Time After Time 🌹 Daniel LaRusso [1]

Chapter 12: Can't Fight This Feeling

Daniel and Rosalía go to his apartment to have cake with his mother before deciding to go out alone. "Hey, maybe this could be our second date," Daniel hopefully suggests. The girl smiles at him as they walk to his new car. "Yeah! I have the perfect idea. You got room for more food?" she asks. "Yeah... what are you thinking?" he curiously questions. Rosalía giddily smiles and grabs his hand, pulling him along as she runs. "Come on," she calls. "Wait, don't you want to drive there?" Daniel asks. "We're going to the liquor store, it's right here," she answers, pointing to the store next to the apartment building.

They run into the store and look around. "Okay, get as much candy and junk food as you like, ready? Go!" Rosalía instructs, dropping Daniel's hand and rushing to the chips aisle. The boy stands there for a second, watching the girl excitedly skip around the shop. He follows her lead, going to the candy aisle and picking out all his favorite candy before moving to another aisle and doing the same thing. Rosalía approaches him with her arms full of different snacks. "You done?" she asks. Daniel turns to her, his arms also full of snacks. "Yup," he laughs. They head to the register and both pay half. The cashier bags the items and the two teens happily exit the store.

"Okay, now let's go to your car," Rosalía says. Daniel shoots her a puzzled look. "Where are we going now?" he questions. "All we've eaten is two slices of cake and we have a lot of junk in these bags. We need real food," she states. Daniel nods his head in agreement. "You're right. Where are we gonna eat?"

"You know Tacos Mexico?" the girl asks. "I've never been there," Daniel answers. They finally make it to the car and place the bags in the back. "Oh, my God, you have to try it, it's my favorite taqueria," Rosalía claims. They get into the car and Daniel starts driving. "Just tell me where to go," he tells her.

*Time skip*

(Play the song now ^)

Rosalía orders for the both of them: Two horchatas, four tacos for her, and three for Daniel, all of carne asada [grilled meat]. She pays for it, Daniel fighting her on it but she's quick to hand the money to the cashier. "I'm the one who invited you on your birthday, I'm the one who has to pay," she states. They take the order to go, and once they receive their food, they leave and Rosalía tells Daniel where to go. They eventually stop on a hill, high enough that one can overlook the city. They eat their tacos as they converse.

"This is really good," Daniel mentions after taking another bite. The girl nods. "Mhm, that's why it's my favorite... next time we're going to El Cafetal, they have karaoke and dancing, and their pupusas are so good," she says. She has so many places she wants to take him to. She loves the idea of sharing her world with him. "Can't wait," he replies, smiling widely. Rosalía finishes her last taco and reaches over her seat to grab a bag of junk food from the back. She takes out a Hershey's chocolate bar and holds the plastic bag out to the boy. "Here."

Daniel stuffs the last bit of his last taco into his mouth and grasps the bag, taking out some candy. Soft music plays through the stereo as they sit there, stuffing their faces with junk food. "This is the perfect ending to a perfect day," Daniel says out of nowhere. Rosalía's heartbeat accelerates as she warmly smiles. "It really is... oh, I almost forgot!" She bends over to grab the bag by her legs and holds it up.

"What? Another present?" Daniel questions. The girl giggles. "Yeah, I wanted to give you this one in private," she utters timidly. The boy gets nervous, wondering why it has to be in private. "What'd you do?" he teasingly asks as he opens the bag. Rosalía fiddles with her fingers, praying that he likes the gift. Daniel takes a scrapbook out of the bag and his smile broadens when he reads the title: 'I'm Really Glad You're Here.' He opens it to the first page, where there's a note neatly written:

I know you're not too excited about living in California but here are a few reminders of the things that have made your time here worthwhile. -Rosalía Juárez

He flips through the pages, which consist of many photos of him and Rosalía. Many are of just them while others include their friends. Some pages include little things such as inside jokes or souvenirs from places they visited. "Oh, my God," Daniel laughs as he stumbles upon one page. "The picture!" he excitedly shouts. On the page is a photo of five-year-old Rosalía wearing a pink dress and a big pink paper flower in her hair. She wears an angry expression as some random kid's hand is flat against her cheek. To this day, she still doesn't know who that hand belonged to or why they were touching her. Daniel laughs whenever he sees the picture and hears the girl say she doesn't know what's going on in the photo.

The next page has a hot sauce packet glued on it. It's an inside joke from the time Daniel put hot sauce in his hamburger because he mistook it for ketchup. "I hate you," he jokes as they both laugh. He finishes flipping through the book and closes it, staring down at it with a smile. Rosalía watches him expectantly. "So?" she nervously asks. The boy looks up at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "This is the best present I've ever gotten," he confesses. The girl sighs in relief.

He scoots closer to embrace her in a hug. "Thank you," he whispers. "Of course," the girl responds. They pull out of the hug and Daniel's eyes stay glued on her, admiring every detail of her face. Rosalía suddenly feels shy under his stare but doesn't say anything as she stares back. "I'm really glad I met you," Daniel mutters, gazing into her eyes. The corners of her lips curl up into a small smile. "Me too," she whispers back, switching her gaze from his eyes to his lips then back up to his eyes. The boy does the same thing before slowly leaning in. Rosalía follows his lead, crashing her lips onto his. The kiss is soft and sweet at first, then turns hungry and passionate as every feeling they've bottled up over the past few months is finally set free.

The girl pulls away before it gets too heated and rests her forehead on his. Daniel keeps his eyes closed, still dazed from the kiss. He finally opens them and is met with Rosalía's dark brown eyes. This is the best birthday ever, he thinks. His smile slightly dims as he remembers something. "So the tournament is tomorrow," he suddenly speaks.

Rosalía moves her forehead off of his and replies, "mhm." Daniel pulls her into his side and circles his arm around her. The girl happily snuggles into him and lays her head on his shoulder. "It's too late to back out now," he says, inhaling a shaky breath. The girl lifts her head to the side to look at him. "Hey, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay," she tries to comfort him. He nods his head and takes a deep breath. "I don't have much of a cheering section," he mentions.

Rosalía chuckles lightly. "Oh, believe me, I can be louder than 20 people if I want to be. I think you're set," she responds, laughing at the end. This causes the boy to laugh as well. "Well, I'll probably get killed in the first match anyway," he adds. The girl shrugs and replies, "Then I'll avenge your death." Daniel laughs loudly and shakes his head. "You've got an answer for everything, don't you?" he remarks.

"Yeah, pretty much," Rosalía responds. The two laugh again and Daniel leans his head down to peck her lips.

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Btw, the picture of Rosalía and the random hand is real lmao. I literally described a picture I have of myself from Kindergarten 💀