Burnt Out Of Love

Chapter Two

I was immediately smitten with this boy.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked, smiling non-stop at me. Almost like he was just as smitten with me as I was with him.

I grabbed my phone out of my right boot since I had no pockets. Seeing it was close to seven p.m. and it was pitch black outside in the slightly frigid air, I shrugged.

"There's a park not too far from here if you'd like to go sit and talk?"

He didn't take his eyes off me, he answered back with a simple "sure, you just have to tell me where to go. I've never been over here."

My hometown was small, very small. The only red light between the two towns is both 30 minutes each way. One of which he and his sister just drove from. They lived on the outskirts though so it took them close to an hour to drive here.

He got in the driver's seat. "I thought you didn't have a license?" I asked as I got in the passenger seat.

"I don't," he laughed. I fastened my seatbelt and hoped for the best.

We got to the end of my road and someone had stolen the stop sign again, so since the factors of it being dark, he didn't know the road, and I didn't think to tell him, he zoomed past and almost into the woods.

We stopped in the middle of the road and he had a shocked look on his face. "Sorry, I didn't know someone stole the stop sign again," I grimaced. He just ended up laughing.

I gave directions to the park and we got there a short couple of minutes later, driving to the sound of rap music playing.

We parked in the parking lot, he and I got out, we went to the very back of the park under a shelter and he sat on top of the picnic table. I followed suit.

We had a foot of distance between us and I was brave enough to scoot closer so our thighs were touching. I looked at him with a smile, and he returned it.

It was silent for a few minutes until I had an idea and I held my hand out, he smiled bigger and interlaced our hands together. He gripped it tightly while our fingers intertwined. I felt whole.

I shook his hand away, however, and looked at him with a smug smile, my hand outreached. I said, "no, the hat."

He took off his camouflage hat he promised me an hour before, with a disappointed look on his face and I giggled. I put on the hat and smiled brightly, I felt so at ease with him.

"Look good?" I asked.

He couldn't be disappointed for too long because he smiled once more and said, "perfect." I had a feeling that he wasn't just talking about the hat.

I blushed and intertwined our hands again, and we both smiled brightly. We talked about little things for a while.

Joking how he was wearing tennis shoes when he was supposed to be a 'country boy.' "I know, I wore these because I was trying to look good but I'm burning them when I get home," he laughed.

About his family; how he, his older sister, and his little six-year-old severely autistic brother were his world. Where he worked. How he wants his future to be like. His favorite colors were: black and red. How his mother was his everything but sadly she had passed a little while back. Where he was really from before moving to the town he lived in now: a small county a few hours away.

There was a small stage-like structure in the park and we decided to walk over there. We looked over the park.

The dark, foggy, and deserted park "looked like a scene from a zombie movie," he joked.

I agreed, slightly freaked out by the sight.

He looked at me smiling, "don't worry I'll protect you."

I grinned and looked sincerely into his eyes, "I love your smile, you should smile more."
He slightly frowned, "there hasn't been a lot to smile about in my eighteen years of living, I've gone through a lot."

He smirked, "until now, you give a great reason to smile." I blushed

I said, "I also love your eyes." His vibrant, mossy green eyes lit up as he smiled at me.

Looking at me as if I already meant everything to him. At that moment I realized teal wasn't my only favorite color.

I shivered as the night air got colder. "You cold?" He asked.

"Yes," I then bravely hugged him and he hugged me back tightly. He was shivering viscously.

I checked my phone after a few minutes of us hugging, my brother and his wife were sitting with my mom because she had surgery a few months before for her stage four esophageal cancer, plus going through a divorce with my dad and my mom texted asking when I'll be home.

I sighed, "I guess we should go, it's getting late and you have an hour to drive."

He sadly said, "yeah." Then he said, "I have a question though."

"Yeah?"

"So would you like to be my girlfriend now?"

'Was this too fast,' I asked myself. But I'm way too attached now, I clicked with him as if I've known him for years. He was gentle, caring, loving, and kind. He was everything I always wished for in a guy.

"Yes," I smiled and my whole life changed from there.

"Can I take a picture with you?" I asked, although scared he would say no. I never had good luck when I'd go on dates, I'd ask if we could take a picture together and they always said "no." He surprised me with his next words however.

"Of course," we smiled , he leaned over, close to me and my huge grin with his cap resting on my head.

And the camera on my phone made a shutter sound. Our first picture. I was the happiest I had ever been.