The Date
Exercised. Showered. Makeup-ed. Primped. Perfect outfit. Ready.
In two minutes, he will be here, I’m guessing. I pace by the window, watching for him. Neither Dad nor Jackson are home yet. Even though Dad wanted to meet him, I’m glad he isn’t here. Way too awkward, though I know Brian would have risen to the occasion and shook Dad’s hand with a smile. He’s just that kind of a nice guy.
I notice a few rust spots on Brian’s car as he pulls into our driveway, and my heart does a dance. I burst out of the front door before he reaches it, and he smiles. Real big.
“Ready?” he asks. His eyes are shining, brighter than the sun brightens the Gulf of Mexico with white sand underneath.
“Yes. I am.” I smile back.
He opens the car door and swings his arm. “Your chariot, my queen.” He has a silly smile on his face, one that is really starting to get to me.
As he backs up the car, my heart is thudding in my chest so hard he must be able to hear it. “Where are we going?”
“Many places.” He smiles. “As many as I can fit in. This is my fantasy, you know, going on a date with you.”
“Oh, I know, you’ve told me more than once,” I tease. Giggle. Didn’t know I could giggle like that.
“Just making sure you know you are making my dreams come true,” he says with a glance at me before he turns right at the stop sign.
I laugh. “I’m sure, knowing you, food will be involved at some point.”
“Oh, but of course. A cozy little place that makes the most delicious homemade comfort food.” He sneaks a peek at me. “Don’t worry, they have salad too.”
“Well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t have a salad.”
“Oh, I know, my gorgeous queen. By the way, you look amazing, surpassing my dreams, really. Stunning. Hot. Beautiful … ” He flashes me this amazing smile.
I actually blush. “Thank you.” Spent a lot of time on my hair. A smile naturally erupts on my face.
He pulls into a park.
“A park?” I ask.
“Yes, I’ve always wanted to walk through the leaves with you. Crunch them under our feet as we walk together. Besides, the trees are so colorful, and the leaves are falling like crazy, so we need to walk in them before they get soggy and covered up with snow for six months.”
“I know, right? Winter is just too long here.”
We get out, and he leads us down the blacktop path. Our feet indeed crunch the leaves as we walk. The smell of fall surrounds us with its lush heaviness.
I snuggle myself into my vest, wrapping my arms around my chest. “Love that smell. And these trees are so gorgeous. Love that red one over there, and the orange one. Wow. Just beautiful.”
“It is, isn’t it?” He stops and faces me.
“This is it,” he says.
“This is what?” I ask.
“The place I’ve dreamt of for our first kiss.”
Oh, crap. Didn’t expect this so soon. My heart is jumping up and down, screaming and hiding at the same time.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks so casually, as if he’s asking for a piece of gum.
I nod. Heart beating like I’m on a thrill ride. Nervous. Excited. Wanting it yet scared to do it at the same freaking time.
He leans over me, curves himself into the now-familiar C shape, and I go up on my tippy toes until I’m not—he’s lifting me ever so slightly, so I don’t have to stretch so much. He brings his lips to mine, and I think my heart might stop. Just before his lips touch mine, I close my eyes. He moves his lips gently over mine, but the feeling I get is not gentle. It’s strong, passion-filled, charged, and definitely hungry. Fierce and raw. His lips are soft, wet, tender, yet a bit hesitant. The sweetness of it makes me want to cry, the strength of it takes my breath away, and as he pulls back, I instantly want his lips back on mine. I take a deep breath. Holy damn, was that hot.
He takes a step back, staggers a bit, a bewildered look on his face. “Wow. That was like at least a hundred million and five times better than I ever imagined it would be.” He shakes his head, takes another step back. “I need to sit down. That was—so amazing. Wow.” He plops himself right into a pile of leaves beside the path. He looks satisfied, confused, adorably goofy. “I might just have a heart attack right here in these leaves. You destroy me.”
I giggle and hop over to join him. Giggling seems so foreign to me, yet it’s just spilling out. My heart feels like it could crash in on itself yet soar off into the sky. I’m sitting right next to him, our sides touching, even our hips, every speck, and as he puts his arm around me, I lean my cheek against his chest. I feel safe, wanted, perfect. Damn good. He rubs my arm with his fingers.
“Not that I want to know, in case it wasn’t as good for you, but was it?”
I smile the sexiest smile I know how to and say, “Yes. It was amazing, Brian. Hot.” I raise an eyebrow.
He places his free hand over his heart. “Wow! Really? No kidding?” he asks as he looks down at me with eyes widened. He throws his head back and looks up into the blue sky, then looks back at me. His eyes are so very blue, like he stole some from the sky with his gaze.
