On the Way Down - Andre Burakovsky

CH. 7: "You deserve nothing less"

 The next off day at home happened to be a Saturday. Emily had stayed the night the night before and was going to spend the day with me helping me get ready. Andre said he'd pick me up at 4:30.
  "Did he tell you where you were going so we had some idea of what to dress you in?" I shook my head.
  "He just said be comfortable and warm."
  "I literally hate when guys do that, how do we plan for 'comfortable and warm'" she huffed and walked into my closet while I giggled silently to myself.
  "You're more worried about my clothing than I am." she popped her head out of my closet just to throw a glare my way, which caused me to crack up.
  "We have to go shopping." she finally sighed 15 minutes later walking out of my closet and plopping on my bed.
  "If you insist." I got up and threw on some jeans and a tshirt and threw an Avalanche hoodie over the top. I was slipping on my shoes when I noticed Emily standing at my door tapping her foot.
  "Someone is impatient." I chuckled as we walked out and I closed the door behind me.
  "4:30 is too early for all this. He should have made it later." I rolled my eyes and we drove to the mall. I turned the music up as loud as my poor speakers would allow and me and Emily jammed out for the whole 30 minutes it took to drive to the mall. I was out of breath and red faced by the time we got there from screaming the lyrics to my favorite song.
 I was even more out of breath an hour later when we finally walked out of the mall. I had way too many bags in my hands, because Emily had been indecisive and I loved just about everything she picked out so I bought it all.
  "So shopping just made this even harder." I sighed when we got home and I dumped all my newly purchased clothing on my bed.
  "Not really, I think I have an idea." she shoved me into the bathroom to shower while she laid the clothes out for me. I showered slowly, taking my time in the hot water to relax. The closer it got to time to go the more nervous I seemed to be getting. I really liked Andre and for awhile now. I was just hoping it went well, but then I wasn't sure how I was going to go about telling Tom that the one thing he didn't want me to do, I was doing. I finished my shower and hopped out, throwing a towel around my hair and body before walking into my room and smiling at the clothes on my bed. It was some black skinny jeans and an off the shoulder sweater that faded from dark purple at the top to white at the bottom. It was probably my favorite top out of all that we had chosen. After I got dressed Emily came back into my room and helped my with my hair and some light makeup. She just straightened my hair so that it fell down to the middle of my back. She had just finished when there was a knock at my door. I held my breath as she went to answer it.
  "She's almost ready." I heard Emily say to Andre as I was walking out of my bedroom. He smiled when he saw me and my knees felt weak, his smile was definitely my favorite.
  "You look nice." we both said at the same time and then laughed. Andre was wearing jeans and a grey sweater that had 2 buttons at the top. I said thank you and bye to Emily as Andre grabbed my hand and led me to his car. When we sat down he smiled sheepishly and handed me a tie.
  "I want it to be a surprise, can you put that over your eyes." he answered when I looked at him questioningly. I smiled and did what he asked.
 It felt like we drove forever, but it really had only been a half hour or so. I felt the car stop and then heard my door open before feeling Andre lightly grab my hand to help me out of the car. We walked for a couple minutes, him holding my hand, before he stopped and walked behind me to remove the tie. I gasped.
  "Andre, did you do this? Its beautiful." in front of me was a little pop up table with candles and flowers, a little ways off from the table was what seemed to be a blowup pool filled with pillows and blankets. The best part of it though, was that we were facing the mountains and the sun was setting behind them, coloring the whole sky purple and pink and orange. I felt tears in my eyes but quickly willed them down.
  "I felt like dinner and a movie was too mainstream for you, I wanted you to experience star gazing, Colorado style." he whispered as if he was scared I would hate it.
  "I love it. Thank you so much." I threw my arms around his torso and kissed him on the cheek. He leaned down and kissed me back before going to his car and grabbing a picnic basket that turned out to be filled with my favorite foods. He turned the radio on in his car and rolled down the windows so we could hear it. We ate our dinner as we watched the sun sink lower in the sky. After we ate we laid down in the pool full of blankets. Andre quickly pulled me to him and hugged me close as he wrapped some blankets around us. I couldn't tell you how long we laid like that watching the stars and talking but it was the most amazing night of my life. He never let me go, he made sure I was in his arms the whole time. I leaned up and put my hand on his cheek.
  "Thank you for this Andre. You did too much, but I'm thankful you did. Best first date ever." I chuckled and he leaned down and brought his lips to mine.
  "You deserve nothing less." he whispered and I smiled.