But I Never Promised You

Jack and I sat on the steps for what seems like hours.

We were there for ten minutes.

That is how impatient I am. I needed something to talk about, but I didn’t feel like talking. I only had part of a song stuck in my head, but I decided to sing it.

Hey hey, beautiful,
The sunshine shines
Oh oh so bright, aight.
Lay back ill spend the night just staring at you.
For every grain of sand,
That you drew me pictures in.
There was one for every time that my,
Heart, dropped, again.
So baby keep my heart beat b-beat beat beating
And the soul reason I keep believing,
Oh we're gonna die like this you know oh oh oh.

When I started the song, the other boys came back, walking up behind us.

“Mika, that was really good. I didn’t know you listened to Stereo Skyline,” Alex said.

I smiled, “There’s a lot of thing you don’t know about me, Alex.”

Alex grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the steps. “Let’s change that,” he whispered into my ear.

“How do you suggest we do that?”

“Come with me,” he said as he started to pull me along behind him.

“Where are we going?” I asked him as he started walking towards the road.

“You’ll see.”

We walked until we got to a park a short ways away from our apartment building.

“Well, this is cute.”

“What is?”

“You’re taking me to a park. Is this like a date now?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“Maybe,” I replied honestly.

“Well, then, Mika June, we’re going on our first date.”

“I still don’t see how taking me to a park is going to help you get to know me better,” I said, sitting down one of the swings.

“I do.”

“How?”

“Well, we can talk here, without Jack, Zack, and Rian barging in on us. And knowing where the other person heads to first tells you something about the person.”

“It does?”

“Yes, it does.”

I looked up at him and smiled, “Do tell.”

“It’s my secret.”

“Please?”

He just shook his head and smiled at me.

We spent the next couple hours just sitting at the park and talking. We had forgotten how long we had been there, until my stomach started growling.

“I think my stomach is protesting my lack of substance intake,” I said looking down at my stomach and glaring at it.

“It can’t see you, you know?”

“I am aware of that, Alex. I’m not stupid.”

“It’s hard to tell sometimes.”

I scoffed at him, “You’ve only known me a day. I find it hard to believe I’ve behaved stupidly enough times in that time period to bring you to this conclusion.”

“You and your fancy words,” he said chuckling.

I stood up off the swing I had been perched on and started walking across the park to the road.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from your condescending attitude,” I replied with a smile.

“I was kidding.”

“I know.”

“Then, why are you leaving?”

“I’m hungry. I’m going to go try and find something to eat.”

“Can I come?”

“I can’t stop you. You live in the same building as I do.”

“Right.”

Waving my arm, I said, “Come on.”

He smiled and jogged to catch up to me. He slowed to a walk when he was a couple steps away from me and kissed my lips softly, causing a pink tint to color my cheeks.

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

“You think too highly of me,” I told him.

“No, you just don’t think enough of yourself.”

“Whatever you say, Alex. Let’s go get some food.”

Walking back to the apartment, Alex linked his hand with mine.