And I Will Give You Every Part of Me

Maddie skipped in joy as I narrated to her what had happened last night. She only laughed at the part where John had gotten me drunk, and me hitting my head on the door a multiple times. I wasn’t exactly sure what happened last night, and I was too hung-over to remember anything. We went to grab some coffee after eating Mrs. Clive’s delicious omelette for breakfast. As much as Maddie denied it, I knew she loved her mother’s cooking.

As we headed down to the nearest coffee shop, we stumbled upon John and Kennedy. And as expected, we only shared awkward looks, smiles and waves. Maddie did thank John for getting me wasted last night, and then we carried on to our business. “Kennedy’s staring at you.” Maddie said as we crossed the road.

“No, he isn’t.” I said back. I’m guessing it’s a part of a woman’s instinct to glance at a person when you feel like they are looking at you. So I did, and he found me looking at him and quickly looked away. It was cute, but it did make feel awkward. John gave a pat in the back and laughed before walking to another direction.

A nice cup of high-end coffee was all I needed to refresh my mind and filter all the things that had happened last night at the bowling alley. “Hay, you should’ve warned me about them boys’ wild side.” I stated, rubbing the back of my next.

Maddie snorted at my statement. “Oh, they were just giving you a warm welcome. Arizona style?” she laughed.

I shrugged and continued drinking my beautifully made cup of coffee. “Oh, yeah that was very welcoming.” I mumbled. She nudged my shoulder as both fell into silent giggles. All day long, Maddie had kept asking me if what I’d do if Kennedy made a move on me. And I’d give her a consistent shrug and blank face for an answer.

“Oh come on! Kennedy’s a keeper, you know that. Plus, he already knows about that—you know, that whole wedding thing.” She said, throwing her hands up. We talked about him on our way back to the house, up to my room and even after we had lunch. Maddie wasn’t going to stop unless something happens between me and her friend. By that, I didn’t mean sex—I meant something. Like, a relationship or a commitment—or something.

If only I got paid to say no to Maddie’s suggestion on me dating Kennedy, I’d probably a millionaire now—or maybe less than a millionaire. He was and is amazing, the perfect boyfriend material if I should say so. And maybe it would be too soon to say that he isn’t for me, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’ve had had enough heartaches that could last a lifetime and it showed. For the past years, I’ve became too transparent. It became harder to hide what I felt, for something or someone.

After hours of bickering about dating or not dating, Maddie finally gave up. But of course, she didn’t just give up. She’d always follow with a back-up plan, which is why she informed me about a date around 7 pm which I will be partaking together with of course, Kennedy. “Wow, you never listen to me. Never.” I grunted as she broke the news to me. Maddie just replied with a devilish laughter and went back to her room.

Fine, whatever. There would be nothing wrong if I go. Besides, I’ve already went to dinner with the guy. Nothing surprising could possibly happen. I mean, that would be mental. Also, we’d be leaving Arizona in less than three days, I thought to myself. It would probably take years again to get Maddie’s ass back in here, so I guessed this dinner date wouldn’t really hurt.

-&&&-

About an hour left for my supposed dinner with Kennedy Brock, I was already wrapped up in a nice blue dress and a pair of flats. It took me 30 minutes to convince Maddie that I wasn’t in the mood for high-heels and classy outfits. We were only having dinner after all. “I said date, not just dinner.” Maddie said as zipped me up. “Whatever, it’s just the same.” I retorted.

“No it won’t be.”

And she was right. It wasn’t just dinner.

It was 10 minute drive to a park filled with lanterns hanging from tree to tree, with a merry-go-round on the middle that functioned well. It was eating hotdogs and people watching while sitting on the bench and talking about life and different types of Skittles. It wasn’t just dinner. He had me riding the merry-go-round twice with him and I didn’t even try to refuse. We laughed when I almost tripped on a rock and my shoe got left behind, he even leaned down and placed it back to my foot—making me feel like the 21st century Cinderella. He told me jokes that he swore he’d never told anyone before because they might he’s lame or corny, and I laughed at it. I laughed too hard on it even though I thought it was corny. For the first time again in years, I felt alive.