“Really.” I smile back, looking up at him, directly into his amazing eyes.
“You better stop looking at me like that, or I really will have a heart attack.” He smiles. “Wait, no, never stop. Please don’t stop.” He shakes his head vigorously.
He brings his lips to mine in a peck kiss. Then he parts his lips and caresses mine between his. Mine coaxed open, I caress back. He pulls away and sighs. I snuggle in again with my cheek against his chest. Breathe in the smell of him, which is sweet yet tangy, with a hint of mint.
He looks down at me. I meet his gaze.
“So, is your ass getting as wet as mine is?” he asks, laughing.
I laugh too, and then I can’t stop. When I can speak, I say, “Yes, very. Feeling soaked now.” I sit straight up with my arm curled around his. “These leaves look much drier than they really are.”
“Let’s take our wet asses to get something to eat.” He hops to his feet.
We run, and he chases me, and then I chase him. I tag his back, and he grabs me in a bear hug and lifts me up, twirls me through the air, then sets me down. This barely feels real.
“Come on, let’s go.” He runs to the car, and I try to beat him, but his legs are so long I don’t have a chance.
“I win,” he says out of breath as he unlocks the doors.
“No fair, your legs are like a foot longer than mine.” Being a daily runner, I’m not breathing heavy at all. I slide into the car, and I’m super relieved our very first kiss is over with. Now the dramatic first-lip-lock pressure is off, and we can just have fun—and kiss again now that we broke the ice with it right away. Smart guy.
He starts the car, backs it up, and turns out of the parking lot. “Hmpf … you’ve turned my brain to mush—it’s still back on kissing you. I can’t concentrate worth shit.” He has to make a U-turn because he apparently turned the wrong way out of the parking lot.
I laugh. “Didn’t know I had such power.”
“Hell yeah, you do.”
We drive to the restaurant, and every second I’m thinking, how did I not see this boy right in front of my nose all that time? And I almost messed it up and never knew him because I was so infatuated with Hunter. Don’t want thoughts of Hunter spoiling this—wiping him right out of my brain. Besides, Brian’s a better kisser too.
After a half hour, we’re coming near the river.
“Ah, we’re going to Stillwater,” I say. “Love this town.”
“Yep. We’re heading to a little diner my mom has taken us to for years. The food is phenomenal, all fresh, nothing frozen or loaded with preservatives. Real homemade food.”
“I can’t wait.” Though really, I can. I’m not hungry. At all.
We walk in, and the smells are unbelievable. Well, maybe I’m a little hungry.
“I know, right? Ya smell that? That’s the smell of home-cooked real food, done the right way.”
The waitress clearly knows Brian by the smile on her face as she ushers us to a booth.
“Brian, how’s your mom? She feeling OK?” She looks about fifty, with the kind of eyes I always imagined my mom would have, deep brown and warm like she’s hugging you when she looks at you.
“Hi, Kathryn. Mom is doing good, but she just went in for a biopsy, just to check, ya know.”
“You tell her hi for me. If there is anything you need—meals, whatever—you don’t hesitate to call. OK?”
“OK.”
“And your little brother, he good?”
“Yep, he’s good. Getting ready to start up basketball again soon.”
“I’ll never understand why you quit. You were so good.” She shakes her head.
“I got cut, remember? It was for the best. Mom really needed me more.”
“Right. It’s a shame, though. Who is this amazing little lovely?” she asks, hugging me with those eyes as she turns to me.
“This is Allandra. Landra, for short.” He smiles, oozing pride. “My date.”
“Nice to meet you. You sure are lovely, honey.” She nods. “I’ll give you two a few minutes to check over the menu and decide.”
Cradled by her gaze, I feel super comfy here. “You’ve obviously been here many times,” I say.
“Yep. Many, many times. Mom’s a foodie, as I’ve said before, so she likes to take us out to eat when she has the money to do it.”
“We never go out to eat, me and Dad and Jackson. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time we did.”
“Really?” he says with a shocked look. “How is that possible?”
“It is. Never went out to eat, for like years. In fact, we barely even ate meals together at home, for like the last six years.” I look at the table. “After Mom died, I mean.”
“Oh, Landra,” he says. “I always wondered what happened to your mom. You never mention her.”
“She died when I was nine. After that, mostly, my dad and Jackson hung out in their rooms when they weren’t at work or school or football. So, I just started hanging out in my room too. It was better than sitting alone at the kitchen table or in the living room.”
“How lonely. I’m so sorry,” he says. His eyes are chock full of compassion and love. I wish I’d had those eyes with me the last six years.
