We swiftly took hold of Blanca's army, running over their feeble soldiers with the might of our cavalry.
"We ride on towards Blanca's kingdom men!" I called out, hoisting my horse on it's hind legs, the neighing sound of it echoing through the air. The sunlight shining down from the hill spread my shadow over the rest of my cavalry unit, their cheer's cutting through the darkness with the light of their support. Swiftly, we began our journey towards Blanca's kingdom, the pounding of hooves signaling their imminent end. Strangely though, there came a moment when I swore there were more hooves slamming into the ground than before.
My head jolted from left to right, looking for where the additional sound could've come from. Turning my head to the left, from under the hill came a mass of horses coming right towards us, their lances pointing forward.
"Charge!" one of Blanca's generals, Thaed's, yelled as he led his army right towards us. Our men had no time to react as we tried to turn our horses out of the way, but the lances cut through our horses quicker than a knife to bread...
* * *
"Woah, I didn't even see that!" Janine called out in pure shock, watching as I took her knight with mine. With a few more strategic movements, I put her king in checkmate, the flames taking over the king as it dissipated within the animation. "Dang, that was crazy," Janine exclaimed with a wide smile, looking up towards me.
"Dude, I forgot how fun this game was!" Looking up to her, I noticed that she saw the pure joy in my eyes as I played, her expression having a strange sincereness to it. "Can we play again?"
"This would be our third game in a row," she joked, handing me her phone. "Plus, feel how hot this is." Grabbing her phone, I nearly dropped it immediately as her phone practically simmered in front of me. It only just occurred to me how hot my phone was after holding onto it.
"This game really heats up the phone," I said with a lower, defeated tone. Janine chuckled to herself as she placed her phone on the light blue table, allowing it to hide in the veil of darkness.
"Hey, I have a chess board if you want to hangout after work on Saturday and play some games," she explained, watching as my eyes lit up with joy.
"Oh yeah! I'd love to," I replied, my words coming out faster as I began to skip over my words. "Maybe we could, like, go eat somewhere either before or, uh, after, you know?" I asked, her eyes going wide as she tried to comprehend what it was I was saying. My words came out so fast that she probably thought I was trying to be a rapper.
"Woah, woah, woah," she stated, holding her hands up to try and cool my sudden excitement. "What?"
"Can we go out and eat?" I asked, my heart suddenly pausing as I realized something. I've known this girl for only a week and I just asked her out. It wasn't what I was intending on doing, but the words just flowed from my tongue and escaped the gates of my lips. My excitement was still present, but there was a hint of nervousness sprinkled over my mood. As I watched her reaction, this nervousness went from a light sprinkle to becoming the entirety of the emotion as her eyes got wider.
"Oh, uh, yeah," she stated awkwardly, my stomach dropping as she spoke to me.
"I'm sorry, I know that was really sudden. I didn't mean to make things awk- "
"No, no, no, it's okay. In all honesty I had planned on us going out to eat at the place," she explained with a wide smirk. The nervousness sprinkled on my mood suddenly was uplifted, like a curse being removed from my soul as I stared into her eyes.
"Where did you plan on us going?" I asked, to which her smirk morphed into a toothy grin.
"I planned on going to Studying Coffee since it's down the road from where we worked and close to both of our houses. I'll ask my parents if I can go this Saturday, so be sure to ask yours!" she exclaimed, watching my hand form a thumbs up.
"I'll make sure to ask," I stated, raising my fist towards her. She looked at it for a split second, trying to comprehend the expression I was trying to make as we sat there. With the sudden widening of her eyes, a trembling smile formed across her lips before our pale fists collided. "Waboosh!" I called out, flickering my fingers to mimic fireworks.
"Woosh!" she called out, following my lead before the two of us busted into laughter. Suddenly, the sound of the bell interrupted our joy, cutting through it like a sword to flesh. We swiftly grabbed our things before moving away from each other, Janine's voice suddenly capturing me. "Don't forget to ask your parents!"
"I won't," I called out, looking back towards her with a wave goodbye. She stood there, her figure captivating my eyes just as much as her bright white spotlight of a smile and her glittering green eyes. With a wave, she turned back towards the crowd, disappearing within the figures like she did every time before, and soon I followed, disappearing into the shadows of those students following my direction.
* * *
"Hey mom, are we doing anything when I get off work on Saturday?" I questioned, stepping through the light grey door to my house. My feet tapped the wooden floor as I looked to the living room, seeing my mom sitting on the couch, looking at the words within one of her books. Her eyes lifted from the pages to me, a confused expression forming across her face.
"No, I'm not doing anything, why do you ask?" she questioned, folding the top corner of her dark green book before placing it on her lap.
"My friend from school wants to hangout after work," I explained, kicking off my shoes before walking to the left into the living room. With a loud thud, my bag was dropped on the ground as I sat on the large, dark red cushioned chair.
"Oh really?" she stated, her brown eyes staring deep into mine.
"Yeah, Janine," I explained, my mother's eyes going wide as she leaned forward, her short brown hair shooting forward as she looked at me.
"You're going out with a girl?" she exclaimed, my body sinking into the seat as her smile started to form.
"Well, yes, but its not-"
"Oh my gosh! How long have you known this girl? What is she like? Is she nice?" In the flash of an instant, I was barraged with thousands of questions.
"Mom wait! It's not like that, we're just friends," I explained, my mother going silently for a split second.
"Sorry, I just got really excited," she replied, leaning back against the couch.
"No, it's ok, she's really nice though. Her and I are just going to the Studying Coffee to play some chess and eat," I explained, my mother smiling towards me as I explained what Janine and I decided upon a few hours before.
"That's nice, I'll ask your father to make sure he wasn't planning anything, but just make sure to be safe," she told me in the stereotypical motherly fashion. But in a way, it was comforting to hear those things. It was a simple concern expressed from my mother but it was also a strange sign of trust to allow me to go out with this person that she, for the most part, didn't fully know. With a wide smile, I stood up, thanking her before grabbing my bag, making my way up the carpeted steps. The excitement of Saturday sat in me, joy flowing through my blood as every second inched closer to the moments I'd be able to spend with her.
YOU ARE READING
𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇𝑔𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔 (Stargazing)
Romance"There's always a light at the end of a dark tunnel." Kevin is now a husband and father, but as he looks through the attic, a necklace brings him back to his former years. Thinking about the impact the people back then had on him, he explains to hi...