We’d forgotten about that awkward moment at the restaurant, he didn’t even mention it. And it felt nice. On our way to the place where we were going to have dinner at, I mustered up the courage to ask him if Maddie had set him up to this. But he just smiled, that infamous smile and said “I was actually the one who asked her to ask you if you know—we can…” he trailed off then.

“Oh.” I replied. “I thought she was the one—never mind.” I laughed nervously.

For another 5 minutes, we sat in silence until we reached this old and empty lot. There wasn’t anything there, except an old abandoned building or something like that. “He’s going to kill me…and throw my body at the desert” was the first thought that popped into my head. When he hopped out of the car, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever it is that was going to happen next. He opened the door for me and I got out, successfully hiding the nervousness that I was feeling at that moment.

“You must think that I’m a psycho killer as of now but do not fret, I am not and I assure you that.” He laughed.

I breathed out. Without caution, he took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. I was quite surprised with his bold move, oh dear! No seriously, I really was surprised. But I didn’t mind though, we both walked further into the lot and after a really short while, we found ourselves standing in front of a wonderfully arranged picnic dinner. “A picnic…?” was all I could manage to say. He let out the most adorable laugh I had ever heard in my entire life and led me to wear the blanket was neatly placed on the dusty ground.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to like another one of those fancy dinners, so I thought why not a picnic under the moonlight?” he said as we both sat down.

I could sense he was a tad bit nervous—I could sense that I was nervous, because this wasn’t originally part of the plan. I’m supposed to be at Maddie's parents’ house right now, sleeping my ass off. But no, instead I’m here. In this wonderfully designed empty lot with a guy I had just met a few days ago, sitting lovey-dovey underneath the bright moonlight. And I felt a rush inside me, but I shrugged it off. “What the hell” I thought to myself. I was having a good time, so why not make the best of it.

We had inexpensive champagne and pasta that her sister made for him, and sandwiches. We talked about random things, and he told me about that stupid mistake he did to his ex-girlfriend. “I never really tell the girls I go out with, that story.” He said.

I laughed. “I don’t think they’d like hearing that the man they want to call their boyfriend soon, cheated on his ex a long time ago.”

He sighed and let out a small laugh too. We talked again about random things for another hour before heading back. Our dinner made me full and surprisingly made me sleepy. Kennedy thought he was already boring me when I yawned for about three times while he told me the story about his losing his retainer during their first tour, hence the tooth gap. And I had to explain to him my habit of feeling sleepy after some meals. It felt nice talking to him about anything, he made it seem like we’ve known each other a long time. And that was a good thing.

The car ride back home didn’t take long; well maybe because I fell asleep halfway through Kennedy’s story about his old band. I apologized for falling asleep but Kennedy was just too damn nice. “It’s alright; I would’ve fallen asleep too if I told myself that story. It was quite boring.” He said. But I gave him one last apology before hopping out of the car.
I would’ve walked to the front door by myself, but no. Kennedy was nice enough to catch up with my pace and walk the remaining 6 steps to the porch with me. “Thank you, really.” He said.

“For what?”

He smiled adorably. “For coming tonight.”

“Oh come on. I highly doubt that I’d be able to refuse your invitations.” I laughed.

This scene was too cliché. We looked like we were taken out of a movie scene from the 80’s or 90’s. It was weird, but I sort of expected a kiss. I didn’t care if it was from me or he, all I kept thinking about was a kiss. And it was a really bad sign, a really bad sign. “Anyway, still thank you.” he said, before taking a step back. My heart winced a bit, to be honest.

“So you didn’t kiss him?” Maddie asked. It had only been 30 minutes since I bid Kennedy goodbye and Maddie had already known the full details of our night. Frankly, I now feel twice scared about where this is going. All because of a) I felt the butterflies, or whatever cheesy term people call that these days, when I was with him and b) I expected him to kiss me, which meant that I wanted him to kiss me. But then I thought about it hard, maybe it was like one of those spur-of-the-moment again. It already happened once.

I shrugged all my thoughts off and went to bed. Maddie was still hanging about in my room, filing her nail. “Oh Jules, by the way, we’re going to have a trip to the lake tomorrow.”

“With who?”

“With the boys, of course.” She replied.

I got up again, and my head swirled. “So John’s going to be there?”

She nodded.

“But I thought you’re trying to avoid him?”

She laughed. “Relax, it’s not like we’re going to pounce on each other while everyone’s around”