summer boy ~ tal fishman ✓

~25~

'I like it when you're honest', he just says. He looks at me for a few seconds after he said that. I'm too scared to look back, I'm still a tomato. I know I'm still a tomato, it feels like the car is a sauna. Which means I think it's too hot, so my body will automatically find a way of cooling down, through widening the blood vessels on my face which makes me appear red- I'm not in biology. Nobody cares. I'm just trying to take my mind off of the completely embarrassing thing I just said. 

But wait, does that mean he likes me back? No, that's not what he said. He just said he liked it when I'm honest. But what does he mean by that? He's so confusing and he probably doesn't even notice it. Which makes him even hotter- wait chill, Julia. 

My head is over-analyzing and right now I think I just need some air after I made a complete fool out of myself. 'Are we nearly there?' I ask. I ruined the mood or whatever was going on. Tal looks back at the road. 'Nearly.'

'Okay, we have arrived', Tal says. I jump out of the car before he could even think about opening the door for me. If he'd want to it's too late now. I take a deep breath of fresh air. I love the smell of the forest. And the smell of rain. Combined they're even better. Tal grabs the picnic basket from the back.

Apparently, he also brought a picnic blanket where we can sit on. He put some serious effort in this... well what is it? Could you call this a date? Probably not. I don't know. I should ask Meredith sometime. But she'll probably say it is a date because she wants us to be together.

'I found a nice spot!' Tal's voice wakes me out of my thoughts. I should just have fun and not think about what this could be called. I walk over to him with a huge smile on my face. I love the outdoors. Usually.

'So I broke my right arm twice. Twice the exact same way. I guess you could say I don't really learn from mistakes, do I?' I laugh and so does Tal. We have eaten nearly all the food and now I'm talking about how I broke my arm twice. 'How did you break your arm, then?' he asks me. 'Well, both times I wanted to jump to something I couldn't reach. The first time it was a branch of a tree. I jumped from a tree stump to a branch that I really wanted to hang on. Then I fell because my hands slipped off on the branch and- Look! It's a squirrel!' I exclaim in the middle of my story. I point at it very excitedly.

'It's so cute! Grab your phone so you can take a picture!' I hit Tal on his arm a few times to let him know he has to take a picture of the adorable squirrel. 

'Oh no, it ran away,' I say. 'Was it just like fluffy dogs cute?' Tal asks. I look at him. 'Well, I think fluffy dogs are cuter. But like, some cats are very cute as well. Like Mouse' Tal nods as if he agrees. 'You know what is cute as well?' Tal asks. He seems a bit nervous. 'What?' I look into his eyes. 'You.'

I just sit there. What!? Did Tal just call me cute?! I should say something. I should do something. Instead, I am just sitting here and my mouth is sort of open while I am staring at him. My mind isn't really working right now, I guess. Well, actually I don't guess, I know because I am still sitting here and staring at him. With my mouth opened. 

I manage to close my mouth after a few seconds. 'Thanks, you too', I say after what seemed like a year. That sounded so dumb. Couldn't I think of anything better? Tal is blushing and looks at the ground.

'Well, I'm sorry I totally ruined this. This should have gone way smoother. This is so awkward right now. You don't like me that way. I messed up, do you still want to be friends? Please?' he suddenly asks. 

I look at him even more confused. I do like him that way. I just... my mind... it's just like stuck when I try to talk to him. He wants to get up. 'No, don't leave!' I exclaim. I hope I don't sound too desperate. I definitely sound too desperate. 

His beautiful eyes look directly in mine. He is standing now, looking down at me. Don't lose yourself right now, you have to talk Julia, I say to myself. 'I, like, do like you that way I am just horrible with dealing with these situations', I try to explain myself. He sits back down and I see something in his eyes that makes them even more beautiful; hope and happiness. That sounded so poetic. I really need to reconsider my career choices. I should become a poet. 

'Was this a date?' I ask softly when he's seated across from me again. Closer than he was before he stood up, though. Sneaky. 

'Supposed to be.' 'Why supposed to?' 'It didn't work out exactly how I planned.' 'But would you consider it a success?' He grins before he says; 'definitely'. I don't know what my heart is doing right now. I don't know if this is how it should feel to be in love. I've definitely never been. Except for Mouse. But everyone falls in love with him. But it's a different kind of love, no, I can't call it that. It's way too soon. I'm going way too quickly in my mind. Like always. I need to chill. We'll just see where this is going, I tell myself.

I move a bit closer to Tal and give him a hug. Well, mister works out. He is toned as hell. I knew but now I, like, know. Well, that was specific, Julia. Maybe not a poet then. We are still both sitting so it's a bit of an awkward position but I don't mind because I. Am. Hugging. Tal. Freaking. Fishman. 

And he said he likes me back. Wow. Too much information for my mind to process normally. I'll probably freak out somewhere later tonight. When it really hits me.

I let him go and scoot closer to him. It's pretty cold, and since his touch makes me feel warm, it's nice to sit close to him. Plus, hopefully his body heat will keep me warmer. I am now sitting with my side against his. I see him looking down at me. I kiss him on his cheek. That was sneaky. But I had to take this chance because since he's taller, I wouldn't reach his cheek otherwise.

'Thank you for this date. And thank you for remembering that I love picnics because this is amazing', I whisper. I see him blushing while he's looking away. 

I smile. 'Are you blushing?' I poke him in his cheek. He's probably really annoyed by me. I would be too. 'No, I'm not', he says and he looks back into the woods, so he wouldn't have to face me. 'You're too cute', I hear myself say. 'Not as cute as you.'

And then my inner fangirl went screaming. 

~ * ~

Hey guys, I'm back from vacation! I'm not happy with this chapter, so I'll probably change it a bit, but here's an update for you. Love you, byee. ❤️❤️❤️