“I don’t know. We just never ate at our table together much, except a rare holiday meal every so often that Dad bought ahead of time and warmed up. Otherwise, he and Jackson would load up plates and go to their rooms to eat. I’m talking for like years, until recently, when my dad starting dating this woman Christine. Now she’s cooking for us, and we are eating all together at the table, like all the time.” I smile. “It’s kind of nice.”
He puts his hands on mine in the middle of the table. “I bet it is nice,” he says, and squeezes my hands. “Well, I can’t imagine ever not making meals at home. We’re always cooking, me and my mom.”
“Yeah, well, you like to cook. At first, Dad would make sandwiches and leave them on the counter. But most of the time Jackson would eat both. Then the sandwiches stopped, and we had to fend for ourselves. Sometimes Dad would order pizza or Chinese takeout, but that was the extent of our eating out, pretty much.” And oh, then there’s the fake Mom I made up. But I’m not about to tell him that. He’ll think I’m a psycho, a freak. I always thought of it like I was a kid, making up an imaginary friend to eat with, play with, pretend existed. Told myself it wasn’t so bad. I shake my head and start in on a new topic. I smile at him to show him I’m really OK, and I ask, “What are you going to order?”
He smiles too and looks at the menu. “Oh, I might have to get the fried chicken with biscuits, or maybe the pot pie, or maybe a burger.”
I giggle. “You are in heaven here, like it’s your candy store.”
“Oh, so right. Well, we will hit that later too, after our walk along the river.” He smirks but doesn’t look up from the menu. Mr. Foodie in his glory.
He’s super cute, but how am I going to eat all this? Dinner and a candy store? I don’t care. I just like to look at his face and watch him as he reads the descriptions. He moves his mouth as if he’s tasting the words, sticks out his tongue a tiny bit in the corner of his mouth, pulls it back in. I’m smiling at him as he looks up.
“Whoa, shut up. Are you actually watching me?” The look of disbelief on his face is utterly satisfying and so much fun.
“I guess I am.”
He grins and sits back. “Well, I’ll be damned. I didn’t think this night could get any better.”
I just laugh. “That OK?”
“Better than OK. Even though I get to be with you, you are fully stocking my fantasy shelf.”
“I aim to please.” I give him a teasing, sexy smile. The boy who was always doing the crushing is getting crushed on.
He gives me a sexy look right back, raising an eyebrow. Then he looks at the menu, then back at me as I’m still gazing at him. “Damn, you are a distraction. Look at your menu and pick something, will you? I can’t think worth shit with you looking at me like that.”
I just want to kiss his mouth right now. But I don’t. I’m a good girl and look at the menu. We order. He gets a mushroom and swiss cheeseburger and fries. I order the grilled chicken salad with tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and leafy greens, with fries on the side. It’s the best damn food. He’s so right. He tries to pay, but Kathryn insists it’s on the house this time. We nod at her and those eyes of hers, and she smiles at us as we leave the diner.
As we walk along the river, my belly full, sexy smiles still flinging between us, I manage to settle my pulse for a moment. My heart likes this. A lot. The river is alluring, and it’s haunting how the brown water drags itself along without rest. Its beauty reveals itself under the lamplights as we mosey along. But with all those calories riding around in my gut, I wish I could run along this path instead of walk.
He grabs my hand, raises our hands up, and asks, “This OK?”
I nod. More than OK.
He swings our arms together as we walk. The light breeze is cold but refreshing. I feel all pink, inside and out, and it’s nice.
We walk toward a gazebo up ahead. It looks like the kind of place a couple would get married in. We walk up the steps and stare out at the ever-moving river. He pulls me over to the bench to sit. The concrete is cold and seeps easily through my jeans. Our silence is loaded as I give in to my urge and crawl into his lap. His eyes are wide as I settle in while staring up at his face, which is spreading into a wide smile with a twist of sexiness and a flash of joy-filled shock.
“Wow. I mean, my fantasies of you were amazing, but they are nothing, I mean nothing, when compared to the real you.” He takes a breath and then lets it out slowly.
I just laugh and shake my head, making my curls bounce. “You make me feel so good, Brian Smith.”
He throws his head back and shouts. “Yasss! I’m the fucking luckiest guy in the world!”
