Stella By Starlight

Ch. 9 Real Wild Child

A week had passed since the day of the kiss. Thankfully, things weren’t weird between Andrew and I. I mean.. Why would they be? Nothing wrong with a kiss or two. I found myself thinking of him more throughout the day.

Wondering if he also thought of me was a torturing thought that I had that I never really wanted to ask him. Because the fact is nothing changed between us for the most part. I still saw him every day, still walked Elwood every day. And Every day we chatted as friends. With previous guys, this would have caused me to worry, I think. I would have been torturing myself wondering what I was to him and vise versa.

The comfort I felt with him though made me not care to label it.

As the date neared the date that Andrew would be leaving for a month he got busier and busier. I would go pick up Elwood and he would be in rehearsal with the guys, would give me a smile and a wave while I grabbed the dog, and would get back to work. No more than a few words would pass between us throughout the day and it would almost make me start to get self conscious. My favorite part about every day though, was the end. Every day when I would get ready to leave, Andrew would always tell the guys to take a quick break, and he would walk me to my car.

It never failed…. And every single time he would slide his arms around me, pull me close, and kiss me. It never ceased to amaze me how quickly that man could turn me nothing more than a puddle at his feet. The moment he kissed me every doubt that had been snowballing in my head was immediately blasted out of the way and no longer an issue.

It became almost like a secret moment that made time stand still. A moment where he was just a guy and I was just a girl. No celebrity appearances for him; no school assignments for me. Just us.

He never told any of the guys and I never told anyone either. I think part of it had to do with an unspoken fear. A fear that if either of us spoke of it out loud, it would become real and the consequences of reality would blur the lines. But in those moments of quiet, when the only sounds were crickets and our kisses as dusk descended, only we existed.

Last night, something shifted. He was leaning back against my car, my arms around his neck and his around my back pulling me close. We had spent a bit longer than usual out here and darkness was starting to fall around us as our kiss ended and he looked down at me, smiling.

“What exactly are you grinning about, huh?” I asked playfully, my fingers playing with one of his curls.

“Let me take you out.” He asked.

“Like, on a date?” I grinned

“Yes, dear,” he chuckled kissing my forehead, “A real date.”

My heart was fluttering and in my head I was celebrating. So maybe he did actually like me. He had to if he was willing to go from kissing me in the dark to a proper date.

“Hmm… I suppose I will have to see if I’m free.” I said playing coy.

He looked down, lacing his fingers with mine and pulling the back of my hand up to his lips, planting a kiss on each of my fingers.

“I’m sure that prick who makes you walk his dog every day wouldn’t mind giving you the night off one night.” He winked at me.

“I think he’d need some convincing.” I said with a laugh.

“How about,” He began, placing his arms around me and leaning back against the car again, “ I come pick up around 7 tomorrow night.”