What's Meant To Be

the nerves kick in

As I opened the front door, I was caught in his headlights. I felt nervous that there was basically a spot light on me.

I opened the passenger door and climbed in.

"Don't try anything, Bryce. For real..." I firmly stated before slamming the door shut.

"I know, I know. Let's just have fun. We haven't hung out, ya know, just the two of us before.." He added.

"Okay. What are we gonna do?" I asked, my tone was shaky & I was embarrassed at how nervous I was. It wasn't like I'd never been alone with a boy before. Something about him just had my stomach in knots.

"I figured we'd just hit a few back roads and talk. Maybe listen to music or something? If that's okay with you?" He asked as our eyes locked.

"Yeah, sounds good to me!"

"You know you don't have to be so nervous around me, Lauren.."

A knot formed in my throat as my heart was bursting against my chest.

"I know, Bryce. I'm fine, really. You just make me nervous."

"Why do I make you nervous?? You like me or something??" He smirked.

"As a friend.. You make me nervous because you're a player, you're driving me around, and we're alone. I'm trusting you a whole hell of a lot right now."

I saw his eyebrows squint as the words rolled off my tongue. I knew he expected me to flirt back, but what's the fun in that? I wanted him to want what he couldn't have for once.

It felt good to be liked by a guy like Bryce. I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But, he's not the type you fall for, or at least admit you're falling for.

••••••

The rest of the night was filled with talking about our past relationships, the recent and the further back, talking about our life in general. Our goals, dreams, fears, & hopes for our futures. We sang a few songs (at the top of our lungs) that came on the radio, laughing and dancing to the lyrics. We talked about things we wanted to improve about ourselves.

I told him I wanted to learn to put my foot down & quit being so nice to people & letting them walk all over me.

He told me he wanted to become a better person in general.

I said wanted to build my friendships back up.

He said wanted to become a better football player.

I set a goal to graduate with honors.

He set one to win state.

I told him I wanted to settle down with the right guy, and prepared for the remark he was going to make.

He told me he wanted to settle down, too.

Out of all the things I expected to come out of his mouth, that definitely wasn't it.

••••

We were silent the whole ride towards town. The radio echoed in the background. I kept feeling his eyes on me and couldn't help but smile, like physically smile.