Before He Met Her

Chapter Five

  The school week flew by quickly and I just finished running at the nearby park. That's when I noticed Lucy sitting on a nearby park bench listening to music. I drank some of my electrolyte water and headed over to where she was. "Hey Lucy." I said to her. "Oh, hey I didn't know you were here." She said to me as she took out her earbuds.

  "I usually come here to do my runs." I explained to her as I sipped some more water. "You're still into that?" She asked me. "Oh, yeah you know I've gotta stay in shape for wrestling." I told her. She smiled at me nervously and I decided to sit down next to her on the park bench.

  "So any parties this weekend?" She asked me. "I don't think so." She told me. "Would you maybe wanna hang out or something then?" I asked her. "Sure I'd like that, I actually need to talk to you about something." She told me. "Whatever it is you can talk to me." I told her. "I didn't get the part I wanted for the school play." She told me. "Hey, that's okay." I reassured her.

"Yeah but I was really looking forward to it." She said sadly. "I'm gonna do something else instead." Lucy explained to me. "What's that?" I asked her curiously. "Cheerleading." She told me. "You didn't tell me you we're trying out." I said to her. "Oh, I uh wanted it to be a surprise." She explained to me.

  "Are you doing anything tonight?" I asked her. "No, I'm free tonight." She told me. "Would you like to grab a bite to eat?" I asked her. "Yeah, I'd like that." She told me. "Okay, cool." I agreed. "What time would you like to meet up tonight?" I asked her. "Is seven okay?" She asked me. "I can do seven." She said to me. "Okay, see you at seven." I told her.

  *****

  I wanted to look perfect for tonight so I decided to take the next hour and a half to work on my appearance. I just got out of the shower and I wanted to find an outfit for tonight also I spiked my hair up a little bit with some hair gel. My Mom was at work so I had the house to myself basically.

  Just then my phone rang, it was Jake. "What's up?" I asked him. "Got any plans tonight?" He asked me. "Actually I'm hanging out with Lucy." I explained to him as I got myself dressed. "I swiped some of my Dad's beer and I was gonna see if you wanted to sleep over." Jake explained to me. "Maybe afterwards depending on how it goes." I told him.

  "Are you gonna get Lucy tonight?" He asked me. "I highly doubt that man she's not that kind of a girl, anyways I've gotta go now, talk to you later." I told him. My stomach was tied in knots about tonight. Where was I gonna take her to eat at? I gazed at my appearance on the mirror and I decided to take the jacket off because I felt like it made me look kinda fat.

  I decided to go with a black sweater shirt instead because I thought it made me look better. Why am I suddenly feeling so insecure about my body? I wondered, it was weird to me because I never felt like this before really ever. That's when it hit me. Yesterday when I was talking to Logan in the weigh room he said that sometimes people feel pressured when they start wrestling sometimes.

  But I wasn't gonna let myself get like that, I knew I needed to talk my self out of this before it started. I think I was okay because I was only taking the water pills on the days that I really needed to, I wasn't even taking them everyday. I then checked the time and realized it was 6:55. I popped a breath mint into my mouth and I called Lucy, only to find her waiting outside my door.

  "Oh sorry, I didn't realize that you were already here." I said nervously to her. I noticed that she was wearing a purple dress with a silver sweater with black heels. She looked absolutely breath taking and I get like if I tried to say anything I'd be younger tied. "You, uh ready to um... get something to eat I asked nervously as I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah totally." She said softly.

  "Are you cool with um, Chinese?" I asked her trying to sound confident. "Totally, I love Chinese food." She said to me. I began to walk on the other side of town with her by my side. My legs felt like jelly around her and I fry like I was shaking like a leaf. "Are you okay?" She asked me. "Oh, yeah I'm fine." I lied not wanting her to know why I was acting like this.

  "There it is." She said to me. I opened the door for her and she thanked me. "What would you like?" I asked her. "I'll just have a house salad." She told me. I nodded my head as I put our orders in on the screen. I got myself chicken and broccoli with white rice. Then I paid for our food and went over to where she was sitting at. "So..." I said to her.

  "So...." She said to me. I couldn't help but wonder if she felt the same about me as I did about her. "I dunno." She laughed. I laughed too because I couldn't think of anything else to say to her right now. A waiter brought us our food and some water with a pot of hot tea and tiny tea cups. "Thank you mam." I said to the waitress.

  I started to eat my food and so did she, "How's the salad?" I asked her. "It's really good." She told me. "That's great to know." I told her as I ate some more of my chicken. "Would you like some of my rice I asked her. "You don't want it?" She asked me. "I thought maybe we could uh.... Share it." I said to her. "Okay sure." She said as I spooned some rice onto her plate. She thanked me and continued to eat her salad.

  ******

  "I had a re good time with you tonight." I told her. "Me too." She said to me. I couldn't help but gaze into her beautiful eyes again. "Go ahead." She said to me nervously. "What?" I asked her confused. "You wanna kiss me again?" She asked me. "Is it that obvious?" I asked her. "Just a little bit." She told me. I looked down at the ground as my face turned beet red. She leaned in and kissed me I felt her soft lips press against mine and I didn't want it to stop.

  I placed my hands around her waist and she pushed me up against my bedroom wall. We continued to kiss for about a minute or two more before we stoped and pulled our lips off of each other slowly. We smiled at each other and we quickly looked away from each other. "So, I uh kinda have these feelings for you." I said to her. "Oh I see." Lucy said to me.

  "I kissed you because I think I'm falling for you too." She told me. "Really!?" I asked. "Isn't it obvious?" She asked me." "I guess I have to agree with you there." I told her. "Well, what now?" She asked me. "I guess it means we should be together." I said to her. "I was hoping you'd ask me that." She told me. "Will you be my girlfriend?" I asked her. "Yeah, of course I will she said to me as we kissed again.

*****

  "Good morning Thomas." My Mom said to me as she came into my room and opened my curtains to get sunlight in my room because she probably thought it would make me get out of bed. "Too early Mom." I said to her. "Actually, it's 12PM." She said to me. I then quickly got out of bed and looked at the clock to see she was right.

  "I have to go to work, I made you brunch it's in the microwave downstairs in the kitchen." My Mom told me. "Thank you." I said to her as she hurried out the door. I really didn't feel like eating right now for some reason, I was starting to get used to skipping breakfast I guess. Not that I wanted to it was just sort of becoming a habit of mine since I always seems to be running late anymore.

  I decided to start my day off by going for a run on the trail at the park. I gotta admit I really used to hate running but now I'm starting to enjoy it a lot more than I ever thought I would. I took some water with me so I wouldn't dehydrate myself while I was running. The only thing I was really trying to do was look my best for wrestling matches and stay lean. I wasn't doing anything wrong right?