Counting Down The Days To Go

That night, after the almost-kiss, it was no surprise that I couldn’t get to sleep. I mean, that whole scene with Mike leaning in to me kept replaying in my head over and over again. The other dilemma that I was facing was how the hell was I supposed to act the next time I see Mike? Like, do I pretend that it never happened? But what if he was trying to advance in on me? What if he is reciprocating my feelings? By pretending that nothing happened, it is almost like saying a big no to his face. The problem is, I want to send out the ‘yes’ signals because I like him. A lot.

So I thought, why don’t I bring the whole matter up? But even thinking about it makes me blush, so I'd probably make myself look like a stuttering idiot if I tried to confront Mike about it. By the end of the night, or rather early morning, I decided that I would just play it cool and wait for Mike to bring it up. If he brings it up and says that he was trying to kiss me and not just inspecting my eyes really closely, I would take it that he like likes me. But if he doesn’t bring it up, then maybe it was just one big misunderstanding. With that thought, I fell asleep.

The next day which was a Thursday, I hesitantly walked out of the door and towards Mike’s car. I gulped with nervousness. I mean, I would rather not face the truth than find out that Mike just saw me as a friend.

I opened the car door slowly, trying to buy some time before I had to hear what Mike had to say about what nearly happened yesterday.

“Good morning,” Mike said like he always does every morning.

“Morning,” I said softly.

“So about yesterday,” Mike said before stopping to cough. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. I mean, I didn’t know what came over me. I just want to apologize for trying to kiss you.”

Kiss you.

Kiss me.

Kiss me!

So he was trying to kiss me after all!

“Umm…it’s okay?” Being the idiot I am, that was the only thing that could come out of my mouth.

“Alright. So everything is cool, yeah? I mean, if you don’t like it, I promise you I’d never try to do that sort of thing again,” Mike said gently.

“It’s okay,” It was almost as if my brain could only make me say these two words. Gosh, I hate me right now.

Mike gave a small, nervous cough and gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. How did I know? His knuckles were almost turning white.

“Crystal,” Mike began.

“Hmm?” I asked, letting my eyes wander over his gorgeous face.

“Are you free this Saturday?” Mike asked.

“Yeah. I’m free.”

“Would you like to go out for some dinner? With me?” Mike asked. He looked so cute right then. It was almost as if he was nervous at asking me out. This wasn’t the first time he asked me out, so why was he nervous?

I let a small giggle escape my lips and said, “Yeah. Of course.”

“Um, I was thinking maybe we’d go to someplace fancy? So it’d be formal?” Mike asked.

“Sure. I don’t mind.” I said with a smile.

Mike let out a small breathe and he visibly relaxed.

“You know, I didn’t thought that you would agree to it. I thought you would just tell me no straight to my face,” He said with a small laugh.

“And why would I do that?”

He shrugged. “I just thought you might hate the fact that we have to dress up and all.”

“I don’t. You’ve never seen me in a dress, right?” It was a rhetorical question as I haven’t put on a dress ever since the new school year began. It wasn’t that I hate wearing dresses. In fact, I think that dresses make me feel all lady-like and graceful but it’s just that I’ve been living in skinny jeans, tank tops, cardigans and other casual attire from summer till now although the weather was noticeably cooler.

“I haven’t. But I’m sure you’d look pretty in a dress,” Mike said.

“Thanks. I hope I don’t disappoint you.”