Seven Weeks To Love:The Shooting Star Miracle

I searched through my closet, desperately trying to decide what to wear. I alternated between casual, a bit dressy, and messy, unable to decide.
School had gone by rather swiftly, with Hakuron making time to talk with her today, but he'd been ambushed at lunch and was unable to sit with her. He'd used all his usual quips, and they'd had their usual play fights, and he'd walked her home. But not before reminding her about coming to get her at eight that night.
She held the clothing for messy in front of her. Would he think she was a slob if she picked this? She didn't want him to know that she cared about her appearance in front of him, so wouldn't this work for that purpose? Or was it a bit extreme?
She held up the casual clothing now. This was neutral. Would he think she didn't care about this meeting at all if she wore something like this? Sure she didn't want him to know she cared about her appearance, but she also didn't want him thinking she was completely ignorant to how she dressed. Was this significant to him? If she showed up with her usual clothes, would he be disappointed?
Finally, she held up the clothes that were a bit dressy, a porn of her best jeans, and a long sleeved lilac colored blouse. If she wore this, would he think she was being to obvious with her feelings? Would he find it weird that she was dressing up for the park? Was her desire to look good for him strong enough to overcome these questions?
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she decided that, yes, it did. Her desire was stronger than everything else that plagued her thoughts.
I put on the clothes, smoothing out any wrinkles that might have appeared. Then she stood in front of the mirror.
Makeup, or no makeup? That is the question,I thought as I looked over myself.
She'd had a lucky break tonight. Her parents were out having dinner with friends, her sisters were staying with girlfriends, and her brother was also at a friend's house. She hadn't told her parents about tonight, and knew she wasn't supposed to go out on a school night without them knowing, but if she told them, she knew they'd assume it was a date.
Which it isn't, I assured myself. It's just two friends hanging out together. That's it.She ignored the part of her that scoffed that logic.
Having decided on clear lip gloss, I smoothed the shining liquid onto my lips, and on a whim, decided to release my hair from it's ponytail. I then looked down at my nails, and quickly filed them, deciding that they, too, might as well get 'beautified' as Marline would call it.
At exactly eight, just as I was putting on my shoes, the doorbell rang. I nearly ran down the stairs to the front door, taking a moment to collect myself before answering-mainly to slow down the panting from my mad dash.
When I opened the door, Hakuron stood on the other side, wearing black jeans, a black leather jacket, and a black shirt that looked like silk. Almost the same he'd looked when they'd first met. She had the oddest urge to run her hands over his shirt to see if it was real silk.
"Hello, Samantha," he said with that warm voice of his.
I smiled. "Hi, Hakuron." I gestured at his attire. "You look fantastic."
"Same for you," he replied, raking me with his gaze, pausing at my free hair and glossed lips.
I gulped. "Yeah, thanks."
A teeth-baring smile crossed his face. "Shall we go?" He held his hand out to her.
I stared at the hand for a minute, then stepped out the front door and locked it behind me before taking it in mine. His hands were so big and warm, they engulfed mine. His eyes now oddly warm with something she couldn't place after she'd taken his hand, Hakuron led her down the stairs and turned left. She followed, and they walked in companionable silence for a while.
When we reached the park, we sat on the sings, and I drew little designs in the sand with the tip of my shoe.
"So," I said, "what brought all this on?"
Hakuron swung in circles in his swing. "What?"
"What made you want to bring me here?" I repeated.
He glanced over at me, a warm smile tugging his lips. "I don't know, just thought you'd like it."
"Hmmm." I looked out into the trees. "I do."
"You do what?"
I smiled at him. "You know, I just noticed that you like making me repeat myself, don't you?"
He laughed, "It's one of my favorite hobbies."
I shook my head, then reverted my attention back to the trees. "I do like it. Being here, that is. It's nice, and quiet. Peaceful."
I began to draw a heart with my foot in the sand. I was dangerously close to getting my hopes up, to allowing myself to think he might like me. No matter how much my mind told me it was irrational, my heart simply didn't want to listen. It-the traitor-wanted to believe that he might like me. And my mind was starting to be swayed in that direction, too. It was telling me to do something that could definitely risk my relationship with him, because it wanted to know once and for all. It wanted me to ask if he liked me. The thing was, though, the compulsion was so strong, I actually started to ask.
"Hey, Hakuron, I-ayeeeeeee!" My question was cut short when a strong force pushed me so hard I nearly fell off the swing as at the same time I was propelled high on the swing. I looked behind me to see a devilish grin on Hakuron's face, and as I came back down, he pushed me back up again. I hadn't even noticed him leave his swing.
"What are you doing?" I asked, a bit breathily as my stomach gave a lurch when I was at the top of a particularly high arch.
"What does it look like? I'm pushing you on the swing." He laughed as he pushed me again.
"I know that! But, why?"
"Do I need a reason? I want to."
I didn't get to ask him anything else, because I was too busy concentrating on keeping myself going high in the swing, knuckles white as I gripped the chains. After another few minutes like that, Hakuron stopped pushing and came around to the front, his arms stretched out in front of him.
