Love Has No Age

We entered the mall and went towards the Starbucks. I don’t know what Harry is going to think about me coming with Justin. Wait. Why am I thinking that? I shouldn’t care what he thinks! I blushed at the thought.

We walked towards the Starbucks and I could already smell their delicious sandwiches. Justin must have seen my face, because he let a small laugh escape his lips.

We entered the Starbucks and searched for a seat. It was packed with people, but we could find a pair of seats close to the window. I put my hoodie in the back of a chair so no one would take it.

We went to choose what we wanted to eat, and in the cashier I found Harry.

“Hey cutie.” He winked an eye. “What’s up?”

“Hey Harry.” I smiled at him. “How are you?”

“I’m good.” He smiled. His crooked smile made me feel kind of happy inside. “Did you come alone?”

“No, I came with Natalie’s brother, Justin.” He went serious and lifted an eyebrow when I said this.

“Why did you come with him?” He said in a despective tone.

“It’s kind of long and complicated.” I blushed a little and looked away.

“Why are you blushing?” He growled.

“I’m not blushing!” I said loudly. Fortunately for me Justin was distracted choosing something to eat.

“Yes you are.” He looked at me with a very angry look in his eyes.

I frowned and stared at him. “Why are you so mad about the fact that I came with him?” I demanded. “It’s not like a date or anything.” My voice drifted away.

“Rae.” Harry said. His voice went serious and I looked at him. “Do you like him?” He looked me intently

“I-“ I stuttered. “I’ll tell you everything later, ok?” I rolled my eyes, choosing not to say anything yet.

“Fine.” He sighed. “What do you want to eat?”

“The same as usual.” I smiled. “And this.” I said, grabbing a bottle of orange juice and putting it in front of the cashier.

“Ok.” He said. “So, it’s a triple cheese sandwich and an orange juice.” He told me my order.

“Yep.” I winked an eye at him.

“That would be $15.” He said.

“Wait.” Justin’s voice interrupted. I turned around and he smiled at me. “I’ll pay that.” A small blush rose to my cheeks as he got his wallet out.

“No.” I grabbed his hand. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I have.” He gently shook my hand off. “I said I would invite you to eat.” He smiled again. Justin told Harry what he wanted to eat and payed.

Before I could walk to wait for our food, Harry cleared his throat. “Are you gonna introduce us?”

“Oh yeah! Sorry.” I giggled nervously. “Harry this is Justin, Natalie’s brother.” I said. “Justin this is Harry, my neighbour and best friend.” I smiled.

“Nice to meet you.” Justin said, stretching his hand for Harry to shake.

Harry shook it with boredom. “Ditto dude.”

An awkward silence fell over us and I decided to break it. “Ok. We’ll go there to wait for our food.” I said. “Thanks Harry.”

“You’re welcome cutie.” He smirked winking an eye at me. I sent him a death glare. Ugh. He’s just doing that to mess with me.

“Cutie?” Justin asked as we waited.

I sighed. “Yeah. He’s been calling me that since I moved here.”

Once we had our food, we walked towards the table we had picked and sat on our respective seats, placing our plates on top of it. “Doesn’t it make you uncomfortable that he calls you that?”

I thought a moment. “Not really.” I shrugged. “I mean, he was practically my first friend here.” I explained. “I met him even before Natalie, and he was so eager to get to know me.” I went on. “That had just happened to me once before, and I was ecstatic at the time.” I took a bite of my sandwich.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Justin asked taking a sip of his drink.

I chuckled. “It’s hard not too.” I said. “He’s my best guy friend.”

“He seems like a cool guy.” He finished.

“He is.” I smiled drinking from my orange juice.

“So.” He cleared his throat. “Are you ready for the dance?” He asked with a small smile forming in his lips.

I groaned. “I have to.” I said. “Actually I wasn’t planning on going, but Natalie convinced me by telling me it was one of our last chances to go to a high school dance.” I rolled my eyes. “You know her.”

He gave a light, deep chuckle that made my stomach do that flip-flop thing again and made me blush a little. “Yeah, I know how she is.”

“Do you have your costume ready?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Yep.” He answered. “Natalie helped me to choose.” I panicked a little at the thought that he might already know what I was going as. “But don’t worry, she didn’t tell what your costume was.”

I sighed relieved and giggled slightly. “She’d better not say anything.” I laughed. “I kind of wanted it to be a secret.”

“Well, it still is.” He smiled.

“What are you going as?” Curiosity got the best of me and I had to ask.

He looked at me with a funny look. “It’s a secret too.” He winked an eye at me and I laughed.

“Oh! And thanks again for saving me from Ashley.” I chuckled. “I really didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay.” He said. “I hate those type of girls that just bother everyone for no reason.”

I snorted slightly. “Well she sure has a reason.”

“Yeah?” He asked. “What is it?”

I looked at him lifting an eyebrow. “You really don’t know?” He just shook his head. “Haven’t you realized that she likes you?” He gawked at me. “And that every single girl in the school does too?”

“Are you serious?” He asked stunned.

I laughed. “You are one of the most naive persons I’ve ever met.” I stated. “And yes, I am serious.”

He looked at me wide-eyed. “But how do you know that?” He frowned.

I mentally slapped my forehead. “Because it’s obvious.”

He groaned. “So that’s why I have been invited to the dance so many times.” He mumbled and buried his head in his hands. He looked up to me with an ashamed look and a bit of color in his cheeks. “I am naive, aren’t I?”

