August 23

July 29 2013

I got ready earlier than I really needed to. There was no way I was going to be late; I was always late, but not this time. I wore a yellow tank-top and blue jeans and curled my hair. I put on mascara and a little bit of eye-liner. We had planned to go to the movies and watch World War Z. I was so nervous. When my mom dropped me off she told me I looked beautiful and took about a million pictures of me before I got out of the car. I was anxious to see him. He had told me he cut his hair. I was slightly upset because despite the fact that I didn't want to date a "scene queen" I grew fond of his hair. I walked into the building and felt every possible species of butterfly fluttering in my stomach. He sat in the arcade waiting for me. He wore the same blue and red flannel from the first time we met and blue jeans and his hair was slicked back in a pompadour. After seeing him with his hair styled that way I was so glad he had cut it.

When I reached him he smiled from ear to ear. I opened my arms to hug him. The first physical interaction since shaking hands when we first met. "Thank God!" he said as he took me into his arms. His arms around my waist and mine around his neck. "Wow. It's true."

"What is?" I asked.

"Short girls do give the best hugs," he laughed. "I could really stay like this forever." He was really quite the sweet-talker, but I definitely wasn't complaining. We stopped hugging and he took my hand leading me to the theater. He had already bought our tickets before I had gotten to the Cinemark. We sat in the last aisle, there was barely anyone else in the theater. We sat down and he lifted the arm rest between our two seats. This obviously wasn't his first rodeo. He was bold and I knew I should be careful. He gave off the presence of a player. And if he was friends with Danny there wasn't much chance that he would be any different...right? I kept thinking that if he kissed me in this theater that would be the end of our relationship - or whatever it was we had - that he would never speak to me again.

The movie was about half-way over and he was still holding my hand. Then it happened. He turned to look at me. His eyes scanning my face, if he was looking for any sign of objection he wouldn't find it. I was afraid, but I was ready. He leaned in and planted a sweet kiss upon my lips. You know in the movies when the main character gets the girl? The room spins, music plays, and the moment seems to last forever? That's exactly how it felt. I had been kissed before, but it never felt like this. He brought his hand to my face and slowly his lips began to move against mine. He pulled away, looked at me, smiled, and kissed me again. The second kiss didn't last long. Simply a reassuring kiss. As if to say he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. The movie ended and we parted ways for the rest of summer.

That night I laid in bed with the biggest, dumbest smile. My phone buzzed.

Jacob: Thx for an incredible 1st date. I had a great time and I hope u had as much fun as I did.

Me: Of course! I had a great time! Thank you for taking me out. It was wonderful.

Jacob: Good. I'll talk 2 u tomorrow. Good night and sweet dreams Samantha :)

Me: Talk to you tomorrow. Sweet dreams Jacob :)

With that I clicked off my phone and drifted to sleep and I was so happy that for once my reality was better than my dreams.

For the next two weeks we found ourselves discussing the arrangements for the first day back to school. Summer was nearly over and my "summer romance" was about to become an everyday affair... I hoped. We got our schedules and we learned we had the same lunch this year. We were excited to see each other in person again. We had Face-Timed several times, but nothing compared to being face-to-face with him.