Boy Next Door

I woke up the next morning to my alarm going off. I looked at the date and sighed. It was Thursday. That meant I went to school, then went to a three hour soccer practice right afterwards, then come home, take a quick shower, eat something, and go to work for another three hours. I reluctantly got out of bed and did my normal morning routine. Then off I was back to college.

*~*~*~*~*

When I showed up at the diner, my boss told me that I would only be working for an hour, instead of the three I was originally scheduled for. Happy, I skipped to the back where my note-pad and pen were from last year.

The diner was pretty empty for most of the night. It was a Thursday, and not many people show up on Thursdays. It was mostly the customers that showed up all the time. All of the regulars at the diner love me, so when they heard I was coming back, they wanted to see me. My boss told me there would be more customers tomorrow.

When I showed up at my apartment I was extremely shocked that Marc was in my apartment watching TV. He turned his head to look at me and smiled. I stood in the doorway, still confused on why he was here.

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you."

"But how did you know that I was going to get home from work early?"

"I stopped by the diner and asked your boss what your hours were."

"Why?" I asked, not stopping our Q&A session.

"Because I wanted to go on that second date you promised you would go on with me," he replied with a smile. I smiled and he grabbed my hand and led me to the fridge. I was very confused, until he grabbed a basket out of the fridge. I assumed we were going on a picnic.

During the car ride, we sat in a comfortable silence. Unlike our first date, I didn’t ask him where we were going. He eventually parked in some grassy area that I have never seen before. We got out of the car and Marc walked over to me. He laced our fingers together as we walked towards what looked like a small lake. I watched as Marc grabbed a blanket out of the basket and set it on the ground. We both sat down and Marc grabbed two sandwiches out of the basket. He handed one of them to me and kept the other for himself. We made small-talk as we ate our sandwiches. I finished my sandwich and lied down on my back. Marc soon lied down next to me, and I cuddled into his side. We sat there for a while, just looking up at the stars, not making any noises. I stood up and started walking towards the water.

“What are you doing?” Marc asked. I ignored his question and started running towards the water. I dove into the freezing water. When I resurfaced, Marc was floating next to me, just as I thought he would be. I smiled and splashed some water at him.

“Oh no you d’idn’t!” Marc said like a diva.

“Oh yes I d’id,” I said also like a diva. The next thing I knew, I was getting dunked under the water. I frantically tried to get some air. Marc eventually got the message and let go of me. “You’re so mean,” I said jokingly. We started to move towards each other until there was only an inch of space between us.

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked as he eliminated the space between us by interlocking our lips. Marc nibbled on my lower lip and I opened my mouth, giving him entrance. We explored each others mouths with our tongues as Marc pulled me closer to him, if that was possible. We pulled apart when the need for air overcame us.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on,” he said. I blushed about a million shades of red before I ran back to the picnic blanket, Marc following behind me. We assumed the same position we were in before I ran into the water.

“Danielle,” he started.

“Mh-hm.”

“I know we’ve only been on two dates, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you throughout the entire summer. When I’m with you, it feels like nothing can go wrong. Whenever I’m not with you, I want to be with you,” he said, looking into my eyes.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked cautiously. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by not understanding what he meant.

“It means I want you to be my girlfriend,” he whispered. I was truly taken back by this statement. I mean, of course I would love to be his girlfriend. I just didn’t expect him to ask me on the second date.

“I would love to be your girlfriend,” I said. Marc smiled like a little kid in a candy store and placed a kiss on my lips. We both lay back down, letting the silence consume us. After a few moments, I looked over at Marc and started smiling like an idiot.

"What? Do I have something on my face or something?" he asked when he saw me staring.

"No," I said with a laugh.

“Then why are you staring at me, smiling like an idiot?”

“I don’t know. I just feel happy when I’m with you. I mean, I’ve never had a guy go to my job in the middle of the day just to ask when I got off of work so they could ask me on a date,” I said.

Marc stared at me with a shocked expression on his face. “You’ve never had a guy get your work schedule so they could ask you on a date?” I shook my head and looked at him with an odd expression. “Well it doesn’t matter anymore because you have me,” he said sincerely.

I smiled at him and let out a sigh. “Yeah. I do.”

After a while I started to shiver. Marc said that we should go home so neither of us get sick. We walked up to our apartments and gave each other a goodnight kiss before walking into our own apartments. I changed into some dry clothes. I grabbed one of my many sweatshirts off of my dresser, knocking down a picture of me and my sister when I was seven. I thought about how I blew her off the other day and decided to call her.

“Hey Dannie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My god, I’ve been waiting for you to call me back for what seems like forever. You need a date for my wedding, and my wedding is in three weeks. I CANNOT HAVE MY MAID OF HONOR BE SINGLE! YOU WILL GET HIT ON BY OTHER GUYS!” Maddie said. She obviously really wants me to get a boyfriend.

“Maddie, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I have a boyfriend,” I admitted.

“OH MY GOD! MY LITTLE SISTER IS DATING A PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY PLAYER!” Maddie screamed. “Tell me all the details right now. I told her about how I told him, our first date, and obviously tonight’s date.

“Hey Maddie,” I started.

“Yes,” she said, obviously sensing the nervousness in my voice.

“Do you think that Marc and I are moving a little quickly?”

“Well,” she sighed, “If you’re comfortable with it, and Marc’s comfortable with it, then that’s really all that matters.

“You’re right Maddie thanks,” I sighed. We both were comfortable with the pace of our relationship.

“No problem. If you ever need to talk, just call me. Okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks. Bye”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and decided to go to bed. Ugh, I really hope that our relationship isn’t going to end as quickly as it started.