His loudness makes me jump, giving my racing heart a massive jolt, and then I am laughing, wondering if people nearby are staring at us, but I can’t tell in the dim light. He lowers his head and curves toward me, then puts his lips on mine. They are so supple and swift as he moves them against mine. Sweet and hungry, they entice my mouth open with a gentle nudge, and in a flash we are kissing like mad. My heart is pounding so hard, and when I place my hand on his chest, I feel his beating just as hard if not harder, and the world is swirling, and I’m chasing it because it’s too good to lose any piece of this. I cannot believe this guy—the one who seriously drove me nuts, pestering me day after day, the one who I wanted to swat away like a hungry mosquito—is the same one whose lap I’m sitting in, kissing his brains out. And I’m loving it.
He pulls away and says, “You make me feel even better.”
I snuggle into his chest, and he holds me as we watch the river going by, carrying a large log along with it. I’m feeling the cold now, but with his body curved around mine, I’m still somewhat warm. He kisses the top of my head, and it feels so tender, so kind, so real, and I don’t really deserve it, but here I am, and I don’t want to move.
After like five minutes, he says, “Let’s go get some luscious candy. I know the perfect morsels for sale, fit only for a queen such as yourself.”
“OK, I am getting kind of cold. I could use a walk to warm me up.”
We walk through the cute little town of dark red brick buildings, cross the quaint Main Street lined with shops with sidewalk displays and brightly lit lantern streetlamps, and reach The River Stop Candy Shop in no time. The outside walls of the store are lined with stacks of weathered red brick with black veins zigzagging through them like rivers. The sign is an old-time ship overflowing with all kinds of candies.
The inside of the store glows, and the golden light and colors spill outside, and really, I don’t even want to go in and breathe that air—in a store like this, even the air is filled with calories. But Brian pulls me in, and since now I seem to have become attached to him, I follow along willingly. The smells are amazing inside, the colors gorgeous, and of course Brian knows the candy maker behind the counter, his name is Hank. Hank and Brian talk and catch up as I walk along the counter. I’m actually scared to eat this stuff. I mean like scared. I just can’t. I walk along and see sparkly gum drops, chocolate truffles and turtles, licorice sticks, colorful taffy, colorful gummies of all sorts, suckers, chocolate covered berries, and hard candies in every color possible. It’s all really quite beautiful.
Brian orders four chocolate truffles for us, then asks me, “See anything else you want, my queen?”
I shake my head. “Nope, I trust your culinary instincts for what’s best.” I smile, wondering how I’m going to shove these evil fat pieces into my mouth and not throw them back up instantly. I’m going to be a busy girl on the treadmill tomorrow.
We wave bye to Hank. Brian’s smiling at me as we exit. “I can’t wait for you to taste these. They are totally amazing.”
He has two bags in his hands, and he notices me notice. “Got some for Mom too, to cheer her up.”
“That’s so sweet of you, Brian.”
We drive to my house, and he walks me to the door. I say a quick prayer that Dad and Jackson aren’t looking out at us, because I fully intend to kiss this boy again before our night is over.
“So, tomorrow, when I take you out to dinner and a movie … ”
I cut him off by saying, “I’m so in.” I smile up at him, take a step closer so our bodies are touching.
He grins down at me. I go up on my tippy toes, and he has to bend down more to get our lips near each other. Then he is picking me up, and I wrap my legs around his torso—he’s raised me so high that my head is slightly above his, and I have to curve down to him. It’s so fluid, like a cartoon, his movements so effortless. We kiss, and it’s even better than our last kiss, and my body might shoot off into the night sky if he doesn’t hold on to me tight.
He lowers me down. “You are the most amazing person I know. You are beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, hot, and you make my day every day I get to be next to you.”
I laugh. “You’ve got me now—you don’t need to lay it on so thick.”
“Oh, I’m not. I really mean all of that. And more.” He strokes my cheek. “My lovely queen. Sleep well. I will see you tomorrow.”
I put my hand on his chest. “Thanks for everything. It was really truly all awesome. Magical, even.”
“Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?” He starts walking toward his car. “Oh, I forgot the candy. Wait there.” He runs to the car to get the bag.
Darn. I was hoping I was in the clear.
“You’ve got to try this truffle.” He pulls out a robust little truffle, shiny brown with a red swirl and red sprinkles on top. He holds it up, I open up, and he pops it into my mouth.
It is amazing. I mean like ah-ma-zing. Its richness enfolds me. He laughs and says, “That good, huh?”
I nod.
He eats one, and his face lights up. “Just as amazing as last time. Knocks my socks off, that candy maker Hank—dude’s a genius.” He hands me the bag. “All yours, to keep for yourself or share with your family. My treat.”
“Thank you, Brian.”
“No, thank you.” He’s walking back to his car. “Can’t wait until tomorrow. How about four o’clock?”
“OK.”
I go inside and lean against the door. I have never been this excited in my entire life. Ever.