Firefly

|Ch. 8|

I waited outside my dorm on a cool crisp Saturday afternoon, waiting for Alex to arrive. I tapped my shoe on the pavement impatiently. My legs began to tremble and my hands felt sweaty, so I walked over to a bench and sat down.

I can't be getting nervous. It was just Alex, calm down. This isn't even a date, it's just two friends hanging out and getting to know each other, right?

I breathed in deep breaths and exhaled trying to relax myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alex's red pickup pulling into a spot right in front of me.

I put my hands on my shaking legs trying to regain my sanity and slowly got up from the bench. I walked over to Alex's car and got in.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as he stared at me speechless.

I was just wearing a loose flowery shirt and jean shorts, I didn't understand why he was so in awe with the way I looked. It was just me, there was nothing different about the way I looked than any other day he saw me, but his stare at me was gleaming.

"You'll have to see, it's a surprise," Alex said grinning.

I playfully rolled my eyes as Alex backed out of the parking space. My eyes wandered to his hands as they nervously tapped on the wheel and he turned out of the college.

I stared out the window and saw trees flying by in a blur as a song I had never heard came on the radio. My ears listened in as Alex turned the volume up, blasting the car. I looked over at him as he started singing along and I laughed.

Suddenly, he turned off onto the side of road. I barely recognized the place in the daylight, but it instantly struck me where we were.

"Is this the only place you know?" I said turning towards Alex giggling.

"Just get out of the car, it's a surprise."

"It's not a surprise if we have already been here before," I stated.

"Oh really?" Alex questioned as he raised his eyebrows.

I delicately got out of his car, making sure I didn't face plant again. Alex reached in his trunk and pulled out a basket and a blanket.

"You do realize there are no fireflies out?" I sarcastically said.

"My sarcasm rubbed off on you didn't it?"

I rolled my eyes as he lugged the basket and blanket into the woods. I reluctantly followed behind him. During the day time, it was easier to notice the long branches on the ground as I carefully made sure not to trip.

Alex made a quick right and I bumped into him, almost spilling the contents out of his basket.

"This isn't the way to the field," I confusingly mentioned.

"I know."

I followed behind Alex for a few more miles as we walked in silence up a hill. My legs were aching after only 20 minutes of walking and I stopped to catch my breath.

"C'mon slow poke, it's just past these trees," Alex said to me as he walked with breeze.

I couldn't even see an inch of sweat on him as he stopped and looked back waiting for me to catch up to him. I wiped the sweat off my head, trudged over to where he was and we continued to walk.

A few short minutes later, we exited out of the abyss of trees and it opened up to a glorious view of the mountains.

I breathed out and looked at the vast array of mountains encircling us. It felt like we were on top of the world.