Every Story Matters

23

♡ Scarlett ♡

I think I'm falling for him. And I have no idea what to do. I know I can't tell him. It'll be utterly humiliating if he doesn't feel the same way. We've been doing so well for a while now and I don't want to ruin that.

Watching him stand at the end of the lane with a bowling ball in hand, I couldn't help but smile at the sight in front of me. He swings the ten-pound ball back and releases it, watching the ball speed down the lane in a straight line directly in the middle of the ten pins. If it weren't already obvious, we were on our second official date. Sure we hung out a lot after our first one one, but we didn't count them as 'dates'.

"Wooo! Yeah, baby!" Austin celebrates with a fist pump in the air. I roll my eyes at him and shook my head. Another Strike.

He strolls over to me and takes a seat next to me. "At this rate there's no way I'm going to catch up to your score," I say shaking my head. "You wanna play for me?"

He laughs at this shakes his head. "And risk the chances of me losing? Nope."

I lean in closer to him and extended my bottom lip out in a pout with pleading eyes. He looks at me incredulously until his eyes shift down at my lips, his demeanor softening. He leans in closer, his eyes piercing mine, making my heart beat profoundly against my chest. When our faces are paper thin apart, his head tilts and in a swift motion instead kisses my cheek. He leans back, a smirk playing on his lips.

I look at him stunned. I almost kissed him, again. That would have been my first kiss. But before I could even feel excited about almost kissing him, a sudden feeling of disappointment surges through me. Did he not want to kiss me? I guess the answer was obvious.

"I-It's my turn," I say in a lame attempt to hide my disappointment. I grab my bowling ball and strolled up to our lane. I hold the ball up to my chest and took in a deep breath trying to put my soul focus on the pins in front of me.

✫

We were currently on our way to Frosty's, a local ice cream shop just around the corner from the bowling alley we were at. Austin won, of course. I made a mental note to myself that I shouldn't expect to win against him when it comes to anything remotely athletic.

All kidding aside though, the thought of Austin not wanting to kiss me couldn't escape my mind. It was really bad timing considering that I admitted to myself that I was falling in love with him. I glanced his way for a moment trying to study his face, his movements, anything that'll show me that he could possibly be thinking about it. Who was I kidding? Boys don't think about this kind of stuff.

I look away and started to fidget with my fingers uneasily. Even thought I can't figure out what exactly I'm feeling at the moment, I know I don't like it. It feels like rejection, but I know it's not exactly that. He didn't exactly say he didn't want to kiss me, but like they say, actions speak louder than words.

"We're here."

Austin's voice brings me back out of my thoughts and I give him a smile before climbing out of his car. Once inside, we explore the different flavors that are displayed in a freezer. I peak through the glass on top of it and didn't really see anything I wanted from that one. Moving to the next one, I spot the green tea flavored ice cream and pointed to it.

"May I have this one?" I ask the lady behind the counter.

"What size cup?" She asks, pointing to the sample cups on the side. I point to the medium one and watched as she scooped the delicious treat in the cup. "And you?" She asks, gesturing to Austin.

"Same size cup as hers with rocky-rode." The lady nods her head and scoops his ice cream into his cup. After Austin pays for our ice cream, we find an empty booth and sat across each other.

"So, I, uh, thought I should tell you my parents want to meet you," Austin starts while shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

I swallow the ice cream that was in my mouth before answering. "Really?" He nods his head as his answer. "My parents told me the same thing," I tell him.

"What a coincidence." We both laugh at this before settling back into a comfortable silence. "But seriously, when can you come over?" He asks leaning on the table in front of us.

I shrug my shoulders, swallowing another bite of my ice cream. "Whenever I guess. How about you? When can you come over to mine?"

He leans back in his chair with a thoughtful expression. "I'm free Saturday's and Sunday's," he answers, "I have practice the other days."

I nod my head, "ok, I'll let you know what my parents say."

He nods his head also, "ok, same."

As we continue to finish our ice creams, the topic of our conversation takes different turns. It was nice to just sit and talk with the one person I have come to know, and before we know it, an hour has passed. We decide it's time to call it a night and left. After dropping me off at home, I had the sudden urge to do something I haven't done in a while. I wrote in my journal.

Dear Journal,
I know it's been a while since I took the time and wrote down anything. I just felt like this was a good as any time as ever. Finding myself falling in love with Austin is something I wouldn't have seen myself doing in this lifetime. But it's hard to enjoy this feeling if it's just one sided. I'm not sure if he feels the same way since it seems like he doesn't want to kiss me. He's dodged the opportunity twice, and it's starting to bum me out. How ever he feels for me, I'm not going to get my hopes up.

✫✫✫