A Change Of Heart

22

November 15th, 1967
6:25 p.m.

Laying on the floor I watched as Tom sat with a hand covering the bottom portion of his face, his blue eyes squinted as if he was deep in thought. Shuffling his wooden tiles around, a smile tugged at the corners of his thin lips.

"Are you gonna play a word or not?" My patience was being tested at this point, he'd taken at least ten minutes to try and find a word on the stupid scrabble board. And on top of that Mike would be showing up at any minute, what with him always being a bit early.

"I need the dictionary."

"Just let me look at your letters."

"No."

"Why not? It'll be faster if you just let me see." I pressed, leaning forward a bit to peek at his letters only to have him playfully shove me down onto the middle of the board. Tiles flying out from under me as he laughed manically at the jumbled mess the board had now become.

"You ass! Let me see those damn letters now that you've completely ended the game." I scowled, my lips turning upwards in a smile for a second at the sound of his laughter. I masked it as best I could before grabbing his letters to examine.

"All you had was cat! You needed the dictionary for cat?!" I was beginning to chuckle now, he'd only done this to try and get a rise out of me.

"One can never be too sure..." laying down onto his side, a blush rising on his cheeks as his blue eyes studied my green ones. He started playing with the tiles on the floor, trying to make words with the q and y before grinning at me. Taking my hand in his and gently pressing his lips against my knuckles.

My stomach fluttered and my cheeks grew red, never in a thousand years would I have guessed Tom could have an effect on me like this. Blue eyes glinting and a smirk rising on his lips before giving me a soft kiss.

"Hopefully you won't get me sick."

"You're already sick." I teased back, grinning when he began snickering. Holding the small bag open I began shoveling the tiles back into the bag, throwing them haphazardly into the box when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Tom offered standing up off the floor quickly, sweat began to pour off me at the scenarios that ran through my mind. Bouncing up off the floor I shook my head rapidly, reaching to grab at his arm.

"I have to tell you something."

"It can't wait? I tried that new thing they have at the pizza place, where you order a pizza and they deliver it. I thought we could eat and play another game." His head tilting back and his brow furrowed as confusion laced his voice.

"No." I felt guilty, I couldn't even look him in the eye anymore at this point. Shifting his weight from foot to foot before he looked over at the door again.

"I-I have a um... a date."

"Oh." He pouted a bit, looking down at the floor before quickly masking his dissatisfaction with a small grin, "with Mike?"

"Yeah, look Tom I'm sorry, I should've told you earlier and -"

He held a hand up as if to dismiss the issue, shaking his head, "you don't have to tell me anything it's not like we're dating..."

"But, Tommy..."

"It's fine, just go have fun, ok?" A weak smile still painting his features as he placed a hand on my back and gently ushered me to the door.

"I-I'm not sure I want to go..." looking over my shoulder at him and seeing his eyes light up a bit at those words. Resting my hand on the door knob I waited for him to say something, but he shook his head when the doorbell rang again.