I laughed. “Yes, you are.”

“But why me?” He asked more to himself than to me.

“Well,” I began. “it’s kind of obvious too.” He stared at me with questioning eyes. “Just think about it. You’re cute, kind, caring, sweet, I mean, any girl would want a guy like that.” I finished.

“Any girl?” He looked at me intently with a slight blush in his face, and I couldn’t figure out what exactly his gaze meant.

I shrugged. “I guess.” I took a bite of my sandwich. I really wanted to ask him why he had said yes to me when I asked him to go to the dance and no to all the other girls. But I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to know the answer to that.

We were quiet for a while, both of us eating our lunch. But it wasn’t an awkward silence, it was kind of comfortable, actually.

After some time I decided to break the silence and ask what I wanted so much to ask.

“Hey.” We both said at the same time. I giggled. “Sorry, what were you going to say?”

“No, you go first.” He smiled.

“U-Ummm...” I stuttered. “Okay.” I licked my lips nervously. “I was just curious to know why you had said yes to me when I asked you to go to the dance with me but no to all the other girls.”

He looked away from me and blushed slightly. “Well, I...” He began.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“I... felt more comfortable with you, since you are Natalie’s best friend and all.” He chuckled. “And I don’t know any of the other girls.”

My face fell a little and disappointment rushed into me. Why am I feeling disappointed? What was I expecting me to say? That he likes me? I’m such an idiot! “Oh.” I mumbled. “That explains it.” I faked a giggle. “So, what did you wanted to say?”

“Oh yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I just keep on thinking about what you said when Ashley came to bother you.”

I frowned. “What did I say?”

“That you had dealed with much worse situations than that.” He explained. “Can I ask if something happened to you?”

I bit my lower lip nervously and looked away. That was something I wanted to keep deep burried in the back of my mind. It was something I was not willing to talk about just then.

“It’s kind of a very long story.” I looked down to my hands, that were playing with a lose thread from my t-shirt. “And I don’t really feel like talking about it.” My voice shook a little at the last part.

“It’s okay.” I looked at him, and he had a comprehensive smile on his face. I smiled a little at this gesture. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

I swallowed. “I’m sorry, it’s just that is something that I haven’t been able to talk about with no one.” I explained. “Not even Natalie knows about it.”

“Well, you know that I will always be here for you if you need to let all that out.” He smiled again, and his smile made me feel better.

“Thanks.” I said. “When I’m ready to talk about it I’ll make sure you are one of the first persons to know.”

He chuckled. “Thanks for that.” He winked an eye at me.

I giggled. I was glad that he hadn’t forced me to talk about my past. And I liked that now he was even making me feel better.

By this time we had both finished eating our lunch, but neither of us had said anything, until I remembered that Natalie and Josh were still going to my house later.

I got my cellphone out to check out the time. 5:35 Wow! Two hours passed? That’s surprising. I cursed under my breath. I didn’t really want to leave, but Natalie and Josh would get to my house any time.

“Are you okay?” Justin asked as he took the last sip of his drink.

“Yeah.” I smiled. “It’s just that I told Natalie and Josh to go to mo house at about this time, and they are probably almost there.”

“Oh.” He mumbled. “Well, then I think we should get going.” He said, grabbing his trash.

I grabbed mine too, walking towards the trash can and throwing it in it. Before I could get out the door, someone grabbed me by the shoulder turning me around. It turned out to be Harry.

“Harry. What’s up?” I asked.

“Ummm... Could I stop by your house later?” He stuttered a bit.

“Yeah, sure.” I smiled. “See you later.”

“Bye.” He went back to the cashier and I went through the doors, where Justin was already waiting for me.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He smiled. “What did he say?”

“He’s gonna stop by my place later.”

“Oh. Well, lets go.”

We were walking to the exit of the mall, when I felt Justin’s warm hand take mine softly, waiting for me to take his. I looked at him, and saw the blush in his face. I smiled and took his hand in mine too. I couldn’t help but blush at what he just did.

We arrived to the parking lot and to his car hand in hand. He opened the door for me and I got in, still blushing. He closed the door and walked to the other side of the car, getting in himself.

All the way back to my house was in silence. The both of us just enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t too long until we got there. Justin parked in front of my house and turned off the engine.

I got off my seatbelt and turned to open the door, but Justin stopped me. “Wait, I’ll do it.”

“You don’t have to walk me to the door.” I shrugged.

“Yes, I do.” He arched a brow and I giggled.

“Okay.” He got out of the car and walked to my side, opening the door for me again. He took my hand in his and led me to the door. I turned around to look at him. “Thanks for an awesome time.” I smiled.

“Thanks for accepting to go with me.” He smiled too.

I chuckled. “Who wouldn’t have?” I shook my head.

I looked up and saw him staring at me with his face all red and a hint of doubt in his eyes. He bit his lower lip and began leaning down towards me. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks as we both closed our eyes, my heart beating like a thousand beats a minute.

Before anything could happen, I felt the door open behind me, making me fall a little backwards. I turned around and saw Natalie staring at us wide-eyed.

“Sorry.” She giggled nervously slaming the door shut.

I turned around to see Justin scratching the back of his neck and looking away from me. The awkward silence growing with every minute that passed.

“Ummm...” We said at the same time. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. “I think I should go now.” He smiled.

“Yeah.” I smiled back. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

“Ok.” He leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, making me blush hard. “Bye.”

“B-Bye.” I stuttered as he got into his car and drove away. I touched my cheek and turned around to enter my house.