"Jump!" he shouted.
I stared at him like he'd sprouted a second head. "Are you nuts?!"
He smiled. "Jump! I'll catch you."
My next look questioned his sanity.
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Samantha, don't you trust me? I'll catch you, I swear."
I squinted my eyes at him for a second, then gave a slow nod. "Okay. But if you miss, and I die, I'm going to come back and haunt you."
He merely smiled as I prepped myself. I counted to three, waited until the height of my arch, then jumped, a scream coming from my throat the whole way down.
The next thing I knew, I was lying in a heap on top of a warm body, which was sprawled out on the grass.
“What happened to, ‘I’ll catch you’?” I asked sarcastically.
“I did,” Hakuron protested.
I rolled me eyes. “Yeah, normally when you catch something, you don’t fall into the grass.”
He made a protesting noise, and it made me laugh. I pulled my head from where it was nestled on his chest-quite comfortably, I might add-to look at his face when I made my next retort.
Suddenly, though, any reply I might have given him vanished from my mind when I realized that our faces were only a few inches away. My hands convulsed on his chest-which was where they’d landed, and I’d conveniently learned that his shirt was in fact real silk-at the sight his face presented. His beautiful, golden brown eyes bore into mine, and my breath caught. His lips were curved into a small smile, his hair tousled, cheeks flushed. He looked beautiful. The air grew warm around us, and I felt as though my insides were melting. Hakuron’s eyes grew tender as I watched, and, ever so slowly, he began to raise his face up towards mine…
“Hey, guys, watcha doin’?”
Oh, God, no.I closed my eyes and groaned. Please, please, don’t let it be who I think it is!
“Sam-chi! What are you doing, you naughty girl!” another voice said.
NOOO!!! I turned my head in the direction of the speakers. Not her too! Please, not the two of them together! Please, don’t let it be them…Crap!
It was. Ariel and Morgan both stood five or so feet away, staring down at us. Morgan had a small grin on her face, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jeans. Ariel stood just behind her, and instead of Morgan’s small grin, she had a wicked smile on her face and the mischievous, planning gleam she’d had in her eyes two days ago was back with a vengeance.
“Watcha doin’?” Morgan repeated, an amused tone to her voice.
It was then that my poor, abused mind noticed that I was still lying on top of Hakuron, in the open, and two of my friends were watching me. A glance at Hakuron showed he was just noticing this, as well.
This was awkward.
I scrambled off him and stood up, brushing nonexistent debris from my pant legs. I felt more than saw Hakuron stand up behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him, far enough that I felt a curious sense of absence.
“Sam-chi,” Ariel said, her voice dripping with wicked intent, “why didn’t you tell us you and Hakuron were an item?”
I sputtered, “W-we aren’t! Who says we are?”
I felt Hakuron go curiously still behind me, but didn’t analyze that too much. I had these two to deal with.
“Are you sure?” Morgan asked, pulling her arms from her pockets to cross them over her chest.
I glared at her. “We aren’t an item!” Even if I wanted us to be.
What about just a second ago?A rebellious part of me asked. He looked almost as though he were about to kiss you…
Go bash your head against a tree for me, I told it.
Morgan didn’t look as though she believed me, and neither did Ariel.
“I’m going to go, Samantha,” Hakuron said. “You coming?”
I turned to him, and smiled. “Yeah, I’m coming.” I turned back to my two friends, giving them a squinty eyed glare. “Don’t even think about bringing this up at school tomorrow,” I warned.
They both smiled, “Okay.” I didn’t believe them for a second.
Hakuron and I walked away, and a final peek over my shoulder showed Morgan walking away, but Ariel was still facing us, her phone out and in her hand. She was focused on the screen, pressing a few buttons.
What weird friends I have,I thought.
Hakuron and I walked home in silence, except for when we were just out of the park, when I shivered as a cold wind blew by.
“Are you cold?” Hakuron asked, looking down at me with what seemed to be concern.
“No,” I said, but shivered even as I said them.
He obviously didn’t believe me, because he shrugged out of his jacket-I took a moment to admire his muscles-and draped it over my shoulders. I thankfully settled into it’s warmth, luxuriating in the spicy scent of it.
When we got home, Hakuron stepped up to the porch with me, and I turned on the steps.
“Thanks, I had fun.” I smiled at him.
He grinned. “It’s no problem.”
I took a closer look at him. He looked pale, a bit sickly. “Are you feeling alright?”
He started to nod, but ended up shaking his head. “I think I’m getting a cold or something. My head hurts a bit.”
“Oh,” I nibbled my lip, “I hope you get better soon, than.”
His smile was warm as he looked up at me. “Thank you, Samantha.”
He leaned forward, and kissed my cheek. Just a peck, the tiniest touch of skin, but it was enough to send my heart clamoring through my chest.
As he walked away, my heart swelled with hope that I didn’t want to feel.
We’re just friends,I reminded myself. Just friends.