I Promise

Burgers Bring People Together

~Ivy~

"T-I-G-E-R-S! What does that spell? Tigers!"

As if the whole damn school doesn't know how to spell tigers. I sat in the stands of our school's basketball game with my friends. Did I want to be here? No. Was I dragged her by Yasmin? Yes. I looked over to my left and saw Shawn watching intently at the game and Yasmin screaming along with the crowd. To my right was Gabriel, who was on twitter, Ace and Isabelle talking about how tacky the away looked in comparison to ours.

Help.

I looked at the floor and stared at my sneakers when I heard extreme screams erupt from either side of me. Holy Fuck. They just scored three points, it's not serious! I took a deep breath and continued to endure the unnecessary amount of noise.  Soon, it was half time. 

Finally.

I walked off the bleachers and headed towards the concession stand just to find myself in the longest line on earth. This shit was longer than a line at chipotle on a good day. I sighed. I don't wanna be here and I don't even know where my friends are and they were the ones who brought me here. 

I felt someone tap my shoulder and I looked back to see it was Gabriel. I sighed out of relief to know that I wasn't alone. He and I haven't talked about the night we spent together and the dancing that we did. We just kinda let it slide. Which was fine with me but I felt some type of way when I was with him. I simply ignored it. I smiled up at him.

"Do you wanna go somewhere better than this stupid ass game?" He suggested playing with the rings on his fingers. He looked uncomfortable being in this environment and so was I.

"Please," I said. He grabbed my hand and guided me to the doors of the parking lot. As we were walking out, I felt a pair of eyes on me but there were so many people even if I looked I still wouldn't be able to tell who it was. 

He opened the passenger side door for me and I smiled and got in. He got into the driver's seat and started the car. We drove out the parking lot and drove to a nearby In-N-Out burger. I smiled with joy. I love In-N-Out it's one of the many reasons why I loved living In California. We ordered to go but he didn't let me touch the food yet. He just drove to this hill. We finally reached the top of the hill and there was a view of the city as the sunset. He grabbed a blanket and put it on the ground. I grabbed the food and sat on the blanket. 

"This place is so pretty," I said and looked at him. He simply nodded and took a bite of his burger. For some reason, I had butterflies in my stomach. I ate some of my food too. After a while, we finished our food and we stared up at the sky.

"I used to come here when I was a freshman." He said as he looked around. 

"It's a little far from home, but I used to bike here all the time. I needed time and space away from the hectic responsibilities at home." 

"I can understand that," I said

"You're the only person who knows about this place." He looked over at me. I looked back.

"How did you discover it?" I asked.

"My mom used to bring me here when I was little before all this medical stuff happened. She used to tell me it was her escape when she was my age. She told me that I was the first person she had ever brought there and that when I was old enough to decide, I should bring someone special here and maybe it could become their escape." He smiled at me. I blushed.

"What makes me so special," I laughed.

"Everything about you is special, Ivy." He said as he pulled my hand into his.

"I don't know about all that." I looked down at the blanket feeling nervous.

"I do." He said as he lifted my chin and made me look him in the eyes. Suddenly, we began moving closer to each other. Our lips almost touching. My breathing quickened so did his. I could hear it. His eyes closed slowly and I did the same. We both leaned in closer closing the space between us as our lips touched. It wasn't a rough kiss. It was sweet and tender.

I didn't know what this kiss meant to us. I didn't care. I wanted to feel this. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck and he responded by wrapping his arms around my waist pulling me closer to him. We stayed like that until we couldn't breathe and broke apart. I don't think either of us knew we weren't breathing until we broke apart. I looked into his eyes and he smiled at me. The sound of his phone ringing interrupted our moment. He looked at me with an apologetic look as he stood up and answered the phone.

"Hello?" He said as he looked at his shoes. I slowly started gathering our things and getting ready to leave.

"Ana you have to put water in the mac and cheese cup before you put it in the microwave!" he sighed. I laughed, folded up the blanket and put it back in the car. After I finished, I sat in the car and waited for him to finish talking to his sister. 

He got in the driver's seat and looked over at me. 

"I'm sorry, my sister doesn't read directions on the side of cup mac and cheese," he said as he ran his fingers through his hair. He always had a lot on his plate and constantly seemed tense and stressed. Tonight was different though. Very Different.

"Do you want me to take you home?" He asked 

"That would be nice, I mean I don't really wanna walk there," I said laughing

"Keep talking and you will." He started the car.

"You wouldn't dare."

The rest of the ride home we both took turns singing old Chance the Rapper and J.Cole songs. As he pulled into my driveway, he turned down the volume of the music. I looked over at him.

"Thank you for the ride," I said as I smiled at him.

"Anytime beautiful." He smiled back. I kissed his cheek and left the car. 

I unlocked the door and saw my mom was home.

"Hey, how was the game?" she asked while watching Tv.

"It was good mom, really good," I said back smiling.