Dirty Little Secrets

--Danny--

“Where do you think you’re going?” My mom asked once she saw me putting on a black lace cardigan over a white tank top, paired with a flowy skirt.

“Out.”

“Out where?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t told me.”

“Why are you going on a date on a Tuesday?”

“Because we’ve already been putting this off for too long.”

“Wait, I thought you and Kennedy broke up.”

“We did.” I squirted my wrists with some perfume and walked past her to grab my bag. “I’m going out with John.”

“John? Does this have anything to do with him being here yesterday?”

“Maybe.”

“I didn’t know you felt that way about each other.”

I shrugged. “I think he has for a long time. I think I have too, I just didn’t realize it.”

“That’s adorable, Danielle, but you’re still on lockdown. I don’t want you to go out with anyone right now.”

“Really mom? Do you know why I got suspended?”

“For fighting!”

“The girl I punched was dating John earlier that week and since she was talking badly about me, John dumped her. She took that as I’m stealing her boyfriend and tried to take a swing at me. John will never stop caring about me.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that you punched that girl.”

“It really doesn’t. But if you’ll excuse me, my date has just arrived.”

“Danielle! What did I just say?”

I ignored her and opened the front door to see John dressed nicely with a small bouquet of pink roses. “They’re beautiful,” I said sniffing them and walking into the kitchen as he lingered behind.

“Hello John, how are you?” I heard my mom ask, exasperated.

“I’m better than I’d ever thought I’d be.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

I walked out to both of them smiling and when John looked at me, his eyes brightened up.

“You kids have fun…” My mom said and walked away as he put his arm around my waist gently. Out of nowhere Megan came in the room with a camera and took a picture.

“Megan…” I groaned.

“Relax, Danny. I’m getting started on the wedding book.”

John laughed and blushed then we walked out of the house. “Okay so where are we going?” I asked excitedly as he opened his truck door for me and helped me in.

“To the moon.”

“Damn I wanted to go under the sea. Or over the rainbow.”

“Maybe next time. Here put this on.” He handed me a blindfold as I stared at him blankly.

“A blindfold?”

“Don’t ask questions.”

I put it on then sat there with crossed arms as we drove for about 10 minutes. “Are we there yet?”

“Getting close.”

“I feel like I’m being kidnapped with this blindfold.”

“Complain, complain, complain…”

“Get used to it.”

After driving for what seemed like 20 minutes, he finally stopped the car as I sat there and waited for him to help me out. I heard a creak of a gate opening and we walked a little farther then he took the blindfold off and there was a blanket and a picnic basket on the ground.

It was almost sunset and the scene was beautiful. “Is this your backyard?” He started laughing nervously.

“Yeah. It’s the best I could do on short notice.”

“It’s very sweet.” I put my hand on the back of his neck to pull him down to kiss me but he put his hand in front of his mouth.

“It’s the first date. No kissing. You don’t want me to think you’re easy.”

I gaped at him. “Fine. Have it your way.”

We sat down on the blanket and I could feel eyes on me. John looked uneasily behind me and I followed his gaze to see his mom and dad watching us from the window. I turned back to him and he was blushing madly.

“John, it’s fine. They’re just being parents.”

“They’re like spying on us though…” He waved them off. “You look beautiful, Danielle.”

“You look dapper yourself, Cornelius.”

He smiled and bit his lip as he looked down. He opened the basket and took out some Subway sandwiches.

“You must have been cooking all this time!” I said sarcastically and opened the wrapping. “You remembered my favorite…” I said more to myself then realized indulging in a romance with John would be one of the smartest things I’d ever do.

“I got Subway for that day we left school early and we didn’t get to eat there because Moneybags was there.” He was smiling, pondering the memory as I put my hand on top of his.

“Why did it take us so long to get here?” I looked into his jade green eyes then answered my own question. “I guess I didn’t realize what we had all along.”

