🌷 Two Weeks 🌷

🌺 Day Two 🌺

                      Akira's POV

"Okay, guys, rise and shine! We've got lots to do today!" I said as I flipped the covers off of everyone's beds. Natalie, Owen, and George groaned.
     "Pleaaaase five more minutessss" George begged.
     "Nope, I've got lots planned for today. We can't let a second go to waste."
     "You can't wake me up." Natalie whined, covering herself with the blankets.
     "What if I told you there's ice cream involved?" I coaxed.
"OKAY EVERYONE UP LETS GO, LETS GO!" Natalie yelled, springing up from the bed. I laughed as she shoved Owen and George off the air mattress.

When everyone was ready, we sat down on the floor and went over the schedule.
"Okay, so, mom's gonna drive us into town and we have 3 hours for ice cream, shopping, lunch, and anything else we want to do in the remaining time slot."
I noticed Owen looking at me and I blushed. Memories of our shared moment last night flooded back into my head.
We're dating, I told myself. This is normal for him to be looking at me.
"Sounds good to me. Let's go!" Natalie said, cutting into my thoughts. We all got up and grabbed our phones and wallets and walked out to my moms car.
It was a fun car ride. Mom turned on the radio, and we all sang along to popular songs. At one point, the song that played while I was escaping the Morris fire 2 years ago started playing. I started breathing heavily. I tried to let my anxiety wash over me like a wave, like my therapist told me. I suddenly felt a hand on mine.
"You okay?" Owen asked.
I blushed. "Y-yeah... it's just... memories, I guess."
Owen looked at me softly. He smiled and turned to my mom, asking to change the song. She switched the radio station and another pop song played instead. Owen winked at me and starting singing embarrassingly loud. Everyone laughed and sang along with him. I looked in the mirror above the front seats, and saw my face was red as a tomato. Owen seriously needs to stop winking at me.
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     We finally reached town, and mom dropped us off with a loud goodbye. As she drove off, George turned to us. "So, what should we do?"
"Ice cream?" Natalie suggested.
"Ice cream!" We shouted in unison. We all ran into the nearest ice cream joint, a Baskin Robbins.
"Ive never been to a Baskin Robbins! Theres so many flavors!" Owen gushed. It was cute seeing him get this excited over ice cream. Owen ran around, looking at all the different flavors while Natalie ordered hers.
"Back home, we only have four flavors," George explained. "Owen always got chocolate."
     "GUYS, OH MY GOSH, THEY HAVE BIRTHDAY CAKE. THEY MADE CAKE INTO ICE CREAM!"
     I blushed profusely and rushed to Owen. "Calm down, please? We're in public..."
Owen smirked and shrugged. "All right. It's cute how you get so worked up." Owen then left and ordered his ice cream with George. I was practically on fire, burning up. I gingerly walked over to the counter, where I ordered my ice cream. We all sat down outside and ate.  "Hey, Akira, are you okay? You're face is really red." Natalie asked.
"W-what? N-no, I'm okay, i-its just hot outside!" I stuttered. Owen glanced at me quickly then looked away.
     When we finished, we threw out our cups and left the store. Owen was the only one who got a cone, and he was snacking on that as we walked on. George and Natalie were behind us, and they held hands as they walked. They thought we didn't notice, but I stopped to tie my shoe and saw them.
     As I rose from tying my shoe, I saw Owen next to me.
"Where's George and Natalie?" I asked.
"Over there, holding hands and being annoying," he replied. I laughed and we ran to catch up with George and Natalie.
After a lot of shopping, chatting, and more birthday cake flavored ice cream later, it was around 5pm. "Anyone up for roller skating?" Natalie asked. We were right in front of a roller rink, and, speak of the devil, it was couple night.
"I'm down! Akira, Owen?" George asked. I shared a look and a shrug with Owen, and Natalie pulled us all inside.
The music was loud, and neon lights decorated the walls. Couples were holding hands, friends gossiping and laughing, and kids skating around aimlessly.
We walked up to the counter and got 4 pairs of skates. George and Natalie finished putting their skates on and were talking while waiting for me and Owen. When I finished, I noticed Owen was taking a bit longer.
"Do you need help?" I giggled, bending down to tie his roller skate. He blushed and looked away, pretending to take an interest in the bright carpet that surrounded the rink.
     "Okay, ready to go?" Natalie asked, spinning in a circle.
"Yup. Let's boogie," Owen replied, standing up.
     Then he immediately fell down.
"One problem," Owen said sheepishly as he gingerly stood up. "I don't know how to skate."
"That's no problem! I'll teach you." George offered, reaching out a hand. Owen took it. "Thanks, but you should be with your GiRlFrIeNd now." Owen replied with a smirk.
     "W-WERE NOT DATING!" George yelled. He was blushing mightily. "No shame in hiding it!" Owen laughed.
"You act like you two aren't dating either!" George took out his phone and showed us a picture: Me and Owen kissing! "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM?" Owen yelled, embarrassed.
"If you must know, I was about to go to the bathroom when you lovebirds decided to make out right in front of me."
"WE WERENT MAKING OUT!" Me and Owen retorted in unison.
George shrugged. "If you insist."
"UHM GEORGE HELP!" We all turned to see Natalie clinging to the wall as people skated quickly around her. She had been caught in a lightning round of how fast people could skate.
"Be right back, gotta help the damsel in distress." George said before skating off to help his girlfriend.
"Shall we?" Owen asked, holding out a hand. "We shall," I giggled, taking his hand. We skated onto the rink, where Owen almost immediately fell.
