The First Date

It was a mere three days ago that he had the brightest moment of his life.  With months of being paralyzed whenever she waltzed by, he finally found the courage, he stumbled to her door and knocked.  She opened the door and flashed the grin that made his knees tremble, he was at a loss for words, as if her beauty whisked the oxygen out of the air; he couldn't speak.  Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stood in silence, "Is everything alright?" she asked as she placed her hand on his arm, her embrace lifted him over the psychological precipice of his mind that he'd been dangling from.  He cleared his throat and  blurted out "Would you like to uh... go on a date this weekend?" a brief moment of solipsistic silence was shattered by her timid voice, "I'd love to".

In the course of three days, he lost all the focus he previously had on his work and aligned his gaze on what to do for their date the upcoming weekend.  He couldn't focus in school, he was sent to the nurse several times on suspicion of a concussion.  His teachers were all concerned by the worry that washed over his face, the vague and empty answers that he gave during class unlike his typically insightful and meaningful points.  His mind was off, running through a meadow of spring flowers with her as "You Make Me Feel So Young" by Frank Sinatra played in the background.  His brain was unhinged for those few days, simple tasks like his chores had slipped his mind and he failed to do his homework for half of his classes.  Nothing seemed to matter besides her.

Just grazing by the scolding he received from his parents about his improper behavior in school, he began to get ready for his date; four hours early.  Three showers, countless outfits tried on and a myriad of attempts of how to greet her when he picked her up.  Many options were tossed around his mind, "There's a party in my pants, and you're invited" and "If you were a booger, I'd pick you first" were both thrown around jokingly.  His self-amusement calmed him down and he settled with a simple, "It's very nice to see you" not pushy, not too eager, it was the sensible way to start the date.  He warmed up his voice as he drove over to her house, he tested his vocal cords as he sang along with Mr. Bing Crosby.  

He pulled up in front of her house and walked to the door with an unprecedented swagger.  He knocked a few times and was greeted in by her father who said "Come on in, she's still getting ready" they exchanged innocuous conversation talk about one another as well as a very firm handshake with an underlined 'Hurt my daughter and I'll hurt you' aura coming from the father's hand.  A creak on the stairs drew the sudden attention and they both looked up to see her, wearing a simple attire of jeans and a sweatshirt, he had never seen someone so beautiful.  She made it down the stairs to have another occurrence of his lack of words, ". . . you look gorgeous" he said with such sincerity she quickly turned a shade of pink he had never seen before.  She sat down in the car and fiddled with the music, pressing play accidentally; with the press of a button she heard the velvet like baritone of Frank Sinatra, he quickly apologized and tried to turn it off as he had been forsaken by others in the past for listening to such old music, she grabbed his hand as he reached, "Why would you turn this off? This is such a great song.".  They both smiled and said nothing more.

She waited in anticipation as he didn't tell her of what they would be doing on their date.  She was gradually becoming more and more confused as they drove further out of town.  He pulled into the drive in movie grounds that were deserted and parked smack in the middle.  The screen lit up with the introduction to "It's A Wonderful Life", she slowly smiled and stared in awe, "How did you do this? How did you know i loved this movie?", he grinned and said "I know a guy, and you mentioned it freshmen year English.".  Her eyes welled up while he got out of the car and gestured for her to join him in laying on the hood of the car.  She leaned her head onto his chest and he coiled his arm around her shoulder.  

The movie ended but they found themselves staring at the stars, she was an astronomy enthusiast so she began lecturing him on constellations.  He didn't hear a word she was saying, he was too busy admiring her.  They lied on the hood for an hour while she talked about the stars, "Did you know there are approximately four hundred billion stars in the galax. . ."  she was cut off by him placing his hand on her neck and kissing her tenderly; "I'm sorry, i cut you off, what were you saying?", "Who cares." They both smiled and she leaned her head against his shoulder.  Their fingers were inter-twined as he moved his thumb back and forth along her hand.  The moment was perfect but was short lived as her phone illuminated her pocket; her father called her and said it was getting late, that she should head home.  

She slid off the hood and landed wrong when she met the ground, she had sprained her ankle.  He instinctively ran over and picked her up off the floor.  He placed her in the passenger seat and she quickly cranked up the Sinatra.   Windows down, the music blazing, the warm air washing over her face she hung her head out the window, he looked over and saw the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.  They turned the music down as they arrived into her neighborhood, he pulled in front of the house and quickly ran to the passenger side and gave her a piggy-back ride to the house.  "Thank you so much, this was perfect" she said with a medley of adorable things, her hair that was a mess, her red rosy cheeks from embarrassment and her standing on one leg.  He kissed her vigorously and said goodnight.  

Monday, he woke up just like any day, he got dressed, brushed his teeth and headed to school.  He walked through the halls to class and ran into his buddy outside his Math class.  "Hey man, did you do anything fun last night?", "No not really, but i had one hell of a dream."