“I did. A long time ago…” He trailed off, chuckling. “I’ve never felt anything towards anyone else for what I’ve felt for you.”

“Me either.” I took a bite of my sandwich. “How did we become friends anyway?”

“What I remember is it was the first day of kindergarten and you fell off the slide or the swing set or something and your knee was bleeding and,” he began laughing. “I came over with a poison ivy leaf and tried to use it as a band aid I guess and we both ended up in the nurse with rashes.”

“Oh yeah that’s right,” I laughed along with him and wiped a piece of lettuce that was stuck to his chin.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome.”

After we finished our sandwiches, he took out a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

“Any back story on these?” I asked.

“No, they’re just fucking delicious.”

I laughed and he joined me. We finished eating then John got up to go turn on the stereo and some slow song came on. He walked back over to me and held his hand out for me to get up then he put one hand on my hip and the other was holding my hand then started slow dancing.

“You’re pulling out all the stops, aren’t you?”

“You’ve mentioned that you’ve always wanted to dance at twilight.”

“Are you like a sponge and just retain everything that comes out of my mouth?” He returned my smile.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I rested my head against his chest as he held me closer. “I guess we can’t spend the night at each other’s houses anymore.”

“Not without our parents having heart attacks.”

“That’s one thing I’m going to miss.” He rested his head on mine and I could hear his heart beating out of his chest. I decided against saying anything smart-ass. Maybe because mine was beating just as hard.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many stars in the sky,” I said as the song ended and we continued to hold hands and look up into the sky. “Did you get a star named after me?”

“Nope. Maybe next time.” I continued to look into the sky as he stared at me. “You are so gorgeous.”

“You already said that.” I blushed and came closer to him, letting him wrap me in his arms.

“It just needs to be said all the time.” I tried to kiss him again but he pulled away.

“You’re such a tease!” I walked away and crossed my arms then unscrewed my water bottle and slung water at him, which turned out to be a bad idea because he went over to the house and turned on the water hose and sprayed it at me. I was a soaking wet mess and once we waged a truce, he had his arms open for me to come in for a hug but I shook my head. “You blew it, Cornelius.” I was kidding of course, but after he apologized, laughing, I gave in to his hug.

“Since this is the first date,” he started with his arms around me, “I want to tell you that I really like you.”

“I thought we were farther than this.”

“First date, Danielle.”

I tilted my head and smiled. “I really like you as well. Maybe we can go out again some time.”

“Or stay in.”

“Nope, we’re still in the going places stage. Besides, you said we were going under the sea or over the rainbow.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. I’ll start arranging the submarine.”

We embraced in a hug for a decent amount of time before John’s mom came back to the window to look at us. He looked down at his non-existent watch. “It’s a school night. I better get you home.”

“How very thoughtful of you.”

He pulled in front of my house and all of the lights were on inside. I stayed in the car and waited for him to come to the other side to open the door and held my hand all the way up to the door. He had this unshakeable smile about his face as I turned to look at him.

“Well, Danielle Nunn. I had a very nice time with you this evening.”

“As I did with you. Is this the part where we kiss and my mom turns the porch light on and off to signal to come inside?”

“I’m not sure about that last part, but…” He leaned forward slowly and I met him in the middle as I got the kiss I was dying for. Cliché-ly, my mom started flickering the lights and I pulled away from him laughing.

“I guess that’s my cue,” I said and gave him a final peck. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I found myself replaying every word and every touch throughout the night when I was supposed to be sleeping but I was so jazzed. As if on schedule, there came a knock at my window. I looked at the obnoxious red digital letters of my clock and read 2:32am and I moved my curtains out of the way to see John.

“What are you doing here?” I asked once the window was open enough for him to crawl in.

“I guess I just missed you.”

He laid on my bed and waited for me to join him, then enveloped me in his arms.

“You know, I could get in a lot of trouble for this.” I whispered and he chuckled.

“I’m tired. Let’s go to sleep.”