My Imagination's Much Worse

A few days later I was walking home from work when I saw Pete sitting on my front porch. I hadn't talked to him since the party.

"Hey Lauren," Pete said smiling and standing up from where he was seated.

"Hey Pete," I said returning the smile and hugging him, "what are you doing here?"

"Well I came over earlier to see if you wanted to hang out but you weren't home, so I've been waiting for you."

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"Since 10 o'clock."

"So you mean to tell me you've been sitting on my porch for 6 hours waiting to see if I wanted to hang out?" I smiled bigger.

"Yup, pretty much," He said, nodding and returning the same sized smile.

"You're a weird one," I told him as I unlocked the door and led him to my apartment.

The apartment was decently sized for the price I paid in the Lakeview neighborhood. It was nice that my parents paid my rent so I didn't have to deal with a roommate.

"This is nice," Pete commented as he sat down on my couch.

"Thanks, it's not much," I said, sitting down next to him. "So what did you want to do Peter?"

"Well, I have two tickets to see Alkaline Trio down at The Metro and I was wondering if y-" I cut him off.

"Yes!" I said a little too excited, "Alkaline Trio is one of my favorites."

"You didn't let me finish," He smiled, "I was gonna see if you wanted to consider it a date..?" He bit his plump buttom lip.

"Most definately," I smiled and nodded, getting up and starting to walk towards my room, "I'm gonna go freshen up."

I tied my hair up in a bun so I could quickly rinse off in the shower, even though I would be quite sweaty at the show. I wrapped my towel around my body and walked across to the hall to my bedroom. I grabbed a pair of blue jeans, a plain white vneck, a gray hoodie, and a black pair of Vans. I quickly got dressed and went back in the bathroom to touch up my hair and makeup.

I walked back into the living room to see Pete watching The Simpsons.

"What time is it?" I asked, slipping on my Vans.

"About 4:45, doors don't open til 7. Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure," I said standing back up as he turned the TV off and made his way towards the door.

---

Pete held me the whole entire concert, singing along to every song with me. Even though he was a little guy, he was a good protector in the crowd. I liked the way it felt with his arms around me. It felt right, like he had been holding me like this for years.

After the show we decided to take a walk to cool down in the chilly night. We held hands and didn't talk; We just took in each other's presence.

We were about 2 blocks from my apartment when I stopped and hugged him.

"What's this for?" He asked, hugging back.

"For tonight, silly. Thank you so much for taking me. This was the best date I've ever been on."

"Really?" He smiled.

"Yup," I said before I kissed his cheek, near his lips.

The warmth between our chests faded as we parted and started walking again, hand in hand. We were soon at my porch.

"Well, thanks again," I said, hugging him again.

"Let's do this again soon."

"We will," I smiled and kissed him, this time on the lips.