Sweetheart, Just Be Real

The clock read 5:00 which meant that John would be picking me up any second. I picked up my bag and waited by the door. I looked out the window in search of the old pick up truck that would be here for me.

"Where are you going?" My brother asked from the living room.

"Johns house." I answered.

"Really?" He smiled. "What are you guys gonna do?"

"I'm helping him with Latin." I replied.

"Ooh." He nodded with a dumb grin.

"What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Nothing, I just think it's cool that you guys are hanging out." He said with a shrug.

"We're not hanging out." I corrected. "I'm helping him study. That's it, god!" I huffed.

"Okay, okay!" He exclaimed.

Just then, I caught a glimpse of Johns truck pulling into my driveway. I yanked the door open and stomped off the porch.

John hopped out of his truck and smiled at me. He jogged to the passenger side and opened my door for me.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hi." I said shortly.

"You okay?" He asked as I slid into the vehicle.

"Yeah, Eric's just being gay." I sighed.

He laughed and closed the door gently before walking over to the drivers side. After hopping in and turning the key in the ignition, he checked his rear view mirror before glancing over at me again.

He must have noticed me nervously wringing my hands in my lap.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"Yep." I nodded.

Why the hell is being with him making me so nervous? I've driven with him alone before, what's so different this time? He's always been cute, so it's not that.

"Seatbelt." He reminded me as we started to pull out.

"Right, mom." I joked as I pulled the belt across my chest and clicked it into place.

"What? I'm sorry I don't want you getting thrown through my windshield if we crash." He joked.

"Same to you, Johno." I chuckled.

"That's the nicest thing you've said to me all day." He grinned.

"John, you know I love you." I retorted.

"Do I?" He asked sarcastically. "You never really tell me..."

"We've been friends since I was in the eighth grade! I thought you would have caught on by now!" I exclaimed.

"I love making you mad." He laughed.

I just glared and looked out the window as we drove across town. Unfortunately, John and I were far from being next door neighbors.

"My mom's really excited you're coming over. She made me clean for like, an hour." He informed me.

I laughed out loud, remembering how John got his neat-freakiness from his mom.

"That's why I always tell her how nice the house looks. Because I know you're the one who cleaned it."

"You sneaky devil." He chuckled.

"I do what I do." I shrugged.

We listened to the radio for the rest of the car ride. John's truck from the early 90's didn't possess a CD player, much to our dismay.

We pulled into his driveway and I opened my door and stepped out just as John was walking my way.

"Hey! I was gonna open that for you!" He pouted.

"I'm not a delicate little flower, John. I can open my own doors." I joked.

We strolled up his walkway and he opened the front door for me. "My daisy," He said as he gestured inside.

I just shook my head at him and stepped inside, taking my shoes off immediately.

"Kimmy!" Carol, Johns mom, squealed as she walked over to me and gave me a tight hug.

"Hi Carol," I laughed "How are you?"

"I'm great. How are you? Ah, you get prettier every time I see you." She sighed as she fluffed my hair.

"Thank you," I blushed "I'm fine."

"That's great. John how pretty does she look?" She asked.

"Beautiful." He answered genuinely as he slipped his boots off.

My stomach knotted and a small smile graced my face.

"Kimberly!" I heard a deep voice yell.

"Jay!" I exclaimed as he too, engulfed me in a hug.

"How are you doing, Kimmy?" He bellowed as I pulled away.

"Fine, thanks. You?"

"Lousy, but thanks for asking." He responded.

I laughed at him and I saw John roll his eyes at his fathers joke. I gave John a smile and he flashed one back.

"Is dinner almost ready, ma?" John asked.

"Yeah, it's on the table." She answered.

We walked into the kitchen and I took the seat next to John, across from his parents.

I ate Mrs. O'Callaghans lasagna like it was my first meal in days, making small talk in between bites.

"I never have to worry about leftovers with you, Kim." Carol laughed as I took the last piece of lasagna from the small dish.

"And I never have to worry about getting hungry over here." I joked.

Everybody finished dinner and we started clearing the table.

"Could I help with the dishes?" I asked as I placed the plates and silverware in the sink.

"No, you two go study." She said, shoeing me off towards her son.

"Come on." He motioned. I grabbed my bag and we made our way upstairs to his room. I walked in and he shut the door behind me.

I set my bag down and pulled out our textbook. I sat on his bed and he took a seat next to me.

"So, what don't you get?" I asked as I opened up to the verbs section.

"Uh, those verbs where it's like carrying, going to carry, having been carried... I don't understand those." He told me.

"You mean the participles? They're easy. All you do is take the fourth part of the verbs and add the right gender ending on." I shrugged. "Do you want me to show you how to do some and then I'll give you a few to practice?"

