Birthday Girl Ch. 03

"Deal!" I shouted before she could change her mind. "Wow, remind me never to get on your bad side. You can be a deadly adversary."

She punched me lightly on my shoulder, "I'm not that bad, I showed you mercy didn't I?"

As we walked away from the stand she slipped her hand into mine and squeezed, smiling while looking ahead. This was the first time she had initiated contact just for the sake of it. Her hand was soft and fit into mine perfectly. I was afraid she would pull away after feeling the calluses on my hands but she didn't seem to mind. The only difficulty I had was trying to hide the weird unicorn from view. Kids were starting to stare.

Night was approaching and we got a couple of ice creams and hopped onto the Ferris wheel. The view from the top at dusk was magnificent. She oohed and aahed pointing out random objects in the distance. I couldn't care less about the view, I had eyes only for her. The setting sun made her skin glow with a soft radiance and when she looked at me the light reflected off her hazel eyes making them gleam. Looking at her I even forgot my ice cream, only remembering it when I felt something cold on my thigh and looked down to see it melting and dripping.

She was happily identifying the various landmarks, delighted whenever she found a new one and I was content to just watch her and nod where appropriate. Her sense of joy was infectious though, and soon she even had me scouring the land for hidden bounty. Her hand had found mine again when we gotten on board and showed no sign of relinquishing it. That simple touch felt wonderful, like the missing piece in a puzzle, it just fit where it was supposed to.

By the time we were getting off it was already dark and I asked her about dinner.

"I would love to Brian, but I have to get home. We have a family dinner at my sisters' and she'd kill me if I missed it. She's planned this for a while now and I can't back out." She said with genuine regret.

"You have a sister?" I asked realizing there was so much I didn't know about her.

"Yeah, two older sisters, I'm the baby." She said rolling her eyes and framing the baby in air quotes.

"Aah, I knew I sensed a spoilt brat in you," I teased.

"And how many siblings do you have oh mature one?"

"Only kid," I shrugged.

"And I'm the spoilt one? Ha! You're a right little prince." She shot back.

I smiled and let it go as we had reached my car. The drive back was in comfortable silence as we just enjoyed being with each other. I kept stealing glances at her as she stared out of the window, her face illuminated every time we passed under a street light. I took the long route to her house trying to extend our time together but eventually we reached our destination.

I pulled up in her driveway next to her Q7 and she looked at her phone.

"I still have twenty minutes. Come with me," she said as she got out.

She came over to my side and took my hand as I got out and led me to the swing in the middle of her garden. We sat and leaned back, staring at the stars as I gently rocked with my feet. The only sounds were of some low music playing from a house down the street and an occasional honk in the distance. We were both somewhat tired from the adventures of the day and this was the perfect way to relax.

If only I could relax. My mind was racing like a formula one car. The problem was I was no good at intimate or serious moments. I could feel this was leading up to one of them, and as far as I could remember I had never come out of one unscathed. I got nervous really fast when I was one on one with someone and whenever things got awkward my defense was always humor, and I had a knack of placing dumb comments at the most inopportune moments. When it came to closeness with another person I was like a blindfolded bull in a china shop. With red hot chilies up its ass.

She put one leg under the other as she turned to face me. Sensing she had something to say I turned to her and waited. Better to be silent and thought a fool than open your mouth and confirm it.

"I had a really good time today," she said.

"Me too," that's right, just keep it simple, no need to get creative.

"Actually I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. Most first dates are awkward and to be honest the guy is just thinking if he's going to get lucky."

"Dogs. How dare they lust after your body? They should be neutered, the lot of them."

What part of simple didn't I understand?

"There's my knight again," she chuckled. "Wait a minute, you don't find my body appealing?" she asked putting her hands on her hips with mock anger.

Crap. The bull was going crazy. I reigned in the out of control beast with everything I had. I needed to get this right, I couldn't screw up with her, not with her.

"I uhmm...... I find you very appealing and not just......." I waved my hand up and down gesturing her body, "but everything else as well. You are...... you are awesome." I finished nodding my head.

