Living in the Clouds

Ch. 15 New guys and Italian food

When we get home, Jc helps carry all the stuff to our house and he drives home. Erin and I decide to go to park to chill. We go to racetrack and grab a couple of sweet tea’s, and walk to the park. Erin tells me about a guy she met and she really likes him, but he doesn’t know and she is not sure about his feelings for her. When we get there, I notice a guy. He is about our age, he has a handsome face; blue eyes and brunette hair with descently olive skin. He isn’t pale, but he isn’t to tan. His hair is bushy but it curves up a little. He has a pair of glasses and he looks like a little nerd (in a good way), but he has muscle. You can see it in his biceps. He is reading, but he looks up at me. I look down and scratch behind my neck. A small smile spreads over his lips and I start to blush. I look up and he is walking toward me. ME? Why me? I look behind me and there is no other girl, besides Erin and I. Erin is texting and I look back at him and he is in front of me. “umm… hi. My name is Susannah.” I murmur. Erin looks up from her phone and says that she has to go throw away her tea, but she winks at me and nudges me slightly before she leaves. I just shake my head and look back at him. “My name is Jason. I couldn’t help but notice your shirt.” I look down at my tank top; it says All Time Low. “I love All Time Low, do you?” He nods his head and grins. He holds up his hand and we high five. I look down at the ground and he looks at the ground. We look up at the same time and I smile. “Do you want to sit?” he offers and I agree. And I feel  giddy and I can feel my hands shaking. I wasn’t used to having attention, so I was just a little nervous.  I feel a buzz in my pocket and I whip out my phone to see a text from Erin. She said that she was going to a small vintage shop down the block and to meet her at a restaurant.  She was going to invite the girls. I text her “okay have fun.”  We walk over to the oak tree. That is where I was sitting before I had met Jc. I swallow a little and stare up at him. He takes off his glasses and he stares at me. “why did you take off your glasses? Do you need them?” I ask. “I wear them for reading. I look a little stupid in them I guess.” He says and he blushes. I laugh and blurt out “WHAT?? You look so cute! “ I think about what I had just said and I can feel my cheeks heat up. He laughs and says thank you. We talk about music, books, and our bucket list. We have a lot in common and we both liked to laugh. Literally, after everything we said we would laugh. As it grew darker, I could feel my stomach growing more empty. “so do you want to eat?” he asks. “umm.. yeah, my friend invited me to a restaurant, but I can change my plans.. I guess.” He nods and I text Erin.

“ERIN!!!! Guess what! The boy from the park asked me out, is it ok if I go with him. Im sorry this is last minute!”

“yeah! Go for it! I know you need to take you mind off of Jc. Make some new friends!”

“Thank you so much! I owe you!”

“no prob!”

I feel a little weird because Jason takes me to this pristine Italian restaurant, but then again, he is wearing a hoodie, shorts, snapback and Vans, so I don’t mind. I can feel my hands shaking as all these adults stare at us. Jason slips his hand into mine and I stop. We sit down and we share a bowl of pasta. The table we sit at is very close to the door. Jason and I end up finishing dinner quickly and we head out. Just as we exit the door, Kansas and her boyfriend Chase enter. I hear her let out a small gasp and she gives me a mischevious look. I stare up at Jason. I just shake my head and try to leave but her look grows serious and she says to duck her head when we get outside. I start to feel nervous. Why do I have to duck my head? I shrug my shoulders and whispers to me “Jc is outside with the rest of o2l. I know how you feel about him right now, so if you want to avoid him, then duck your head. Tell your friend to duck his head as well.” I nod my head, slip on my beanie and tell Jason to. He doesn’t argue, and he slips on his snapback over his face. He slips his hand into mine and we duck. As we walk, I my eyes shift a little to the right and I can see the o2l member. I can feel them whispering and I wiggle my hand out of his, grab his arm and we walk faster. I hear footsteps and I start to speed walk. I whisper for Jason to run and that I will catch up with him at the park. I don’t want Jc to be suspicious of him. I mean yeah, I have moved on… I think but I don’t know for sure. I think I had super obvious feeling for Jc but things do change. I stop and grab my phone. I text Erin to pull up the car at the park in the next 15 minutes and I turn around. Behind me is Ricky Dillon and he smiles. I smile back and say hi. “Suze! Do you want to come with us for some icecream? It is just a couple of stores down!” I look over at the o2l table and they are all staring at me. I spot Jc and his eyes and mine make direct contact. I shrug off there stares and say “umm… no thank you Ricky, I have to meet up with Erin… but maybe next week at around 2-ish? Is that ok with you all?” He agrees and he walks back to the table to tell the guys. They start high fiving each other and I just shake my head and I feel a half smile coming across my lips. Before I can take a step I hear Jc say “Wait Suze!” and I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. I turn around quickly and my head almost collides with Jc. I start to laugh at Jc’s expression. He looked a little scared. “umm… yeah Jc? What is it?” I say as politely as I can. “Who was that? The guy you were walking out of the restaurant with?” he murmurs. “OH! He was just a guy I met. He offered to buy me dinner so I accepted. Listen I gotta go but we are going to meet up for icecream next time! Ok?” he nods his head in an unsure way. I give a small punch in the shoulder and pat his head. As I walk away, I can hear them talking about me. When I get to the parkbench, Jason is waiting there for me. We say our goodbyes, give each other hugs and we exchange numbers. Erin pulls up the car and I hop inside. “SOOOO! How was dinner? Who was that boy? He is really cute! Did he give you his number? Did you kiss? Was that a date? Are you both dating now??? Wait! Does that mean you are over Jc? ” she says giving me a slight nudge. “It was fine! I will tell you more when we get to the house! Gosh! You are so nosey!” I say smiling. When we get to the house, I tell her all about what happened. She squeals and laughs a lot! I don’t know why! I just met this guy who might ask me out!