Impavid

Not Yet

    "Rachel!" I squealed. I leaned forward across the counter, rolling my eyes at her comment about sleeping with Chase tonight. I rubbed the small smudge of eye liner from under my eye. I looked up into the mirror, meeting her eyes. She was standing behind me, fixing her sundress, as I leaned across the sink to fix my makeup. 

    "He's totally into you. You should totally go for it!"

   "We'll see," I promised. "But I have Luke at home, and..."

   "Would you forget about Luke?" She rolled her eyes. 

    I stood up, adjusting my skirt. I didn't give her a chance to continue, speaking instead. "We should get back out there." She nodded in agreement. 

    I settled into the booth beside Chase once more, as she did the same across the table. Chase's arm snaked around my waist, and I was thankful that it was low enough that I don't think Rachel could notice. Rachel's date, and Chase's floor-mate, had been a pretty cool guy himself. I knew he wasn't Rachel's type, but she seemed to be enjoying herself despite this. I ran my hand threw my curls, flipping my side-bangs from my face. 

     Chase's hand rested on the small of my back from a few more seconds before he pulled it away and reached for his glass of water. I watched Rachel's eyes as she followed the cup to his lips. I rolled my eyes in response. While she was doing a great job respecting that Chase was my date, and we had been getting along really well, I knew Chase was definitely more of her type. He was good looking and gave off the confident yet sweet vibe, while her date seemed to have more of a nerdy, shy side. Rachel was social, and she had been doing most of the talking on their side of the booth. Chase and I had been talking pretty equally, and we had done our fair share of teasing and flirting. 

    "So you never told me your story," Chase commented. 

   I was just about to talk when the waitress interrupted us by sliding the desert we had ordered in front of us. Chase and I had agreed to share a brownie, my favorite, while Rachel and her date had settled on a cheesecake, which I had learned in the short time in the bathroom that Rachel was not the biggest fan of. I only laughed at her when she told me this, curious as to why she had agreed to share it if she hadn't liked it. I could only hope Chase hadn't only agreed to the brownie because I had wanted it. 

   That thought vanished from my mind the second the brownie appeared in front of us. Chase's fork was in the brownie and back into his mouth before I even had a chance to grab mine. I laughed at this, looking over at him, chocolate smeared around his mouth. He lifted his napkin, blushing, wiping his face. 

    "I'm sorry. I should have let you go first."

    I shook my head, thinking of how this had proved my fears weren't true. "I'm glad you didn't." 

    "Yeah?" His cheeks were still red. 

    "It was cute."

    His eyes widened slightly, and I felt my own cheeks heating up to match his. 

    "Here." He took my fork from my hand and dipped it into the brownie. He held it back up toward my mouth. "Try this."

    "I can feed myself." I giggled, but I leaned forward, eating the brownie anyway. 

   "Now that was cute," he commented.

   "That was gross." Rachel's voice echoed from across the table. 

   "You're just jealous," I shot back, smirking. 

   "Look at you, Miss Sassy Pants." Rachel cocked her head, and I blushed shyly. 

***

    "I had fun tonight." 

     We were standing in front of the door to my room, where Rachel had already retreated to. He smiled in response to my comment, nodding in agreement. 

     "I did too. I'm sorry Rachel seemed to have such a bad time. I swear Ryan's pretty cool," he assured me. I laughed at this. 

    "She's just specific about what kind of guy she likes."

     He held up his hands. "Hey, I'm not judging."

    "She had a fine time." I rolled my eyes. "She's just Rachel."

   "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable if I asked just you to go out. Maybe next time it can just be the two of us."

    "Next time, huh? Someone's cocky."

   "You just said you had fun!"

   "Doesn't mean I want to do it again," I teased.

   "Does this change your mind?" 

   He leaned in slightly, and my heart started to pound when I realized he was going to kiss me. 

   I rested my hand on his chest. 

   "Not yet," I breathed, closing my eyes so I wouldn't have to look into his.