drinking

chapter 9

Luke was nervous.

He wiped his sweaty palms on his new black jeans, and his leg shook up and down to his dismay. Luke stared at his leg for a little bit, watching it bounce up and down before placing a hand to stop it.

He was going on a date.

His two friends had found someone that he could be set up with, and now here he was, sitting in front of a crowded restaurant with no one beside him. The blond checked his phone multiple times. 

Am I early? Am I late? Am I in the wrong place? Luke thought, causing his leg to start shaking even more.

The brisk air blew in to his shirt, and he shivers. The air brushes across the sweat lined on his eyebrows, making him even more cold than he was in the first place.

Maybe, this is a joke. Maybe Calum and Michael are right there, behind the bush or something and they're waiting to prank me. Luke concluded, to which he stood up to look behind the unmoving bushes.

After checking around the bushes, he eventually sat back down in disappointment. New evil thoughts flew around his mind like a cage of rabid bats, flittering around and hitting every side of his cranium with wild shrieks.

Maybe, one more check.

+

"Welcome!" Ashton said, and I smile before walking into his house. 

It was quaint and lovely, with a nice, warm interior. Music filled every part of the house with a jazz-like melody, and I took off my shoes in respect.

"Oh, you don't have to take off your shoes," Ashton started, but I shook my head.

"It's your house, and I don't want to ruin it with these old things," I shake my worn shoes in my hands to emphasize my point before placing it down. "Besides, you're not wearing shoes, why should I?"

Ashton shrugged in response, a slight smile painted on his face. He waves an arm and walks through a door, which I could only assume was his living room. 

Today was Ashton's third date with me. It wasn't long after our art class that he scheduled a new one. I feared that he would remember the moment where our lips almost met, but he seemed to have shrugged that aside.

I walked into his living room carefully, for my eyes to open wide. There in place of a normal living room was a movie projector, and a small tunnel under mounds of blankets over it. The smell of freshly popped popcorn filled my nose, and I sigh in content.

Ashton's light brown curls were seen as he popped his head out of the tunnel. A childish look on his face, I couldn't help but laugh. 

"Do you like it?" Ashton started saying, but his voice became muffled when he moved back into his little fort.

"Like it? I love it," a laugh escapes my lips, and I squat down to the entrance of the tunnel. 

Lines of chairs were holding up the blankets, and pillows were placed on the sides. I crawl on all fours to where the projector laid, to find Ashton surfing Netflix while eating a bucket of popcorn.

Turning my gaze to the side, I see a microwave with a small box full of microwavable popcorn. Ashton notices my appearance, and puts down the bucket of popcorn.

"What do you want to watch?"

Bowls after bowls of microwavable popcorn come and go, but the intoxicating smell of the sweet, buttery popcorn lingers. I lick my hands to clean off the butter, before Ashton stands up with a grunt.

"Going to get more popcorn bags, wait here," he stated, and I nodded in response, my eyes glued onto the screen.

A strange action movie was playing on the screen, and I was barely paying attention. The hours seemed to flow by, not because of the movies, nor the popcorn. It was the time we spent together that drew me in.

I never had someone go through this great of a length to please me. I would be happy if there wasn't this huge fort, although I enjoyed the idea, but a simple Netflix and popcorn would have done. 

Reaching over, I took a tissue in my hand and wiped my fingers delicately, before crumpling it up and throwing it into the minuscule trash can in the corner of the fort. I felt the velvet blankets with my dry fingers, also listening to Ashton rustle around in the kitchen.

Was this what it felt like to be loved?

I almost flinched at the thought that suddenly appeared in my head. Love? I wasn't even dating Ashton yet, when I thought about it. It was a string of dates, but no one asked one another. I guess it wasn't "official" yet in that sense.

But love? Why was I thinking of it so soon in the relationship?

Why would you think about love if you didn't feel it?

Love can come in many different shapes and forms. There is love for your family, love for your friends, and love generally for everything you like.

The real question is if love comes in these extravagant dates, for the silly curly-headed boy that builds forts as an idea for a movie date-

"Haven? Are you okay?" 

I snap out of my thoughts, like a sudden halt to a speeding train.

"Hm?"

"You were a little spaced out there, and you weren't paying attention to this awesome movie."

I chuckled, before sitting myself up with my arms. Ashton hands me the bucket of popcorn, and I  hugged it to my chest. The warm bowl felt nice on my fingertips, and Ashton huffed.

"Don't hog it," he pouted, and I gently placed it beside both of us. 

I gasp, "I'm the hog? You finished almost three bowls by yourself!" 

Ashton furrows his eyebrows, looking down as if he was counting the bowls.

"One.. two.. It was two! You liar!"

It was a flurry of nipping words and pokes of fun at each other, each causing some sort of laugh out of each other. Each word fed the fire and soon I found myself with a hand around both of my frail wrists, pinning them both over my head. I struggle against the hand, but it was enclosed tightly. 

"Stop, no fair!" I giggle, thrashing about uselessly.

We both start laughing at my state, and calmed down a little later. It was then, that we noticed how close we were, and how I could feel his warm breath flowing down. It smelled like butter, just like the popcorn we were eating.

Ashton's eyes were freckled with bits of green and brown, like gems. If I looked close enough, I could almost see some gold diamonds. I watched his gem-like eyes flicker from my own to my lips. 

A tongue wiped over his own, almost like he was thinking if he should do it or not. I could feel almost every atom of my body scream "yes," and I froze, watching his every move.

"Have I," Ashton cleared his throat, "Ever told you, that you are pretty?"

I raise an eyebrow, staring at everything except him when I answered, "Yeah, all the time-"

"Well."

My eyes find its way back to him.

"You're pretty."

And his lips melt onto mine.

-

hi sorry this is kinda bad lol

c