"Try balancing out your weight," I said, helping him up. "Have your legs spread out like this." I showed him a few other basics, and we were skating hand in hand together in no time. We laughed, talked, and made fun of Natalie and George's cringe public displays of affection (George spinning Natalie, Natalie kissing him on the cheek, etc). Soon, the lights dimmed and the DJ piped up. "All right, all the couples out there, it's time for a sloooooow skateeeeeee" People started entering and leaving the skate zone, leaving 10 pairs of skaters in the rink. George and Natalie skated over to us.
"We saw your little cringe fest. Very entertaining," Owen started.
Natalie laughed. "Ha! As if you two weren't equally as cringe." She skated in front of us and pretend to cling to the wall. "Oh, Akira, help me! Im so dainty and helpless!" Natalie whined, putting the back of her hand on her forehead for dramatic effect. We laughed and skated on for a while.
Me and Owen went on ahead of George and Natalie. I don't want to admit it, but we wanted some alone time. It was about 5:30, and we have 30 minutes before mom came to pick us up.
"Why do you like me?" I asked, staring up at the ceiling. "Give me one reason."
"Oh, you want me to pick? Dude, that's hard," Owen replied. I blushed.
"W-well, if you have multiple reasons that's fine—"
"Great! Okay, so, you're pretty, you're nice, you always help people..."
I listened to Owen go on and on about why he liked me. I listened to him share some personal stories as well, saying how he wished he'd confessed sooner but couldn't bring himself to. We fell silent for a moment, reminiscing in our intimate moments yesterday. I was blushing hard now. "What about you?" Owen asked, looking at me. "Why do you like me?"
I looked at Owen, his soft blue eyes meeting my deep brown ones.
"You don't love me for just the sake of it," I finally replied. We skated off the rink and sat down on one of the benches, watching Natalie spin around George in a playful manner. "You see past my looks, my past traumas, to the person inside me." Owen is blushing now, staring at me intently. I scooted closer to him.
"You see me for who I really am."
Owen covered his face. I could see his ears were a deep red.
"Wow. Y-you could have just said I was cute or something." I laughed softly and took his hand, placing it on the bench. "You are, in fact, very cute." I said quietly, looking at him. We stared into each others eyes for a moment, blushing and carefully getting closer.
"Hey, guys, Mrs. Kristansen is outside!" George shouted as he came towards us. We snapped forward, faces red. We returned our skates, grabbed our bags, and left. Everyone was exhausted when we left, so we just decided to order takeout. We agreed on pizza and decided to order it when we got home. Even though it was only 6:15, I was exhausted and ended up falling asleep on Owen's shoulder. I could hear Natalie quietly squeezing as not to alert my mom, and George and Owen shared a fist bump. My hand subconsciously reached for Owen's, and we held hands in silence as we drove home.
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     I woke up only when Natalie quietly shook me, whispering, "Get up before your parents see you!" I looked around, dazed. What happened? I suddenly realized I had fallen asleep on Owen.
    "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I said as we got out of the car.
"No, it's okay, I didn't mind," he said, smiling. I smiled back and walked into the house with the group, our arms around each others shoulders. True friends we were, and true friends we would stay.
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     "Kids! Pizza's here!" Mom called from the living room. We all rushed downstairs and grabbed a gooey slice of cheese pizza. There were two boxes, one for us and one for mom, dad, and Hildi, my little sister, who was currently playing with her toys in her room. We all rushed upstairs with the box and shut the door.
     "So, is it official? Are you two actually dating?" Natalie asked , grabbing a second slice of pizza.
"Yeah, I guess we are!" I replied.
"Of course, she fell for my charming looks and overall rizz." (Totally canon that Owen uses brain rot as a joke) Owen bragged.
We all laughed and continued eating and talking and sharing stories. Soon, it was around 11pm. We were already in pajamas, so we just cleaned up and shut the light off and immediately passed out.
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I woke up around two hours later to see Owen not in bed, except for George who was literally hugging the mattress end to end. I rolled my eyes and laughed silently. Besides that, I knew where Owen would be. I walked outside to the porch swing, where Owen was staring out into the endless sky.
     "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied quietly. "Just...thinking."
"About what?"
"Us," Owen said, blushing. "Us dating, I mean. It's just that, I don't know if I'm doing this right." He hugged his knees to his chest. "I just don't want to lose you, but I'm scared I'm gonna mess up, and..." Owen trailed off, and I heard him sniffling.
"Owen, please don't cry," I said, taking his hand. "You're not doing anything wrong. And we're 14, we're bound to mess up at some point. That doesn't I'm going to break up with you or anything." Owen looked at me with tears in his eyes. I was crying too, I realized. We stared at each other for a moment longer, and we kissed. It didn't have a sense of urgency, just a kiss purely from love. I held Owen's face in my hands, my head exploding, my heart racing a mile a minute. When we separated, it felt like the first night, the first kiss I had shared with him. I noticed he was up against the armrest of the swing, while I was practically on top of him (not in a sexual way). I blushed and leapt up, embarrassed. I walked stiffly to the door and opened it. Owen followed. I held the door open for him, then we walked inside calmly. Or at least he did. I looked like a rusty machine or something.
     Up in my room, I quickly ran under the covers and Owen did the same. We finally fell asleep at around 1am, but my mind was still wandering.

Were we doing something wrong?

(2177 words)