The Blue Moon In Winter

Chapter Four

Trembling, eyes closed, she didn't notice at first when he pulled away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even ask if you're up to eighteen" he got up, he's tall, and in his jeans and t-shirt, he's all shoulder and muscles, tanned skin, dark hair, and blue eyes like the ocean or the sky. Even though she couldn't see them, she couldn't help but imagine them, she didn't want him to stop 'why would he think I'm younger than eighteen' she thought.

"It's okay, I'll be nineteen in December" she bit her lip, " I liked it" she turned beet.

"Since we're all being honest..." He lifted her up from the ground. " I asked my friend, Chris, to setup something, but he outdid himself with the lanterns so I freaked," he looked at her, "Bambina this is just too much you know, it's not like I'm going to ask you to marry me or something". She was speechless so she just giggled.

"So it's a date-date?" She managed to say.

"After I saw you on Monday I couldn't stop thinking about you, then I saw you on Thursday during practice, I think we should get to know each other better, that was why I thought of doing something special." He held her hand and pulled her up, " It's late let's go back to campus".

He wasn't driving as fast as he drove before, she couldn't help but touch her lips remembering the previous event. She didn't know he saw her during his basketball practice but he had, her weak attempt to disguise was a failure. He turned on audio, it played Billie Jean she turned looking at him.

"No way! you still listen to MJ" she snickered.

"I'm kinda old school, I listen to even 2pac, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, R. Kelly. I love R and B, hip hop, Italian folk music, Italian classical music..." he grinned. " I love Bach." He concluded.

"I'm into contemporary pop music, you know Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Justin Bieber... " She counted with her fingers." But my dad loved MJ though I think I know all his song, my dad even... " She exhaled, and looked away from him to the car window.

"Your dad what?"

"Nothing"

"Are you sure?" he persuaded.

"Yes"

"Okay, how about you come to my place tomorrow? there a lot of things you'd love to see there".

"So you're inviting me to come over?" she smirked.

"Or should I pick you up?"

"No, I'll come on my own," Though the thought of him coming to her dorm to pick her up was tempting but she'd be uncomfortable when people start staring. He got to the gate of the dorm and got out of the car to open the door for her. " You're such a gentleman," she teased, and he smiled.

"Since tomorrow is a Sunday you can come by noon, we can even spend the whole day together bambina".

"That would be great," she said enthusiastically, she hated the way the word came out like she was overjoyed that she would see him again the next day. But it was true she was over joyed, watching him get into the car made her eyes moist, she wished the night would never end. 'Get a grip of yourself' her mind scolded.

While walking up the stairs to her room, she tried to understand why she was reacting like this to someone she barely knew. She had never put herself out there, in highschool tons of guys asked her out but she always turned them down. Her dad allowed her to date from sixteen but she had a bunch of insecurities, she felt she was too skinny, too clumsy, too pale, even too blonde, and her list goes on. She was admired in highschool, she had been the only head cheerleader who didn't date a captain or quarterback, she only accept boys to take her to dances then reject them afterwards . She was good at facading so most of her schoolmates thought she was dating college boys outside. She eventually concluded that her excitement towards Javier was probably how she's meant to feel normally when she likes a boy but she didn't know since she wasn't experienced. She creeped into her room and immediately Sandra's lamp turned on.

"Hey" She was nervous almost like her mom caught her sneaking.

"Why are you back this late?" Sandra looked at the wall clock," it's almost 10, I was worried sick about you, and you weren't picking your calls" She scolded.

"We had a after dinner thing". She tried to end the conversation by going into the toilet but Sandra follow her.

"Why didn't you pick my calls? Did he do anything to you?" Sandra waited for her reply, but she was wiping makeup off her face looking at the bathroom mirror. "C'mon I'm like your best friend in this school". Willow was too excited to keep it to herself even though a regular her was good at being secretive.

"My phone was on silence, I'm sorry", then she turned away from the mirror to face her, " he didn't do anything to me, but we kissed".

"Woah, I thought it was a formal date, and did he force you to do it? " She said in fright.

"Can Javier Romano force a girl to kiss him ?" She asked rhetorically, " he swept me off my feet," she chuckled, it was only now she remembered that his coat was still on her, she removed it and put it close to her nose to perceive his smell which intoxicated her.

"So he like like you ?" She interrupted her with a raised brow.

