I Hope This Is Legal

Desert

I pull an oversized jacket on over my black crop top before looking at the time which reads 19:45. Cole wasn't very happy with me when I told him that instead of the ending things with Josie like he told me to twice, I kissed her in the middle of the football field and now I have a date with her tonight. But I realized that I don't really care what other people think anymore.

I head quickly out my room and walk into the lounge where Mom is sitting, watching TV. "Hey Mom, I'm on my way," I tell her. She looks up at me and raises her eyebrows, "you look very dressed up for going to dinner with Josie..." she says to me. I stutter, "Um...Josie said she's bringing friends..." I lie, that was the first thing I could think of. "Oh okay honey," she says as she hands me the car keys. "Thanks," I say and I smile at her.

The drive to Josie and Ian's house seems quicker than the last few times I've been there...but maybe that's because for some reason I feel nervous to see Josie, so I'm trying to procrastinate seeing her.

I pull into her driveway and my heart starts racing as I see her standing outside the door already. She looks breathtaking and I can't keep my eyes off of her as I clamber out of the car. She had a tight, black skirt on and a white spaghetti top on. All I can think about is wanting to rip them off of her and see what she's wearing underneath.

She walks quickly up to me at the car. "Hey..." she says. I wrap my arms around her and squeeze her tightly in a hug. "You look amazing..." I whisper into her ear. As I release her I see her blushing face and it makes me smile.

We arrive at the restaurant about twenty minutes after I pick her up. It's a small Italian restaurant with only half a dozen tables inside it. I made sure to chose a place where no one we knew would be here...so we don't have to pretend that this is some sibling to be bonding session. I grab hold of her sweaty hand and lead her to the table in the very corner of the room. The fact that she's nervous makes me smile.

We take a seat and the waiter puts two menus down in front of us. "This is nice..." she tells me nervously. "I picked a place where we would have as much privacy as possible," I tell and and I wink. She blushes, "I thought you didn't care what people thought," she says to me. "I don't...but I thought after dinner we could make our way up to one of the rooms in the hotel across the road from here," I tell her. She looks quickly out the window behind us and smiles as she sees the small building across the road. "That sounds like a great idea," she tells me.

The waiter comes back and we get two glasses of wine and I order ravioli and she orders a pizza.

"Hey, Casey...I've been meaning to talk to you about something..." she says as we wait for our food to arrive. "What is it?" I ask her curiously. She hesitates for a moment before talking. "It's just...I know this is supposed to just be a 'booty call' kind of situation and all," she tells me, "But what would you say if I told you it was starting to feel like more than that for me?" She asks. I raise my eyebrows, not sure how to react.

"What do you mean?" I ask her. Is she admitting that she likes me? "I mean...what if I told you that I wanted something between us that was more than just sex?" She asks me. For a moment I stutter. "I'm sorry...I knew it was a stupid thing to ask," she says and she looks down at the table.

"No...no it wasn't stupid," I tell her. She looks back up at me. "I have to tell you something too," I say. She stares over at me, waiting for me to talk. I take a deep breath, my heart is racing faster than I think it ever had. "I like you, Josie..." I say. She looks over at me with wide eyes. "I like you a lot...I don't know how else to say it," I tell her. A small smile grows on her face.

I wait anxiously for her to make the next move. To say something based on the new information she just acquired. But for what seems like forever she stares into my eyes. I hate feeling vulnerable. "I feel the same way," she say eventually. I exhale, relieved. "But how are we going to make this work?" She asks me. "We have so much time to figure it out...let's just enjoy tonight for now..." I say and she nods her head slowly, a big smile on her face.