Temptation

It's Fun Not to Think

It was odd getting ready for a date so early on a Saturday morning, but Ben had called her after school yesterday and told her to be ready by ten o'clock and to wear something comfy. Cassie wondered if he was really keeping true on his word to make this third date better than the last two. She was getting excited at the thought. 

She bounded downstairs as soon as she heard the doorbell and opened it before her mother could. Ben was standing there in beige shorts, a plain grey shirt, and a flat cap. The flat cap was a bit dorky, but she thought it was cute. 

"Hi," she breathed with a smile, feeling those damned butterflies in her stomach again. "Hey," he responded with his heart-melting smile. "You look...wow, you look beautiful." She was simply wearing shorts that ended a few inches above her knees and a blouse. 

She blushed and told him, "I just threw it on--." Ben took her hand and interrupted her by softly saying, "Cassie. Take the compliment." She breathed out a laugh and nodded. "Okay," he said, "are you ready?" 

In just a few minutes, they were in Ben's car and on their way to...Cassie didn't know where. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?" She sweetly asked. Ben chuckled and put his hand over hers. "Not quite," he told her. "But I think you'll like it. I hope you do, at least." 

They continued to drive for another hour or so, until they were no longer driving on a street, but now a graveled road, and then a dirt road. They drove for a few miles, but then stopped when there was a dead end of trees. 

Ben parked the car, then said, "Almost there." He got out and jogged around to Cassie's side. He opened the door and helped her out, before opening the trunk of his car and taking out a large basket and a large blanket. 

He then held his hand out to her and said, "This way, my lady." Cassie shyly smiled and took his hand. He led them Through the dead end of trees and up a steep hill, until they ended up in grass that went up to their ankles. 

Cassie didn't let go of his hand as he led them further through this grass and up yet another steep hill. When they got to the top...Cassie's breath was taken away. The view was gorgeous. There was so much green between the grass and the pine trees, but what really made the view was the mountains. They were the same ones she could see from her house. 

"Ben," she gasped. "Oh my God, this is...amazing! How did you find this place?" As Ben set down the basket and set up the blanket, he told her, "A friend had told me about it sometime ago. I had forgotten about it until last night and wanted to check it out with you." 

This man was really doing things to her. He was so sweet and kind, she couldn't stand it (in a good way). She then realized that she wanted to kiss him. She really wanted to kiss him, but was afraid it might be too soon. 

She was also afraid of after. What would they be? Would he feel obligated to keep seeing her, even if he didn't want to? Get these thoughts out of your head! She scolded. He proved to you the other night how much he wanted to keep seeing you, so stop with these stupid thoughts!

"Darling?" Ben called with a laugh. Cassie whipped her head over to where he was halfway to sitting down on the blanket with his hand out to her. "Are you alright?" She took a deep breath and told him, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

She took his hand and carefully sat down on the blanket with him. She felt sad when he took his hand away, but he was using it to bring over the basket. "Alright," he said while rubbing his hands together. "Mind you, this isn't the best feast in the world, but I did as best as I could." 

He opened the basket and started pulling things out. The first items were two bottles of iced tea, the second was a couple sandwiches in baggies, which he placed on the plates he took out. He then got out a couple of tall, plastic glasses and some ice and handed one to Cassie and filled hers up with the ice.