All I Ever Wanted

Chapter 8

"Thank you," I smiled warmly at Tanner as we walked to the ice cream parlor. "For understanding, I mean. And for sticking up for me. This'll take my mind off things."

"No problem." Tanner smiled back. "I ... Never mind." I hated when people would do that.

"What?"

"No, I'll embarrass myself," he blushed.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Tanner."

"All right, fine. I've been wanting to ask you out on a date for some time now."

"Oh!" I said, surprised. How did I not notice he liked me? I felt horrible. "I'm sorry I ignored you. I thought you wanted nothing to do with me."

"Why'd you think that?" Tanner stopped walked, looking confused.

"Well I don't know. You never talked to me that much, I guess." As I spoke I realised how idiotic I had been. Maybe he had always been waiting for me to talk to him first.

"Oh," he sighed. "I'm just a little shy, that's all." He rubbed his forehead indicating he was deep in thought. "There will never be a day I don't want anything to do with you." I didn't know what to say. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. Coming from the boy who was my friend but never talked, this was totally unexpected.

"That's really nice of you," I said, not sure if I felt anything for him yet. I didn't want to act like I didn't have feelings for him because they could develop in the future, but I didn't want to act like I did because what if in the end I didn't? I added, "That's the nicest thing I've ever been told. It means a lot." Tanner half-smiled and awkwardly stared at his shoes as we began walking again. He didn't say anything else until we reached the Ice Cream Parlor. When we arrived, he opened the door for me.

"Ladies first," he said.

"Thanks!" We ordered our ice cream and sat down at the outdoor tables of the parlor. He was almost completely silent the whole time. The silence drove me crazy. I had to break it. "Tanner, you don't have to act afraid of me. I don't bite," I said.

"I know, I know. It's just, I've never been on a date before. I mean, I have been on a few, but they were almost all disastrous." He frowned. "I'm just trying to make this one have a good turn out."

"Okay. First things first, tell me about yourself. Why are you so quiet?" I asked.

"As a kid, my dad always scolded me for talking so much. I think I had ADD," he forced out a single laugh. Tanner looked uncomfortable. I could tell by the way his eyes kind of looked as if they were looking at nothing. "So I'm just quiet now. I don't want to bother people."

"But you're funny, and nice. I don't understand why you choose to be so ... plain," I exclaimed in a soft tone.

"Thanks, but it's complicated. I'm afraid of rejection. Of losing everything I have."

"Oh," I frowned. I hadn't anticipated that kind of response. I tried to change the subject. "This ice cream is really good. Thank you again for bringing me."

"You're welcome. What kind did you get again?"

"Coffee. What'd you get?"

"Cookie dough. It's my favourite," he made a face the showed he felt like the ice cream was edible heaven. I gasped as an idea came to mind.

"What if they made coffee flavoured cookie dough ice cream?"

"That'd be delicious!" He exclaimed. "Next time, we can order a mixture of both!" I realised something in his sentence that surprised me. The words, 'next time'. He had naturally added the phrase in, but I knew that was what he wanted. He wanted there to be a 'next time'. The question was, did I?

"Next time?" I instinctively repeated questioningly.

"Yeah," he stared into my eyes. "Abby, will you be my girlfriend?" As I looked into his dreamy eyes, thinking about who he was - what his personality was like, I made my decision.