Burnt Out Of Love

Chapter One

November 22, 2020, was normal until the winter evening hours started. When the sun was set and I was sitting on the couch of my childhood home in the living room, I got a notification on my phone that popped up saying it was from a dating app: Zander liked you.

I of course viewed it right away, very curious as to who liked me. It just displayed 'Zander, 18' on the screen under a blank photo. I don't know what possessed me to like him back, I always skip guys with no photograph.

I went back to what I was doing beforehand when I got another notification: Zander sent you a message.

I was puzzled because no one ever texted me first on dating sites.

Imagine no profile picture with just his first name, I normally never texted anyone on a dating site without any pictures, but for some reason, I didn't ignore him and instead replied to his simple "hey" with my own "hey."

And that itself is what started a flame. However, he extinguished that flame, understandable because of his future actions against me.

We texted a little more until I asked for his social media account of sending pictures and chatting and we immediately started sending pictures to each other, and that's when I finally saw what he looked like.

His boyish half-smirk and half-genuine smile were enough for me to fall in love without even meeting him. He had a way with his facial features, and although slightly flawed like all of us, he was by far the most handsome man I have ever talked to. And the most mind-boggling part of it all is that he seemed like he liked talking to me and I could act like myself.

I didn't have to be someone I wasn't, I didn't have to pretend. It was me, and I liked that and the best part was he liked that too.

I was flirting as best as I could as we were chatting with each other. I focused on his cap, the cap was a new camouflage name-brand hat with three fish hooks on the bill, one red, one white, and one blue. I told him if we ever met I was going to steal his hat, and he said, "bet."

I responded with the same three-letter word, "bet."

We continued to chat and I told him that brand was my favorite camouflage, and I said, "see, get you a girl who knows her camos."

He sent a photo back of him smiling and said, "I know right!"

I said, "You should wife me up then."

He said, "bet."

I said, "bet."

I didn't think much of what we had just bet on because I only started talking to him an hour prior but God only knows why I said what I said next, "ya know, you should come and we should hang out soon."

He said, "Well, I'm free tonight."

I was shocked, to say the least. "Like on a date?" I texted back, unsure but hopeful. I was hopeful because I was talking to a guy that I clicked with so easily and he wanted to hang out that night.

He sent a snap back of him smiling and said "yeah, like on a date."

He then told me he would be here in like an hour, and I ran to my mom's room where I lived with her at the time despite being nineteen at the time. I frantically begged my Mom if I could go on a date with a boy I just started talking to.

"Momma, I just started talking to a boy online and he is gonna come in an hour to go on a date. Is that okay?"

She responded by looking at her phone and said, "it is literally six at night! It's gonna be around seven when he gets here."

"Yeah..." I paused, "so can I?"

She sighed, "you aren't going to quit, are you?"

I shook my head 'no.'

"Fine," she huffed.

"By the way, he's a country boy," I grinned.

Mom shook her head, laughing, "perfect for you then." I nodded my head frantically and ran off. I gave him my address and asked him how long it would be before he got here.

"'Bout an hour."

I started getting ready, putting on a dress with multicolored arrows all down it, paired with black leggings and knee-high brown boots.

He texted then saying, "my sister is bringing me by the way. I don't have a license."

My natural unruly curly, dark brown hair was left down but pinned slightly back to keep it out of my face. My makeup was so subtle, that you could still see my freckles through the foundation.

By the time I was done, he called me and I immediately freaked out. Thinking about how I'd rather hear his voice the first time by meeting him. But I answered after a few rings.

"Hello?" I spoke.

"Hey, so I don't think we're at the right house," he said.

My eyebrows furrowed, "hold on I'll drive my mom's car to the end of the driveway." I didn't have a car at the time because I wrecked it a few weeks prior but had another vehicle that I was trying to fix to be ready to drive.

I drove up to the end of the driveway and they followed back down my circle, paved driveway.

As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, he also got out of his Step-Father's sedan, on the passenger side. His sister got out and went to the backseat. He and I smiled at each other. He was more handsome in person than he was in pictures. His camouflage hat sat slightly crooked on his extremely dark brown hair that I could tell was cut short. A blue T-shirt under a short-sleeved, plaid shirt, blue jeans, and gray tennis shoes looked wonderful on him.

"Hi," I spoke shyly.

"Hey," he smiled, three feet away from me.