I get in my car and tell myself I will not cry. Two lonely tears stream down. One from each eye. I wipe them aside and began the long drive home, reliving every detail of the day. I get home, told most of the story to both of my parents and then went to sleep and dreamt of him.

To be continued.....