Chapter Five - Sometimes it's Okay to Turn your Head.

The fire burned intensely; needing refueling every night around 10:30 when his swing shift would end at Chevron.

I'd wait for him...sometimes even show up a little early.

I was going to school most mornings and working most afternoons, and he was working most evenings.

The 10:30 - as late as I could get away with while living under the same roof as my parents - schedule was one we lived with for quite a while.  It's amazing how few hours of sleep one needs while tending to the coals of a newly formed flame.

The lapsed time between the first date and the second was invigorated with nightly trips to SconeCutter and basement movie "watching."

Although "watching" could probably be considered a relative term.

We were not apart for one night; it was infatuation at its' best.

Our second date was an actual group date and involved a group of people with whom I had had no real experiences with.

They were older, and one especially, thought she was so much cooler.

She may have been more cool before, but she had not yet met the new me.

We were supposedly going bungee jumping, a request which I backhandedly complied with.

I wore sandals.
(Sandals are not allowed...he.he.he).

He busted me on the sandals.
The stars were aligned in my favor though, because when we arrived at our destination we discovered the tower had closed.
Shoot.
So, our group collectively decided to go inside the 49th street Galleria and bowl.
Amidst the clapping of pins knocking into one another, and awkward I do not know you, so I'll laugh at whatever pretentiousness...the older girl attempted to make everyone do push-ups if they got a gutter ball.

Fat Chance, as if I was going to do that.

She looked at me disgustedly and said, "Hey! Get down and do them."

I glanced her way and calmly said, "Um...no. I'm pretty sure I don't have to do push-ups just because you told me to."

The tone of my response may have vaguely resembled "you can go to hell."

The older girl then whined to her date about the fact that I was refusing to be bossed around.

It was awesome.

He smiled.

My red heels were capable of handling their own business, thank you very much.

The drive back home was infinitely longer due to the fact that the older girl and her date were our drivers.

But, longer drives were so much more fun when he sat next to me.

He walked me to my front door, mentioned how nice of a time he had had, and leaned in.

I knew it was coming.

His friend had glanced over his shoulder as we exited his car and said with his eyes, "Good luck."

I wanted to be kissed.

But, not on my front porch...it just felt so contrived.

So...I turned my head.

On purpose.

I wanted the first one to be special.

And...when it came...

It was.