He nodded and I wrote down the verbs and explained them to him. Then, I gave him a list to conjugate. I had to keep myself from shivering when Johns hot breath tickled my collar bone as he concentrated from next to me.

"Okay, done." He said as he finished writing the last one.

I quickly shook out of it and looked at the sheet of paper and checked the list.

"Perfect except you translated this one intending to love instead of loving." I told him as I pointed to the last word on the list.

"Oh, right." He said with a nod.

"You did really well, John. Need help with anything else?" I asked.

He stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

"No, I guess not. Thanks, Kimmy." He told me as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug.

I returned the hug and those stupid butterflies erupted again.

"You're welcome, Johno." I squeaked nervously as we pulled away.

"So... Do you want me to take you home or do you want to hang for awhile?"

Stay! Stay! Stay!

"Um, I should be getting home. It's almost 8 and I need to do some laundry." I explained.

"Okay." He nodded as he stood up off his bed. His feet hit the ground with a thump and his face looked distraught and his body language told me that he was upset.

I just stayed quiet and packed up my books in my bag and followed him out the door. He stomped down the stairs and grabbed his keys from the counter.

"Kimmy, are you going?" His mom called from the living room.

"Yeah, sorry Carol. I need to go home and finish up some laundry." I told her.

She came out to the doorway and gave me another hug goodbye.

"You're welcome anytime, okay? You and your brother. And tell your mom I said hi."

"Thank you, I will. By the way, the house looks beautiful." I smiled.

She just smiled and walked back to the living room.

John got his shoes on, so I followed suit and then he opened up the door for me.

"Bye!" I called one last time.

"Goodbye, Kimmy. Hope to see you soon!" She called back.

I walked out the door and John zoomed past me to his truck. He opened the door for me once again.

"Thank you, John." I told him sweetly.

His face lit up and he shut my door and walked around the car. He got in and turned the car on once again. He started pulling out before reminding me for the second time "Seatbelt."

I let out an irritated grumble and strapped myself in.

He looked over at me and laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I just like all the little noises that you make."

I crossed my arms and huffed at him. He just laughed again.

"You know, someday you're going to thank me for forcing you to wear your seatbelt." He smirked.

"I'm sure I will." I retorted.

"If I were mean, I would slam on the brakes right now and jerk you forward, but I'm not going to do that." He stated.

I laughed out loud.

"Thanks, John."

"You have the funniest laugh, Kay." He grinned.

I just looked down and smiled.

I looked out the window and saw that John wasn't going in the direction of my house.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"We're going to get dessert."

"John-"

"Don't fight. We're getting ice cream and that's that. It's to thank you for being such a good teacher." He told me.

"I'm not that good. It's just easy." I shrugged.

"Stop." He laughed "You're a better teacher than Shafer. You should be teaching that class."

"I just like Latin." I said shyly.

"You're good at it." He complimented.

Before I could say anything else, we pulled into a small ice cream shop. I opened my door before John could, and my foot slipped on the way down. Before I fell, two arms held me steady before placing me gently on the ground.

"That was embarrassing." I blushed awkwardly.

"That's why you should've let me open the door." He joked.

We stepped into the cozy little shop and walked to the front counter.

"Hi, what could I get you two?" An elderly man asked.

"I'll have a vanilla cone," John ordered. Before I could say anything he finished "And she'll have a twist cone with rainbow sprinkles."

The man smiled and nodded before walking back to the ice cream machine.

"How did you know what I wanted?" I asked as I started to get my money out.

"It's what you get every time." He shrugged. "Put your money away. I'm paying." He ordered.

"John, it's like a dollar. It's fine." I argued as I kept getting my money out.

Before I knew it, the man came back with our ice cream and John smacked a five dollar bill down on the counter.

He handed me my ice cream and got his change before we walked to a booth.

"You didn't have to do that..." I sighed as we sat down.

"Yes I did. Your amazing tutoring skills couldn't go unpaid." He smirked.

My cheeks started to heat up again.

"It's not a big deal." I chuckled.

"Yes it is. You're a genius. A beautiful genius." He stated.

"Okay, sure."

He just smiled and kept eating his ice cream.

Once we finished, we walked back out to his truck. He pulled my door open and I climbed in.

"Be careful." He joked.

I glared playfully and took a seat. Instead of closing my door, he just stood there.

"What?" I asked.

Instead of saying anything, he stayed silent.

Then, he shook his head and closed my door.

He finally pulled into my driveway and before I opened the door, his large hand grabbed my slim wrist gently.

"I had an awesome time tonight. Thanks." He smiled.

I think those damn butterflies made my stomach their permanent home...