SUMMER BREEZE

Chapter 8: First Date

I promised John that night that I would spend some time with him in the morning. When morning came, I felt like a different person. A better one. I was really happy and content with my life. Once I was ready, I left my room to have breakfast with my family.

In the restaurant, my family was already helping themselves with some food and enjoyed a little chit chat. On the opposite table, I saw Lexy with her family. A rush of both guilt and worry filled my entire body. I realized that Lexy still had feelings for John, and that it wasn't a lie. I sat down on our table, and I ate. I was waiting for the right time to join in on our family's conversation, but I couldn't, my brain was too busy figuring out what I should do with this John thing and if I should tell Lexy.

"You okay there Kip?" My dad asks, noticing how quiet I was.

I didn't hear him.

"Kip?" He said.

Hearing my name, I snapped out of my deep thinking and I looked at my dad. My whole family was lookimg at me, all very concerned.

Dammit I should start paying more attention.

"Is something bothering you dear?" My mom asked.

"No... Nothing's bothering me. I was just thinking." This was a good excuse since I normally do moon away during breakfast, but never as quiet as today. My family believed me, because if I did have a problem, I would always tell them. This was something I felt that I had to keep to myself for a while.

After breakfast, I went to the archery range. John told me that he'd be waiting for me there. The range was just a kilometer away from the restaurant. Once I arrived, John was sitting on a wooden chair. He had two wooden bows and two quivers with 10 wooden arrows inside each.

Soon I was standing right in front of him. Looks like someone was going to challenge me to a little shoot out.

"You ready for this?", he asked me with confidence.

Oh it's on.

I nodded all business, "I was born ready."

I used to be an archer, so I felt pretty confident about myself. John and I played and talked. I'm not going to lie, I was surprisingly having a blast with this guy. Both of us had so much fun that we lost track of our scores, now we were just playing for the heck of it.

"So Kip, what are your likes and dislikes?" John asked me so casually after he had shot his tenth arrow.

He's actually trying to get to know me.

I thought for a moment. "Well, I like the color yellow, but my favorite is blue. I like the the taste of strawberry in a shake, but my favorite flavor is cookies n' cream. I like animals. I like singing, music in a whole, dramatics and literature as well..."

I stopped and looked at John who was trying his best to keep up with everything that I had said. Then I continued.

"... I also like boys who are artists that smile like damn angels and who play archery with me for fun..." John smiled and laughed at my statement. Then I continued, "I don't like creepy crawling insects and I don't like letting people down."

I was finished.

John took a moment to process everything that I had said. Then he smiled. "You're really something Kip."

I smiled right back at him. "My turn!" I said with so much enthusiasm. Then I shot mh tenth arrow. Bullsey. "Tell me something about yourself, something I don't know."

"Well..." John started, " I was a really shy and lonely child. Growing up, I had absolutely no self esteem or friends. The only person that felt like a friend to me was my older brother, Jim. I wasn't very good at communicating with other people, I was quite the emo. I didn't like going out of the house, school was a pain. Until one day, Jim bought me a hoodie and he convinced me to join an art class. I did. He knew that I was good at art. Art was the only way I could truly express my feelings."

I was dumbfounded at everything he was saying. The hoodies finally made sense.

He stopped to look at me, then he continued. "Then one day I saw this incredible girl in class. She had gorgeously red hair, and her smile! My god, that smile could light up that entire room for me. I made sure that I got to sit next to that girl every single day in that class, I was hoping that she'd notice me, but she didn't. I even agreed to help other people just so she'd feel comfortable asking for my help, but she was very independent, so she never did..."

I could tell that I was blushing like crazy.

"I got popular in that class very quickly, but I was still the same shy and antisocial guy. I tried to act proud and cool, because I didn't want others to think that I was a complete loser. Then one day, I got a privelage from an art museum in NYC, they were gonna put up a piece that I would do for them. It was the only thing I could talk about for days, I think I came off a little like a braggart."

He was done.

I was shocked, and I didn't know how to react. "I had no idea that you felt that way about me."

John smiled. "You can just imagine how terrified I was to see you on that particular Saturday that I came to the art room to clean my mess." He laughed, then continued," My heart was beating like crazy the whole time and you didn't even notice."

I placed my bow on the rack beside him. "I guess that's just because you're so great at hiding your feelings." I teasingly said.

He placed his bow beside mine, and faced me. Then he gently held me by the waist. "I don't think I'm so great at hiding my feelings anymore."

I placed my arms around his neck, "Good, because you don't have to."

His face came closer to mine. I braced myself for a kiss. I could already feel his breath and he smelled so good. I was actually nervous for the kiss. I even thought for a while and tried to think of what I could have possibly done to deserve this angel. I finally closed my eyes.

This was it.

John softly kissed me on my cheek.

Wait. What?

"I love you so much more than that, but I don't want you to feel rushed.", John whispered in my ear.

I slowly opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was him smiling at me. Such a fucking angel.