you are never going to see me missing
the video girl syndrome
The next day went by incredibly slowly for Joe. He got ready to see Chloe nearly an hour too early, and then sat on his bed, staring at the clock, just waiting for it to tell him it was time to go. Finally, he just decided to leave. He ended up getting to Chloe’s house nearly fifteen minutes early, but he hardly cared. He just wanted to see her face again.
Suddenly, he was very nervous. What if things were completely different from last night? What if she had some weird change of heart and never wanted to see him again?
But then Joe remembered last night, the way she smiled at him and how she made him completely at ease. And he knew that all would be fine.
As Joe pulled into the driveway, the front door of the house opened and Chloe walked out and reached the passenger door as Joe was putting it into park. She got in the car, and turned to Joe. She smiled, then said, “Sorry, but I didn’t think you would want to meet my parents just yet. I thought it was a little early for that, and I didn’t want to scare you off or anything.”
Joe laughed at the expression on her face, which was a mix between apprehension and happiness, with that pretty smile right in between. He hoped the happiness and smile were because she was with him; the apprehension, not so much. “Don’t worry, that’s absolutely fine. I think it’s probably better that way too, anyways.”
She smiled, and relaxed, and Joe felt all his fears and anxieties about the night melt away. It was crazy what her smile could do to him. “Okay, good.” She turned her body to the side a bit so she could buckle her seat belt, then turned back to Joe. “So, where to?”
Joe put the car in reverse and began to back out of the driveway. “Well, we can go wherever you want. We could see a movie, like you suggested yesterday, we could go get a bite to eat, we could go to the mall…really, whatever you want.”
Chloe sat for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face. “How about the park? Or is that a totally horrible idea?” she added with genuine worry.
“The park sounds like a great idea.” And so they set off for the park.
The two of them drove in a comfortable silence -not unlike the previous night - to the park, the windows rolled down and the radio on low. The cool breeze blew through the car and made Chloe’s hair occasionally blow about her face. Joe often had to avert his eyes from her so that he wouldn’t crash the car.
They arrived at the park, and Joe got out of the car, walking around to the other side to open the passenger door for her. As they walked away from the car, Joe, without thinking at all, grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. A second later, he almost stopped in his tracks as he realized what he had just done, but Chloe wasn’t nearly as surprised as him. She just kept walking, that small smile spreading across her face.
Again, simple scared him. Easy scared him. He wasn’t used to that; he was used to complicated. The fact that he could just unthinkingly grab her hand like that and it would be fine – great, even – wasn’t anything he was used to. He had basically never touched her, besides for that hug last night. That scared him….but in a good way. If that was even possible.
They walked down the little path that ran throughout the park. It was nearly deserted. But Joe liked that they could do this. It wasn’t an ordinary thing to do on a date, but for some reason, that fit with them. They weren’t really ordinary, yet at the same time they were completely ordinary.
They made it to a playground, and Chloelet go of his hand to go jump on a swing. “The swings were always my favorite when I was little,” she told him, already situated on the swing and pumping her legs. “I loved swinging as high as possible, because I loved that feeling of flying, you know?”
