ʀᴏᴏᴋɪᴇ | ᴋᴏ ✔︎

8

"So what do you have planned?" I ask Kelley as she continues to drive through the quiet streets. It's dark already, meaning it's difficult to see any landmarks or street names. "You're not kidnapping me are you?"

"No." She chuckles at me, shaking her head as she grins. "I have it planned, don't worry and if I was kidnapping you, I wouldn't have spent my afternoon texting your brother my plans."

"Oh, God. I was hoping he was joking about that." I mumble, thinking the worst. I didn't realize that Kelley heard me until I hear her laugh.

"Don't worry. He gave me 'the talk', you know, don't hurt you, yada yada yada." She trails off, focusing on the road.

It gives me a moment to admire her profile, only now noticing that she has one hell of a jawline. I smile as she bites her lip, obviously concentrating on driving, which I'm thankful for.

"You're staring." She smirks, glancing at me quickly before she faces the road again.

"Am not." I deny, while I continue to look at her. "I'm admiring."

"Oh. My mistake, that's so much different to staring."

I slap her arm softly at her sarcasm, but not strong enough that she veers and losing control of the car.

"Okay, we're here." She stops the car, killing the engine and unbuckles her seatbelt. She pivots on her seat to face me, watching me expectantly. I glance out of the window, noticing all of the people.

"A street fair?"

"Yep. Good food, some games, but I have something else planned for later too." She climbs out of the car, and runs 'round to my door and by the time I've taken my belt off, Kelley has my door open and her hand outstretched, waiting for me.

I take her hand and let her hoist me out of the seat, not letting her hand go as she closes the door and locks the car behind her. My grip on her hand tightens slightly, and she notices.

"Are you okay?" Great, I think. I was happy to keep my social anxiety a secret from every single person I ever meet.

"Uh, yeah. Great." I answer, rather pathetically and she raises an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. I uh...don't do very well in crowds." I mumble, feeling like an utter loser. I'm convinced that now she knows of my...'issues', she'll turn around and take me home to never talk to me again. I'm left happily surprised though, when she doesn't. She squeezes my hand in return before letting go to put her hand on the small of my back.

"I'm right here. If you want to leave, we can go." She kisses my cheek and I swoon a little. She watches me closely, her brow furrowing slightly in concern.

"Thank you."

She doesn't answer, she only smiles at me and guides me through the crowds, not once letting go of me. Usually I wouldn't even venture near a street fair of any kind, I do everything I can to avoid large groups - even signing with Seattle was a challenge. I had to talk myself into it, into joining my college team. I've gotten better at managing my anxieties around socializing, but when there's more then 20 people, I start to panic.

But not now. Not with Kelley. I can see that she's doing what she can to make sure I'm comfortable - well, as comfortable as I can be. She looks at me every 30 seconds or so to make sure that I'm safe.

An hour or so in to our date and I'm not any less anxious, but my date is doing everything she can to distract me from that. It's not difficult, all she has to do is look at me and I'm lost to the world. We're at a small food stand, debating on which foods are worth getting. Kelley is in favor of Mexican, while I'm all for Thai, so we settle and get both.

"You and your wife are a lovely couple." The old(ish) lady informs Kelley and I as we pay for our food. Well, as Kelley pays because she 'insisted' that she does, and by that I mean she threatened me.

"We're not married." Kelley chuckles, sparing me a glance. I notice the gleam in her eye, and paired with her smile, it makes her look incredibly beautiful.

"Oh. You argue like a married couple." The woman laughs off her judgement and she hands Kelley her change and I walk with Kelley as she leads me through the crowds once again. I don't know where we're going until I see the car within my sights.

"The car?"

"Yep." She doesn't elaborate as she opens the door for me, holding it until I climb in and closing it behind me. I watch as she runs back to her side of the car and climbing in. She hands me the food and I hold it on my lap as she starts to drive. I feel the anxiety wash away as I watch the crowds of people shrink as we drive further away.

"Where are you taking me?"

"It's a surprise." She turns on Pandora, turning it down as she continues to drive to the unknown location.

"You're not kidnapping me now, right?" She only laughs and shakes her head, making me internally groan at her lack of an answer.

30 minutes later and we're at a very poorly lit parking lot, meaning I have no option but to assume the worst - she is kidnapping me and I am about to die - or that I just trust the woman I'm on a date with, and hope she knows where she's going.

It's probably the first one...

"Ready?" I only hum in response, not trusting my voice to portray any kind of confidence. She repeats her routine of helping me out of the car after opening the door for me, and I let her. She takes my hand in hers and leads me on the darkened path, with the food in hand, I appease her. She is my ride after all.

I spot a faint light in the distance, and I assume I've died on the way up this steep hill, and this is 'the light at the end of the tunnel'. Oddly enough, it's not, and I'm not sure if I should be sigh in relief or not.

Kelley leads me to the top of the hill, at the top is a small fire. Not understanding how the hell it got there, I look at my date, who I can now see clearly thanks to the mysterious fire.

"I asked Hope and Megan for a little help." Kelley shrugs, as if it was so obvious.

I only nod, and let her lead me to a log, perfectly placed by the fire, and I sit beside Kelley as we open our food containers and start to eat.

"You should have gotten the Mexican, there's no way Thai is better."

Simply to prove a point, I let her try my Thai food, laughing in victory when she's basically forced to admit that I was right.

We talk for about an hour, the light and heat from the small fire diminishing as we continue.

"I should get you home. I don't need Kevin hunting me down." Kelley stands, dusting any dirt from her pants and holds her hand out for me to take. I do, and dust myself off too before we make our way back to her car.

"He's freakishly smart, he would definitely find you."

Skip Car Ride.

Kelley walks me to my front door, a smile playing on her lips as we stop outside. My breath catches in my throat as she places her hands on my waist, and begins to lean in. I follow her lead, my hands finding their way to her neck as I pull her closer, only for the front door to open, our lips mere inches apart.

"About time, Logan! Hi, O'Hara."

"Hi Kevin." Kelley chuckles as I use a list of profanities under my breath, all directed at my younger brother who seems to have awful timing.

"So....what'cha doin'?" He wiggles his eyebrows, making my date laugh, but making me groan in annoyance. I push him back inside, closing the door before he can react. Turning, I notice Kelley already staring at my lips.

"So...what were we doing?"

"This." She answers, her hands finding my waist once again, pulling me closer at a much faster rate, obviously in fear of Kevin opening the door again. I don't stop her, or slow her pace, relishing in her dominant behavior, one of her hands finds it's way to my jaw, and she guides my face to her. I force myself to hold in any sigh that wants to leave my mouth upon feeling her soft lips against mine. The hint of Mexican food being overpowered by the gum she's been chewing. Our mouths move in sync as we continue to kiss. It slowly becomes more heated, and my hands find their way into her hair, willing her closer although we're already as close as can be.

Pulling away, she rests her head against my shoulder, both of us trying to catch our breath.

"You're so beautiful." She mutters into my ear, her warm breath hits my ear, her lips brushing against my earlobe, sending chills and tingles through my body.