"I don't know but he said he was thinking about me though,"

"Well be careful," she patted Willow back,cleared her throat and walked out of the bathroom, out of curiosity Willow followed behind.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You know you're a freshman..." She said almost as if she wasn't a freshman too. " Most sophomore, junior and senior guy might want to play you because they think you're naive and dumb". Sandra hopped into bed.

"I think you're jealous, just do me a favour and not tell your friends about it I don't want anyone on my throat". She tried to sound rude but it was barely an effort.

"I'm not jealous, I'm into someone else, and don't worry I won't tell anyone your little secret" she said like she didn't even notice the hint of rudeness Willow tried to add.

"Not like you'd care but he invited me to his house tomorrow".

"Please let me tag along, Chris lives there too" she said with her hands begging.

"Are you crushing on Chris?" She gave a wolfish grin.

"Yes, but it's helpless because he calls me 'little' and he said he's my part time chaperone" she frowned," I think he sees me like a younger sister or something but I really like him", she looked helpless.

"You know you're a freshman, those sophomore, junior and senior guy might want to play you because they think you're naive and dumb". She used her words again her,

"Chris is a simple person, but Javier is more complicated, he's rarely into girls so why would he all of a sudden be into you" she asked rhetorically, "besides he has a little player history but he dates no one, all I'm trying to say is don't let him have you easily like a random girl all because he's handsome and dreamy".

"I'll ask him if you can come tomorrow and don't worry I won't be his fool".

"Thank you, goodnight" she lied on her bed and slept off leaving Willow a lot to think about.

As he drove home, he couldn't get his mind to think about anything else apart from her. Her scent of honeysuckle was still lingering in his car and he loved it. He has never wanted someone so much, he had his fair share of girls from highschool but he never date any for more than a month. He found them uninteresting, and the only thing that kept him interested was the s*x so he decided to not date in college but have random s*x. He tried his best not to sound like he's officially asking willow out so he won't keep her hopes up when he was bound to lose interest. He decided to be patient and have s*x with her to get over the obsession. He wasn't enjoying the overexcitement he felt that made him unable to control himself from devouring her lips. He loved the way her lips tasted, raw and sweet unlike some of the woman he had kissed with horrible lipstick tasting on their lips. ' I'll like to kiss her tomorrow' he thought 'maybe I'll bite those lips a little next time'. The thought of kissing her again made him stiffen and grow. He honked wildly, and Chris hurriedly open the gate.

"Hey man, how did the date go?" Chris said immediately he got down from the car."

"You did awesomely well. " He said sarcastically and clapped.

"That's why I told you to leave it to me, I know how to get these freshmen that's why they're all coming to me like moths to fire" he gave a Cheshire cat smile.

"You're an i***t! You made me look stupid like I'm into those kind of romantic stuff, it would make her think I want a serious relationship or something." He hit the back of Chris's head.

"But I tried, you should be at least grateful," He put his arm around his shoulders as they walked into the house. He looked at Javier who was smiling involuntary, " with that smile I'm sure the date went well, so she was into the romantic type" he tried to mimick Javier accent

"It went well because I'm good at being...Well you know what I mean".

She spent the whole morning looking for something not too formal and not too casual at the same time, and Sandra joined her in the dilemma. She eventually agreed to wear a white lace blouse and her best pair of blue jeans, Sandra on the other hand wore a black tank top with denim jacket and pants. She decided to return his coat and the shoes he gave her before, though they were beautiful but she didn't want to collect things from him. She later remembered she didn't have his number to tell him about Sandra coming, and felt it would be weird if she searches for his number from the internet. She looked at herself in the mirror and pouted, " You're so skinny that's why he thought you might be less than eighteen" she spoke to herself, She turned to look at her behind, "tsk tsk" she faced the mirror and cupped her breast, " what does he see in me apart from my pretty face". After drowning in the pool of her insecurities, she decided to leave the bathroom and hit the road. Sandra had a Volvo truck that looked like it was made in the nineties, it was passed down to her by her late grandpa. It usually works under some weather, and was a handful most times.

"Well the weather say go, go, go and go" She said looking up the sky, "thank God the weather is in our favour" she got into the driver's seat while Willow got into the other. It took her about fifteen minutes to get the car started, Willow had concluded they should walk, but Sandra disagreed saying they'll look sweaty and drained if they walk. When the car turned on, she did a victory dance.

"We would have gotten there already if we walked", Willow frowned, for some reason, she couldn't help but be in haste to see Javier, and the car moving sluggishly was making her blood boil. All Sandra could do was give an apologetic look, and she immediately felt pity for her.