Drive All Night

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It turns out the next move was dinner. After a quick stammering and Ally excusing herself to the shower, the two of them ignored the elephant in the room and headed out for supper.

"Tell me something about you I don't know," Sebastian said, stuffing a French fry into his mouth.

Ally put down her drink and thought for a moment. Memories didn't usually come easy to her. Normally they were reactions to things she saw, music she heard, or just plain random. So when she looked at Sebastian, the first thing that came to mind was her first kiss.

"When I was twelve, I was in love with a boy named Darcy."

"Not the one from the book?" Sebastian teased.

"No, he was real, and handsome in that I-can-ride-my-bike-without-touching-the-handlebars kind of way." Sebastian chuckled and she continued, "It took me a week to get his attention, which felt like an eternity back then. But one day, after casually leaning against the bike rack where he parked his chick magnet, he said, 'hey'."

"Sounds like a heartbreaker," Sebastian said, clearly amused by her story as he shoved another fry into his mouth.

"Oh, he was. So everyday after school, I would hang out at the bike racks waiting for him. One day, he showed up without his friends, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He asked me to meet him in the forest at lunch the next day. So the next day I showed up in my cutest skirt and my high tops and I spent all morning watching the clock. When the lunch bell rang I was out of the school so fast. I stood waiting in the forest for him to show up."

"Let me guess, he never showed?" Sebastian asked.

"No, he showed. He walked up to me and didn't say anything and he planted one right on my lips. I was in such shock that I don't think I even moved. He pulled back as quickly as it started and then said, 'I don't think I want a girlfriend. See you.'"

Sebastian stared at her for a beat and then burst out laughing.

"Now you have to share something with me," Ally teased.

Sebastian sobered fairly quickly and Ally wondered if maybe she shouldn't have asked. She wanted to be there for him if he needed to talk, but she didn't want to push him over it either.

"Anything," she assured him.

"Well I think first kisses are on the table." He ran his hand through his hair and Ally couldn't help the passing thought of how handsome he was. He had perfect cheekbones and a jawline that was going to make him even more attractive as he grew older, but what she was mostly focused on was his lips. She suddenly wondered what it was like to kiss Sebastian but she shook the thought from her head. He obviously had a lot of stuff going on and he needed a friend.

"Peggy Baker." He paused, smiling wistfully, and Ally found it endearing. "I was sixteen, a late bloomer in the kiss department. I thought she hung the moon, she was pretty and smart and funny." Sebastian looked at her like he wanted to say something else but thought better of it.

"I took her to the movies and during the movie, she leaned over and kissed me. I was on cloud nine."

"So what happened?" Ally asked.

"Her parents didn't want her dating a white kid."

"Seriously?" Ally replied, shocked.

Sebastian shrugged. "I never thought it was going to last. We were kids, and she was too good for me."