Moonlight Kisses

santa monica pier

The air reeks of sea salt and fast food at the Santa Monica Pier. The bright neon lights illuminate the pathway, it really is a sight. All these months I've lived just 20 minutes from here and I never thought once to drive over and just walk around. The best time to be here is a night because everything comes to life. The lights, the people, the whole atmosphere just amplifies after 6 pm.

And the best part about it is that I'm here with someone who I care about and who actually enjoys it with me. Don't get me wrong, Sophie is the best company one could ever have, but her tastes are more...posh. She'd much rather spend a Friday night getting a spa treatment and her nails done. Or going shopping with her closest friends. I love doing all that stuff too, but I prefer the lively energy of screaming your lungs out on a ride and people watching others in their natural element. The families. The tourists. The couples. It's all so livening like a sweet escape from reality.

And Jake couldn't agree more.

Thank god he's not one of those guys that tries too hard to impress a girl with an expensive dinner or flowers and all that nonsense. When it comes to guys, it's the quality of their time rather than the quantity of things they do during said-time. I'm not calling this a date by any means, but it sure as hell feels like it.

I challenge Jake to a dart throwing game after he beats me at ring toss. My competitive nature can't take such a loss so I gave him the only thing I'm good at. I may not be able to fling some ring over some stupid bottle, but I can throw a mean dart thanks to the dart board my dad got when I was 11. At first it only started as a way to let off steam but then it became a full fledged sport to me. And despite how deeply I feel for Jake, I'm not letting him win so easily.

The man behind the counter hands each of us ten darts. He clearly favors Jake's odds of winning because he looks at me with a doubtful smile and asks, "Are you sure?" I glare at Jake, who is more than amused, before nodding to the man and hitting the first balloon I aim for.

"Your turn," I say with an edge of snarkiness in my voice.

Jake chuckles to himself and pops a balloon effortlessly. "You can always back out Munchkin, I won't be mad," he coos.

I raise my eyebrows and pick up two darts. "Nervous, are we?" I smile innocently as I hear the satisfying pop of two balloons.

He attempts to do the same and ends up missing one balloon. The dart merely bounces off of the balloon onto the floor. I watch it roll with a smirk. "The star quarterback can only throw with one arm. Unfortunate," I shrug.

We go back and forth with our sarcastic remarks as we throw darts left and right. By the end, I've only missed 1 shot and he missed 2. Conclusively, I won and thus my ego is boosted.

Out of pity, I give my huge stuffed polar bear I just won to Jake. "So you can wallow in your loss later," I pout.

Instead of handing it back to me or telling me off, he slings it over his shoulders and wears it on his back like a badge of pride. "I'll take it this time, but I think it's really your loss. You lost a perfectly good stuffed animal."

"Uh-huh you're right, I'm crying," I sniffle in sarcasm.

"I knew you would be, so I guess we can go by the gift shop and grab you something," he grumbles, but the hint of a smile isn't lost on his features. With the polar bear still clinging to his shoulders, he walks around like normal until we get to the gift shop.

He's walking at a generally close proximity. It's not close enough to mistakenly interpret us as a couple, but he's also not so far away like he's trying to make a run for it. Just casual friends. Platonic. That doesn't bode well for me. These past 3 hours have been nothing but friendly. Nothing different from how we were before the deal to now. I'm still glad to be able to spend this much time with him, but I just wish I had the guts to tell him about my feelings. That would make things a thousand times easier.