Deadly In Love

Chapter 4: First Date

The next day in art class, Banner talked to me. We talked almost the whole period. He comes off as a jerk to people because of his popularity, but he’s actually really nice. He’s an only child, plays basketball, and loves spending time with his mom, which is so sweet. I fell even harder than before during that hour, one of the best hours of my life.

At lunch that day, I ranted about our conversation to my friends. And the way that this time every time he smiled or laughed at my jokes the smile was different. It was a smile of affection, or a cute laugh, not just a smile or laugh of humor. And the way his eyes didn't leave their contact with mine throughout our whole conversation.

After I had actually started to make my lunch, Banner and Mark were in the same position as the previous day, but instead, Banner was the one being convinced to do something. And just like last time, they were looking at me. Finally, Banner, while looking at the ground blushing, with his hands in his pockets, he slowly walked over to me. The cafeteria went silent and everybody was staring at him. I was, my friends, the people at the tables around us, some people from tables across the room, his friends.

“Hey, um, Lacy, I wanted to ask you something. Will you go out with me?” Banner said, staring at the floor, but then looking up to meet eyes with me. I looked back at my friends and Tina grabbed my head and turned it to face Tanner. I was speechless, so I just nodded my head.

“We can go to that ice cream place down the street from the school. Cow Guts. If you want. And do you have a bike?” He said, looking around nervously.

“Yes. We can go there. I have a bike, yeah.” I said, blushing probably to the point of it being obvious to a blind person.

“We can go on our bikes. Meet you there at 7 on Friday?” He said, finally actually looking at me.

“Yeah. It’s a date.” I said, smiling at him. As soon as he walked away, my friends all jumped up and started jumping, holding onto my shoulders and excitedly screaming. His friends did the more ‘manly and chill’ version of that when he got back to his seat. I noticed him glancing over at me throughout the rest of lunch. He would shoot over small sweet smiles and I would give him a tiny wave back.

Before I knew it, it was Friday, and I was on a video call with Ava, my other friend, picking out my dress. I picked out a pink dress with a tight torso, the skirt flowing freely as I walked, and extending from my waist down. I let my hair down, curling it, whereas it was usually just in a low ponytail. I put biking pants on under the dress, and to get there, I tucked the skirt of the dress into the waistband of my white biking shorts. I grabbed my phone, my wallet, and left for the ice cream shop.

When I arrived and parked my bike in the stands, I saw Banner waiting for me at a table out in front of the small building. It was made of bricks and painted white, with a wooden cow cutout on the roof, with a part that looked like an x-ray into it’s guts. I waved over to him and he waved back. He was holding mint chocolate chip ice cream in one hand and his phone in the other. As soon as he saw me, he tucked his phone into his pocket and watched me as I went up to the window and ordered my favorite type of ice cream, mint chocolate chip.

“Hey,” I said, sitting down in the seat across from him. I looked at him, the first time I got to look at him freely, not being scared of him seeing me looking at him. He was wearing a plaid jacket and a white shirt, with ripped jeans.

“Hi. You look nice.” He said, looking me up and down.

“You do too. What do you like to do when you’re bored?” I said, trying to start a conversation.

“Sometimes I play basketball, or help my mom with chores. She…has a lot on her plate right now. I draw sometimes too. How about you?” Banner said, fiddling with his fingers on the table, his facial expression changing from being bright and happy to stressed and sad.

“I like to draw. I love reading and puzzles, things like that. I’m not very athletic, so I spend most of my time inside, but I like to go on walks.” I said, embarrassed that he was so athletic and I was just a bookworm.

“Do you have any pets? I have a dog. Her name is Snow.” He said, showing me a picture of a Maltese running in a field of grass.

“No. I want a dog, but my mom doesn’t. I know so much about them.” I said. The rest of the date continued like this, just having small conversations and asking questions back and forth to get to know each other.

“I think I’m gonna have to go now. How about next weekend we meet at your house and go for a walk together?” He asked, at the end of our date around an hour later.

“Yea, sure I would love to.” I said, getting up from the table. He stood up too and as I began walking toward my bike, he grabbed my hand and pulled me around from the arm. He put his other hand on my face and pulled it closer, until our lips were touching. I didn’t pull away, as I had fantasized about this moment for so long. A few seconds later, he pulls away slowly.

“Goodnight, Lacy. I can’t wait to see you on monday.” He said. I was still in shock about the kiss, and I felt almost light headed. The feeling was scary and nice at the same time.

“Goodnight. I can’t wait either. Bye!” I said, as we both clamped our helmets on. We both got onto our bikes and went home. Upon arrival at my house, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked my notifications. I had at least 30 texts in the groupchat from my friends saying to catch them up on what happened. I skimmed through them as I walked down the hallway to my room and closed the door. I called them and they all picked up almost immediately.

“What happened? You have to tell us! Spare no details.” Someone said, or maybe it was all of them. I got them all to quiet down before putting the microphone of my cell phone to my mouth and saying “So, we rode our bikes to Cow Guts, we both have the same favorite flavor of ice cream, we asked each other questions to get to know each other, just the usual first date stuff. But then at the end, as he said he had to go, he planned for us to go on a walk together next weekend. When we got up to leave, he grabbed my hand to spin me around, and guess what…we kissed!” I said, excitedly ranting. I heard a chorus of shrieks, then the questions about the kiss came flooding in.

“What was it like?” “How long was it?” “Was it just a short lips touching or did you make out?” “Who pulled away first?” I answered as many questions as I could, disappointing them with a lack of ‘spice.’ I smiled at the blank screen on my phone after I had turned it off. The date was perfect, the dress and makeup was perfect, the annoying friends were perfect, the man was perfect. Banner was perfect.