Never Too Soon

Courage

POV: Harper

"I want to do this again sometime. Before Christmas, we have to know downtown like the back of our hands. That's the goal." Lauren smiled over at me after pulling into my grandparents' driveway a quarter till eleven.

"Okay," I giggled and tried to avoid eye contact with her. The feeling I had in the pit of my stomach was not something a friend should feel for another friend.

"I really, really did have fun tonight on a more serious note, Harper. It's been awhile since I have." Lauren gave me a sideways smile.

"I did too." I smiled back, and made the mistake of looking her in the eyes.

Her eyes wandered to my lips and then snapped back up to my eyes when I tried to thinking of something else to say, but it ended up with me opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water.

My nerves go berserk around her and I hate it.

"I hope you have a good rest of your night, Harper." Lauren glanced at my lips again and her voice dropped an octave, and I couldn't help but look at hers which was a near fatal mistake.

"T-thanks." I tried to sound calm and relaxed, but I couldn't.

Her eyes landed on my lips again, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth just enough to show the white of her teeth before looking me in the eyes again.

I could've sworn that I saw her lean in, but the porch light turned on and she cleared her throat and sat up straight in her seat quicker than God, not looking at me at all.

"Text me whenever." Lauren cleared her throat again, regaining her composure from whatever was about to happen.

"I will. Goodnight Lauren." I took a deep breath and looked on the porch to see my dad peeping through the windows and giving me a thumbs up.

"Goodnight Harper." Lauren looked over at me and smiled.

I opened the car door, but gained the random courage and stupidity to lean over, and kiss her cheek before scurrying out of the car.

My dad opened the front door and waved to Lauren as soon as I walked up the steps.

"You did it!" My dad whisper yelled and jumped up and down like a kid in the candy store. "Kinda at least. It was on the cheek and you did run away and leave her speechless."

I covered his mouth. "If Grandpa hears of this he will kill the both of us. You encouraged it, and you know good and well that I'd pull both of us down if he questioned it."

"They're both asleep and have their hearing aids out. You have to tell me the details."

"First, what was her facial expression when I kissed her cheek?" I had to know to ease my nerves somewhat. I potentially just fucked everything up. I shouldn't have done it, but there's no going back now.

"Her jaw slightly dropped and her eyes went wide, but once it hit her what happened and you were almost to the porch, she smiled a little and her eyes relaxed. You looked like an idiot when you scurried out of her car like that though. Just thought I should let you know." He shrugged and held back a light laugh caused by my stupidity. "Now I need details. What did you guys do?"

"The drive into town consisted of her humming random songs on the radio and us arguing on who was going to pay." I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Let me guess, you didn't get to pay?" My dad dragged me to the breakfast table and made me sit down before taking the seat across from me and resting his elbows on the table, getting ready to study me.

"Not even a glass of water." I sighed. "She parked the car in the middle of town, went on her phone for a bit to find something to do, and lead the way to a random place without telling me."

"Ooo, that sounds fun." My dad teased me.

"She stopped in front of the fucking serpentarium." I looked him in the eyes and he leaned away from me.

"There is only one person more scared of nope ropes than me, and that's you." His eyes were slightly widened.

"After a few minutes of arguing about it, we made a deal, that I didn't agree to, for me to go in with her and I'd get to pick where we ate."

He squinted his eyes at me, fully studying my body language.

"It mainly consisted of me hiding behind her and screaming."

"Oh, she definitely planned it to be like that then." My dad chuckled. "Well played on her part."

"So yeah, that lasted for over a hour and now she wants a pet snake." I shivered at the thought. "Then we agreed on the closest restaurant that ended up being decent food." I bit my lip to hide my smile as her words replayed in my mind.

"What did she say? Spill it." My dad leaned in on his elbows again.

"That we should do it again and when we got into the driveway she said we have to know downtown like the back of our hands before Christmas."

"That girl likes you." He smiled widely at me.

"I hope so. If not I just kissed a woman's cheek that now wants nothing to do with me." I nervously picked at my fingernails.

"I study people to predict what they will say and to get them to do what I want. I do it for a living. When I say she likes you, she likes you." My dad gave me a look and then my phone vibrated.

I haven't even checked it since we left.

"We both know what that is." My dad tapped the table, anxious to know what the message read.

I took a deep breath and pulled my phone out of my jean pocket.

Lauren: I had fun tonight. I hope we can do it again soon. Oh and you left your jacket in my car. It's mine until I see you again.

I read it out loud to my dad because I knew he'd ask until I did.

"I'll be surprised if you ever get that jacket back if I'm being honest." My dad pointed out and shrugged. "You should go without a jacket on your next date with her to see if she'll give you hers."

"What do I say?" I asked my dad, my all time best friend, something I never thought I ever would.

"If I were you, I'd play it cool and be relaxed with your answer. Don't flirt or anything. For now, act like you didn't kiss her cheek until she brings it up." He gave the best advice he could with him being my dad and me being gay.

I nodded my head and typed three different responses before going with the forth one.

Me: We will do it again. I promise. And it's okay. No rush to get it back.

I read what I said to my dad and he gave a tired hum of approval.

"I'm about to crash, but if you need to rant about any other girly things, let me know." My dad patted my shoulder. "By the way, you smell like her."

I immediately smelled my long sleeve shirt and smiled. I do smell like her. Probably from hiding behind her and being in her car.

All I know is that this shirt isn't getting washed for awhile.