I called Maria and told her, I kinda had to but she swore not to tell Louisa, Louisa can't know. Not yet. If it goes bad I don't particularly want to admit that to her. But I'm not going to think about it. I have a date with someone I really like who might actually like me back.
I spend the whole week thinking about it. Louisa still doesn't know but every time I see him it's like we have this funny little secret that we share. I love it.
It's Friday. I'm meeting him at 12 at this massive shopping centre near my house it has a cinema so yeah we are gonna go there. We were going to see star wars but for some reason he said he wanted to not go to such a busy film. fair enough. I get up early. I spend far too long washing and drying my hair. This is followed by trying on a million different outfits before settling on a light pink jumper and jeans, it looks cute, I look quite nice. The makeup is another thing, I only recently started doing my makeup and I am less than extraordinary at it but it will do. I text him to make sure we are still on and surprisingly yes we are. My mum drops me off and then comes in on the premise of buying something. Weird how we bump into my sister and they sit the bench opposite me.(I hope you sensed my sarcasm and clear irritation because they don't seem to be getting it). I sit. He's 10 mins late, that's ok. I sit. 20 mins late, little less ok. 30 mins late, I feel sick. I text him, he doesn't respond. 45 mins, I think I might cry. I get a text saying he's sorry and he is round the corner. I breath, I'm not getting stood up. I'm kind of pissed off but its ok. 1 hour. I'm getting about ready to leave as I seem him turn the corner. He smiles, a genuine, adorable smile. He runs up to me and explains why he was so late but I cant listen, I just realised how happy I am to be here with him.
"Two tickets to goosebumps please", James says to the smiley older woman behind the counter. I go to hand her money and he pushes my hand out the way and says, "don't be silly, its on me", he is clearly proud of himself for this, it's sweet. We sit in the back row with our feet touching the stairs, James sits against the wall, I sit next to a large bald man and his young child. James' phone rings and he excuses himself and quickly goes outside. I'm freaking the fuck out. I take a piece of strawberry chewing gum, my favourite, I apply lip gloss and spray my one direction perfume, its also my favourite it has a little crown for a lid. Breath. He comes back in and sits beside me, we chat a little, the film starts. Oh my what do I do, just sit here feeling uncomfortable for two hours, just be confident. The film starts, I evidently do not pay attention, I keep thinking about if I look ok, what is he thinking. Then I lean back and I can feel him looking at me I glance at him and he looks away. I keep watching his hand on the arm rest and I put my arm next to his. Fuck it. I slide my hand towards his and we sit, holding hands. I feel a smile creep on to my face, its nice to be sitting here with him, it feels calm. Our hands fall to one side and his hand is sitting on my leg. I shuffle closer to him and turn my head to see he's already looking at me, this time he doesn't look away. I giggle, I don't know why but I do, I suddenly feel butterflies in my stomach as I'm looking into this boys eyes. Then I look at his lips and I realise how much I want to kiss him. I've never kissed anyone so I don't know how good I will be but neither has he so how will he know. I feel him getting closer and I think he's thinking about kissing me. Then he does. I'm kissing him and its really good. Obviously I have nothing to compare it too but as cliché as this sounds its like fire works going off around us and I don't feel nervous anymore I just melt into it. This lasts a while until the bald man next to us coughs clearly put off by the display. James pulls away and smiles at me and takes my hand in his and we watch the rest of the film.
I've not been able to stop smiling, the film finishes and we go to sit on the benches, James runs to the toilet and as I'm sitting by myself for a few minutes thinking about the kiss, my peace is interrupted by a loud buzzing coming from my phone. It's Louisa. Shit. I answer as calmly as I possibly can but on the inside I'm screaming. "Hey, Louisa, what's up". "Where are you" she says, already sounding pissed off. Somehow I think she knows ,but how, I only told one person. "Oh, just out with a friend" I say trying to keep my voice as normal as possible. "Don't bullshit me Evie, Maria told me you are on a date with James, I can't believe you didn't tell, so what's happened have you pulled him, I mean going on a date with him is one thing but doing other stuff. I'm so pissed off with you", she is so angry, I can't do this right now, I was happy five minutes ago and now this, how could Maria do this. I see James walking towards me and I immediately cheer up. you know what fuck this, im happy right now, I will deal with this drama later. " I get why you're mad, I do, but I can't talk about this right now, I will call you later". I hang up. This is probably the first time I have ever done something that might upset someone else for my own benefit. I look at James and I realise I want to kiss him again.
We walk together and he keeps looking at me and he's kind of blushing. he's so cute. I look ahead of us and their are people from our school walking toward us , we talked about telling people, I didn't want to yet. I ducked into a shop, thinking he would follow. Fuck sake, he's not noticed I moved he kept walking. The people stop him and ask where he is going, he looks around for me and notices im not there. He makes up a story and keeps walking. I leave the shop and catch up with him. "sorry" I say not thinking he will mind too much, I doubt he wants people to know he's with me. I look at him and he looks sad and a little confused. "do you not want to be seen with me" he says. I laugh surely he can't be serious. Wait, he is actually being serious, he thinks I don't want to be seen with him is he crazy. I smile at him and grab his hand "I love being seen with you, sorry I got worried you didn't want to be seen with me and I panicked". I put my arms around the back of his neck and lean in and kiss him again, it feels right. I can feel him smiling through the kiss and he leans forward a little and I feel the wall against my back and im suddenly aware we are in a very public place and a lot of people are watching me pulling James. I don't care but I fear the old lady scowling at us does. I look around for somewhere more private and pull him into the photo booth across from us. He sits down and pulls me In between his legs and I can feel his arms around me as we kiss for a very long time before I pull away and tell him we should probably go. He protests but after a little more kissing and showing him the time he agrees. My mum is coming to get me and he walks me out to the car a little away so my mum can't see us. "I had an amazing day and I would love to do this again" he says a cheesy grin on his face. " me too". We kiss for the last time and then he hugs me tight before I walk to my car. I get in cheeks flushed, heart pounding and smiling from ear to ear.
My phone pings
James: I meant to say you looked beautiful and I can't wait to see you again let me know you got in ok will call you when I get home xx
My stomach flips and I hold my phone close as I drive home.