I felt like I had just described a basketball. Still, it could have been worse. Way way worse.

She looked intrigued now, "What do you mean by everything else?"

Was I sitting on quicksand? How do I manage to dig myself in deeper with every sentence? Well, In for a penny....................... might as well just say the truth.

"You're smart, you're funny, you get my jokes, you can take a joke as well as give it back albeit tenfold," she smiled at that as I counted off her qualities on my fingers, "you're witty, I like your laugh and it doesn't hurt that you're really pretty. I could go on for a while but I think you have only ten minutes left." I finished and glanced at my phone to confirm the time.

When I looked back at her she was giving me the same look from when I had given her the snapshot of the rollercoaster ride. I shifted a bit. I tried to hold her gaze but I couldn't. It had always been difficult for me to look at someone in the eye, even when it wasn't as intense as this. A speck of a doubt formed in my mind. Had I said something wrong? Maybe it was inappropriate. Maybe I had scared her. Yup it had been too much. As always I had screwed up.

"You think I'm smart?" she asked moving closer.

"Well...... yeah." I was fidgeting with my hands now.

"You think I'm funny?" she inched closer still.

"The good funny, not..... not like bad funny," I should write legal notices.

"I'm witty?" she ran her tongue over her lower lip.

"Very," was all I could manage, my eyes flitting form her eyes to her lips.

"Pretty?" she stopped just before her lips touched mine and I could feel her warm breath on my lips.

I nodded once in response, I didn't trust my speech at this moment.

She closed the distance between us. A brush of her lips against mine. It felt like there were tiny sparks erupting between them. Her perfume, lightly teasing at this proximity, mixed with a scent that I realized was undoubtedly her own. Another brush across the lips. Light, tentative, inquisitive. Her eyes were open just a fraction and they fluttered closed as she finally planted her lips on mine. They were soft, oh so soft. There was electricity running through me as I savored the contact between us, afraid to move lest the moment be lost.

She pulled away slowly and opened her eyes, mirroring the feelings that were running through me. I had completely blocked out all other senses during those few moments and the world started coming to slowly, as if I was waking from a light sleep. Was it supposed to feel like that? The look on her face told me she had been startled as well.

"You felt it too?" she asked in a breathy whisper.

I nodded.

"Wow...." She summed up my feeling perfectly.

We snapped out of it as her phone rang, the shrill sound suddenly too loud in the relative silence. She fished out her phone and sighed before she picked it up. It was a short conversation between her and someone I assumed was her sister as she assured her she was on the way. She cut the call and looked back at me.

"I really have to go," she said sadly, and I could see she wanted nothing more than to stay.

"Can we do this again?" I asked then realized what it must have sounded like, "I mean not this," gestured to us and the kissing then realized how that must look, " Not that it was bad, we should do this again, I mean if you want of course, and even if you don't its cool, I mea- "

Thankfully she put a finger on my lips to shut me up. I looked at her in gratitude and murmured a thank you through her finger.

"Yes, I'd love to do this again," she said with a wink as she removed her finger.

She got up and I followed her like a lost puppy. We walked to where the cars were parked holding hands and this time I made sure I opened her door for her. She gave me a peck on my cheek before she got in and I closed the door behind her.

She hooted as I was walking to my car and I looked back. She had rolled down her window and had the thumb of her right hand at her ear and her pinky at her lips and was mouthing Call me.

You bet your pretty ass I'm gonna call you, I thought as nodded to her. She waved then disappeared down the road.

I had the most ridiculous smile plastered on my face on the drive home. Any wider and I might have ended up looking like the Joker. Though I doubt I could scare anyone with my story of how I got my smile. I had all the windows down, the music up and I would have whistled along with the tune if the blasted smile would come off my face. The pink unicorn was sitting comfortably on the dashboard, content with swaying along with the car, just waiting until it was found by my dear friends so it could make my life hell. Screw it, right now I'd mount it on top of my house for the whole neighborhood to see, consequences be damned.

I turned the music up louder, gave my Toyota Celica GT4 ST185 a little more gas and smiled away as I crested a hill and coasted all the way down. Yup, life was good indeed.